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Sociology As Science

Sociology is a science to the extent that it develops a body of organized verified knowledge which is based on scientific investigation. Sociology forsakes myth, folklore and bases its conclusions on scientific evidence. The social behaviour of men can be studied through scientific investigation as any other natural phenomenon. It employs scientific methods as scales of sociometry, schedule, questionnaire, interview and case history which apply quantitative measurements to social phenomenon and which are therefore comparable to the method of experimentation. Sociology tries to classify types and forms of social relationships, especially of institutions and associations. It tries to determine the relations between different parts or factors of social life. It tries to deduce general laws from a systematic study of its material. The conclusions drawn from the study of sociological principles are applied to the solution of social problems. Sociology is thus a science as social psychology, clinical psychology and other sciences concerning man. Two other basic methods of scientific investigation, observation and comparison are readily available to the sociologist and which he uses extensively. Sociology frame laws and attempts to predict. It tries to discover laws that are generally applicable regardless of variations in culture. Sociology also delineates cause-effect relationships as it tries to find an answer to how as well as why of social processes and relationships.