Sociology for Physiotherapists Dibyendunarayan Bid
INDEX
×
Chapter Notes

Save Clear


Introduction to SociologyChapter 1

 
1. MEANING, DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY
Auguste Comte, a French Philosopher, coined the term sociology in 1839. The word ‘sociology’ is derived from the Latin word ‘societus’ meaning society and the Greek word ‘logos’ meaning study or science. The etymological meaning of sociology is thus the ‘science of society.’
Sociology is the study of man's behavior in groups or of the interaction among human beings, of social relationships and of the processes by which human group activity takes place.
 
Definition of Sociology
Here are some definitions given by some important sociologists.
  1. Sociology is the science of society or of social phenomena— LF Ward.
  2. Sociology is the study of human interaction and inter-relation, their conditions and consequences—M Ginsberg.
  3. Sociology is the study of the relationships between man, and his human environment—HP Fairchild.
  4. “The chief interest of sociology is the people, the ideas, the customs, the other distinctively human phenomenon which surrounds man and influence him, and which are, 2therefore, part of his environment. Sociology also devotes some attention to certain aspects of the geographical environment and to some natural as contrasted with human phenomena, but this interest is secondary to its pre-occupation with human beings and the products of human life in association. Our general field of study is man as he is related to other men and to the creation of other men which surround him”—ME Jones.
  5. “Sociology seeks to discover the principles of cohesion and of order within the social structure, the way in which it roots and grows within an environment, the moving equilibrium of changing structure and changing environment, the main trends of the incessant change, the forces which determine its direction at any time, the harmonies and conflicts, the adjustments and mal-adjustments within the structure as they are revealed in the light of human desires, and thus the practical application of means to end in the creative activities of social man”—McIver.
The various definitions of sociology can be summarized as:
  1. Sociology is a science of society.
  2. Sociology is the science of social relationships.
  3. Sociology is the study of social life.
  4. Sociology is the study of human behavior in groups.
  5. Sociology is the study of social actions.
  6. Sociology is the study of forms of social relationships.
  7. Sociology is the study of social groups or social systems.
 
Scope of Sociology
In the broadest sense, sociology is the study of human interactions and inter-relations; their conditions and consequences. Thus, ideally sociology has for its field the whole life of man in society, all the activities whereby man maintained themselves in the struggle for existence, the rules 3and regulations which define their relations to each other, the systems of knowledge and belief, art and morals and any other capacities and habits acquired and developed in the course of their activities as members of society. But this is too wide a scope for any science to deal with properly. An attempt has therefore, been made to limit and demarcate the field of sociology.
The scope of sociology is very wide. It is a general science but it is also a special science. As a matter of fact, the subject matter of all social sciences is society. What distinguishes them from one another is their viewpoint. Thus economics studies society from an economic viewpoint; political sciences studies it form political viewpoint while history is a study of society from a historical view. Sociology alone studies social relationships and society itself.
McIver correctly remarks—“What distinguishes each from each is the selective interest.”
Green also remarks—“The focus of attention upon relationships makes sociology a distinctive field, however closely allied to certain others it may be.”
Sociology studies all the various aspects of society such as social traditions, social processes, social morphology, social control, social pathology, effect of extra-social elements upon social relationships etc. Actually, it is neither possible nor essential to delimit the scope of sociology because, this would be, as Sprott put it—“A brave attempt to confine an enormous mass of slippery material into a relatively simple system of pigeon holes.”
 
2. SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Sociology and anthropology lie so close together that they often appear as two names for the same field of enquiry. Anthropology is derived from two Greek words ‘anthropos’ meaning man and ‘logos’ meaning study. Thus, according to its etymological meaning, anthropology is the study of man 4as such, that is a study of the development of human race. Anthropology has thus a very wide field of study. Anthropology has been divided into three divisions: (i) Physical anthropology which deals with bodily characteristics of early man and our primitive contemporaries, (ii) Cultural anthropology which investigates the cultural remains of early man and of the living cultures of some of the primitive contemporaries, (iii) Social anthropology which deals with the institutions and human relationships of primitive, of the past and present.
Anthropology thus devotes its attention entirely to the study of man and his culture as they developed in times long past. Sociology, on the other hand, studies the same phenomena, as they exist at present. According to Kluckhohn, “The sociological attitude has tended towards the practical and present, the anthropological towards pure understanding and the past”.
Sociology depends very much on the material supplied by anthropology. In fact the historical part of sociology is identical with cultural anthropology. Anthropology has contributed substantially to the study of sociology. Sociology has to depend upon anthropology to understand the present day social phenomena from our knowledge of the past. Sociology has borrowed cultural area, cultural traits, interdependent traits, cultural lag and other conceptions from social anthropology on whole basis cultural sociology has developed. The discoveries of Linton and Kardiner have influenced sociology in no small degree. From their researches it is evident that each society has its own culture and the personality of its members is molded according to it in their fancy. Likewise the research done by Malinowski has proved valuable to sociology. He has given a functional viewpoint to the study of culture. The researches of Franz Boas and Otto Kineberg have proved that there is no co-relation between anatomical characteristics and mental superiority. The concept of racial superiority has been disproved by anthropology.5
According to Hoebel, “ Sociology and social anthropology are, in their broadest sense, one and the same.” A.L Karoeber has called sociology and anthropology twin sisters. Evans Pritchard considers social anthropology to be a branch of sociology.
In the same way, some of the conclusions drawn by sociologists have also helped the anthropologists. For example, anthropologists like Morgan and his followers have come to the conclusion regarding the existence of primitive communism from the conception of private property in our modern society. Robert Redfield writes, “Viewing the whole United States, one sees that the social relations between sociology and anthropology are closer than those between anthropology and political science”.
In spite of the interdependence of these two sciences the field of the study of each is quite distinct. Keesing writes “but the two academic disciplines have grown up independently, and handle quite different types of problems, using markedly different research methods”. Firstly, anthropology is the study of the whole society. It studies its political and legal problems, family organization, religion, art industries and occupations, etc. Sociology studies only its particular aspects. The focus of sociologist is social interaction. Secondly, anthropology studies cultures, which are small and static while sociology studies civilizations, which are vast and dynamic. That is why anthropology has developed faster and better than sociology. Thirdly, anthropology and sociology are separate sciences as the former is the study of man and his cultures as they developed in times long past; while the latter studies the same phenomena as they are at present. According to Kluckhohn, “The sociological attitude has tended towards the practical and present, the anthropological towards pure understanding and the past”. Lastly, sociology is concerned with both social philosophy and social planning whereas anthropology is not 6concerned with social planning. It does not make any suggestions for the future.
 
3. SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Social psychology deals with mental processes of man considered as a social being. It studies particularly the influence of group life on the mental development of individual, the effect of the individual mind on the group, and the development of the mental life of the groups within themselves and in their relations with one another. Sociology, on the other hand, studies the various kinds of groups, which compose the society.
Social psychology has to depend on sociology to understand properly human nature and behavior as it is sociology which provides the necessary material regarding the structure, organization and culture of societies to which individuals belong. According to Kimball young, “we might say that while our major emphasis is on the individual in interaction with others, such interaction can only be understood within the social life and cultural matrix in which it occurs.” The sociologists in their turn also have to draw up social psychology. They recognize the importance among other things of psychological factors in understanding the changes in social structure. Lapiere and Fransworth wrote, “Social psychology is a link between psychology and sociology.” As a result of the close relation between the two Karl Pearson has not accepted the two as separate sciences. In other words of MacIver, “Sociology in special gives aid to psychology, just as psychology gives special aid to sociology.” It is now generally assumed that a scientific study of social phenomenon must have a psychological basis; and the psychological facts regarding human nature should not be assumed but should be explored by direct observation as well as experimentally. The improved understanding of human behavior will make the science of sociology more objective and realistic.7
Mac Dougall and Freud were of the view that whole of the social life could be reduced finally to psychological forces. In that case sociology would be reduced to a mere branch of psychology. But this view cannot be accepted as the causes affecting social behavior are other than psychological also like the economic, geographical, political, etc. Social life cannot, therefore, be studied exclusively with the methods of the psychologists. The fact of mutual dependence of social psychology and sociology should not be interpreted to mean that one is either identical with or the branch of the other. As a matter of fact there are important points of distinction between these two related fields of investigation.
  1. Difference of subject matter: Firstly, sociology is a study of the society as a whole while social psychology is merely the study of individuals in interaction as members of groups and of the effect of that interaction on them. Sociology has been aptly compared to the science of mechanics which considers masses of matter and properties of matter in mass, and social psychology to molecular physics which deals with molecules and their invocation in view of the fact that sociology studies the organization of social groups, their central values and the various forms of institutional behavior arising on account of them and social psychology is concerned with the individuals as members of the group. The individual is the unit of analysis in social psychology. As remarked by Klineberg, “The primary concern of the sociologist is group behavior, and that of the social psychologist is the behavior of the individual in the group situation.” Bogardus writes “As psychology analyses mental processes so sociology analyses social processes.”
  2. Difference of attitudes: Further, sociology and social psychology deal with social life from different angles. The former studies society from the viewpoint of the community element while the latter from the viewpoint of psychological factors involved.8
 
4. SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology is the science, which studies the internal mechanisms of human behavior. It is but clear that in order to study human behavior fully, the study of internal aspects is absolutely essential. Almost all our actions are the overt expression of our motives, desires, instincts, impulses, and emotions. At the same time, our actions are also regulated or modified through external conditions and stimuli. Sociologists study these external conditions and this knowledge is helpful to psychologists in their analysis of human behavior. To get knowledge about the changing aspects of social life, which affect our thinking, attitudes, and values, psychologists have to depend upon sociologists. Sociology is a social science, which deals with group life, whereas psychology deals with human being only as an individual. Sociology is mainly concerned with the external aspects of behavior, while psychology deals with the internal aspects. The methodology of two sciences is different—psychology uses experimental method and testing, whereas sociologists use survey and statistical method in general.
 
5. METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF SOCIOLOGY
The term “method” means an apt way of doing something. As we know, sociology is also a science, so it uses certain methods by which sociological facts could be collected, analyzed and put into proper form and certain conclusions drawn from them. To claim sociology as a science depends upon the use of an appropriate methodology which can eliminate the possibility of personal bias from influencing our comprehension and evaluation of social facts.
Sociology is still in its infancy. So, it does not have its own method for its researches. However, it has met with appreciable success in analyzing the social phenomenon by using the methods of other social sciences.9
Sociology, like every other science is an objective study of natural systems and since the social systems, like all systems, evolves in course of time; it must be investigated in the very process of its evolution through methods used in such branches of study. As the social phenomenon is very complex and the data to be collected are very large, it is difficult to suggest which particular method sociologists should employ. There are many methods in sociology, namely, historical method, observation method, laboratory or experimental method, common sense method, statistical method, anthropological or comparative method, survey method, detective method, philosophical method, etc.
The most common methods of sociology are discussed here.
 
Case Study
A case study is defined as, “An investigation of an individual or group in which the variables which are measured and whose empirical relations explored are characteristics of the individuals or group and not a sub-unit of it.” It is a form of qualitative analysis involving a very careful and complete observation of a person, a situation or an institution.
This method is usually employed for the study of professional criminal and other social deviants and involves an investigation and analysis of all factors entering into the case and its examination from as many points of view as possible. Some of the techniques used in this method are interviews, questionnaires, life histories, documents of all kinds having a bearing on the subject and all such materials, which may enable the sociologists to have a deep insight into the problem. Thoroughness is the keystone of this method.
Casework is based on the principles of acceptance, self-determination and confidentiality. The principle of acceptance refers to the attitude of the worker, his respect for the client as an individual which gives him a sense of security and encourages him to speak about his problems frankly, the 10principle of self determination allows the client to decide for himself rather than deciding for him; and the principle of confidentiality implies that the relationship between the case worker and the client is one of the trust and whatever is revealed to the worker is to be kept confidential and is not to be shared with anyone except in the interest of the client with his permission.
Case work is used in a variety of settings such as child care and child guidance institutions, schools, colleges, medical and psychiatric settings, family welfare, marriage counseling centers, institutions for the old and infirm as well as handicapped and also with people who suffer from addiction, character disorders, emotional disturbances and the like.
 
Questionnaire and Interview Method
The questionnaire is a list of important and pertinent questions concerning to a problem. It is sent to persons and associations concerned, requesting them to answer to the questions to the best of their knowledge and ability. The object is to obtain knowledge about facts known to the informant but not to the investigator. From answers received to certain questions predictions are made about social behavior. It is necessary that proper care should be taken in formulating questions; they should not be ambiguous, too many or too personal, nor too difficult to be answered by a man of average intelligence and common understanding.
The interview method consists in having direct personal contact with persons or groups concerned who are, in any way, connected with the problem under study. Discussion of the problem with the person interviewed at personal level goes a long way out in clearly understanding his problems and remedying them accordingly.
This method has been employed in bringing out some outstanding works such as “A medical study of sex 11adjustments” by Dr Dickinson and Dr Beam; “The sexual behavior in the human male and female” by Dr AC Kinsey etc.
Many kinds of information can be obtained either by interview or by questionnaire. The questionnaire has the great advantage of anonymity, making for more truthful answers. It also serves to cut out uncontrolled personal influences, and there is less likelihood of bias in the coding of replies. The interview is in general more flexible. Since the same questions can have different meanings to different people, the interviewer can remove such misunderstanding. He can probe for true replies and make ratings based on the whole of the subjects’ behavior. He can change the order of questions and prevent the subject looking over the whole list before answering.
 
The Public Opinion Poll Method
This method is used to seek and gauge the beliefs, sentiments and attitudes of the public on any given proposition. “Public poll” is very popular in America. Where data regarding public opinion about various social, economic and political situations are collected through this instrument very frequently. The public gives its view by answering ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Do not know’ to the proposition. The results of the public poll help the authorities concerned in modifying their policies accordingly.
 
The Social Survey Method
The social survey method consists in the collection of data concerned in the living and working conditions of the people in a given area with a view to formulating practical social measures for their betterment and welfare.
Thus social survey is concerned with collection of data relating to some problems of social importance with a view to 12formulating a constructive program for its solution. It is conducted within a fixed geographical limit. Social surveys are of various types. These are:
  1. General or specialized surveys;
  2. Direct or indirect surveys;
  3. Census surveys or sample surveys;
  4. Primary or secondary surveys;
  5. Official, semi-official or private surveys;
  6. Postal or personal surveys; etc.
It involves the following steps:
  1. Definition of the purpose or objects;
  2. Definition of the problem to be studied;
  3. The analysis of this problem in a schedule;
  4. The delimitation of the area or scope;
  5. Examination of all documentary sources;
  6. Field work;
  7. Arrangement, tabulation and statistical analysis of the data;
  8. The interpretation of the results;
  9. Deduction;
  10. Graphic expression.
These surveys are useful as they do not only provide detailed accounts of the social and economic facts but also bring home various social evils prevalent among the people of the area concerned and thereby draw the attention of the government to eradicate these evils by passing appropriate legislation. America and England have been making use of social surveys, both general and specialized, since long on a very large scale to solve some of their social problems. India and other underdeveloped countries are also now benefiting from social surveys both in the urban and rural areas, which they are conducting either on their own or with the co-operation, and help of other advanced countries.13
 
6. IMPORTANCE OF STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
Sociology is a very useful science especially for the physiotherapy professionals as discussed below:
  1. Sociology will help the physiotherapists and doctors to know the culture and social life of the patients. In a country like India, where people have their affiliation with different religions, castes, tribes ad communities, it is essential to know the culture of these groups. The customs, traditions, folkways, mores and values of the patients must be known before treating them, so as to make the medical and physiotherapy services more effective. For this, sociology is necessary.
  2. Treatment of diseases, mental or physical, is a co-operative venture in which a united effort of various medical, para-medical and even non-medical personnel is required. Knowledge of sociology helps physiotherapist to maintain congenial relationships between different personnel at different levels.
  3. The most important person who can help in the recovery is the patient himself. Unless he desires to be healed and co-operates in the process, treatment and physiotherapy care become very difficult indeed. Hence, it is of paramount importance that the physiotherapist must be able to gain full confidence of the patient. In this process, her knowledge of the social system and social relationships is very vital.
  4. To meet the needs of her patient adequately, it is essential that the physiotherapist develop self-understanding. She must strive constantly to become emotionally, mentally, morally and socially mature. The study of sociology along with psychological training is very useful in this process.14
  5. Today physiotherapy is not simply an effort to cure illness. Preventive services and promotion of health are also equally important aspects of physiotherapy. To be an effective agent of health promotion, knowledge of the community and facilities and resources available therein are essential. Sociology, which is called the science of human society, can play an important role in the understanding and improvement of community life.
  6. A large number of physiotherapists are working outside the hospital nowadays. In programmes like public health, industrial health, school health and so on, the physiotherapist has to work in very close proximity with different sections of the society. The knowledge she has about society is extremely useful.
  7. Technological progress has successfully eliminated many diseases, but it has brought new problems and challenges to the physiotherapists. The problems of the aged, patient suffering from AIDS or persons suffering from permanent disabilities due to industrial or various other types of accidents are all examples. Deep understanding of human behavior, relationships and psychology can be very useful in handling such situations.