The definition of any science — and sociology is no exception — begins with the definition of its key foundations, laws, categories, and methodology. From the name itself - “socio” (society, community) and “logos” (science, knowledge) - we can conclude that sociology is a science about society. But how to separate it from other social sciences, for example, political science, social psychology and others? What, in fact, is sociology? The definition of this science is given, among others, in the Webster dictionary: "Sociology is the science of the history of development, the laws of organization and the problems of the collective life of people as units of society representing certain social groups and communities."
But before we can answer the question of what is sociology, we must clearly understand what is a social group and community? Is every group of people such? People become a social group only by virtue of unification into this collective because of historically established stable ties. Not all situational ones, such as, for example, passengers on a ship or spectators in a cinema, namely, stable ones. Thus, a social group can be called a family, an educational or labor collective. But also community can be called people who directly may not be familiar with each other - age groups, social strata and classes, nationalities, religious communities, in the end, the state and nation.
The definition of what sociology is in relation to these communities and groups can be described as follows: this science studies the laws of the formation of these groups, their functioning in the construction of the state mechanism and the relationship between them. This is the subject of sociology. Of course, Aristotle also called a person "zoon politikon" - that is, "a public animal", but sociology as a science is quite young. It was born only in the 19th century, and since then other areas have "spun off" from it, taking shape in independent social sciences.
The first to introduce the term “sociology” into scientific use was Auguste Comte in 1842. In his work “The Course of Positive Philosophy”, he explained what sociology was and described this science. Being an adherent of the principle of “stability and progress”, O. Kont overturned on society the physical ideas about the balance and symmetry of all structural elements of society. Thus, according to Comte, sociology is knowledge about society as a kind of structural organism in which each “molecule” can be studied from the standpoint of the public good, and sociology itself can be considered as social statics and social dynamics. He suggested exploring social processes following the example of the natural sciences. Therefore, the Comte method is also called social physics.
A great contribution to determining what sociology is was made by K. Marx. After analyzing the society of the contemporary period of the “industrial revolution”, Marx developed a brilliant and as yet unrefounded doctrine of socio-economic formations. The main "drive belt" in the processes driving society, he called material and economic relations. It is also a merit of Marx that he defines society as a dynamically developing structure, which is a product of historical development.
Scientists Max Weber and Emil Durkheim developed their own sociological theories that formed the basis of the subject of sociology. What are these motives that unite people of different abilities and levels of development into the same social groups? They asked a question. According to Weber, this is the achievement of an individual’s own goals through the collective efforts of an entire group of people. E. Durkheim answers this question differently: the “collective consciousness” makes the individual act this way, and not otherwise, that is, the norms and rules adopted in society, society, the country to which the individual belongs.