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Routledge Revivals Sociology First published in 1962, this seminal work is an introduction to sociology in a world context, and a sophisticated guide to the major themes, problems and controversies in contemporary sociology. The book remains unique in its organisation and presentation of sociological ideas and problems, in its lack of insularity (its wide coverage of diverse types of society and of sociological thought from various cultural traditions), and in its systematic connection of sociology with the broad themes of modern social and political thought. ‘A work of authority and mature scholarship…of a consistently high standard.’— Times Literary Supplement ‘A book which glows with knowledge, but which is also balanced and literate.’— Tribune B.Sociology A guide to problems and literature T.Bottomore . OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. 2010. or in any information storage or retrieval system.First published in 1962 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd This edition first published in 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square. Milton Park.uk. without permission in writing from the publishers.tandf. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic. New York. mechanical. Oxon. an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library. Abingdon. © 1962 George Allen & Unwin All rights reserved. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www. ISBN 0-203-85134-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 13:978-0-415-57893-6 (hbk) ISBN 13:978-0-203-85134-0 (ebk) ISBN 10:0-415-57893-0 (hbk) ISBN 10:0-203-85134-X (ebk) . including photocopying and recording. or other means.co.eBookstore. now known or hereafter invented. NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. BOTTOMORE LONDON UNWIN UNIVERSITY BOOKS .B.SOCIOLOGY A Guide to Problems and Literature BY T. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library. 1956. © George Allen & Unwin 1962 UNWIN UNIVERSITY BOOKS George Allen and Unwin Ltd 40 Museum Street.1 ISBN 0-203-85134-X Master e-book ISBN .uk.C. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study. research. Enquiry should be made to the publisher. no portion may be reproduced by any process without written permission. 2010. London.FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1962 SECOND IMPRESSION 1963 THIRD IMPRESSION 1964 FOURTH IMPRESSION 1965 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. W. criticism or review.eBookstore.co. as permitted under the Copyright Act.tandf. FOR MARY . I considered that an attempt to set out the principles and methods of sociology in their bearing upon the study of Indian society might be illuminating not only for Indian students. In the first place. I have used this opportunity to ‘introduce’ sociology in a way which seems to me most likely to be useful and stimulating for the student.B. Finally. If I do not mention them by name here it is because there are so many who helped me. theories and methods in relation to the culture and institutions of Indian society. . for the preparation of a guide to sociology which would present sociological concepts.B. and would reveal some of the major difficulties in classification. As a prelude to this I have discussed in the first part of the book some general difficulties of sociological theory and method. but for others. When the Social Sciences Department of UNESCO invited me to write the book I accepted readily. T. I had already a general interest in the under-developed countries and in the social changes accompanying their industrialization. After the first version of this book had been written I had the opportunity to spend several months in India and to discuss it with Indian scholars. and I was particularly interested in the economic and social development of India. would provide a better introduction to the subject for Indian students than the existing textbooks. which deal very largely with the Western societies. Such a book. It would show how far the accepted sociological concepts and categories are adequate and universally valid. comparison and generalization. it was thought.PREFACE The occasion for this book was a request to UNESCO from the Indian National Commission for UNESCO. Moreover. and to show how sociologists have tried to reduce the complexity of the problems and to make them amenable to scientific enquiry. Throughout the book I have aimed to formulate the difficult theoretical problems with which sociology is concerned. I have benefited greatly from their criticisms and suggestions in re-writing the book.   Social Stratification   122 PART IV.   Religion and Morality   153 14.   Social Structure.   Education   172 .   Political Institutions   98 10.  SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 69 7.  SOCIAL CONTROL 144 12.CONTENTS   PREFACE   vii   PART I.   The Social Sciences. Societies and Civilizations   70 8. History and Philosophy   35 PART II.   Sociological Methods   25 4.   Population and Society   50 6.   The Study of Society   2 2.  THE SCOPE AND METHODS OF SOCIOLOGY 1 1.   Sociological Theory   11 3.   Economic Institutions   85 9.   The Family and Kinship   109 11.   Law   163 15.  POPULATION AND SOCIAL GROUPINGS 49 5.   Types of Social Group   59 PART III.   Custom and Public Opinion   147 13. Evolution.  SOCIAL CHANGE 184 16.   Social Problems   217   INDEX   226 . Social Policy and Social Planning   206 19.Contents  ix PART V. Progress   185 17.  APPLIED SOCIOLOGY 205 18.   Sociology.   Change.   Factors in Social Change   195 PART VI. PART ONE THE SCOPE AND METHODS OF SOCIOLOGY . The chief intellectual antecedents of sociology are not difficult to identify. an account similar to that which H. derived from the Latin socius and Greek logos. the philosophy of history. and to examine the characteristics which distinguish sociology from earlier social thought.3 The circumstances in which sociology appeared may be distinguished into intellectual and material. At one time he ‘regretted the hybrid character’ of the word. It was Comte who named the new science Sociology. the other social—from which modern civilization has sprung’. Naturally. They were themselves latecomers in the intellectual history of man. Reason and Unreason in Society (1947).Ginsberg. A. ‘Broadly it may be said that sociology has had a fourfold origin in political philosophy. 326.Radcliffe-Brown. Yet sociology is a modern science. as the least general and most complex of all And one of the greatest of modern anthropologists observed that ‘the science of human society is as yet in its extreme infancy’. which has not yet been attempted. Structure and Function in Primitive Society (1952). and the movements for social and political reform which found it necessary to undertake surveys of social conditions.2 was created in the nineteenth century. they were interwoven. System of Positive Polity (trans. in the fact that it recalls the two historical sources—the one intellectual. in his classification of the sciences. there is a real sense in which a new science of society. Vol. p. Kautilya’s Arthashástra and Aristotle’s Politics analyze political systems in ways which are still of interest to the sociologist. the philosophy of history and the social survey. 1 2 . and I shall discuss them in turn. religious teachers.Butterfield has provided for the natural sciences in The Origins of Modern Science (London 1950). in the writings of philosophers. made sociology both logically and chronologically posterior to the other sciences. where he gives prominence to a radical change in attitude to the physical world. not much more than a century old. and an adequate sociological history of sociology. observations and ideas which are relevant to modern sociology. but later suggested that ‘there is a compensation…for this etymological defect. biological theories of evolution. were particularly important at the outset.R.H. 2.Bridges). Nevertheless. 1 M. It is worthwhile to consider the circumstances in which this happened. J. I.CHAPTER 1 THE STUDY OF SOCIETY For thousands of years men have observed and reflected upon the societies and groups in which they live. 3 The histories of social thought emphasise unduly its continuity. would have to take account of these interconnections.’1 Two of these.1 It is true that we can find. It would be helpful and illuminating to have for sociology and the modern social sciences. Auguste Comte. In this brief introduction I can only mention some of the more important factors. and legislators of all civilizations and epochs. p. and not merely a new name. Millar. pp. discusses the nature of society. the distinctions of rank. and of a group of Scottish philosophers and historians of the latter part of the eighteenth century. Similar features are to be found in many of the writings of those whom I have called We must except the work of the fourteenth century Arab philosopher and historian.Bury. and even Marx. ‘To this species of philosophical investigation. Adam Ferguson’s Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) is perhaps the best example of this approach. 10. the concepts of historical periods and social types. an expression which coincides pretty nearly in its meaning with that of Natural History as employed by Mr.B. Hume.2 Among its founders were the Abbé de Saint-Pierre. and on the scientific side. in this essay and in later writings.The Study of Society  3 The philosophy of history as a distinct branch of speculation is a creation of the eighteenth century. government. History of the Philosophy of History (1893) and J. of Herder in Germany. Ferguson. Works. property. 1 For accounts of the development of the philosophy of history and studies of some of the writers mentioned above. This new historical attitude is clearly expressed in a passage in Dugald Stewart’s ‘Memoir of Adam Smith’. by what gradual steps the transition has been made from the first simple efforts of uncultivated nature. morality and law. 33–4. to a state of things so wonderfully artificial and complicated. our opinions. Ferguson. and that its place must be taken by speculation based on the ‘known principles of human nature’. he is concerned to classify societies into types. and is reflected in the writings of Montesquieu and Voltaire in France. in such a period of society as that in which we live. we compare our intellectual acquirements. An Arab Philosophy of History (2nd ed. Furthermore. 2 . 1955).’ In the early part of the nineteenth century the philosophy of history became an important intellectual influence through the writings of Hegel and of Saint-Simon. manners and institutions.Flint. on the philosophical side. and to distinguish stages in social development. with those which prevail among rude tribes.’ Stewart goes on to say that information is lacking on many stages of this progress. the notions of development and progress.1 From these two thinkers stems the work of Marx and Comte. The Prolegomena to his Universal History are remarkable in expounding a theory of history which anticipates that of the European eighteenth century writers. that is. and thus some of the important strands in modern sociology.3 ‘When. population. Robertson and others. and with what some French writers have called Histoire Raisonnée. he treats society as a system of related institutions. it cannot fail to occur to us as an interesting question. and Giambattista Vico. The Idea of Progress (1920). custom. We may briefly assess the contributions of the philosophy of history to sociology as having been.Issawi. Vol. but also as the work of an exceptional man who had neither predecessors nor followers. They were concerned with the whole range of social institutions. The general idea of progress which they helped to formulate profoundly influenced men’s conception of history. See C. It was the philosophical historians who were largely responsible for the new conception of society as something more than ‘political society’ or the state. family and kinship. see R. which has no appropriated name in our language. Ibn Khaldun. 3 Dugald Stewart. and made a careful distinction between the state and what they called ‘civil society’. in its German translation it seems to have provided Hegel with his terminology and influenced his approach in his early writings on society. I shall take the liberty of giving the title of Theoretical or Conjectural History. Comte. that human phenomena could be classified and measured. following the recognition that.3 We can see from the brief survey of its origins some of the characteristics which early sociology assumed. Les ouvriers Européens (1855. which itself had two sources. only makes sense if it is believed that something can be done to remove or mitigate such evils. the prestige of natural science and the movements for social reform. the existence of widespread poverty in the midst of great and growing productive powers. Consciousness and Society (London 1959). the pre-history of sociology can be assigned to a period of about one hundred years. This was.Granger. On the history of sociology see H. Thus. an important element in the conviction that exact knowledge might be applied in social reform. the philosophy of history and the social survey. A social survey. itself influenced by the material possibilities of an industrial society. in Condorcet’s attempts to work out a ‘mathématique sociale’. It was. of poverty or any other social problem. and later. in such pioneer works as Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland (21 vols. and Spencer. The philosophy of history was not merely a child of thought. which was responsible for the change of outlook whereby poverty ceased to be a natural problem (or a natural condition) and became a social problem. The other was the concern with poverty (the ‘social problem’). but was the result of human ignorance or of exploitation. One was the growing conviction that the methods of the natural sciences should and could be extended to the study of human affairs. but from a new conception of social evils. Eden’s The State of the Poor (3 vols. Under these two influences. an affliction of nature or of providence.G.1 in Quételet’s ‘physique sociale’. ou essai de physique sociale (1835). Its progress can best be traced in the industrial societies of Western Europe. 2nd enlarged edn. 1791–9).Stuart Hughes. A second important element in modern sociology is provided by the social survey. they represent a remarkable unanimity and an abrupt change in the direction of men’s interest in the study of human society. 1 2 3 See G. The formative period of sociology as a distinct science occupies the second half of the nineteenth century. A Short History of Sociology (London 1962). I think. Marx. A. Similarly. Life and Labour of the People in London (1891–1903). 1956). These intellectual movements. that as man had established an ever more complete control over his physical environment so he might come to control his social environment. The social survey has remained one of the principal methods of sociological enquiry. and Heinz Maus. it was born also of two revolutions. La mathématique sociale du Marquis de Condorcet (Paris. the industrial revolution in England. . at the least. and by the contrast of cultures which the voyages of discovery brought to men’s attention. let us say. the social survey did not emerge only from the ambition of applying the methods of natural science to the human world. roughly from 1750 to 1850. were not isolated from the social circumstances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Western Europe.2 and in later studies such as Le Play.Quételet. 1877–9). or. and the French revolution.4  Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature the philosophical historians. and Booth. The new interest in history and in social development was aroused by the rapidity and profundity of social change. the social survey came to occupy an important place in the new science of society. poverty was no longer a natural phenomenon. These features re-appear in the nineteenth century in the work of the early sociologists. open to study and amelioration. from the publication of Montesquieu’s Esprit des lois up to the work of Comte and the early writings of Spencer. Sur l’homme et le développement de ses facultés. in industrial societies.M. and Sir F. 1797). The Sociological Review. Secondly. it was concerned with the whole social life of man. the other social sciences.’1 Similarly Durkheim. and how it is to be related to the other social sciences. He envisaged. Thirdly. seeking to identify the principal stages in social evolution. The general concern with the scientific character of sociology appears most clearly in the attempts to formulate general laws of social evolution. The opposition to sociology in its early phase came largely from the feeling that it aimed. did not suppose that sociology could be an encyclopaedic science. In the work of later sociologists such ambitions are explicitly disclaimed.Hobhouse. It is doubtful whether. both in sociology and in anthropology. under the influence of the philosophy of history. But it does not follow from this that Comte and Spencer (or. ‘… General Sociology is neither a separate science complete in itself before specialism begins. however. exhibiting the life of the whole in the parts and returning from the study of the parts to a fuller comprehension of the whole. correlating results. sociology. It seems clear that there is a need for a social science which is concerned with society as a whole. identical in character with the natural sciences. conceived sociology as ‘a science which has the whole social life of man as its sphere’. was modelled upon biology. nourishing and nourished by it in turn. and also make a distinction between the claims as to the scope of the subject and the claims as to its discoveries. in much the same way as Hobhouse. even at the present day. it was conceived as a positive science. especially from those who were working in narrower and more specialised fields.The Study of Society  5 In the first place it was encyclopaedic. economists. although he was especially concerned to emphasise the autonomy of sociology and to specify the particular range of phenomena with which it should deal. a diffusion of the sociological approach. Only at a later stage did he think that it might be possible to construct a general sociology. for example. is to raise the problem of how such a synoptic science can be pursued. nor is it a mere synthesis of the social sciences consisting in a mechanical juxtaposition of their results. sociology has altogether succeeded in living down its early pretentiousness. (London) I(1). for unbelievers. in the nineteenth century. comprising more general laws based upon the laws established in the 1 L. It is rather a vitalising principle that runs through all social investigation. or that they made no important contributions to its advancement. and not as another specialism. This is evident in the preoccupation with social evolution. Editorial Introduction. not at co-ordinating. reinforced by the biological theory of evolution. and political scientists. No-one believes any longer that Comte or Spencer discovered the laws of social evolution (though many believe that Marx did). among them historians. Hobhouse. But we should distinguish among the different claims which were made. stimulating inquiry. and thus a transformation of the special social sciences from within. Marx) were entirely mistaken about the scope of sociology.T. and with the whole of history. or with total social structure. but he viewed its relation with the other social sciences as one of mutual exchange and mutual stimulation. and in the widely accepted conception of society as an organism. These wide claims naturally aroused opposition. . or that it could be pursued in isolation from the other social sciences. it was evolutionary. 1908. To say this. but at absorbing. In the eighteenth century the social sciences were conceived broadly upon the model of physics. Lévy-Bruhl). ‘Sociologie et sciences sociales’. but in this case by the construction of an abstract science of the ‘forms’ of social life. 1898. Sociological Papers (London). and a number of surveys from a sociological viewpoint of the year’s writing in several distinct fields of social enquiry. Here. LV. aimed to establish the scope and methods of the discipline. I. 1.3 It can hardly be claimed that even the more modest aims which Hobhouse and Durkheim formulated have been achieved in a manner compelling general recognition. in whose work. incarnated in the organisation of the Année Sociologique. 1898. p. Many French scholars. 1903..6  Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature particular fields of the special sciences. through the Année Sociologique which he founded in 1898. The Année Sociologique was restarted (for the second time) after 1945 and is still a valuable interdisciplinary journal. p. law. London 1957). I. Revue Philosophique. it is only possible to the extent that these sciences are developed’. 2 Raymond Aron. comparative religion. Granet). in economics (F. we see the same concern to promote a sociological approach within existing disciplines. customs and religion. the history of law. etc. stimulated by Marxism. in diverse disciplines. and ‘On the relation of Sociology to the social sciences and to philosophy’. a pressing need to be regularly informed of researches made in the special sciences. as elsewhere. Later sociology diverged in certain respects from these aims.’1 In Germany. 1904. These various interests were united in the writings of Max Weber. Durkheim justified this arrangement by saying: ‘Sociologists have. for it is here that are to be found the materials from which sociology must be constructed.Simiand). social statistics. to show its worth by the investigation of major social phenomena. in linguistics (Cahen. the economic sciences. in law (Davy. iv. 1. politics. and belonging to special branches of sociology. Of the two thinkers Durkheim was more successful in introducing the sociological approach into other social sciences. economics.2 In his editorial preface to the first volume of the Année Sociologique. each issue of which contained one or two original monographs. a renewal of interest in the construction of general theoretical systems. German Sociology English translation. there was a continuing interest in historical interpretation and the sociology of culture. This pre-occupation is open to several objections. an attempt was made to define and limit the field of sociology. 3 Année Sociologique. there was. as in that of Durkheim. For since general sociology can only be the synthesis of these special sciences. since it can consist only in a comparison of their most general results. Durkheim’s ideas were conveyed not only through his own writings but also. were influenced and stimulated by Durkheim’s work. 1 Année Sociologique. for a time. history. largely under the influence of Simmel. Durkheim explained that ‘our efforts will tend especially to promote studies dealing with very limited subjects. 2 . His conception of sociology was. and particularly Durkheim. as Raymond Aron has noted. Thus the classical sociologists. in history (Marc Bloch. It seems an unwise undertaking to attempt the construction of such systems at a stage where there are still very few well established generalisations at See especially Emile Durkheim. But alongside these endeavours. so to speak. we believe. and to associate it closely with the existing social sciences. and perhaps even more effectively.2 sociology was at first rejected on account of its encyclopaedic character. Meillet)—to mention only the most prominent. In the first place. in anthropology (Mauss). Lipset.M. the influence of sociology is less marked.1 These studies make up a large part of the current research on political institutions. or directing idea. but the sociologist’s view is that it should take place within the framework H. The growth of economic planning has also brought into greater prominence the sociological aspects of economic behaviour. However. political science. and. 1956) p. but their investigation is an important part of sociology and properly considered is inseparable from the study of political and economic institutions. ‘Electoral Behaviour’ by G.The Study of Society  7 a lower level. Sociology (with social anthropology) was the first science to be concerned with social life as a whole. leaders). more recently. or its re-emergence as an ‘imperialistic’ discipline aiming at their subjugation.). The relations between sociology and other social sciences will be discussed more fully in Chapter 4. ‘Political Sociology’ by R. In the case of economics. Furthermore. The fundamental conception. and VI(2) 1957. have been conducted or inspired by sociologists. A recent survey of American sociology3 shows that in 1953–4 the two major fields of sociological research. were urban and community studies. elites). urban life.2 The place of sociology in the study of society can now be more accurately defined. etc. in terms of the number of projects. which are not claimed by any of the other social sciences. Sociology in the United States of America (UNESCO.Bendix and S. of pressure groups. and marriage and the family. religion and morals. the sociological contribution has been to show the connection between the particular institutions being studied and the social structure as a whole. Specialisation is unavoidable in the study of human society. of elections and electoral behaviour. there has been some inclination to concentrate upon ‘residual’ subjects. But this is not the whole story. Secondly. 2 These instances are referred to only as examples. There is much evidence that the sociological approach has in fact spread widely in the other social sciences. sociological studies of the organisation of work in industrial enterprises. and it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between political science and political sociology. It was observed above that pre-occupation with some of these ‘residual’ subjects may become excessive. in sociology is that of social structure. In recent years the numerous studies of political parties (organisation. economics. these theoretical endeavours tend once again towards the isolation of sociology from the other social sciences. The extent of sociological work in this field can be seen from two trend reports published in Current Sociology.Dupeux. have contributed substantially to economic knowledge. the family. 18. and of public administration (bureaucracy. of the processes of industrialisation. The trend in some other countries has been similar. and to insist upon the importance of comparative study. III(4) 1954–5. From this follows the sociologist’s interest in aspects of social life which had previously been studied only in an unsystematic way. social stratification. Political science provides the best example. in the domain of research. of industrial relations. and which have a ‘social problem’ character. Within the fields of the established disciplines. 3 1 .. law. though without any intention of establishing a closed frontier between it and the other sciences. which has its own highly developed theoretical system.Zetterberg (ed. bureaucracy. with the whole complex system of social institutions and social groups which constitutes a society. Most sociologists should themselves be specialists. This is not to claim that the sociologist carries around a master plan of social structure which he communicates to the specialist. in a standard work on economic development1 devotes much attention to the economic effects of caste. The Economic Development of India (4th revised edn.N. Religion and the caste system are crucial factors in Indian social development.8  Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature of a general conception of social structure. In these matters social anthropologists have had certain advantages. and the latter (it has been suggested)2 with the need for expert advisers in the administration of tribal areas. The former was connected with the growth of an industrial and commercial economy. Since the achievement of independence India has been going through an economic and social revolution. and that specialists should have some knowledge of general sociology. 1952). Although they have been chiefly interested in kinship and ritual. although in India.Saksena. 1958. as in Europe. therefore. Sociology has only come to occupy an important place among the social sciences in recent years. with the industrialisation of many tribal societies (as in Africa) there has been a growth of cooperative research involving economists. The conditions of Indian society. More recently. and such collaboration implies both that the sociologist should have some competence in one or other of the special social sciences. although some will continue to be mainly concerned with the general features of social structure. ‘Trends in the teaching of sociology and social research in India’. I(1). and they are likely to specialise increasingly in the future. and for castes themselves to develop as pressure groups). because some of the principal elements in the social structure are those with which sociology is especially concerned. and many of the problems of this revolution can only be solved with the help of sociological enquiry. Many writers upon Indian politics have observed the influence of religion (the Hindu parties) and especially of caste (the tendency for candidates to be selected from important caste groups. political organisation and law. p. sociologists and others. The Journal of Social Sciences (Agra). and indeed the whole system of social control. The first social sciences to develop were economics and social anthropology. is pervaded by religious conceptions and can hardly be studied in isolation from religion. and the reasons for its present rapid growth are plain. because of the nature of the societies which they have usually studied. based upon wide comparative study. 3. This circumstance is favourable not only to sociological research but also to a close co-operation between the social sciences. and no social scientist can afford to ignore their effects upon economic progress. anthropologists. Dr. What is needed is a close collaboration between sociologists and other social scientists. political scientists. their situation has become more like that of sociologists. . of course. there is a long tradition of philosophical reflection upon social problems. dispose the special social sciences towards a sociological approach. 1 2 1 The work of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute in Rhodesia is a good example.1 The systematic study of Indian society began during the period of British rule. At the same time the sociologist has a particularly important role in India. Law. Vera Anstey. Anstey. R. and should be associated with an awareness of the variability of social institutions and social structure. they have also been able to study the economic and political institutions of tribal societies without fear of trespassing upon the domain of other scholars. and secondly. rather than upon the solitary work of individual scholars. there is a distinct revival of comparative studies. There is a great opportunity for the development of comparative studies. the great accumulation of knowledge (which has made difficult. an extremely complex phenomenon. It is natural therefore that the interest of sociologists should be concentrated upon the analysis of Indian social structure. it called for a wide knowledge of different types of society and historical periods. But it seems more difficult than in the study of the natural world to arrive at a satisfactory division of the subject matter. there are signs that the situation may be changing again. and they depend increasingly upon international co-operation. The view was not entirely unfounded in as much as Western science and technology have been the principal factors in transforming the modern world. the decline in favour of the comparative method.2 By contrast. The great nineteenth century sociologists have been criticised for their encyclopaedic conception of the discipline. the European nations). since India is going through an industrial revolution similar in many respects to that which occurred earlier in Europe. here also. and the desire to control and direct that change.The Study of Society  9 There is another aspect of the study of human society which should be considered here. and perhaps impossible. But it would be unfortunate if the study of society came to mean. The great majority of sociologists have been engaged in studying very small segments of their own societies. the kind of scholarship which the work of Hobhouse or Max Weber displays). The present division of labour between the social sciences is based upon traditional. Fortunately. and a view of human society which goes beyond the particular features of the sociologist’s local community. and sociologists are beginning to emulate social anthropologists in their devotion to field-work in alien societies. The scientific study of social phenomena is impossible without specialisation.e. But they are similar in requiring a broad general knowledge of types of social structure and social institution. Sociology has perhaps never been so ethnocentric as during the past few decades. these early scholars did not confine their interest to the European societies. they deal with a more limited range of phenomena. Even though sociology was formed in Western Europe. first. These characteristics of Western sociology are relevant to the situation in India. and in large measure as a response to the advent of industrial capitalist society. Human society is. These comparative studies differ in important respects from those of the nineteenth century. 2 It is true they were inclined to attribute a special importance to the Western societies. In this way Comte justified the limitation of his investigations to ‘the elite or avant garde of humanity’ (i. There are several reasons for this change. . by undertaking comparative studies of the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation in different structural and cultural contexts. and a wrong conception of specialisation. The development of sociology in India is due to much the same factors as at an earlier stage in Europe. But this had one great advantage. as having attained a stage of civilization which other societies would eventually reach after going through similar stages of development. They regarded the whole range of human societies as constituting the subject matter of their science. by taking as a framework for research the problems of social structure and social change in Asian societies. the emergence of new social problems resulting from rapid economic and social change. only the study of one’s own society. as Comte declared. recent sociology has been characterised by a much narrower range of interest. economic. . 1 Hans Gerth and C. For purposes of description and exposition it is still convenient to deal with social phenomena under the traditional headings. is bringing about a new division of the subject matter. the co-operation between sociology and the special social sciences has required specialisation in sociology along these lines. in terms of types of society. of microscopic and macroscopic phenomena. First. 27. and so on. but we should not assume that the scientific division of labour will always follow these lines. the autonomy of the separate institutions is limited: ‘In “less developed” societies than the mid-nineteenth century West. and the interdisciplinary research which this involves. as well as in more developed societies any one of the functions we have isolated may not have autonomous institutions serving it. in terms of the ‘elements of social structure’.10  Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature easily perceptible features. family institutions. it is apparent that the increasing scientific concern with solving theoretical problems. is the most useful one.Wright Mills. Character and Social Structure. It may be that this classification. p. In any case. Just what institutional orders exist in a more or less autonomous way is a matter to be investigated in any given society. e. as Gerth and Mills have observed. 1954). but it has nevertheless been reproduced to some extent within sociology itself. (London. religious.g. political.’1 Secondly. But we should bear in mind two other considerations. With the advent of sociology this division was implicitly challenged. more modest in their claims.e. in his criticism of Comte expressed a similar idea.’2 As to the so-called laws of social evolution. .’ K. to analyse them into relevant units or indicate their interconnections and to define “rules of procedure” and “schemes of interpretation”. of chemistry. of heredity and segregation. “Theory” here equals conceptual scheme or logical framework.e. They have been chiefly concerned to elucidate the character of the sociological approach (i. Modern sociologists have been.Popper.1 makes a distinction between sciences at different stages of development. 1957).B. namely as a body of propositions (still interconnected) which serve to map out the problem area…the propositions serve to classify phenomena. for example. on the whole. etc. In the latter activity they have formulated mainly that kind of limited generalisation which is involved by the activity of classification itself. is not a law.Nadel. we may assume. if the science is in an early stage of development—what is sometimes called its ‘natural-history’ stage—the laws may be merely the generalisations involved in classifying things into various classes. and says: “If a science is in a highly developed stage.R. The early sociologists believed that they had discovered a number of fundamental ‘social laws’. R. the laws of mechanics. it has become doubtful whether they should be regarded as laws at all. Its description. S. But “theory” can also be understood in another. Universal laws make assertions concerning some unvarying order …i. sense. any general body of sociological theory which has been validated or widely accepted. of natural selection.Braithwaite. at the present time. which constituted a body of theory capable of guiding both thought and action.F. less ambitious. K.R. or of human society. Cf.’1 1 2 1 Scientific Explanation (London 1953). but only a singular historical statement. but was not even a reasonable hypothesis (since it could not be tested). and to work out more precise concepts and more adequate classifications. concerning all processes of a certain kind… But we cannot hope to test a universal hypothesis nor to find a natural law acceptable to science if we are for ever confined to the observation of one unique process. 108–109. Durkheim.CHAPTER 2 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY There is not. proceeds in accordance with all kinds of causal laws. 1 ‘… only the most advanced sciences have reached this level of explanatory theory-building. The Poverty of Historicism (London 1957) pp. principally laws of social evolution. Such a process.Popper. the laws which have been established will form a hierarchy in which many special laws appear as logical consequences of a small number of highly general laws expressed in a very sophisticated manner. The Theory of Social Structure (London. however. p. with methodology rather than theory). in his discussion of ‘historicism’ observes: ‘The evolution of life on earth. is a unique historical process. as in physics. and it is in this sense that the present enquiry can be said to aim at a “theory”. he remarked that Comte’s ‘law of three stages’ was not only not a law. 1 It has been opposed by those philosophers and social theorists who have tried to make a rigorous distinction between the natural sciences on the one hand. can be formulated. which is already close to this formulation. that there can only be one such science…’ 2 Dilthey’s works have not been translated into English. The Theory of Economic Growth (London 1955). a true universal law. We could say: Whenever there exist economic circumstances a. in such terms. 3 For further discussion see Chapter 17 below. 3. Popper himself makes a distinction between ‘laws’ and ‘trends’.A. In sociology. results which the critics of historicism usually overlook.Arthur Lewis. 1 Cf. but which are as yet at a low stage of development.3 But it led also to some useful attempts at social classification. as can be seen See M. the concept of evolution produced a good deal of confusion (between evolution. This is the view which has been taken by many. Supposing this to be. p.12  Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature This does not mean that the evolutionary scheme has no value. asserting that while the former aim at ‘causal explanation’ the latter aim at the ‘interpretation’ or ‘understanding’ of meaning. where it is argued that the business of the sociologist is to establish causal connections and causal laws. 2 . b. and especially his Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften (1883). 4 Op cit. we should be able. There is an attempt to specify the conditions for such a trend. in a more precise formulation. and the historical and cultural sciences on the other. Let us take as an example Max Weber’s statement of the relationship between the Protestant ethic and capitalism. using sociological as well as economic concepts.Radcliffe-Brown. and suggests that universal laws of the type ‘Whenever there are conditions of the kind c there will be a trend of the kind t’.. c (to be specified) and a calvinist-type social ethic (emphasising the value of secular activity and the duty of abstinence). For the rejection of laws of social evolution does not mean that social change cannot be explained in terms of universal laws.Ginsberg.Durkheim.2 Dilthey’s influence was particularly strong in German sociology. at the establishment of a theoretical system. among the most eminent and explicit being Durkheim and Radcliffe-Brown. that the social sciences are generalising sciences which aim. Essays in Sociology and Social Philosophy (London 1957) Vol. The Rules of Sociological Method. and to fruitful analyses of the processes of social change. including Marx. in W. a good exposition and discussion of his views in two books by H.4 It would not be difficult to reformulate many propositions of the classical sociologists. A major influence in shaping this second conception of the social sciences is the work of Wilhelm Dilthey. and A. development and progress). 129. In biology it led ultimately to the science of genetics and the formulation of universal laws of heredity. sociologists and social anthropologists. there will be a trend towards rationalised economic production aiming at maximum output with minimum cost. in any particular instance. probably most. Wilhelm Dilthey: An Introduction (London 1944) and The Philosophy of Wilhelm Dilthey (London 1952).2 and was frequently a basis for philosophical rather than scientific thinking. The theses to be maintained here are that a theoretical science of human society is possible. A Natural Science of Society. 5 It is an important question for the economically under-developed countries. 1. There is.Hodges. however. p. ‘On the concept of evolution in sociology’. E. so far. to answer the question: how is this trend to be brought about?5 It has been assumed. like the natural sciences.R. Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein (1923). This might be answered (and often is) by referring to the youthfulness of the social sciences.) He concludes the lecture by asserting a close affinity between social science and history. however. despite the complexity of the subject matter. But Weber also believed that causal explanation was possible and necessary in sociology: ‘…it cannot be too strongly emphasized that any understanding of. ‘In my view [social anthropology] is much more like certain branches of historical scholarship—social history and the history of institutions and of ideas as contrasted with narrative and political history—than it is like any of the natural sciences’. or with interpreting the social actions of individuals on the basis of introspective knowledge of our own states of mind. The more Hegelian of Marxist writers have also proposed a philosophical theory of history in opposition to sociology as a generalising science. 15). and there are other examples which we shall examine later.3 In England. If.E. These facts are entangled in a network so intricate that an attempt to discover invariable sequences must meet with failure. 1 One of the most influential writings of this tendency is G. would not yield an interpretation of social facts in the light of our knowledge of people. since a part of the dispute turns upon the question whether the methods of the natural sciences can appropriately be used in studying social phenomena. A more recent book which critically examines sociology from this point of view is H.’ (p. 4 E. sociology is concerned with historical interpretation.Lukács. 3 . the scientific Max Weber.Sociological Theory  13 from Max Weber’s essays on the methods of the social sciences. the [human] action in question must be carefully verified by the customary methods of causal inference…’. Such sequences. Methodology of the Social Sciences (English translation. without much sign of growth. if discoverable. But the answer is not entirely convincing. or insight into. a number of English writers have claimed the social sciences as historical disciplines. and to one another.M. 11. as they hold. Reason and Revolution: Hegel and the Rise of Social Theory (New York. the place of social science must be there also’ (p. But there are some general points which may be rapidly reviewed. 1941). It will be convenient to examine some aspects of the problem in discussing sociological methods in the next chapter. critics would say that the plea of immaturity has been made for a long time. Croce’s historical philosophy was for a long time the dominant influence in social studies. 1958) argues that: ‘Social science aims at interpreting social facts. One powerful argument against the scientific character of the social sciences has been that they have not in fact produced anything resembling a natural law. Yet the criticism is exaggerated.1 Over the past century this has been one of the fundamental controversies in the social sciences and especially in sociology. and that is the interpretation which social science seeks. and ‘since no one doubts that the place of history is among the humanities. Durkheim’s study of suicide and Max Weber’s analysis of the relations between Protestantism and capitalism establish such connections.Marcuse. 1949) especially the essays. It is too large a question to be examined thoroughly here. However. that is the actions of men in relation to things.4 In Italy. causal connections and functional correlations have been established with a reasonable degree of probability. Moreover. and implying that they will eventually reach a higher theoretical level. Sir A. in a recent lecture (Natural Science and Social Science. Collingwood put forward views similar to those of Dilthey but had little direct influence on the social sciences. ‘Critical Studies in the logic of the cultural sciences’. Liverpool.Carr-Saunders. In sociology.Evans-Pritchard in his Social Anthropology (London 1951) says. those who dispute the scientific character of sociology are themselves open to criticism. Descriptive sociology is valuable in two ways. in certain respects. is concerned it makes an important contribution to humane studies. sociology makes us aware of the wealth and diversity of human life. It is. First. in the case of contemporary studies it provides information which is indispensable for the solution of practical problems and for the formulation of. the centrepiece of modern humane studies. where historical description. Alan Gewirth has examined the problem in a recent essay3 and concludes that. H. op. ‘in their conditional aspect.Merton. 340–359. strivings. Alan Gewirth. literary studies and. ‘Can men change laws of social science?’. those who believe that sociology is a scientific discipline are not obliged to claim that the formulation of laws constitutes its entire value.1 A more important point is that there may be a radical difference between social laws and natural laws.). while in the social sciences this is inconceivable because in human affairs genuine novelty can result from conscious volition. Secondly. rational social policies. .Marcuse. I would say. the historical aspects of the natural sciences. A part of sociology consists of exact description within an orderly framework of categories which involve only Simple theorising. men can change the laws of social science.1 1 2 3 1 This is discussed further in Chapter 3. in turn. and in what sense. XXI(3). The matter can be briefly (and inadequately) summarised as follows: in the natural sciences it is possible to conceive an ultimate closed theoretical system. Philosophy of Science. Every science must have an appropriate scheme of explanation and appropriate methods. See R. or the description of little known societies. for men can ‘create new correlations of social variables by making new decisions which function as antecedent conditions from which new consequences follow’. and types of personality. social laws can be changed by men in a sense in which natural ones cannot’. but there may still be a fundamental unity of scientific method. cit. He condemns sociology. Along with history.Marcuse in his study of the development of social theory. insists that the study of society requires a different theoretical model and different methods from those of the natural sciences. Social Theory and Social Structure (op. and whether in fact they go beyond the insights of poets and novelists. For if a humane education consists in becoming sympathetically acquainted with a wide variety of human situations. or should be. trivial. on account of its search for invariant laws and its conception of a unified science. then sociological studies are an essential element in such an education.2 The wider issue involved is whether. and choice among.K. A similar point has been made by H. there seems to be a third view which. Many writers have drawn attention to the reflexive character of social laws. and a bridge between science and the humanities. In any case. This point is. while emphasising the scientific character of sociology. cit. especially Comte’s sociology. but in a more striking way than most of these.14  Sociology: A Guide to Problems and Literature sociologist may ask. pp. what generally acceptable results have been produced by these methods. July 1954. ideals. in discussing the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ and the ‘self-destroying prophecy’. because this eliminates man’s freedom and rationality. Between those who regard sociology as a historical discipline and those who consider it a ‘natural science of society’. . association between changes in class structure and other social changes. the generalizations of type (6) seem to occur 2 Reason and Unreason in Society (London. many of them can be considered well established. 4. basic concepts and schemes of classification.Ginsberg’s essay on The problems and methods of sociology’. and that they differ also in the extent to which they can be regarded as validated. Generalizations asserting that changes in given institutions are regularly associated with changes in other institutions (e. the Marxist theory of development from primitive society to communist society. but they have not been incorporated in a more general system of laws in such a way as to form part of a scientific theory. Empirical correlations between concrete social phenomena (e. Those of the first type are empirical generalizations. Some of these points will be considered further in the next chapter. attempts to distinguish the ‘stages’ of economic development. Finally. All of them also interpret historical changes in terms of the phenomena which they emphasise. the Marxist theory of social development describes the growth of technology and productive powers. they are compounds of descriptive-historical statements and interpretations. It will be seen that these types of generalization are very different in range and level. under three headings: types of generalization. or as a ‘critical philosophy’ (Marcuse). as ultimately reducible to psychology plus historical knowledge.g.g. Types of generalization It is perhaps surprising. various accounts of the origins of capitalism). in Marx’s theory). the different types of generalization to be found in sociological work. Comte’s law of the three stages and Hobhouse’s theory of social development describe the growth of knowledge. On the other hand.Sociological Theory  15 These views might lead to various conceptions of sociology. I propose next to examine sociological theory as it has developed up to the present time. some laws in economic theory). 26). urban life and divorce rates). The generalizations of types (2) and (3) can be regarded as formulations of universal laws relating to trends. 1947).g. that there have been so few attempts to set out in a systematic way. Generalizations formulating the conditions under which institutions or other social formations arise (e. 3. Generalizations asserting rhythmical recurrences or phasesequences of various kinds (e. as historical interpretation.g.g. Schmoller and others). 6. Laws stating the implications of assumptions regarding human behaviour (e. of the kind discussed earlier (p.2 Ginsberg finds six types of generalization in social science: 1. 2. One such attempt is the brief discussion in M. and explanatory theories. Comte’s law of the three stages. Bücher. the generalizations of types (4) and (5) are not really theoretical generalizations. or as a generalizing science whose laws have a very limited range. and to evaluate. Generalizations describing the main trends in the evolution of humanity as a whole (e. Hobhouse’s theory of social development).g. 5. in view of the claims sometimes made for the scientific maturity of sociology.