Introduction to Sociology

The word sociology comes from the Latin words socius which meanscompanion and ology means study. Therefore sociology is the study of companionship or fellow beings in a society. This is considered as a Queen of Science that deals with the empirical study of the society at large. It is through critical analysis and investigation that sociolinguists arrive at a large amounts of information which is finally useful for the welfare of the society Besides, sociology encompasses other aspects such as social mobility, religion, secularization, law, culture, deviance, modernity .As the scope is so vast, and with the possibility of empirical research, it has is further subdivided into other disciplines such as medical sociology, military sociology, political sociology, applied sociology and sociology of penal institutions, and the Internet This makes it possible to find solutions for umpteen number of problems in the society. The word sociology was first used by Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes, a French essayist in the 18th century and later defined by the French philospher Auguste Comte the early 19th century. He was of the belief that all the malaise in the society could be redeemed which is an epistemological approach. However, contrary to this sociological positivism approach is the Antipositivism approach of the 20^th century which considers natural and human sciences as completely distinct.. These sociologists believed that research should focus on human cultural norms, values and symbols and social processes which are more subjective in nature. Today, sociological positivism has a better footing because of it scientific methods for studying the society and is the basic approach both in theory and research in contemporary sociology. Furthermore, a career in ay of the branches of sociology is quite rewarding and there are number of interesting topics if one wants to pursue research in this subject.