Sociology studies human society as an interconnected whole and how society and the individual interact with each other.
One of the tasks of sociology is to unravel the connection between a personal problem and a public issue.
It tries to understand that the individual in modern times belongs to more than one society and how societies are unequal.

The growth of sociology in India

• During the course of their rule in India, the British officials realised that for smooth administration, it was important that they acquire knowledge of Indian society and culture. This prompted the origin of Sociology in India.
• Western sociological writings about Indian society were sometimes misleading. For instance, the understanding and portrayal of the Indian village was unchanging. Many Indian scholars thus, took to sociological studies to close such gaps.
• The diversified nature of the Indian society in terms of region, language, religion, ethnicity, caste, etc also led to the growth of sociology in India in connection with the discipline of social anthropology. This is a characteristic feature different from that of the western countries where both disciplines have been kept distinct from each other.
• Indian sociologist realised that the transformation process of contemporary Indian society is different from that of the western society. Modernity as understood in the western European society is the outcome of scientific process and democratic ideas. Wheres as the same process of modernity was introduced in Indian society under the colonial regime.

The history of origin and development of Sociology in India is more than 4000 years old. The fundamental source of social ideology was religion. During Indian Vedic era, a systematic development of different social institutions of society was prevalent. Sociology in India has been influenced by various internal processes particularly the colonial regime which tried to prove their cultural superiority in comparison of Indian culture.

First of all, Sociology courses were taught at Calcutta University in the Department of Economics, Political Science, Human Geography and Anthropology. This was pioneered by philosopher Brajendra Nath Seal, Benoy Sarkar, anthropologist K.P. Chattopadhyay and human geographer Nirmal Bose.

In 1914, the Department of Sociology was started for PG students of economics.

As Sociology is defined today have been first of all introduced in India in Bombay University under the guidance of Prof. Patriels in 1919.

In 1923, Mysore University introduced Sociology in BA course as a separate subject. Presently Sociology is being taught in most of the Indian universities as a BA pass or BA honours course and PG courses.

Presently the premier institutes of India like JNU, Delhi School of Economics, Tata Institute of Social Science have special professional courses in Sociology.

Indian sociologists who contributed significantly to make their subject flourish are Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherjee, Prof. P.N. Prabhu, Prof. Wadia, Prof. Shrinivas, Dr. R.N. Saxena, Prof. R.R. Shastri, Prof. Kapadia, Prof. N. Prasad, Prof. T.K. Oomen, Prof. S.C. Dubey, Prof Andrea.

Sociology is the study of society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction and culture of everyday life using the principles of psychology neuroscience and network science.

The different aspects of the term ‘society’ have been made by early sociologists like Auguste Comte, Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer. They classified the societies into two broad groups:
(i) Pre-modern societies such as, hunters and gatherers, pastoral and agrarian and non-industrial civilisations.
(ii) Modern societies such as the industrial societies.
Sociology studies society on the basis of some rules and principles that depend on concepts, data and methods. On the other hand, our common sense understanding of the society depends on our naturalistic or individualistic understanding.
Common sense knowledge does not question its own origins but Sociology has both the systematic and questioning approach that is derived from a broader tradition of scientific investigation.
In our common sense understanding of the society, the aspect of the term ‘society’ is very limited which is quite different from that of sociology.

Dialectical materialism is the Marxist theory that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and are interpretable as a series of contradictions and their solutions.

Animal society is mainly based on instincts or reflex behaviour, whereas human society is based on reason or rational behaviour. There are no rights and duties in animal society. Every animal lives upon his physical powers whereas human society has a wonderful system of law and order.