• Society is the web of social relationship.
• Sociology is a system of usage and procedures of authority and mutual aid of many groupings and division of control of human behaviour and of liberties. (Maciver and Page).
• This definition of sociology emphasies that main features of society are usage, procedure, authority, mutual aid, group and division and liberties.
• Usage means accepted ways (norms) of the society.
• Procedure refers to social institutions like family or marriage which is important for social network.
• Authority means a system which controls the units of society (Individual) or maintains social web.
• Groups and division mean groups and subgroups in which the individual interacts and learn social norms.
• Control of human behaviour refers to social control and freedom to the individuals in the form of written or unwritten norms which are important for smooth functioning of social network.
• Above mentioned elements are different aspects of society and web of social relationship, according to Maciver and Page.

According to Maciver and Page, ‘Society is a web of social relationships’.
It is the union itself, the organisation, the sum of formal relations in which associating individuals are bound together.
Society is not simply a group of people, it is a system of relationship that exists between the individual of the group.

According to Harry M. Johnson, society has following characteristics:

• Definite territory: Society is a territorial group.
• Progeny: The members of a society came by means of human reproduction within the group of people.
• Culture: Society is always culturally sufficient.
• Independence: Society is permanent, self contained and an integrated group. The members of the group are interdependent.

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 a comprehensive study of whole society.
• Sociology is a descriptive and analytical discipline concerned with the structural aspects of human society.
• Sociology is the science of human relations.

A number of people who relate to us possess power to socialise us. Such people are called socialisation agents. Some of the main agents of socialisation are as follows:

(i) Parents: They have most direct and significant impact on children’s development. Children respond in different ways to parents in different situations. Parents encourage certain behaviours by rewarding them verbally (e.g., praising) or in other tangible ways (e.g., buying chocolates or objects of child’s desire). They also discourage certain behaviours through non-approving behaviours. They also arrange to put children in a variety of situations that provide them with a variety of positive experiences, learning opportunities, and challenges. The conditions of life in which parents live (such as poverty, job stress, illness, nature of family) also influence the styles they adopt in socialising children. Grand parental proximity and network of social relationships play considerable role in child socialisation directly or through parental influences.

(ii) School: School is another important socialising agent. Children learn many cognitive skills (such as reading,writing), and social skills (such as ways of behaving with elders and age males, accepting roles, fulfilling responsibilities). They also learn and internalise the norms and rules of society. Several other positive qualities, such as self-initiative, self-control, responsibility, land creativity are encouraged in schools. These qualities make children more self-reliant. A good school can altogether transform a child’s personality.

(iii) Peer groups: Friendship provides children good opportunity to be in company of others. It also provides organising various activities (e.g., play) collectively with the members of their own age. Qualities like sharing, trust, mutual understanding, role acceptance and fulfilment develop in interaction with peers. Children also learn to assert their own point of view and accept and adopt to those of others. Development of self identity is greatly facilitated by the peer group. Since communication of children with peer group is direct, process of socialisation is generally smooth.

Marx's theory of class defines classes in their relation to their ownership and control of the means of production. In a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie, or the capitalist class, is the class that owns the means of production and derives a passive income from their operation. In capitalist society, the means of production (machinery, raw materials, etc.) are owned by the bourgeoisie.

The Sociological Imagination is a book written by sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1959. • According to him, personal problems and public issues are interrelated. • Sociological Imagination requires us to defamiliarise with the familiar in order to look at then a new It reveals the dialectical relationship between individual and Society • E.g. Homeless Couple.

1. Three revolutions paved the way for the emergency of sociology: they were:- a. Scientific Revolution, French Revolution; Industrial Revolution b. French Revolution, American Revolution, Scientific Revolution. c. American Revolution, Scientific Revolution, Industrial Revolution. d. None of the above.

2. ‘The Age of Enlightenment’, established the human being at the center of the universe, and ................ as the central feature of the human being.

3. The foundations of modern industry were laid by the Industrial Revolution, which began first in ................. a. Britain b. France c. Japan d. Germany

Caste and Race (i) Herbert Risley thought humans can be divided into separate races on the basis of physical characteristics (length of nose, size of skull etc.) (ii) He believed India was a 'Lab' for studying evolution of racial types because inter-caste marriage is prohibited. (iii) He argued caste originated in race because different caste groups seemed to belong to distinct racial types. (iv) He suggested that lower castes were original inhabitants and subjugated by Aryans. (v) Ghurye believed Risley's theory was true only for north India. In other parts of India, inter-group differences were not very large. (vi) Thus 'racial purity' was preserved only in north India and in rest of the country, endogamy was introduced into already racially varied groups.

Cooperation:- It means working together for common interest and goals. It is associative social process which is opposite to competition and conflict.

Competition:- It is a form of social action in which we strive against each other for possession of or use of limited material or non material goods.

Conflict:- • It implies clash of interest. The basis of conflict may vary but it is always a part of a society. • Basis of conflict — Personal, Racial, Class, Caste, Political and international

The Enlightenment

• During the late 17th and 18th centuries, Western Europe saw the emergence of radically new ways of thinking about the world. Referred to as The Enlightenment', these new policies established the human being at the centre of the universe, and rational thought as the central features of the human being.

• This means that the Enlightenment was made possible by, and in turn helped to develop, attitudes of mind that we refer today as secular, scientific and humanistic

Interpretative sociology is the study of society that concentrates on the meanings people associate to their social world. Interpretative sociology strives to show that reality is constructed by people themselves in their daily lives.  Interpretive sociology is an approach. It was developed by Max Weber and focused on understanding the meaning of social action. It deals with the meanings people associate to the social world.

Mechanical solidarity is the social integration of members of a society who have common values and beliefs. ... In contrast to mechanical solidarity, organic solidarity is social integration that arises out of the need of individuals for one another's services. An example of organic solidarity is that architects design homes, construction workers build homes, electrical engineers set up the electricity, and inspectors make sure the home is safe and properly built before the home can be sold. And now you know all about organic solidarity.

Society is a system of usage and procedures of authority and mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behaviour and of liberties. It is the web of social relationship. It is always changing.

Sociology is a science as it involves objectives and systematic methods of investigation and evaluation of social reality in the light of empirical evidence and interpretation.
It is not a natural science because human behaviour is not exacting and varies from person to person.

Sociology is a categorical science because it relates to “what is”. It is a pure science because sociology collects the knowledge about human society only and not concerned with its application. Sociology is an abstract science because it studies the design and norms of the society. It is a science of generalisation. It provides understanding about groups, social actions, subject matter and structure. Sociology presents general principles related to social interaction so it is a general science. Sociology is a science because it uses scientific methodology. It uses method of observation and believes in theory of causation and objectivity.

Desai is critical of welfare states like Britain, USA and countries in Europe. He argues that the claims of these states are exaggerated, while they are not even able to provide basic social and economic security to their citizens. They are unable to reduce economic inequality. The process of development in these states is not independent of market fluctuations. A high level of unemployment alongside excess economic capacity indicates the failure of welfare state. Therefore, A.R. Desai is critical of the claims made on behalf of welfare state and concludes that its existence is a myth.

Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their lives. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. All of these physical aspects of a being help to define its members' behaviors and perceptions.

Non‐material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture and within their lives, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. For instance, the non‐material cultural concept of religion/faiths consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals, and ethics. These beliefs, then, determine how the culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events.

The main similarities between science and social sciences include the following: Both sciences employ the same scientific model in order to obtain information. ... Examples of natural sciences include biology and ecology, while economics and psychology are examples of social sciences. Even though , social science and natural science are rely on those goal. The similarities between natural science and social science are which they are both observing specific phenomena. But observation for social scientist can be divided as observation, asking question, studying written document.