HUM-273

SOCIOLOGY AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Lecture -01-03

Dr. Md. Abdul Hai, AMO

PhD (University of Helsinki, Finland)
AMO(Professional Teacher, 60 ECTS in Pedagogy, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland)
MS in IBM (University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK)
BSS & MSS in Sociology (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Assistant Professor Research-Member

Department of Humanities Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS)
Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology (CUET) Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
Chittagong-4349. E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Getting familiar with the course structure
Emergence and Early History and Scope of Sociology. Sociological Perspective. Three major perspectives. Social
Development of forces in the development of sociology: French revolution, industrial revolution and the rise
Sociology of capitalism. Development of sociology in Bangladesh.
Sociological Research Sociology as science, Scientific method for sociology, Basic Sociological research concepts.
Methods Ethics in sociological, scientific and engineering research.
Societies, Culture and Culture: Concept, Elements, and types, Cultural lag, Culture’s roots, Diversity of cultures,
Environment Subculture, Counter-culture, Cultural conflict, Nature and culture. Societies: Society as a
subjunctive reality, The individual and the society. Types of society: From hunting-gathering
to post-modern society. Tribal societies in Bangladesh and their social development, Rural-
urban family structure. Environment: The ideology of environmental domination, The
human nature of nature, The encounter of development and environment-sustainability,
climate change and vulnerability of Bangladesh.
Social Stratification and Work and work division, Theory of classes and class stratification. Class, Status and Power,
Work Division Lifestyle and Social mobility. Companies and organization in the digital era, Environment
and engineering psychology-Fatigue, Job analysis, Pros and cons of bureaucracy. Leadership
and group dynamic, Work organization in the company, Taylorism, Fordism, Post-Fordism,
Toyotism; Unemployment: Social characteristics and problems.
Globalization, Understanding the concept of sustainability and its degree in the development of
Sustainability Concept Bangladesh, Sustainable consumption. Impact of globalization on poor, Supporting rural
development and natural resources, Consequences of mining and excessive energy uses on
the climate change. Introduction to energy systems and society.
Engineering Professional societies. Communication and professional ethics, information literacy, equity,
Professionalism and Ethics gender and diversity. roles and responsibilities of the professional engineer in society, the
engineering code of ethics, environmental stewardship, the place of technology in society
and the nature of technological decisions.
History and Scope of Sociology
Etymological root and meaning of sociology
Sociology defined
• Sociology is the systematic study of social behavior in
human groups
• Sociology is the study of individuals in groups and social
formations in a systematic way, which grew out of the
search for understanding associated with the industrial
and scientific revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.
• Sociology can be defined most simply as the study of
‘human social life’ (Giddens, 2006, p. 4).
• Sociology is “[t]he systematic study of social behaviour
and human groups” (Schaefer, 2011, p. 443).
Key features of sociology
• The primary aim of sociology is knowledge,
not advocacy
• It is, as observed in the definitions,
scientific, systematic and objective.
• It is broad and generalizing in its interests.
• It draws on findings of all social sciences.
• It develops its own distinctive fields of
study- human groups, societies,
institutions, social change.
Key contributors
• Sociology originated from and was influenced by the industrial
revolution during the early nineteenth century. There are five major
founders of sociology: Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx,
Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. Auguste Comte is thought of as the
"Father of Sociology" as he coined the term sociology in 1838. He
believed that society should be understood and studied as it was,
rather than what it ought to be. He was the first to recognize that the
path to understanding the world and society was based in science.
Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, and Weber further helped define and
develop sociology as a science and discipline, each contributing
important theories and concepts still used and understood in the field
today.
 (1) Auguste Comte
• Comte coined the term ‘sociology’ in 1838 (Randall Collins,
1994). His important works: Positive Philosophy, Systems of
Positive Polity and Religion of Humanity.
• Comte opines that Sociology must follow the method of natural
sciences, which is based on empirical observation. His major
intention was to create a science of society.
• He focused on two aspects of society:
• Social Statics—forces which produce order and stability
• Social Dynamics—forces which contribute to social change
• He propounded the ‘law of three stages’ as the theory of human
progress. He opines that human knowledge and society pass
through certain definite progressive Evolutionary stages.
He propounded the ‘law of three stages’ as the theory of human He also talked about positivism in a systematic
progress. He opines that human knowledge and society pass through way.
certain definite progressive Evolutionary stages.
 (2) Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)
• It took him four years to write the Muqaddimah. Arnold
Toynbee, a prolific British historian and philosopher of history
of the first half of the twentieth century, described it as,
“undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet
been created by any mind in any time or place”.[16]
• The concept of "asabiyyah" (Arabic: "tribalism, clanism,
communitarism", or in a modern context, "nationalism") is one
of the best known aspects of the Muqaddimah. As this
ʿasabiyyah declines, another more compelling ʿasabiyyah may
take its place; thus, civilizations rise and fall, and history
describes these cycles of ʿasabiyyah as they play out.
• Ibn Khaldun argues that each dynasty has within itself the
seeds of its own downfall. He explains that ruling houses tend
to emerge on the peripheries of great empires and use the
unity presented by those areas to their advantage in order to
bring about a change in leadership. As the new rulers establish
themselves at the centre of their empire, they become
increasingly lax and more concerned with maintaining their
lifestyles. Thus, a new dynasty can emerge at the periphery of
their control and effect a change in leadership, beginning the
cycle anew.
http://www.hizb-australia.org/2016/12/rise-and-fall-of-
civilisations-ibn-khalduns-historiography/#_ftn16
 (2) Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
• Harriet Martineau was an English social theorist often seen
as the first female sociologist. She wrote from a
sociological, holistic, religious and feminine angle. The
young Princess Victoria enjoyed her work and invited her
to her 1838 coronation. Martineau advised "a focus on all
[society's] aspects, including key political, religious, and
social institutions". She applied thorough analysis to
women's status under men.
• Authored one of the earliest analyses of culture and life in
the United States entitled Theory and Practice of Society in
America
• Translated Comte’s Positive Philosophy into English.
(3) Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
• Authored the first sociology text, Principles of Sociology
• Most well known for proposing a doctrine called “Social
Darwinism”
• Suggested that people who could not compete were poorly
adapted to the environment and inferior
• This is an idea commonly called survival of the fittest.
(4) Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• Marx is the father of conflict theory. He saw human history in a
continual state of conflict between two major classes: (a)
Bourgeoisie—owners of the means of production (capitalists)
and (b)Proletariat—the workers. According to Marx, workers
first become conscious of sharing common grievances against
capitalists (thus forming a class “in itself”) and eventually
develop an awareness of themselves as forming a social class
opposed to the bourgeoisie (thus becoming a class “for itself”),
the proletariat. Marx predicted that revolution would occur
producing first a socialist state, followed by a communist
society.
• Marx divided societies in five categories: primitive communism,
slavery, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and communism.
• Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement of people from aspects of
their human nature as a consequence of the division of labor and living in a society of
stratified social classes. In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, Marx discusses four
aspects of the alienation of labour, as it takes place in capitalist society: one is alienation
from the product of labour; another is alienation from the activity of labour; a third is
alienation from one’s own specific humanity; and a fourth is alienation from others, from
society. It follows from the idea that all acts of labour involve an activity of some sort that
produces an object of some sort, performed by a human being (not a work animal or a
machine) in some sort of social context.
• According to Marx, the term commodity fetishism describes the economic relationships of
production and exchange as being social relationships that exist among things (money and
merchandise) and not as relationships that exist among people. This theory explains how
inanimate objects under capitalism, get alienated from the labour and production process
and achieve fantastical powers. In modern society, this is further accentuated by the use of
brand names over quality or use-value of the product.
(5) Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• Durkheim moved sociology fully into the realm of an empirical science.
• Most well-known empirical study is called Suicide, where he looks at
the social causes of four types of suicide.

• Generally regarded as the founder of functionalist theory.

Group solidarity can be defined as a sense of fellowship and community displayed by
members of a collective who are united by shared purposes, responsibilities, and interests.
Emile Durkheim differentiates between two types of solidarity: mechanical solidarity and
organic solidarity.
Mechanical solidarity occurs in groups that contain people who are similar in background,
values, and beliefs. There is an emotion-based sense of community in such groups, and
the norms that are part of the community constitute a strong force constraining
individuals. In other words, there is a strong and specific “collective conscience” that
enhances uniformity of behavior across individuals.
Organic solidarity, in contrast, develops out of differences rooted in divisions of labor.
Durkheim indicated that as the division of labor and concomitant specialization grows, the
interdependence of society’s parts (e.g., individuals and the positions they occupy)
becomes the primary foundation for social solidarity. Interdependence, however,
produces a weaker collective conscience than mechanical solidarity and, relatedly, less
individual uniformity and compliance.
https://abhipedia.abhimanu.com/Article/sociology/MTA0MTA4
/Dvision-of-Labour-Fundamentals-Of-Sociology-sociology
(6) Max Weber (1864-1920)
• Max Weber (1936) used the term verstehen to refer to the
attempts of social scientists to understand both the intent and
context of human action.
• Weber was also interested in bureaucracies and the process of
rationalization in society.
• Much of Weber’s work was a critique or clarification of Marx. His
most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism directly challenged Marx’s ideas on the role of religion
in society
Scope of sociology

Scope means the subject matter or the areas of study. Every science
has its own field of inquiry. It becomes difficult to study a science
systematically unless its boundary or scope is determined precisely.
Sociology as a social science has its own scope or boundaries. There
are two main schools of thought regarding the scope of Sociology:

(1) The specialist or formalistic school and

(2) the synthetic school.

There is a good deal of controversy about the scope of Sociology

between the two schools. The supporter of first school believe that
sociology is a specific science and the scope should be limited
whereas others believe that it is a general science and its scope is
very vast.
 Formalistic
School
Sociology is a specific,
pure and Sociology studies the
independent social various forms of
science. social relationships.

Supporters of
Scope of Sociology is Sociology deals with this school
of thought
very narrow and specific form of
limited. human relationship.

Sociology needs not It is a specific social

to study all the events science and it should
connected with social deal with social
science. relationships from
different angles.
 Synthetic
School
Sociology is a
general and Scope of
Sociology is very
systematic social vast.
science. Supporters of
Sociology needs this school
of thought
help from other
social sciences.
Sociology is
It is a synthesis of closely related
social science. with other social
sciences.
• Conclusion
• From the above discussion, we come to know
that formalistic school believes in the study of
the parts, which makes up the society and
synthetic school advocates the study of the
whole society. However, both the schools
complement to each other. They are not
opposed to each other.
• Thus, Sociology is a general science of society
and specialised discipline.
• Sociology is a growing science. Therefore, it is
neither possible nor desirable to restrict its
scope.

28
Sociological Perspectives
• The sociological perspective is a way of understanding society that emphasizes the
interconnectedness of social structures, institutions, and cultural norms. At its core,
sociology seeks to explain how society works and why it operates the way it does. By
analyzing social phenomena through a sociological lens, we can gain new insights
into issues such as power dynamics, inequality, and cultural values.
• There are mainly three sociological perspectives: (1) functionalist, (2) conflict and (3)
interactionist.
Functionalist perspective
Conflict perspective
Interactionist perspective

Sociological Approach
 • To gain a better understanding of
mankind
• To rise consciousness
• Distributions of resources and
opportunities
• To better cope with changes in
society
• To combine it with many other
subjects
• It's good for business!
• To make the world a better place
• To make you responsible citizen
• Socio-economic and administrative
planning
• Social mobility
• Develop bondage and interaction
• Crime and problem resolution
Why engineering students • Structure and functioning

need to study sociology?

• ঳ুনাভগঞ্জে ননম্নভাঞ্জনয ননভাণ
ম ঳াভগ্রীয কাযঞ্জণ ভবঞ্জঙ ভগঞ্জরা ১৫ ভকাটি িাকায ভ঳তু (2.3.2021)|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtqWyfmgf8
• ভাননকগে-ন঳িংগাইয-ভ঴ভাঞ্জ়েত঩ুয আঞ্চনরক ভ঴া঳঵ঞ্জকয কাঞ্জে ননম্নভাঞ্জনয ননভাণ
ম ঳াভগ্রী ফযফ঴াঞ্জযয
অনবঞ্জমাগ (4.10.2020)| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4hgmjOG66s
• ভকন ননভাঞ্জণয
ম ভ঱ল ঴ও়োয আঞ্জগই পাির ভদখা নদঞ্জ়েঞ্জে ফযগুনায ঴া঳঩াতাঞ্জর? ননভাণ
ম cost 33,31,43000 BDT
(7.5.2019)| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_I2GZfbWfs
• ননম্নভাঞ্জনয ঳াভগ্রীয কাযঞ্জনই ধঞ্জ঳ ঩ঞ্জ঵ কঞ্জরঞ্জেয ননভাণাধীন
ম ভগি (19.3.2020)|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhhWFIJ3bE0
• যানাঘাি ভ঴কুভা ঴া঳঩াতাঞ্জর ননম্নভাঞ্জনয ননভাণ
ম ঳াভগ্রী ফযফ঴ায কযায অনবঞ্জমাঞ্জগ কাে ফন্ধ কযর স্থানী়েযা
(19.3.2020)| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwLY78eYIxY
• কঞ্জযানা আতঞ্জেও ভথঞ্জভ ভনই দুনীনত, তন঵ঘন঵ কঞ্জয ননম্নভাঞ্জনয ঳াভগ্রী নদঞ্জ়ে ন঳যােগঞ্জেয তা঵াঞ্জ঱ নফঞ্জনাদ঩ুয-
খ঵খন঵়ো যাস্তা ননভাণ
ম (30.3.2020)। https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV-fSDPPYj8
• কুনভল্লায নাঙ্গরঞ্জকাি উ঩ঞ্জেরায যা়েঞ্জকাি উত্তয ইউনন়েন ঩নযলঞ্জদয ভান঴নী ফাোয ঳িংরগ্ন ঩নযফায ঩নযকল্পনা
঳যকানয স্বাস্থয নিননঞ্জকয োদ ঢারাইঞ্জ়ে অনন়েঞ্জভয অনবঞ্জমাগ উঞ্জেঞ্জে (10.10.2020)।
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7fliPtjFHo