sociology and other social sciences

Question 1

sociology and economics

Answer 1

eco

• alfred marshall-investigates how man earns and spends money
• economic activity-also social activity
• methods of earning money,consumption behaviour-guided by social norms and values
• bt externalities ignored-social costs
  - pierre bourdieu-a true economist–takes care of externalities like suicide and pollution

socio

• nuanced approach of studying economic relations–indian capitlism-compulsive capitalism,,japanese-nationalist capitalism
• marxism-super strucure and economic substructure
• durkheim–division of labour…..economic activities happen in autonomous manner,guided by needs of society
• studies of gunnar myrdal ,raymond aron used in both
• economic sociology-social aspects of economic life
• concepts like gender budgeting,feminist economist
• widening scope of eco-not just economic growth bt also devt
• use of sociological research for eco policies –sociologists study impact of such theories
• economists predictive abilities suffer from neglect of
  - individual behaviour,
  - cultural norms and
  - institutional resistance
• -DIFFERENCES
  
  • eco-more predictive
  • eco-more universal laws–demand and supply-eg
    - eco–relationship between pure eco variables like relationship betweeen demand and supply,money flows..bt socio–production relations,supply of labour affected by values nad prefeerences,influence of education on economic behavioir and role of caste system in eco devt
    
    • eco-narrow scope

Question 2

sociology and psychology

Answer 2

psycho
-the science of behaviour

socio
-the science of society

psycho closer to natural sciences
psycho not that equipped to study collectivity of the actors

extremes viewpoints

• sigmund Freud–socio-extension of social psychology, emphasised on inheritance rather than environment
• js mill-all laws derived from laws of mind–psychology-most imp
• durkheim-study of suicide-ignored psychological disposition

intermediate viewpoints

• Ginsberg—sociological generalisations can be more firmly established if related with gen psychological laws
• weber-social action-underlying meanings
• girth and mills-role-meeting point between social structure and individual
  - social psychology-meeting point between sociology and psychology
  - humans -not primarily driven by instincts

points of differences

• scope of experimentation
• scientific nature
• area of interest
• subject matter-basic instincts,sym[athy,passions etc vs.social institutions and their inter relationships

Question 3

sociology and history

Answer 3

• g e howard-history=past socio and socio=present history
• meeting points
  - durkeim-theory of division of labour
  - marx-historical materialism
  - weber-protestant ethics and spirit of capitalism-historical ideal type
  - pritrim sorokin-‘social and cultural dynamics’ use of historical inferences
• radcliffe brown-sociology is nomothetic and history is idiographic
• history-increasingly towards understanding social relations in the past,subaltern perspective-poor sections,,,condition of diff social groups in the past,condition of women
• –history-no more purely descriptive

points of differences
-framework-time vs nature of relations
-time-past vs present
-

Question 4

sociology and political science

Answer 4

• marx-economic power—>political power
• chicago university-1930s–behavioral approach to political phenomena
• poltical laws–affect behaviour
• sociolyg-data for laws and policies
• sociology of politics–how caste is affected by politics
• sociological studies in voting behaviour,casteim
• weber-bureaucracy
• sociological theories of power-cw mills,mosca,pareto
• dynastic politics in india
• sociological reasons for support of politcal parties
• rpa,1951–no votes in the name of religion and caste
• through cnstitution-abolitio n of untouchability
• concepts like secularism common to both
• org of family impacted by family systme-china’s two child policy
• thoeries -majoritarianism-sociology+pol science
• arab spring,tiananmen square incident-manifestation of society taking pol systems head on
• study of pol systems in tribal societies–not the scope of pol science bt of socio

Question 5

sociology and anthropology

Answer 5

socio-study of modern societies
anthro-study of simple societies
bt modernity—>globalisation—>impactng villages,tribal areas
british colonialism-change in land laws and administration in villages ,tribal life,
-methods and techniques are drawn from each other
-anthropologists-radcliffe brown,Malinowski,Evan Pritchard-studies imp in socio
-anthro
#organic /physical anthro–man as part of animal kingdom-anthro close to bio
#socio cultural anthro–studies human in social set up–closer to socio

*no suprise that student of anthro[ar radcliffe brown]became head of sociology dept in delhi uni[mn srinivas]

common concepts-cultural area,cultural lag,cultural trait–borrowed by socio
primitive communism-borrowed by anthro

common method-field study

durkheim’s theory of religion-study of totem in arunta tribes

• differences
  
  • anthro-small societies-relatively unchanging and lacking in historical records-eg-melanesia
  • anthro-more chances of objectivity than in socio
• similarity
• basic concepts-structure ,function,status,role and conflict

*points of differences
-origin
-anthro-curiosity
-socio-modernity,philosophy of history,positive sciences
-subject matter
-methodology–anthro–qualitative
—socio–quantitative as well–methds–questionnaire
-anthro–evolution and bio also
bt socio-cultural and socio aspects