UCSP

Definition and Scope of Sociology

• Scientific study of human interactions, groups, institutions, and whole societies

• Focus: relationship between individual and society as they change through history

• Investigates both existing social forms and the emergence of stable structures sustaining interaction

Auguste Comte ("Father of Sociology")

• French philosopher–mathematician $(1798-1857)$

• Coined "sociology" (initially "social physics")

• Goal: discover social laws governing societal development

- Aligned with positivism → science as the only valid path to knowledge