Society is the object of sociological knowledge. The term "sociology" comes from the Latin "societas" - society and the Greek "logos" - the study, and means literally the "doctrine of society". Human society is a unique phenomenon. It is directly or indirectly the object of many sciences (history, philosophy, economics, psychology, jurisprudence, etc.), each of which has its own lens of the of society studying, i.e. your subject.
• The subject of sociology is the social life of society, i.e. the complex of social phenomena arising from the interaction of people and communities. The concept of "social" is for the referring to the life of people in the process of their mutual relations.
The specificity of sociology lies in its boundary position between natural science and social and humanitarian knowledge. It simultaneously uses the methods of philosophical and socio-historical generalizations and the specific methods of the natural sciences – the experiment and observation. Sociology has stable links with applied mathematics, statistics, logic and linguistics. Applied sociology has its points of contact with ethics, aesthetics, medicine, pedagogy and theory of planning and management.
The sociology has its closest connection with history. All the sciences of society are connected with the sociology through the social aspects of its life; hence - socio-economic, socio-demographic and other studies, based on which new "borderline" sciences are born such as social psychology, sociobiology, social ecology, etc.
Relations with philosophy. These are two independent sciences with the basic principles of understanding the world. In philosophy, this is a single worldview with a high degree of abstraction. The sociology breaks up into separate parts and any theoretical position is supported by factual material.
Relations with history. Sociology studies modern society “in fuctum”. History is the whole of society throughout its existence, after it has been accomplished (post fuctum). Where the history ends, sociology begins.
Relations with economics, law, psychology, pedagogy, demography, etc. Sociology gives these sciences a scientifically grounded theory of modern society and derives from them terms, research methods and results obtained by them.
Sociology performs many different functions in society. The main ones are:
1. Cognitive - gives new knowledge about society, about social groups, about individuals and patterns of their behavior. The fulfillment of this function is both a foundation and an empirical study.
2. Applied - provides specific sociological information for solving practical scientific and social problems.
3. Controlling - political parties and authorities use the opportunities of sociology to pursue a purposeful policy in all spheres of public activity.
4. Prognostic - warns about deviations in the society development, predicts and models the trends of social development.
5. Ideological - develops social ideals, programs of scientific, technical, socio-economic and socio-cultural development of society.
6. Humanistic - conducting social studies, bringing their results to the public. It can serve as an improvement in mutual understanding and relationships between people, groups. In addition, it can contribute to the improvement of social relations, the development of society.
7. Planning - the management of the development in various spheres of public life. For example, planning the life of cities, the activities of organizations, collectives, the life of individual regions, countries, etc.