1. Introduction to Sociology and
Demography

2. Objectives
• define sociology and demography;
• understand the fields, main areas of inquiry,
and methods of sociology and demography;
and
• trace the historical foundations and
contexts that led to the development of
sociology and demography.

3. Introduction
• Human behaviour can
only be adequately
understood by looking
into the relationship
of man with other
members of the
society.

4. • Man is not just a mere biological and rational
being but also a social being.
• He is always in the company of others and
never in isolation.

5. • Man associates and interacts with other
social beings in different social settings in
order to satisfy his varied needs.

6. • How and why man behaves in a certain way
is greatly influenced by the norms, values,
ethos, expectations, prescriptions and
proscriptions of the social group to which he
belongs.

7. Sociology
• It is the science that deals with the study of society
and the social interactions taking place therein.
• It is concerned with the study of human societies and
of human behaviour in social settings.
• As a discipline, sociology undertakes a scientific study
of man’s behaviour as a consequence of his being a
members of a social group.

8. Etymology
Latin word “socius” meaning “companion” or
“associate”
Greek word “logos” meaning “study”
Sociology – coined by Auguste Comte

9. Thus..
• Sociology is the study of association, group,
society and social interaction.
• Sociology begins with the idea that “humans
are to be understood in the context of their
social life, that we are social animals
influences by interaction, social patterns, and
socialization”.
• It focuses on society, social organization,
social institutions, social interactions and
social problems.

10. Essential Characteristics of
Sociology
1. Sociology is neutral .
2. Sociology is concerned with the
study of human social life.
3. Sociology is a science.

11. Why study Sociology?
• to obtain factual information about our society
and different aspect of our social life.
• sociological information enables us to
understand our society more objectively and to
see our place in it.
• through sociology, we develop the capacity to
see through some of the folk, traditional and
conventional wisdom of our society.

12. • it enables us to see the connection between our
own personal experiences and the social forces
in the bigger social world which influence our
life.
• the promise of sociology, according to Wright
Mills, is that with all the problems and confusion
of modern life, it can help us understand what is
happening to us and why such social
phenomena occur.

13. Areas of Sociology
1. Social Organization- this filed includes the
study of social groups, social institutions,
social stratification and mobility, ethnic
relations and bureaucracy
2. Social Psychology- this field includes the
study of human nature as the outcome of
group life, personality formation and
collective behavior.

14. Areas of Sociology
3. Social Change- social organization and
social disorganization. This area involves
the study of change in culture and ongoing
social problems.
4. Human Ecology- this area studies the
behaviour of a given population and its
relationship to the group’s social
institutions and natural resources.

15. Areas of Sociology
5. Population Studies- this field is concerned with the
population size, composition, change, and quality as they
influence the economic, political, and social systems and
vice versa.
6. Sociological Theory and Research- this area is concerned
with the discovery, development, and replication of
research tools that will test the applicability of the
principles of group life as basis for the regulation of the
social environment.
7. Applied Sociology- this area is concerned with the
application of the findings of pure sociological research to
such various fields as marriage and family, criminology,
penology, social work, education and industrial relations.

16. Historical Development of Sociology
• Sociology, as a science, gradually developed from the early part of the
eighteenth to the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
• The early practitioners of the field were multidisciplinary in their orientation,
deriving ideas from philosophy and the physical and biological sciences.
• It was between 1760 and 1825 that Henri Saint-Simon wrote his ideas on
the science of society based on the assumption that the law of human
behavior could be determined in the same manner that the law of nature had
been arrived at by astronomers, physicists, biologists, geologists, chemists,
and other natural scientists.
• Most significant of the forerunners of sociology are Henri Saint-Simon,
Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Max
Weber.

17. Henri de Saint-Simon
 founder of French socialism
 believed that social life is
governed by laws of social
organization which can be
discovered through science
that should guide society
towards reform, progress,
and stability

18. Auguste Comte
 Father of Sociology
 Frenchman who coined
the term “sociology”.
 advocated the
application of scientific
method to social life and
positivism or the use of
empirical investigation
in order to uncover laws
that govern society

19. Herbert Spencer
 A British philosopher who argued
that human societies go through
an evolutionary process and who
coined the concept of survival of
the fittest.
 His theory of social evolution
espoused the idea that societies
develop from relative
homogeneity and simplicity to
heterogeneity and complexity.

20. Émile Durkheim
 Frenchman who established sociology
as an academic discipline
 he focused on the characteristics of
social groups, particularly the cohesion
or non-cohesion of religious groups.
 He advanced social theory along with
social methodology with his classic
study of suicide as it was influenced by
certain social forces such as social
integration, religion, marital status and
parenthood.

21. Karl Marx
 German economist-lawyer whose
works dwelt on the significance of
subjective meanings people give to
their interactions with others.
 He encouraged the study of social
action through qualitative,
subjective methods as well as
objective, quantitative methods.
 believed that conflict among social
classes causes social change and that
social conditions were reflective of
the economic situation

22. Sociology in the Philippines
• The development of sociology in the
Philippines may be divided into three stages:
– Sociology viewed as social philosophy
– Sociology regarded as a problem or welfare-
oriented
– Sociology geared towards scientific orientation

23. Demography
• Demography is the study of
human population
dynamics.
• It encompasses the study
of the size, structure and
distribution of populations,
and how populations
change over time due to
births, deaths, migration,
and aging.

24. • The study of human
populations with regard to
their size and structure, their
composition by sex, age,
marital status and ethnic
origin, and the changes to
these populations like changes
in their birth rates, deaths
rates and migration.

25. Population
• To sociologists, population is the number of persons
occupying a certain geographic area, drawing substance
from their habitat, and interacting with one another.
• Demographers define population as a collective group
of individuals occupying a particular place at a given
time.

26. Father of demography
Ibn Khaldun is regarded as
the father of demography for
his economic analysis of
social organization which
produced the first scientific
and theoretical work on
population, development and
group dynamics.

27. Sources of Demographic data
1. Population Census like population count.
2. Vital registration statistics system like birth,
death, marriage and divorce.
3. Sample or Special surveys like surveys of
household and
4. Demographic data gathered and processed
by government agencies.

28. Components of Population Change
1. Fertility (births) – the actual number of
children born to a woman or group of
women
2. Mortality (deaths) – number of deaths in a
given time or place or the proportion of
deaths in relation to a population.
3. Migration (immigration and emigration) –
the spatial movements of person or group
of persons from one place to another,
more or less for permanent residency.

29. Why study demography?
• Demographic data provide a basis for predicting future
trends and making informed decisions.
• Demographic data are important for the formulation,
implementation, and evaluation of plans, policies and
programs for education, housing, health, employment,
transportation, recreational needs and other forms of social
services.
• Demographic data can guide policy makers in meeting the
needs of various sectors of the society, such as the young,
the adult, the aged the unemployed, the poor, and the
various cultural group.

30. Homework:
Write a critique on the two theories on
population growth and decline. Determine
which theory is a more plausible explanation
and explain why.