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Sociology and History are closely and intimately related to each
other.
Sociology cannot be separated from History and History cannot be
isolated
from sociology. That is why Professor G.E. Howard remarked
"History is the
past Sociology and Sociology is the present History", John Seely
says that"History withot Sociology has no frit, Sociology withot
History has no root".
History is mainly concerned with past e!ents. t is
systematic record of the
story of mankind. History presents a chronological accont of
past e!ents of
the hman society. t is the social science, which deals with past
e!ents and
stdies the past social, political and economic aspects of the
contry,
#ccording to Gettle "History is the record of the past e!ents
and mo!ements,
their cases and inter$relations%%. t incldes a sr!ey of
conditions, or
de!elopments in economic, religios and social a&airs as well
as the stdy of
states, their growth and organi'ation and their relation with
one another.
(oth Sociology and History depend pon each other and can
in)ence one
another. Sociology depends pon History in order to stdy past
e!ents and
sitations. History of cltres and instittions is helpfl in the
nderstanding
of sociology and on the collections of materials. n order to
nderstand the
past society and acti!ities, we ha!e to take the help of
History. Sociology
concerned with the stdy of the historical de!elopment of hman
society. t
stdies ancient cstoms, modes of li!ing, !arios stages of life
and past
social instittions throgh the historical analysis. This
information abot the
past is of great importance to sociologists. *or instance, if a
sociologist has to
stdy family and marriage as social instittions he has to stdy
their
historical de!elopments also. +wing to this reason, #rnold
Toynbee%s book "#Stdy of History" and Spengler%s book "ecline of
the -est" are !ery !alable
of the stdy of sociology.
n the same way, Sociology pro!ides social backgrond of the
stdy of
History. History is now being stdied from the sociological
!iewpoint. History
spplies facts, which are interpreted and coordinated by the
sociologists. The
historians need social backgrond for writing and analy'ing
history and this is
pro!ided by the sociologists. The stdy of History wold be
meaningless
withot the appreciation of sociological signicance. History
becomes
meaningfl in the social content.
Sociology, the science of society, on the other hand, is
interested in the
present. t tries to analyse hman interactions and interrelations
with all their
comple/ity and di!ersity. The historian needs social backgrond
for writing
and analysing History. The stdy of History can ne!er be
meaningfl withot
the appreciation of sociological signicance.
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(oth Sociology and, History depend pon each other and can
in)ence one
another. Sociology depends pon History in order to stdy past
e!ents and
sitations. That is why T. (. (ottomore has pointed ot that "t is
of the
greatest importance for the de!elopment of the social sciences
that the two
sb0ects shold be closely related and each shold borrow
e/tensi!ely fromthe other."
i&erence between Sociology and History1
The two social sciences History and Sociology are
di&erent. The points of
di&erence between the two may be noted.
2. Sociology is interested in the stdy of the present
social phenomena with
all their comple/ities. (t History deals with the past e!ents of
man. t is
silent regarding the present.
3. Sociology is relati!ely a yong social science. t has
!ery short history of
its own. t is not e!en two centries old. (t history is an
age$old social
science. t has a long story of 3444 years or e!en more.
5. Sociology is an analytical science. (t history is a
descripti!e science.
6. Sociology is abstract in natre. t stdies mostly reglar,
the recrrent and
the ni!ersal. *or e/ample, the sociologist does not stdy all the
wars or
battles -aged by the mankind. (t History is concrete. The
historian is
interested in the ni7e, the particlar and the indi!idal. *or
e/ample, the
historian stdies all the wars waged by mankind in the past$the
wars, the
world wars, the ndo$Pak war, etc. *or him each war is ni7e and
signicant.
8. Sociology is a generali'ing science. Sociology seeks to
establish
generali'ations after a carefl stdy of the social phenomena. (t
History is
an indi!idali'ing science. History rarely makes generali'ations.
t seeks to
establish the se7ence in which e!ents occrred.
9. Sociology follows the sociological approach. t stdies
hman e!ents from
the sociological .point of !iew, i.e., from the !iewpoint of
social relationship
in!ol!ed. (t History stdies hman e!ents in accordance with the
time and
order. ts approach is historical.
