Define sociology, attributing the term to its coiner. 2.

Etymology: socius (Latin: companion, associate) + logos (Greek: study) = the study of companionship — of human association. The word was coined by Auguste Comte in 1838 (he first called the field "social physics"). Classic definitions (quote briefly, attribute fully): • Comte: sociology is the science of social phenomena, subject to natural-law-like regularities — the "queen of the sciences" in his positive hierarchy. • Emile Durkheim: sociology is the science of social institutions — their genesis and their functioning. • Max Weber: sociology is the science that attempts the interpretive understanding ("Verstehen") of social action — understanding behaviour from the actor's point of view. Working synthesis (your exam definition): Sociology is the scientific study of society — of social relationships, groups, institutions, structures and processes — using systematic empirical methods, with the aim of explaining both the regularities and the transformations of collective human life. Why it matters to a law student (make this your opening paragraph in essays): 1. Law regulates society; society produces law. Every statute — the Domestic Violence Act 2066, the Muluki Civil Code 2074, the Labour Act 2074 — is a hypothesis about how people behave and how behaviour should change. A lawyer who cannot read society cannot read what the legislature was trying to do. 2. Facts in litigation are social facts. Discrimination, customary…