Etymology:socius (Latin: companion, associate) + logos (Greek: study) = the study ofcompanionship — 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 — ofsocial relationships, groups, institutions, structures and processes — using systematic empiricalmethods, with the aim of explaining both the regularities and the transformations of collectivehuman 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 practice, community standards, "reasonableness" — courts weigh social realities constantly (public-interest litigation is built on them).
3. Law reform demands social diagnosis. The Muluki Ain of 1854 codified Nepal's caste order; the Codes of 2074 dismantled it. That is sociological change written into legal history — the two disciplines meet in Unit 3 (Sociology of Law).