Industrial Sociology: Meaning and Definition

Industrial Sociology

The term industrial sociology includes two terms, industrial and sociology. The term industrial means concerning the industry. The word industry is derived form the Latin word Industria which means dexterity and resourcefulness. It is thus clear that industry is that technique under which anything is done efficiently and smoothly. Resourcefulness implies use of machinery, raw material etc., in an economic manner. Sociology deals with society and society is nothing but a different name for social relations. Thus sociology pertains to or deals with social relations. In sociology all kinds of social relations are studied. It should also be borne in mind in this connexion that sociology is a scientific study employing scientific methodology and techniques in its study of social relations. According to Maclver and Page, “Sociology is about social relationships, the network of relationships we call society.” It is quite apparent from this definition that sociology is a science of social relations. If there is a group of persons who have no relation between them such a group would fall beyond the purview of sociology.

The most important characteristic of the application of sociology in the field of industry, however, is the sociological attitude towards industrial organization. In the words of William Faunce, “What sociology has to offer to the student of industrial social organization today is not a body of laws of social behaviour, but rather a particular perspective or a special way of looking at the world of work.”

The concepts of “industry” and “sociology” become clear from the above discussion. The concept of “industrial sociology” is a compound of these two concepts. In Industrial sociology, social relations specifically connected with industry are studied. Of course, these relations are studied by scientific techniques employed in sociology. In modern world the industrial domain has expanded infinitely and it s problems have become complex and varied. There are innumerable problems which have come into being only on account of expanding industry. For example, the problems of slums are a direct outcome of industrial expansion. Thus we can say that industrial sociology is a direct outcome of modern industrial expansion.

Definition of Industrial Sociology

1. According to Charles B. Spaulding, “Industrial Sociologists center their interests upon the social organization of the work place, including the pattern of interaction between people who are responding to each other in terms of their roles in work organization or whose behaviour is being affected by those roles.”
2. According to Miller and Form, “Industrial Sociology is a substantive area of general sociology which might more accurately be termed the sociology of work organization or the sociology of economy.”  
3. According to Parkar, Brown and others, “Industrial sociology is concerned with how the economic subsystem is related to other subsystems, how the subsystem is structured in terms of particular work organization and roles and how persons fit into these roles.”
4. According to J.H. Smith, “Industrial sociology is concerned with industry (or any form of work organization) as a social system, including those factors (technical, economic, political) which affect the structure, the function and the changes in that system.”