In my childhood days, when I started taking the studies seriously, a clear difference had been described between social sciences and pure sciences. It had been a common perception that students of Mathematics and Physics possess greater intelligence than their counterparts in social sciences. If a student didn't get good marks in Maths or Physics; it used to be a very shameful thing for him/her.
But now, as we see in our surroundings, pure sciences and social sciences have been coupled tightly. Sociology is deriving science and science is deriving sociology. The technological revolution of this decade and last decade has caused a paradigm shift in social equations. The biggest AVATAAR of technology of last decade, cellular communication, is now giving the new definitions of sociology. It has not only facilitated seamless communication among us but also has a larger say in our relationships now. Gone are the days when relationships used to build up after 10 or 15 meetings and people tried to judge other, based on his/her behavior in personal appearance. Now all kinds of relationships are making over digital lines. The emotions are being transmitted and received in binary forms. And rest other information regarding a person's behavior are being captured by his/her Facebook or Orkut profile.I also know one incident that a prospective groom was rejected because he had mentioned himself as "Social Drinker" in Orkut profile !!!!!...... Facebook and Orkut have become synonymous with personal interaction and Web 2.o and other emerging Web Technologies are playing technology part here. See....how technology and sociology are mingled now. Now, there is no other option but to include "Social Relationships over Digital Media" as a chapter in Sociology, Computer Science and Communication books.
Sociologist must be thinking about the new pattern of relationships, which are becoming large due to faster communication media,so that they can describe it better; and Web Developers and Designers are trying to get into the mind of sociologists, so that they can get a more clear pattern of social relationships to map with.The world is shrinking very fast and all the streams, which used to be separate earlier, are now integrating.The walls among them are collapsing very fast. It would be even better if we could realize the importance of sociology and human behavior in climate change. I am leaving this to readers, to figure out this relationship in their own context......
