Toplum ve toplumsal normlar edebiyat sanatının ve sosyolojinin ortak kaynaklarıdır. Her ikisinin de amacı bir bakıma dünyanın sırrını çözmektir. Edebiyat ve toplum böylelikle karşılıklı bir etkileşim içindedirler. Edebiyatın tarihsel sürecini inceleyen bir araştırmacı mutlaka bu karşılıklı etkileşime yönelmesi gerekir. Edebiyatı ve sosyolojiyi ortak bir noktada buluşturan husus insandır. Bu, edebiyat sosyolojisinin temelini oluşturur. Batı’da yapılan kuramsal çalışmalardan edebiyat sosyolojisinin merkezde edebiyat eseri olmak şartıyla edebiyat içi ve dışı toplumsal unsurların tamamını kapsadığı anlaşılmaktadır. İlk ortaya çıkışında estetik unsurları gözetmeme eğilimi zaman içinde aşılmıştır. Çünkü tarihsel koşullara bağlı olarak değişim gösteren, dili araç olarak kullanan edebiyatın yansıtma özelliği vardır ve toplumu estetik unsurlarıyla birlikte aktarır. Ancak Türkiye’deki araştırmalar göz önünde bulundurulduğunda, edebiyat sosyolojisinin daha çok edebiyat dışı yöntemle çalışan disipliner bir alan olarak algılandığı anlaşılmaktadır. Bu durum terminolojik bir kargaşa oluşturmaktadır. Karşılaştırmalı edebiyat biliminin literatürlerde kabul edilen üç ekolü vardır. Genellikle edebiyat sosyolojisiyle birlikte anılan fakat birçok farklılığı olan Marksist edebiyat kuramının özündeki edebiyatı sosyal olayların ve ekonominin belirlediği düşüncesi ‘Marksist Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Ekolü’nde de görülmektedir. Fakat günümüzde karşılaştırmalı edebiyat bilimi daha çok Amerikan- ve Fransız ekolleri tarzında yürütülmektedir. Amerikan ekolü estetiği öne çıkarırken Fransız ekolü toplum ve ulusal edebiyat merkezlidir. Fakat yine de ulusal üstü çalışır. Her iki ekol de ulusal üstü bir metodu benimsemişlerdir. Fransız ekolü edebiyat dışına fazlaca çıkarak etnoloji, sosyoloji, sosyal psikoloji, politika ve tarih alanlarından oldukça fazla yararlanır. Bundan dolayı edebiyat sosyolojisine uygun bir çalışma alanı hazırlamaktadır. Toplum ve kültürü edebiyat merkezli çalışmalardan ayrı düşünmek bilimsel bir tutum değildir. Karşılaştırmalı edebiyat biliminde çoklu bir kültürel düzlem vardır ve edebiyat ile kültür karşılaştırmaları paralel yürütülmelidir. Bunun gerçekleşmesi için sosyoloji ve edebiyat sosyolojisinin verilerinden yararlanmak gerekir. Disiplinler arası bir yöntemle edebiyat eserine yönelmek edebiyat sosyolojisi çalışmalarının olduğu gibi karşılaştırmalı edebiyat incelemelerinin de temel felsefesini oluşturmalıdır. Küreselleşen dünyamızda uluslar arası edebiyat faaliyetlerinin, edebî çeviri etkinliklerinin, edebiyat-toplum ilişkisinin ülke sınırlarını aşarak artmasıyla birlikte karşılaştırmalı edebiyat bilimi ve edebiyat sosyolojisi önemli bir konuma yerleşmiştir.

Society and social norms are the shared sources of both literature and sociology. The aim of both is to solve the mysteries of the world. Thus, literature and society are in a reciprocal influence. A researcher analyzing the historical process of literature should turn towards this interaction. The common factor getting literature and sociology together is human being. This forms the basis of the sociology of literature. It is understood from the theoretical studies in the West that the sociology of literature comprises all elements inside and outside of literature on condition that the work of literature is central. The tendency of neglecting aesthetical elements during its emergence has been overcome. For literature which uses the language changing in accordance with historical conditions as a means, has the feature of reflecting and transfers the society with its aesthetic elements. But when the studies in Turkey are considered, it is understood that sociology of literature is regarded as a disciplinary field using methods out of literature. This situation creates a terminological ambiguity. To think society and culture as separate from literature-centered studies is not a scientific attitude. In comparative literature, there is a multi-cultural dimension and the comparative studies of culture and literature should be conveyed together. To realize this, the data from sociology and the sociology of literature should be employed. Analyzing a work of literature with an interdisciplinary method should form the basic philosophy of the sociology of literature as well as that of comparative literary studies. The sociology of literature is a discipline which uses the methods of both literature and sociology. It bases the history on social conditions and tries to illuminate the mutual relation between literature and sociology. There are shared sources by literature and sociology. The most significant of them are the society and the social norms. But while literature is a branch of art, sociology is that of science. For literature is based on the fiction, it has a subjective side. But this fictitiousness is a different expression of the reality. Because the existential reception of the world is realized by means of art. The main aim here is to reveal the mysteries of the world around us. The author creates his characters in a fictitious ambiance in which he and others exist. The sociology studies the interactions of human beings in a similar way. The influence of literature on society attracts the attention of the researchers today as it has attracted those in past. That the art reflects the reality becomes clearer when the close relation between art and nature is kept in mind. It is also known that literature is the cause of many historical progresses in contrary. In this context a researcher studying the historical progress of literature, needs to mention its effect on society. His comprises one side of sociological history studies. The subject shared by both literature and sociology is human being and this forms the center of the sociology of literature. In the West, the sociology of literature is regarded as a term including all social elements inside and outside of literature provided that the work of literature is central. The philosophy in its emergence was the ideas about that the criticism should focus not only on the aesthetics but also on social relations. This kind of thinking has resulted in an ideological basis with the method of experimentalist social research in which aesthetics is neglected. What should the literature be rather than what it is has been questioned. However, to regard the aesthetic elements separate from the social is a mistake. For the literature using the language evolving with historical conditions as a means carries the aesthetic side of the society with it because it is based on the reflection. The difference between literature’s sociology and the sociology of literature is an important issue that needs to be seriously considered. In the West ‘the literature’s sociology’ is defined as a sociological study of the elements related to the society in a work of literature and ‘the sociology of literature’ as turning to the society phenomenon from the work of art. While the first one is closer to sociology, the second can only be conveyed with elements from literature. In the West, the sociology of literature is separated in this way. But in Turkey the situation is different. This difference causes terminological chaos. Because, contrary to the thinking in West, in Turkey ‘sociology of literature’ is generally understood as a field studying with disciplines outside literature. The literature which is a part of culture is formed in certain social conditions and relations. For this reason, the culture, the main structure of the society, should not be thought separately from the literature. Every society has idiosyncratic culture based on its social features. The shaping of these elements in regard to society forms the literature- sociology relation. It is an opposite attitude to science to think society and culture separately from the literary studies. Because the comparative literature comprises many national literatures and multi cultural façade is involved in it, the comparative studies of literature and culture should be conveyed in parallel. To realize this, it needs using the data from sociology. As literature and sociology of literature, comparative literature too, studies the material and moral developments of the nations by basing them on literary sources in a chronological process. In comparative literature, there are three schools accepted in literatures. That social events and economy determines literature, the essential idea of Marxist literary theory which is generally regarded with the sociology of literature is also seen in ‘Marxist Comparative Literature School’. But today, comparative literature is conveyed mostly in American and French schools. While American school is emphasizing the aesthetics, the French one is society and national literature centered. However it studies in a supranational way. Both schools have accepted a supranational method. French school benefits from ethnology, sociology, social psychology, politics, and history in a great deal by getting out of literature. For this reason, it shows a more definite parallelism with the sociology for literature. In our globalizing world, the comparative literature has occupied a significant place with the rise in the activities between nations, literary translations and the society-literature relation.