development of Sociology
NAME: RAAIDH HAAMIDH
STUDENT ROLL NO: MIC03PT7-5036
BATCH: BPT36-01-LAAMU GAN
Describe the development of Sociology through the major work of the
following sociologists;
August Comte
Herbert Spencer
Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
INTRODUCTION
Sociology does not pretend to be a potentially inclusive science, and can accommodate more
specialized social sciences. The late origin of sociology does not mean that its position compared to
other social sciences is very weak. Its scope has been clearly defined since the early days.
Its concepts, terminology, patterns, and generalizations leading to theories emerged from the
beginning. Moreover, there are striking similarities between sociology and other social sciences,
human as a fundamental element in their subjects, the application of some methodological tools such
as observation, comparative method, causal explanations, testing and modification of hypothesis, etc.
When many are involved in sociology on the one hand and other social sciences, it is understood that
there is some commonality in studies as well as mutual borrowing in the form of data, methods,
methods, concepts and even vocabulary.
August Comte
Auguste Comte was the first to develop the concept of "sociology." Sociology was defined as
positive science. Positivism is the search for "static laws of the natural and social world. Comte
identified three basic ways to discover these fixed laws, observation, experimentation and
comparison. He is also famous for his Law of the Three Stages. These three stages are:
1. theological stage where people took religious views of society
2. metaphysical stage where people understood society as natural (not supernatural)
3. the scientific or positivist stage, where society would be governed by reliable knowledge and
would be understood in light of the knowledge produced by science, primarily sociology.
Comte discussed the difference between social statistics and social dynamics, which were renamed
to Social Structure and Social Change. Comet's ideas had a key role in the development of structural
functionalism. His main objective was to integrate theory and practice.
Comet is called the scientific study of positivist social patterns. He believed that the use of scientific
methods to expose the laws by which societies and individuals interact would guide a new,
"positive", scientific era. In this view, logical claims are seen as scientifically and methodologically
verifiable, and are opposed to metaphysical or abnormal interpretations. Although many of Comte's
courses, a six-volume paper, have been ignored, particularly a very simplistic and inadequate
approach to social development, Comte's enduring contribution to sociology was his classification of
science. He introduced a hierarchy of science, with sociology at the top of the list starting with
mathematics, then moving on to astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology. He said that science
increases complexity and generally shrinks as you advance in the hierarchy and it builds on each of
the basic sciences below. Comet declared that sociology is the most complex science for trying to
integrate all other sciences in order to explain the increasingly complex natural laws.
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was born in Derby, England, on 27 April 1820. He was recognized as one of the
important social philosophers of the 19th century. Had a profound impact on the development of
modern sociology. He was treated as a follower of Comet's evolutionary approach. He has been
more precise than his contingent in determining the particular areas on which sociology must take
responsibility.
It is believed to be the most famous exponent of social evolution. He is also considered the father of
classical evolutionists. In 1848 he was appointed editor-in-chief of The Economist. By 1850, he had
completed his first major work, "Social Statistics". He is best known for his theory of "social
evolution" and organic analogy in the study of sociology. Some of his important writings are:
1. Principles of Ethics-1891
2. Synthetic Philosophy-1896
3. Principle of Sociology- 1880
4. Social Statics- 1850
5. Principle of Biology
6. The study of Sociology- 1873
Karl Marx
Karl Marx was a socio-German philosopher economist. In 1848 he and Frederick Engels co-authored
the Communist Manifesto, one of the most influential political manuscripts in history. It presents
Marx's theory of society, which is different from what Comet proposed.
Marx rejected Comte’s positivism. Societies were thought to have grown and changed as a result of
the struggles of different social classes where they required control over the means of production. As
he developed his theories, the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism led to a vast disparity in
wealth between factory owners and workers. Capitalism, an economic system characterized by
private or corporate ownership of goods and the means of production, has grown in many countries.
Marx predicted that the inequalities of capitalism would be so extreme that the workers would
eventually rebel. This would lead to the collapse of capitalism, which would be replaced by
communism. Communism is an economic system under which there is no private or corporate
ownership of the means of production. Instead, economic resources are community property and
distributed as necessary. Marx believed that communism was a more equitable system than
capitalism.
While his economic forecasts may not have been realized in the time frame or in the locations he
predicted, Marx's idea that segregation-based economic conflict leads to changes in society remains
one of the major theories used in modern sociology.
Emile Durkheim
Durkheim helped legitimize sociology and defined it as an official academic discipline by
establishing the first European Department of Sociology at Bordeaux University in 1895 and
publishing its rules in the social curriculum (1895). In another important work, Department of Labor
in Society (1893), Durkheim explained his theory of how societies transformed from a primitive
state into a capitalist industrial society. According to Durkheim, people live up to their proper levels
in a merit-based society.
Durkheim believes that sociologists can study objective "social realities". He also believed that
through these studies it would be possible to determine whether a society was "healthy" or
"satisfactory." Healthy communities felt stable, while pathological communities experienced social
norms between individuals and society.
In 1897, Durkheim tried to prove the effectiveness of his rules for social research when he published
a work entitled Suicide. Durkheim examined suicide statistics in various police districts to look for
differences between Catholic and Protestant communities. He attributed the differences to religious
social forces rather than individual or psychological reasons.