Origins of Sociology
“intersection of biography and history”
--C. Wright Mills
Origins
• Social thinkers & religious leaders have long
made observations about human behavior but
the first formal analysis dates to ancient
Greece
– Plato & Aristotle 400-300BCE
• they often based their answers on
superstition, myth, or even the positions of
the stars
• they did not test their assumptions
Revolution=Paradigm Shift
Scientific Revolution & Age of Enlightenment
17th century
– Created a rapid change in thinking, need for
scientific understanding of world and behaviour
– Shift away from the church to provide answers
– Increased political, technological and social
change achievement
Key Figures: Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galilei, Bacon,
Descartes, Newton
Revolution=Paradigm Shift
Industrial Revolution
18th & 19th century
• agriculture gave way to factory production
• masses of people moved to cities in search of
work
• new social class of industrialist emerged
• created massive social upheaval
Revolution=Paradigm Shift
• people of diverse backgrounds now worked
together
• people became consumers instead of producers
• rent for shelter instead of service or barter for
shelter
• social problems arose
– housing, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions,
poverty, pollution, crime, child labour, hazardous
working conditions, no job security
• there emerged a new group of social thinkers
trying to figure out all of this social change
Revolution=Paradigm Shift
American & French Revolutions (1775, 1789)
• swept away the existing social orders and rules
• idea that individuals possess inalienable rights
• many traditional Western monarchies to give
way to more democratic forms of government
Revolution=Paradigm Shift
Imperialism
• Europeans had conquered many parts of the
world, and their new colonies stretched from
Asia and Africa to North and South America.
• Exposed to radically different ways of life, they
began to ask why cultures differ.
Auguste Comte (1794-1859)
• Coined the term SOCIOLOGY “socius” (social,
being with others) “ology” (study of)
• Never conducted sociological research, but
considered by many to be the founder of
sociology
• Stressed that methods for natural sciences
should be applied to study of society
• POSITIVISM- the belief that the world can be
best understood through scientific inquiry
Herbert Spencer & Social Darwinism
1820-1903
• born into a more peaceful time than Comte
• major contribution was an evolutionary
perspective on social order
• Evolutionary Theory- A theory to explain the
mechanisms of organic social change
• Society like a biological organism has various
independent parts that contribute to its
functioning (family, economy, and government)
that work to maintain stability and survival of the
entire species
• He believed that society struggled for existence
and fitness
– “Survival of the fittest”
• This phrase is often attributed to Charles Darwin
and is therefore called Social Darwinism
• He strongly opposed any measures that would
alter natural selection and damage society by
favoring its weakest/ less worthy members
• Many critics argued that his theory did not
account for the fact that people can alter their
environments and that it is too easy to justify
concepts such as class and racial and ethnic and
gender inequality
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• Emphasis on change and conflict
• History is a continuous clash between conflicting
ideas and forces
• Conflict (especially class conflict between social
classes) is necessary in order to produce social
change and a better society
• According to Marx, class conflict=struggle
between the capitalist class (bourgeosie who own
and control the means of production) and the
working class (proletariat who sell their labour in
order to live)
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• People are the product of their social
environment therefore the limits of human
behaviour/potential are socially, not biologically
based
• economic activity bonds people together through
interdependence
• Strains and breakdown in modern society lead to
anomie during a period of rapid social change
– a condition in which social control becomes
ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and
of a sense of purpose in society)
• Explored subject of suicide
Max Weber (1864-1920)
• Disagreed with Marx’s idea that economics is the
central force in social change, but thought it was
important in shaping human action
• Thought that economic systems are heavily
influenced by other factors in society (such as
religion)
• Emphasized that sociology should be value free
(research should be conducted in a scientific manner
and should exclude the researcher’s personal values
and interests), but recognized that social behaviour
cannot be analyzed or measured like temperature or
weight)
• Believe that sociologists should employ verstehen
(German word for understanding or insight) to gain the
ability to see the world as others see it; this idea has
been incorporated into the concept of the Sociological
Imagination
• Weber was concerned with bureaucracy, and said it
was the most significant factor in determining social
relations among people in industrial societies; used to
maintain capitalist interests in society
• More aware of women’s issues than many of the other
scholars of his day
References
• Henslin
• Text
• Wikipedia