MAX WEBER

GERMAN SOCIOLOGIST
 EMILE DURKHEIM
FATHER OF SOCIOLOGY
 AUGUSTE COMTE
DOCTRINE OF POSITIVISM
MAX WEBER
German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the “Protestant ethic,”
relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Weber’s profound influence on
sociological theory stems from his demand for objectivity in scholarship and from his analysis of the motives
behind human action

EMILE DURKHEIM

David Émile Durkheim (French: [emil dyʁkɛm] or [dyʁkajm];[1] 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a
French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and—with W. E. B. Du Bois, Karl
Marx and Max Weber—is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science.[2][3]
Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain their integrity and
coherence in modernity, an era in which traditional social and religious ties are no longer assumed, and in
which new social institutions have come into being. His first major sociological work was The Division of
Labour in Society (1893). In 1895, he published The Rules of Sociological Method and set up the first
European department of sociology, becoming France's first professor of sociology.[4] In 1898, he established
the journal L'Année Sociologique. Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a study of suicide rates
in Catholic and Protestant populations, pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social
science from psychology and political philosophy. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912)
presented a theory of religion, comparing the social and cultural lives of aboriginal and modern societies.
Durkheim was also deeply preoccupied with the acceptance of sociology as a legitimate science. He refined
the positivism originally set forth by Auguste Comte, promoting what could be considered as a form
of epistemological realism, as well as the use of the hypothetico-deductive model in social science. For him,
sociology was the science of institutions, if this term is understood in its broader meaning as "beliefs and
modes of behaviour instituted by the collectivity"[5] and its aim being to discover structural social facts.
Durkheim was a major proponent of structural functionalism, a foundational perspective in both sociology
and anthropology. In his view, social science should be purely holistic;[6] that is, sociology should study
phenomena attributed to society at large, rather than being limited to the specific actions of individuals.
He remained a dominant force in French intellectual life until his death in 1917, presenting numerous
lectures and published works on a variety of topics, including the sociology of knowledge, morality, social
stratification, religion, law, education, and deviance. Durkheimian terms such as "collective consciousness"
have since entered the popular lexicon.[7]

AUGUSTE COMTE

Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (pronounced [oɡyst kɔ̃t] ( listen); 19 January 1798 – 5
September 1857)[4] was a French philosopher and writer who founded the discipline of praxeology[5] and
the doctrine of positivism. He is sometimes regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern
sense of the term.[6]
Influenced by the utopian socialist Henri Saint-Simon,[4] Comte developed the positive philosophy in an
attempt to remedy the social malaise of the French Revolution, calling for a new social doctrine based on
the sciences. Comte was a major influence on 19th-century thought, influencing the work of social thinkers
such as Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and George Eliot.[7] His concept of sociologie andsocial evolutionism set
the tone for early social theorists and anthropologists such as Harriet Martineau and Herbert Spencer,
evolving into modern academic sociology presented by Émile Durkheim as practical and objective social
research.
Comte's social theories culminated in his "Religion of Humanity",[4] which presaged the development of
non-theistic religious humanistand secular humanist organizations in the 19th century. Comte may have
coined the word altruisme (altruism).[8]

FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution (French: Révolution française French pronunciation: [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃ sɛːz]) was a
period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies that lasted from 1789 until
1799. It was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire. The
Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, catalyzed violent periods of political turmoil,
and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon who brought many of its principles to areas he
conquered in Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly
altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing
them with republics and liberal democracies.[1] Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of
global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the
Revolution as one of the most important events in human history.[2][3][4]
The causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following
the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution,[5] the French government was deeply in debt. It
attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes, which were
heavily regressive. Leading up to the Revolution, years of bad harvests worsened by deregulation of
the grain industry also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy and the
Catholic clergy of the established church. Some historians hold something similar to what Thomas Jefferson
proclaimed: that France had "been awakened by our [American] Revolution."[6] Demands for change were
formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates General in
May 1789. During the first year of the Revolution, members of the Third Estate (commoners) took control,
the Bastille was attacked in July, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was passed in
August, and a group of women marched on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October.
A central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and
privileges left over from the Ancien Régime.