A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY Sociology is rooted in the works of philosophers, including Plato (427 347 B.C.

), Aristotle (384 322 B.C.), and Confucius (551 479 B.C.). Some other early scholars also took perspectives that were sociological. Chinese historian Ma Tuan-Lin developed, in the thirteenth century, a sociological history by looking at the social factors influencing history in his general-knowledge encyclopedia Wen Hsien T ung K ao (General Study of the Literary Remains). Ibn Khaldun (1332 1406), conducted studies of Arab society. Scholars have been interested in the nature of society throughout history. They typically focused on what the ideal society would be like. During the 1800s, however, scholars began studying how society actually is and how social arrangements actually operate (how society works ). Armed with this knowledge, they felt they could better attack social problems and bring about social change. These scholars became the first sociologists. The term sociology was coined by French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798 1857), who would become known as the Father of Sociology. He first publicly used the term in his work Positive Philosophy. Originally an engineering student, Comte became secretary and pupil to French social philosopher Saint-Simon (1760 1825). Saint-Simon was an advocate for scientific and social reform. He advocated applying scientific principles to learn how society is organized. Armed with this knowledge, he believed he could ascertain how best to change, and govern, society to address social problems such as poverty. Comte saw history as divided into three intellectual stages. The first, or theological, stage included the medieval period in which society was seen as reflecting the will of a deity. The second, or metaphysical, stage arose during the Enlightenment and focused on forces of nature, rather than God, to explain social events. Comte considered his own time period the third stage, which he termed the positivistic, or scientific, stage. During Comte s lifetime, scientists were learning more about the laws that govern the physical world. For example, in the area of physics, Sir Isaac Newton (1641 1727) had developed the law of gravity. Advances were also being made in other natural sciences, such as biology. Comte felt that science could also be used to study the social world. Just as there are testable facts regarding gravity and other natural laws, Comte thought that scientific analyses could also discover the laws governing our social lives. It was in this context that Comte introduced the concept of positivism to sociology a way to understand the social world based on scientific facts. He believed that, with this new understanding, people could build a better future. He envisioned a process of social change in which sociologists played crucial roles in guiding society. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were times of many social upheavals. The political revolutions sweeping Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries led to a focus on social change and the establishment of social order that still concerns sociologists today. Many early sociologists were also concerned with the Industrial Revolution and rise of capitalism and socialism. Additionally, the growth of cities and religious transformations were causing many changes in people s lives. Sharing Comte s belief, many early sociologists came from other disciplines and made significant efforts to call attention to social concerns and bring about social change. In Europe, economist and philosopher Karl Marx (1818 83) teamed with wealthy industrialist Friedrich Engels (1820 95), to address class inequality. Writing during the Industrial Revolution, when many factory owners were lavishly wealthy and many factory workers despairingly poor, they attacked the rampant inequalities of the day and focused on the role of capitalist economic structures in perpetuating these inequalities. In Germany, Max Weber (1864 1920), was active in politics. In France, Emile Durkheim advocated for educational reforms. In the United States, social worker and sociologist Jane Addams (1860 1935), became an activist on behalf of poor immigrants. Addams established Chicago s Hull House, a settlement house that provided community services such as kindergarten and day care, an employment bureau, and libraries. It also provided cultural activities, including an art gallery, music and art classes, and America s first Little Theater. Louis Wirth (1897 1952), built child-guidance clinics. He applied sociology to understand how social influences impacted children s behavioral problems and how children could be helped by using this knowledge. Sociologists are also responsible for some of the now familiar aspects of our everyday lives. For example, sociologist William Foote Whyte (1914 2000), improved restaurant service by developing the spindles that wait staff in many diners use to submit food orders to the kitchen (Porter 1962). Robert K. Merton (1910 2003), developed the concept of what would become the focus group, now widely used in the business world. Sociological perspectives are also the basis of many concepts and terms we use on a daily basis. Lawyers plead extenuating circumstances on their clients behalf, an acknowledgment of the sociological position that social forces influence human behavior; to talk about fighting the system acknowledges that social structures exist and influence our lives (Babbie 1996). Sociologists have also been actively involved throughout the civil rights movement. Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862 1931) published and spoke out against lynching. W.E.B. Du Bois (1868 1963), was involved for most of a century in studying race and social activism. Rosabeth Moss Kanter has become an internationally renowned name in studying and improving organizations. William Julius Wilson has challenged thinking on class, race, and poverty. Patricia Hill Collins has increased our understanding of how race, class, and gender together all have social consequences in our world.