The Development of

Sociology
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 Claude Henri Saint-Simon (1760-
1825)
Study of social
phenomena should
employ the same
scientific techniques as
the natural sciences
Positivist
But believes in social
reforms esp. centralized
planning of the economic
system
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
Responsible for coining the term
sociology
Founder of Sociology
Set out to develop the science of man
that would be based on empirical
observation
Positivism
Focused on two aspects of society:
Social Staticsforces which produce order
and stability
Social Dynamicsforces which contribute
to social change
Harriet Martineau (1802-
1876)
Authored one of the earliest
analyses of culture and life in
the United States entitled
Theory and Practice of
Society in America
Translated Comtes Positive
Philosophy into English

Harriet
Martineau
Herbert Spencer (1820-
1903)

Authored the first sociology text,

Principles of Sociology
Most well known for proposing a
doctrine called Social Darwinism
Suggested that people who could not
compete were poorly adapted to the
environment and inferior
This is an idea commonly called
survival of the fittest
 G.F. W. Hegel (1770-1831)
DIALECTIC Theory
The world is made up not of static
structures but of processes,
relationships, conflicts and
contradictions.

Dialetical thinking is a dynamic

way of thinking about the world.

Changes in consciousness is
important for producing
G.F. W. Hegel (1770-1831)
The dialectical approach to consensus-
building(compromise)and conflict
resolution(dialog)is the process with which
the radical left attempts to control and
manipulate outcomes.
 G.F. W. Hegel (1770-1831)

The dialectical approach to reality was to reject the

very concept of absolutes.
The whole foundation behind Hegels way of
thinking is that everything is constantly changing,
and must forever adapt to the eternal change(cf.
mutability, moral relativism).
Karl Marx clearly embraced this relativistic view.
The concept ofchangeis central to Hegelian
dialectical theory and strategy. This helps explain
why leftist political strategy centers around the
concept of dialectical change.
 G.F. W. Hegel (1770-1831)
The Hegelian dialectic reduced to its
simplest form could be summed up
asproblem, reaction, solution.
Theagent of changeemploying the
strategy creates the problem or crisis,
foments the reaction(tension),
then attempt to control the outcome
by providing the solution(resolution).
Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Marx is the Father of conflict theory

Saw human history in a continual
state of conflict between two major
classes:
Bourgeoisieowners of the means of
production (capitalists)
Proletariatthe workers
They are natural enemies
Predicted that revolution would occur
producing first a socialist state,
followed by a communist society
Materialist
Emile Durkheim (1858-
1917)
Durkheim moved sociology fully into the
realm of an empirical science
Most well known empirical study is called
Suicide, where he looks at the social
causes of suicide social integration - is
a key social factor in suicide.
People with weaker social ties are more likely
to commit suicide

Generally regarded as the founder of

functionalist theory
Emile
Durkheim
Max Weber (1864-1920)

Much of Webers work was a

critique or clarification of Marx
His most famous work, The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism directly challenged
Marxs ideas on the role of religion
in society
Weber was also interested in
bureaucracies and the process of
rationalization in society
 W. E. B. DuBois (18681963)
conducted research that they
hoped would assist in the
struggle for a racially
egalitarian society.
that knowledge was essential
in combating prejudice and
achieving tolerance and
justice.
To separate opinion from fact,
he advocated basic research
on the lives of Blacks.
 studies of urban life, both White and
Black, in cities such as Philadelphia
and Atlanta, DuBois ([1899] 1995)
made a major contribution to
sociology.
DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS
division of an individuals identity
into two or more realities
 Ferdinand Tonnies
Gemeinschaft (expression of the
will) and Gesellschaft (arbitrarily
willed group)
All social relations are
creations of human will
a. The essential will or the basic,
instinctive, organic tendency
which drives human activity
b. Arbitrary will or the deliberate,
purposive form of volition
which determines human
activity with regard to the
 Georg Simmel
Society cannot be understood as a
psychic entity independent of
individual minds, as a kind of
mysticism or conceptualism that
ascribes reality to mere concepts.
 Robert Merton
On Deviant behavior
some may deviate from the
socially approved goal of
accumulating material goods
or the socially accepted
means of achieving that goal.
Bring together studies of
Macrosociology and
Microsociology
 Edward Tylor
Pioneering anthropologist

Early history of mankind and

the Development of
Civilization

Primitive Culture one of the

main foundations of the new
sciences of human belief and
human institutions
William Graham Sumner
 William Graham Sumner
Folkways are habits of the
individual and customs of the
society which arise from efforts
to satisfy needs.
 A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
Rituals give expression to the collective
sentiments of a society, to contribute to social
cohesion and to the maintenance of a social
system through time.

Rituals might express more than merely

mans dependence on society; it expresses
dependence on his whole environment,
physical and social

Rituals are :
What it means to the people who practice it
What its social consequences are
 Thorstein Veblen
Theory of the Leisure class

Higher Learning in America

Memorandum on the conduct of
universities by businessman

Educational institutions are essential

places of socialization
 Bronislaw Malinowski Social
Anthropologist

His works produced a

revolution in the aims
and field techniques
of the younger
anthropologists
Extensive studies on
culture
 Talcott Parsons
The Social System
Any real social system
consists of individuals
who are interacting with
others on the basis of a
minimal degree of
complementary
expectations by means of
and according to a shared
system of beliefs,
standard and symbols
 Scientific Procedures for
investigation
1. Identification of the problem
2. Gathering of data
a. Observation
b. Participant observation
c. Inteview
d. Historical method
e. Comparative method
f. Archival research
g. Content analysis
3. Analysis of data