The Development of
Sociology in Europe
A. The study of sociology is
a recent development in social history. Most 19th century practitioners
were interdisciplinary, drawing their ideas from philosophy and the natural sciences.
These early writers had great faith in the power of reason, but their ideas were
put to a test as the Industrial Revolution presented new challenges and social problems.
B. Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
is usually credited with being the father of sociology because he coined the term
SOCIOLOGY.
1. He first called this new social science social physics,
believing that society could be studied in the same scientific manner as the world
of the natural sciences.
2. He believed that by using empirical methods to discover
basic laws of society, the conditions of all of humankind could be improved.
3. Comte developed the LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS, which states
that all human intellectual growth passes successively through three distinctive
states: the theological, the metaphysical and the scientific.
4. Comte viewed society as a type of organism that evolves
from simpler to more complex forms. Sociology should study both the structure of
the organism (SOCIAL STATICS) and the organism’s processes and forms of change (SOCIAL
DYNAMICS).
5. Comte believed that sociology could produce a more just
and rational social order.
6. Comte believed scientific analysis had both professional
and personal applications.
C. Herbert Spencer (1820–1903),
born in England, coined the phrase survival of the fittest, which demonstrated his
concern with the evolutionary nature of changes in social structures and social
institutions. He was the first to stress that human societies evolved according
to the principles of natural laws, similar to Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
1. Spencer’s evolutionary theory of society favored a policy
of noninterference in human affairs and society; his view tended to favor the status
quo.
2. Because of this view, Spencer’s ideas had the support of
people of wealth and power.
3. Spencer was one of the earlier writers to be concerned with
the special problems of objectivity in the social sciences.
D. German-born Karl Marx (1818–1883),
a committed socialist, had a profound sense of moral outrage at the social conditions
of his time. Those who have power, he argued, dominate and exploit those who do
not.
1. He believed that SOCIAL CONFLICT was at the core of society
and the source of all social change.
2. As a proponent of ECONOMIC DETERMINISM, he believed that
social change, social conditions and even society itself are based on economic factors.
He declared that economic inequality results in class struggles between the BOURGEOISIE
and the PROLETARIAT.
3. The conflict between the owners and the workers lead to
feelings of ALIENATION, a sense of disconnection from work and life among the workers.
This recognition among the workers then develops CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS, which ultimately
leads to revolution and results in the improvement of social conditions.
4. Many academic sociologists use Marx’s ideas of inequality
as a premise for interpreting a variety of social and personal problems.
E. Emile Durkheim (1859–1917),
the first French academic sociologist, attempted to explain social phenomena via
the idea of SOCIAL FACTS, those things that have distinctive social characteristics
and determinants.
1. Durkheim believed that individuals are more the products
of society than the creators of it, and that society itself is external to the individual.
2. Durkheim’s work Suicide is most significant for several
reasons.
a. It provided a unique model
for social research.
b. It clearly demonstrated that
human behavior can be understood only by investigating the social context in which
the behavior takes place.
c. It established the fact that
the more a person is integrated into intimate social groups, the less likely he/she
is to commit suicide. Social integration, Durkheim argued, is achieved through people’s
mutual dependence and acceptance of a system of common beliefs.
d. Durkheim not only played a
key role in the founding of sociology; he also made sociology a legitimate academic
enterprise.
F. Max Weber (1864–1920), born
in Germany, and trained in law and economics, believed that sociologists should
study SOCIAL ACTIONS — external objective behaviors — as well as the SUBJECTIVE
meanings that people attach to their own behavior and the behavior of others.
1. According to Weber, the goal of social research is to achieve
a sympathetic understanding of the minds of others through an approach known as
VERSTEHEN. This approach is evident in Weber’s interpretation of social class, which
contrasts with Marx’s view that class is rooted in economic determinism.
2. Weber’s concept of verstehen is a vital tool used by both
academic and applied social researchers, as well as individuals, trying to interpret
and solve a variety of personal and social problems.
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