The Development of Sociology Flashcards
Describe the development of sociology through the work and theories of classical sociologist
Auguste Comte (1798-1957)
-1838, coined term sociology
- Sociology [Latin socius (companion or associate)] & [Greek logia (study of speech)]
-Frenchman
- believed sociology could unify other science and improve society
- French Revolution & Industrial Revolution
- Comte developed positivism or rules to describe and predict the instability of both of these events in Europe
-believed society developed in stages
-The Law of Three Stages
-pupil of social philosopher Claude Henri de Rouvroy Comte de Saint-Simon
-Positivism
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
- writer
- translated Comte’s writing
- credited with the first systematic methodological international comparisons of social institutions in two of her most famous sociological works
- found the workings of capitalism at odds with the professed moral principles of the U.S.; identified faults of the free enterprise system (workers were exploited and impoverished while business owners became wealthy
- noted that belief of all being created equal was inconsistent with lack of women’s rights
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
-German
-social philosopher
-economist
-Marx’s theory differs from Comte –>rejected Comte’s positivism
- believed that societies grew and changed as a result of the struggles of different social classes as they sought to control over the means of production.
- believed that communism was a more equitable system than capitalism. (communism: an economic system under which there is no private or corporate ownership of the means of production
- Marx’s idea that economic, class-based conflict leads to changes in society is major used in modern society
-Social Conflict
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
- English philosopher
- rejected Comte’s philosophy & Marx’s theory of class struggle and support of communism
- favored gov that alloed market forces to control capitalism
- “survival of the fittest”
- functionalism
Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
- german
-art critic
-anti-positivism
-addressed social conflict, function of money, individual identisy in city life, & european fear of outsiders - his work focused on micro-level theories &
- analyzed dynamics of 2-3 person groups
- work emphasized individual culture
Emile Durkhiem
(1858-1917)
- Rules of the Sociological Method
-theory of how societies transform from a primitive state into a capitalist, industrial society - “people rise to their proper levels in society based on merit
- believed sociologist could study objective “social facts”
-believed determine if a society was “healthy” :stable or “pathological” :breakdown in social norms between individuals and society
-Collective Conscience
-adopted functionalist approach
-cultural agreement
-was a functionalist theorist and believed social change arose from shifts in the types of social solidarity found in societies.
Max Weber (Vaber) (1864-1920)
-theory of how religious beliefs shapes work habits and thus affects the larger social, political, and economic world.
- some believe he argues that the beliefs of many Protestants (like Calvinist) led to the creation of = Capitalism
- believed difficult to use scientific methods to predict the behavior groups
^opposition to positivism
- he proposed a more empathetic interpretive method that takes into account one’s cultural biases and orientations.= verstehen (understand in deep, empathetic way)
–> outside observers of a social world -an entire culture or a small setting- attempt to understand it from an insiders pov
-proposed antipositivism–> represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values (goal was to systematically gain in-depth understanding of social works not generalize or predict like traditional science
-IRON CAGE OF BUREAUCRACY
-didn’t like rationalization
-concerned about capitalism
-As a conflict theorist, Marx’s primary focus was class struggle within a capitalist economic system.
-Weber believed that the influence of culture made it difficult to isolate individual behavior and predict human behavior.
Quantitative vs Qualitative sociology
Quantitative: uses statistical methods (ex: surveys with large #’s of participants) Researches analyze data using statistical techniques to see if they can uncover patterns of human behavior
Qualitative: seeks to understand human behavior by learning about it through in-depth interviews, focus groups, & analysis of content sources (books, magazines, journals, popular media)
W.E.B Du Bois
-Harvard trained historian
-pioneered the use of rigorous empirical methodology into sociology
-effort to increase rights for Black People
Thorstein Veblen
-studied economy thru social lens, writing abt leisure class, business class, and others that touched on the idea of working itself
-researched the chronically unemployed, the currently unemployed, working classes.
Jane Addams
- ## founded Hull House –> a center that served needy immigrants through social and educational programs (provided extensive opportunities for sociological research)
Charles Horon Cooley
- ‘the looking-glass self’ -individuals compare themselves to others in order to ck themselves against social standards and remain part of the group
^ argued we ‘see’ ourselves by the reaction of others with whom we interact - was very concerned with the increasing individualism and competitiveness of US Society, fearing it would disrupt families as primary groups lost their importance
George Herber Mead
- philosopher and sociologist
-focused on ways in which the mind and the self were developed as a result of social processes
-argued that how an individual comes to view himself is based to a very large extent on interactions with others
-adopted Cooley’s “looking-glasses” mead felt that an individuals reaction to + or - reflection depended on who the ‘other’ was
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
-emphasized the importance of press as an educational tool
- became one of the nations most vocal anti-lynching activist
- was the epitome of public sociologist bc she examined racial and gender inequalities and made them public issues
Robert E. Park
-founder of social ecology
- focused on how individuals lived within their environment
- researched the inner city to show that no matter who lived there, social chaos was prevalent
^not the residents who caused the chaos but the environment.
sociologist might say
Sociologists believe that cultural and social forces put pressure on people to make one decision over another. As such, personal decisions do not exist in a vacuum.
