The History of Sociology

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The History of Sociology
Chapter 1 Ms. Raab Please fill in your outline as
we proceed.
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Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

• Coined the term sociology from
• Socius - social
• Logos - study of

• A new science that would engage in the study of
  society and human behavior

• Thought it would lead to more rational human
  interactions (Coming from French Revolution)

• Believed in Positivism

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Positivism

• A belief that the world can best be understood
  through scientific inquiry

• Knowledge moved through 3 stages

1. Theological stage explanations were
based on religion and the supernatural
2. Metaphysical stage explanations were
based on abstract philosophical thought
3. Scientific/positive stage explanations are
based on systematic observation and
experimentation
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Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)

• Translated and condensed Comtes works
• Believed in a do something sociology.

• Focused on social distinctions based on class,
  race and gender

• Explored the status of women, children and
  sufferers (criminals, mentally ill,
  handicapped, poor. etc)

• A better society would emerge if women and men
  were treated equally and cooperation existed
  among people in all social classes.

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Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

• Believed societies developed through struggle
  and fitness
• Natural that some are rich and others are poor.

• Social Darwinsim - belief that those species of
  animals, including human beings, best adapted to
  their environment survive and prosper, whereas
  those poorly adapted die out. This was used as a
  rationale for racial discrimination

• Noted that societies are bound to change over time

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Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Stressed that people are the product of their
  social environment - behavior can not be
  understood in terms of an individual

• Studied industrialization and found as workers
  become more specialized it led to anomie

• Anomie - loss of direction felt by a society when
  individuals have lost their sense of belonging
• - individual lost sense of purpose

• Suicide Theory - finds that increased
  individualism produces higher suicide rates
• - Protestant v. Catholic

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Suicide Suicide Theory
Very popular topic of study for sociologists
1. Once people contemplate or attempt suicide,
they must be considered suicidal for the rest of
their lives.
2. In the United States, suicide occurs on the
average of one every seventeen minutes.
3. Alcohol and drugs are outlets for anger and
thus reduce the risk of suicide.
4. Older women have lower rates of both
attempted and completed suicide than older men.
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Max Weber (1864 - 1920)

• Focused on understanding or insight in
  intellectual work
• verstehen

• To study behavior, we need to focus on how one
  views themselves and their own behavior

• Researchers should take into account peoples
  emotions, thoughts, beliefs and attitudes

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Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

• Believed conflict is a constant variable of
  society

• Class conflict breeds social change

• Capitalist class - bourgeoisie - those who own
  and control the means of production (tools, land,
  factories, and money for investment)

• Working class - proletariat - those who must
  sell their labor in order to live

• Capitalists control the working class Class
  conflict

• Leads to alienation
• A feeling of powerlessness and isolation from
  other people

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Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

• His ultimate goal classless society

• Writes the Communist Manifesto to urge the
  proletariat (working class) to rise up and
  overthrow the bourgeoisie (capitalist class)

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Theories

• All of the theories we have learned are important
• Why?
• They are general statements about how the world
  fits together and functions and that yield
  predictions that can be tested.
• Testing theories
• Must generate predictions which can be checked in
  the real world.
• "Research" is the term for making systematic
  observations that test our theories.

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• INDIVIDUALISM gt SUICIDE RATES
• "individualism" the independent variable (cause),
  "suicide rates" the dependent variable (effect)
• Measurement?
• Suicide rates are fairly straightforward, percent
  and number.
• But how do we measure the degree of individualism
  in a group or society?
• Using just the religion variable, our diagram now
  looks like this
• PROTESTANTISM gt INDIVIDUALISM gt HIGH SUICIDE
  RATES
• When a theory is "operationalized" this way, an
  extra complication enters into the testing.