Although sociology has its roots in the works of philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and

Confucius, it is a relatively new academic discipline. It emerged in the early nineteenth century
in response to the challenges of modernity. Increasing mobility and technological advances
resulted in the increasing exposure of people to cultures and societies different from their own.
The impact of this exposure was varied, but for some people it included the breakdown of
traditional norms and customs and warranted a revised understanding of how the world works.
Sociologists responded to these changes by trying to understand what holds social groups
together and also to explore possible solutions to the breakdown of social solidarity.

Thinkers of the Enlightenment period in the eighteenth century also helped set the stage for the
sociologists that would follow. This period was the first time in history that thinkers tried to
provide general explanations of the social world.

They were able to detach themselves, at least in principle, from expounding some existing
ideology and to attempt to lay down general principles that explained social life.

The Birth Of Sociology

The term sociology was coined by French philosopher Auguste Comte in 1838, who for this
reason is known as the Father of Sociology. Comte felt that science could 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 sociologya 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.

Other events of that time period also influenced the development of sociology. The nineteenth
and twentieth centuries were times of many social upheavals and changes in the social order that
interested the early sociologists. 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 peoples lives.

Other classical theorists of sociology from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
include Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, W.E.B. DuBois, and Harriet Martineau. As
pioneers in sociology, most of the early sociological thinkers were trained in other academic
disciplines, including history, philosophy, and economics. The diversity of their trainings is
reflected in the topics they researched, including religion, education, economics, inequality,
psychology, ethics, philosophy, and theology.

These pioneers of sociology all had a vision of using sociology to call attention to social
concerns and bring about social change. In Europe, for example, Karl Marx teamed with wealthy
industrialist Friedrich Engels 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 was
active in politics while in France, Emile Durkheim advocated for educational reform. In Britain,
Harriet Martineau advocated for the rights of girls and women, and in the US, W.E.B. DuBois
focused on the problem of racism.

What Is Sociology?

Sociology, in the broadest sense, is the study of society. Sociology is a very broad discipline that
examines how humans interact with each other and how human behavior is shaped by social
structures (groups, communities, organizations), social categories (age, sex, class, race, etc.), and
social institutions (politics, religion, education, etc.). The basic foundation of sociology is the
belief that a person's attitudes, actions, and opportunities are shaped by all of these aspects of
society. The sociological perspective is fourfold: Individuals belong to groups; groups influence
our behavior; groups take on characteristics that are independent of their members (i.e. the whole
is greater than the sum of its parts); and sociologists focus on behavior patterns of groups, such
as differences based on sex, race, age, class, etc.

Origins

Sociology originated from and was influenced by the industrial revolution during the early
nineteenth century.

There are seven major founders of sociology: August Comte, W.E.B. Du Bois, Emile
Durkheim, Harriet Martineau, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, and Max Weber. August Comte is
thought of as the "Father of Sociology" as he coined the term sociology in 1838. He believed that
society should be understood and studied as it was, rather than what it ought to be. He was the
first to recognize that the path to understanding the world and society was based in science.
W.E.B. Du Bois was an early American sociologist who laid the groundwork for sociology of
race and ethnicity and contributed important analyses of American society in the immediate
aftermath of the Civil War. Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, and Weber helped define and develop
sociology as a science and discipline, each contributing important theories and concepts still used
and understood in the field today. Harriet Martineau was a British scholar and writer who was
also fundamental to establishing the sociological perspective, who wrote prolifically about the
relationship between politics, morals, and society, as well as sexism and gender roles.

The Founders of Sociology

Each field of academic study has its own cast of characters, and sociology is no exception. Although
countless individuals have contributed to sociology's development into a social science, several
individuals deserve special mention.
Auguste Comte

The French philosopher Auguste Comte (17981857)often called the father of sociologyfirst used
the term sociology in 1838 to refer to the scientific study of society. He believed that all societies
develop and progress through the following stages: religious, metaphysical, and scientific. Comte argued
that society needs scientific knowledge based on facts and evidence to solve its problemsnot
speculation and superstition, which characterize the religious and metaphysical stages of social
development. Comte viewed the science of sociology as consisting of two branches: dynamics, or the
study of the processes by which societies change; and statics, or the study of the processes by which
societies endure. He also envisioned sociologists as eventually developing a base of scientific social
knowledge that would guide society into positive directions.

Herbert Spencer

The 19thcentury Englishman Herbert Spencer (18201903) compared society to a living organism with
interdependent parts. Change in one part of society causes change in the other parts, so that every part
contributes to the stability and survival of society as a whole. If one part of society malfunctions, the
other parts must adjust to the crisis and contribute even more to preserve society. Family, education,
government, industry, and religion comprise just a few of the parts of the organism of society.

Spencer suggested that society will correct its own defects through the natural process of
survival of the fittest. The societal organism naturally leans toward homeostasis, or balance
and stability. Social problems work themselves out when the government leaves society alone.
The fittestthe rich, powerful, and successfulenjoy their status because nature has
selected them to do so. In contrast, nature has doomed the unfitthe poor, weak, and
unsuccessfulto failure. They must fend for themselves without social assistance if society is to
remain healthy and even progress to higher levels. Governmental interference in the natural
order of society weakens society by wasting the efforts of its leadership in trying to defy the laws
of nature.

Karl Marx

Not everyone has shared Spencer's vision of societal harmony and stability. Chief among those who
disagreed was the German political philosopher and economist Karl Marx (18181883), who observed
society's exploitation of the poor by the rich and powerful. Marx argued that Spencer's healthy societal
organism was a falsehood. Rather than interdependence and stability, Marx claimed that social
conflict, especially class conflict, and competition mark all societies.

The class of capitalists that Marx called the bourgeoisie particularly enraged him. Members of
the bourgeoisie own the means of production and exploit the class of laborers, called the
proletariat, who do not own the means of production. Marx believed that the very natures of the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat inescapably lock the two classes in conflict. But he then took his
ideas of class conflict one step further: He predicted that the laborers are not selectively unfit,
but are destined to overthrow the capitalists. Such a class revolution would establish a class
free society in which all people work according to their abilities and receive according to their
needs.

Unlike Spencer, Marx believed that economics, not natural selection, determines the differences
between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He further claimed that a society's economic system
decides peoples' norms, values, mores, and religious beliefs, as well as the nature of the society's
political, governmental, and educational systems. Also unlike Spencer, Marx urged people to
take an active role in changing society rather than simply trusting it to evolve positively on its
own.

Emile Durkheim

Despite their differences, Marx, Spencer, and Comte all acknowledged the importance of using science
to study society, although none actually used scientific methods. Not until Emile Durkheim (18581917)
did a person systematically apply scientific methods to sociology as a discipline. A French philosopher
and sociologist, Durkheim stressed the importance of studying social facts, or patterns of behavior
characteristic of a particular group. The phenomenon of suicide especially interested Durkheim. But he
did not limit his ideas on the topic to mere speculation. Durkheim formulated his conclusions about the
causes of suicide based on the analysis of large amounts of statistical data collected from various
European countries.

Durkheim certainly advocated the use of systematic observation to study sociological events, but
he also recommended that sociologists avoid considering people's attitudes when explaining
society. Sociologists should only consider as objective evidence what they themselves can
directly observe. In other words, they must not concern themselves with people's subjective
experiences.

Max Weber

The German sociologist Max Weber (18641920) disagreed with the objective evidence only position
of Durkheim. He argued that sociologists must also consider people's interpretations of eventsnot just
the events themselves. Weber believed that individuals' behaviors cannot exist apart from their
interpretations of the meaning of their own behaviors, and that people tend to act according to these
interpretations. Because of the ties between objective behavior and subjective interpretation, Weber
believed that sociologists must inquire into people's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions regarding their
own behaviors. Weber recommended that sociologists adopt his method of Verstehen (vrst e hen), or
empathetic understanding. Verstehen allows sociologists to mentally put themselves into the other
person's shoes and thus obtain an interpretive understanding of the meanings of individuals'
behaviors.