SOCIOLOGICAL
THOUGHT
&
THINKERS
Notes for Second Lecture
Certain Thinkers
I want you to know before we begin
What do you think how your explanations will be if you are living in an era
where Religion explains everything.
Like:
Solar Eclipse,
Spread of Diseases / Epidemics,
Lightening / Thunderstorm,
Volcanic Eruption
Now, tell me how your explanations will be if you are living in an era where
Science begins to Explain and Predict everything
Like:
Heliocentric Theory,
Laws of Gravity,
Vaccinations,
Mathematical Discoveries,
Newer Trade Routes, etc.
And then comes a major Societal Upheaval, French Revolution, You’d want to
Create a Science which can predict what will happen next in the society.
You’d want to Create a Science of Society.
That is what we call SOCIOLOGY.
But it was not always known by the same name until August Comte Arrives.
Auguste Comte
Grew up in the period of great political turmoil that followed the French
Revolution of 1789–1799.
In August 1817, Comte met Henri Saint-Simon & became his secretary and
eventually a close collaborator.
They set out to develop a “science of man” that would reveal the underlying
principles of society much as the sciences of physics and chemistry
explained nature and guided industrial progress.
Comte saw this new science, which he named sociology, as the greatest of all
sciences.
Sociology would include all other sciences and bring them all together into a
cohesive whole.
Deeply influenced and inspired by science, Comte wished to provide a
scientific explanation of society and he applied “positivism” as his main
approach.
Positivism is the study of observable phenomena as a means to analyse
society.
Comte believed that rational thought married to the use of hard evidence
could advance human understanding on how societies successfully function
and why they go through historical change.
On the topic of how societies both function and change, Comte coined two
related terms –
“Social Statics”
and
“Social Dynamics”
Social Statics
Are principles concerning the connection between and coexistence of
institutions that allow society to function relatively smoothly and
harmoniously.
The key ingredient that keeps society together is institutions, such as
family and religion, which function as part of a whole, rather than as isolated
and individual components.
Social Dynamics
Attends to how social institutions change over time to create social
transformation.
The flow of information around social institutions changes these structures
in different ways, and this creates human progress.
“Religion of Humanity”
Comte realized that the coming of industrial society would create new
political and social crises.
But his faith in scientific progress made him argue that such problems would
be resolved in a new rational system.
European society would require reconstruction around the values of science
and rationality.
The act of reconstruction required the creation of a “Religion of Humanity”, a
secular religion dedicated to progress.
Sociologists were the new priestly caste of his religion.
Karl Marx
Marx lived in Europe during the early period of industrialization, when the
overwhelming majority of people in such societies were poor.
Karl Marx never described his work as sociology.
History was propelled forward by conflict between different social classes
over values and resources.
Marx described this as “historical materialism”.
Marx believed that the industrial working class would win this struggle
between classes and this would lead to a communist society.
Marx noted that while all societies have social institutions, it is the economic
structure that shapes these institutions.
Émile Durkheim
(1858-1917)
French researcher, Émile Durkheim was influenced by Comte’s faith in the
application of scientific method to understand the social world.
He took sociology to universities.
In 1895, he founded the first university sociology department.
Durkheim believed that individuals were exclusively the products of their
social environment and that society shapes people in every possible way.
To prove his point, Durkheim studied suicide.
He believed that if he could take what was perceived to be a totally personal
act and show that it is patterned by social factors rather than exclusively by
individual mental disturbances, he would provide support for his point of
view.
People committed suicide because they were members of different social
groups that were influenced by a variety of social factors.
Max Weber (1864–1920)
He differed from the other founders of sociology in a variety of ways.
Marx Believed:
The conflicts between social classes determined many things in society.
Durkheim was
Concerned about social cohesion in society.
Max Weber
Primary focus : Individual Meanings.
Meanings people attach to the world around them.
Weber majorly:
- Clarified
- Criticised
- Modified
the works of Marx.
Weber was essentially a German academic attempting to understand human
behavior.
Weber believed the role of intellectuals was simply to describe and explain
truth, whereas Marx believed the scholar should also tell people what to do.
We’ll discuss more on these thinkers and others
Meanwhile, start getting comfortable with their thoughts and the way they
had seen the world we’ll use their names often, and of a 100 others ☺
Keep a copy of
• Syllabus,
• Ritzer &
• Haralambos
ready for the next class.
