MARONE JULIUS M.

MOLDEZ 11-MERLOT

Pioneers of Sociology Main Contribution in the Field of Sociology

1. Auguste Comte  “Father of Sociology”
 First to develop the concept of “sociology”.
 He identified three basic methods for discovering these invariant laws,
observation, experimentation, and comparison.
 He is also famous for his Law of the Three Stages. These three stages are the
theological, metaphysical, and positivist.
 He discussed the difference between social statistics and social dynamics;
which have been renamed social structure and social change.
 His ideas have had a major role in developing structural functionalism.
 His important works include Positive Philosophy, Systems of Positive Polity,
and Religion of Humanity.
2. Harriet Martineau  Considered as the first woman sociologist.
 She was the first to translate August Comte's work from French to English.
 Her key contribution to the field of sociology was her assertion that when
studying society, one must focus on all aspects of it.
 She emphasized the importance of examining political, religious, and social
institutions.
 In her writings, she brought an early feminist perspective to bear on issues such
as race relations, religious life, marriage, children, and home.
 Her social theoretical perspective was often focused on the moral stance of a
populace and how it did or did not correspond to the social, economic, and
political relations of its society.
 She measured progress in society by three standards: the status of those who
hold the least power in society, popular views of authority and autonomy, and
access to resources that allow the realization of autonomy and moral action.
3. Herbert Spencer  He is known today as one of the sociology theorists who basically took Charles
Darwin’s theory of evolution and applied it to societies and social individuals.
 He coined the term “survival of the fittest”.
 He helped the development of the functionalist perspective, one of the major
theoretical frameworks in sociology.
 He is famous for his theory of’ Social Evolution’ and Organismic Analogy in the
study of Sociology.
 He was initially best known for developing and applying evolutionary theory to
philosophy, psychology and the study of society — what he called his “synthetic
philosophy”.
 His ideas are often referred to as Social Darwinism, even though these ideas
were first applied to society rather than biology.
4. Karl Marx  He developed a theory that human societies progress though a struggle
between two distinct social classes.
 He believed that with a mixture of historical research and scientific methods,
society could be analyzed logically and rationally.
 His concepts of class struggle was highly influential.
 One of the most important contributions of him is his theory of historical
materialism.
 According to him, there will be a time that capitalism would be destroyed and
there would emerge a class society characterized by absence of conflict,
exploitation and alienation from this world.
 His theories about society not only helped form the discipline of sociology but
 also several perspectives within sociology.
5. Emile Durkheim  He is famous for his views on the structure of society.
 His theories were founded on the concept of social facts, defined as the norms,
values, and structures of society.
 According to him, society should be analyzed and described in terms of
functions.
 His concept of the division of labor focused on the shift in societies from a
simple society to one that is more complex.
 He formulated the two types of social solidarity, which are mechanical solidarity
and organic solidarity.
 The concept of anomie, thought of as “normlessness”, was developed by him.
6. Maximilian Karl Emil  He introduced three independent factors that form his theory of stratification
Weber hierarchy: class, status, and power.
 He opines that it is necessary to analyze human motivations, actions and
relationships significantly.
 Verstehen i.e. interpretative understanding is the method which is more
effective in understanding the dynamics of society and culture which cannot be
reduced to mere observable objects
 The task before the social scientist is to observe the inner meaning of social
phenomenon.
 His main works are the Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism,
Economics and Society, and Methodology of Social Sciences.
7. Talcott Parson  He views sociology as the analysis of social relationship and cultural product.
 He opined that the role of reason is supreme in sociological theory.
 Some of his salient themes include action frame of reference, social system,
and pattern variable.
 Played a crucial role in the development of “The Grand Theory”.
 He opines that a social system consists in a plurality of individual actors
interacting with each other in a situation.
 According to him, the core of a social system is the patterned normative order
through which the life of a population is collectively organized.