PERSPECTIVE IN

UNDERSTANDING
THE SOCIETY
FORERUNNERS OF SOCIOLOGY

 Auguste Comte
 Harriet Martineau
 Herbert Spencer
 Emile Durkheim
 Max Weber
 Karl Marx
 George Simmel
 August Comte (1798 -1857)
 Auguste Comte, the
founder of sociology. He is
known for his Positive
Philosophy (1855).
 This he did amidst the
chaotic 19th century or the
unsettling time for France's
intellectuals. The revolution
of 1789 deposed the
French monarchy and
Napoleon Bonaparte failed
in his efforts to conquer
Europe.
 Before Comte's scientific studies, the
nature of human behavior was viewed
through various systems of social
philosophy, some of which later evolved
as specific social sciences.
 In Comte's hierarchy of sciences,
sociology was considered as the "queen
of the sciences" and its practitioners
"scientists priest".
 He used the method of positivism.
 Comte was responsible for the
development of a new approach in
the study of total or whole societies.

 He was also interested in two major

social concerns: a) law of dynamics
and b) law of statics.
 Harriet Martineau (1802 -1876)

 Harriet Martineau, an
English sociologist,
translated Comte's works.
 She observed British and
American social practices
and customs. She has a
book entitled Society in
America.
 She was a feminist, an early
advocate of women's liberation. She
was also interested in religious
tolerance and the emancipation of
slaves.
 Herbert Spencer (1820 -1903)

 Herbert Spencer, did not

feel compelled to
correct or improve
society.
 Spencer had an
"organismic" view of the
nature of society
 He systematically defined the various
areas of study within sociology, namely,
social control, politics, religion, family,
stratification, associations, communities
and the society of knowledge.
 Spencer was heavily influenced by the
evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin.
 He thought that the major focus
sociology should be social evolution
rather than the suggestion and
implementation of strategies for social
improvement.
 Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917)

 Emile Durkheim, is the

son of rabbi. He was
educated in France and
Germany. He had an
impressive academic
reputation and was one
of the first French
professors of sociology.
 He is best remembered for his notion
that behavior must be understood and
comprehended within a larger social
context.
 For Durkheim, the group or society is the
central object of sociological study. He
was likewise considered as one of the
founders of a major sociological system
of interdependent parts, each of which
plays an important role so that the total
social system may be maintained.
 Durkheim's theoretical work on how
suicide rates vary in countries is
considered as one of the important
contributions to sociology. One of his
work is Suicide (1897).
 His other contributions to sociology
on the aspects of social behavior
were on the areas of crime and
punishment, religion and the
workplace.
 Max Weber (1864 -1920)

 Max Weber was born in

Germany. He took his early
academic training in
economic and legal history
but gradually developed
an interest in sociology.
 He encouraged his
students to use verstehen
in their works.
 Weber thought that to comprehend
social behavior, people must
understand the meanings attached to
their actions.
 Weber's legacy to sociology is the key
conceptual tool: the ideal type.
 He is widely recognized as one of the
founders of symbolic interactionism.
 It assumes that each social situation
brings certain ideas about human
beings, their behaviors and attitudes.
 Karl Marx (1818 -1883)

 Most of Karl Marx's life was

spent in exile although he
was born and educated in
Germany. He went to
France after his paper was
rejected in Germany. It
was in Paris where he met
Friedrich Engels.
 Marx and Engels attended the
Communist League in 1847. The
following year, they wrote the
Communist Manifesto which urged the
masses (proletariat) to unite and
overthrow capitalist societies
(bourgeoisie). Marx attempted to return
to Germany but once more deterred.
He proceed to England where he wrote
a number of essays and books.
 Karl Marx was one of the earliest and
most important proponents of the
conflict theory.
 Marx had an evolutionary model of
society.
 For him, the history of civilization is the
history of class struggle and conflict is
the main source of social change.
 In each period of history, Marx contends
that the exploited and unpropertied
class recognizes being exploited and
thus revolts against those in power.
 Georg Simmel (1858 -1918)

 Georg Simmel is a
German philosopher.
He obtained his
doctorate from the
University of Berlin in
1881.
 He was among the pioneers who
recognized, designated and analyzed
the impact of social differentiation,
expansion of social groups, structure of
the economy and other developmental
and environmental influences in the
development of the human personality.
 Simmel suggested that an interesting
subject for sociological research would
be small groups.