Founders of Sociology Part 1

CHERYL MARTENS, PHD

Objetives

 Recap on the Sociological Imagination and the differences between three main
Sociological paradigms
 Learn about the founders of sociology.
 Understand the basic principles of the foundational theories of sociology
 Begin to compare the ideas of the founders of sociology
Review: The Sociological Imagination

 The sociological imagination asks us, above all, to be able to take some distance from the
familiar routines of our daily lives, to be able to see them as if they were something new.
 Consider the simple act of drinking a cup of coffee. What might we say, from a
sociological point of view, about this behavioral event, which seems to be of so little
interest? (p.30)
 1. Symbolic value: for many Westerners, the morning cup
of coffee is a personal ritual, which is repeated with other
people throughout the day.
2. Use: coffee as a drug. Many people drink coffee to give
themselves an "extra boost". Some cultures prohibit its use.

El Café 3. Social and economic relations: the cultivation,

packaging, distribution and commercialization of coffee are
global activities that affect diverse cultures, social groups
and organizations within those same cultures, as well as
thousands of individuals. Much of the coffee consumed in
Europe and the United States is imported from South
America.
4. Past social and economic development: The current
"coffee relations" did not always exist. They developed
gradually and could disappear in the future (Giddens,
2000:30).
How can we best
analyze everyday
life?
 Analysing the news: examples of
Which paradigms are most how paradigms can be applied to
appropriate? analyses of the news (summary of
group work).
Early
Sociologists
and their
precursors
Ibn Khaldún (1332 -1406)

 Tunisian, descendant of Andalusian scholars and

officials in Seville. Khaldun was a follower of the
Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence.
 He developed a method of evaluating historical
evidence that enabled him to identify the causes of
events.
 His methodology was based on Aristotelian
notions of nature and causality. With this
methodology, he created a dialectical model that
explained the cyclical rise and fall of North
African dynasties.
Ibn Khaldún – main works

 Khaldun's main work is the Muqaddimah. The

Muqaddimah represents the world's first example of
structural history and historical sociology. Four
centuries before the European Enlightenment, its
work anticipated modern historiography and the
social sciences.
 His work laid the foundations of several fields of
knowledge, including the philosophy of history,
sociology, ethnography, and economics.
Sociology – early influencers

Descartes (1596-1650) Saint Simone (1760-1825)

 Certainty begins with rigorous deductive
 One of most influential authority in France,
practices. and the sociology of Auguste Comte and the
works of John Stuart Mill.
 Application of the scientific method to all
human knowledge
 Industry and technology key to development

 All claims must be open to scrutiny, criticism

 Between 1816 and 1819 he published the
and confirmation before they can be accepted journal "Industry" with Auguste Compte.
as true.
 Considered to be the founder of sociology

Aguste Compte
Interested in bringing order within disorder
Influenced by Saint Simone and Western philosophers, from Aristotle to Hegel

(1798 – 1857) Founder of Positivism

Sociology as "Social Physics".
Formulated the law of three states:
Theological (thought based on feeling and imagination, explanations in relation to myths
and supernatural beings).
Metaphysical (speculative thought, the world explained in relation to ideal knowledge)
Positive (where facts are related to other facts; knowledge is subjected to observation and
experimentation and constant interaction between theory and empirical).
Compte- main works

  The Course in Positive Philosophy, a series of

texts published between 1830 and 1842
 A general view of positivism (1848)
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)

 Martineau’s work analyzed the social customs of her native Great Britain and the United States.
 Through a collection of 25 novels, Illustrations of Political Economy (1832), she explored the
production, distribution, consumption of wealth and behavior, as well as the implications they
would have on the poor .
 Researched religion, politics, education and immigration in the US
 Defended the rights of women, the emancipation of slaves and religious tolerance.
 In Martineau's view (1877), intellectuals and scholars should not merely offer observations of
social conditions, but should also act on their convictions to bring benefit to society.
 Martineau researched the nature of women's work and pointed out the need to broaden research
in this field.
Harriet Martineau – Main works

Illustrations of taxation; 5 volumes; Charles Fox, 1834

Illustrations of Political Economy; 9 volumes; Charles Fox, 1834
Miscellanies; 2 volumes; Hilliard, Gray and Co., 1836
Society in America; 3 volumes; Saunders and Otley, 1837;
Retrospect of Western Travel; Saunders and Otley, 1838, (Project Gutenberg
How to Observe Morals and Manners; Charles Knight and Co, 1838.
Deerbrook; London, 1839.
The Hour and the Man: An Historical Romance, 1839.
The Crofton Boys. A Tale; Charles Knight, 1841
Life in the Sickroom, 1844
The Billow and the Rock, 1846
Household Education, 1848.
Eastern Life. Present and Past; 3 volumes; Edward Moxon, 1848
The History of the Thirty Years' Peace, A.D. 1816–1846 (1849)
Feats on the Fiord. A Tale of Norway; Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, 1865
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

 Durkheim refined Compte's positivism.

 He argued for the need to study "social facts"
and posited that these facts exist prior to the
birth of an individual as part of a society and
that they are collective because they are part of
the culture of society
The Sociological method according to
Durkheim:

“Social facts should be studied as

other scientific phenomena”
Define the facts
Abandon according to their Isoloate Variables in
preconceived external order to determine
notions characteristics their impact
Key works

 The Division of Social Labor (1893), doctoral

dissertation.
 The rules of sociological method (1895).
 Suicide (1897)
 Moral education (1902)
 The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).
 Lessons in sociology (1912)
Stability and Social Cohesion

 He considered morality and religion as the foundations of social

stability, the shared values that provided cohesion to society.
 If society suffers the loss of shared values it falls into a state of
"anomie". In this anomie there are no norms or laws, and there is
also a lack of social solidarity. Durkheim argued that this is due to
economic imbalance or the weakening of its institutions, which
implies a low degree of social integration.
Homework

 Read Giddens Chapter 3.

 Read McIntire, Chapter 1.
 Make note of 3 key points about Marx and 3 key points about Weber and be prepared to
explain why you consider these points to be important.