Founders of Sociology
Person/Orientation
August Comte
"The Liberal"
Herbert Spencer
Key Concepts/Short Excerpts
"Sociology", Positivism
Excerpt from Positive Philosophy (1830-42)
"The Positive Philosophy offers the only solid basis for
that Social Reorganization which must succeed the critical
condition in which the most civilized nations are now
living.... It alone has been advancing during a course of
centuries throughout which the others have been
declining. The fact is incontestable. Some may deplore it,
but none can destroy it, nor therefore neglect it but under
penalty of being betrayed by illusory speculations. This
general revolution of the human mind is nearly
accomplished. We have only to complete the Positive
Philosophy by bringing Social phenomena within its
comprehension, and afterward consolidating the whole
into one body of homogeneous doctrine. The marked
preference which almost all minds, from the highest to the
commonest, accord to positive knowledge over vague and
mystical conceptions, is a pledge of what the reception of
this philosophy will be when it has acquired the only
quality that it now wantsa character of due generality.
When it has become complete, its supremacy will take
place spontaneously. and will re-establish order
throughout society." click for more...
Evolution, "Survival of Fittest"
Excerpt from The Principles of Sociology, Vol. 1 (1876)
"Society is an organism... It undergoes continuous growth;
as it grows, its parts, becoming unlike, exhibit increase of
structure; the unlike parts simultaneously assume
activities of unlike kinds; these activities are not simply
different, but their differences are so related as to make
one another possible; the reciprocal aid thus given causes
mutual dependence of the parts; and the mutually
dependent parts, living by and for one another, form an
"The Conservative"
Karl Marx
"The Radical"
aggregate constituted on the same general principle as an
individual organism. The analogy of a society to an
organism becomes still clearer on learning that every
organism of appreciable size is a society; and on further
learning that in both, the lives of the units continue for
some time if the life of the aggregate is suddenly arrested,
while if the aggregate is not destroyed by violence its life
greatly exceeds in duration the lives of its units. Though
the two are contrasted as respectively discrete and
concrete, and though there results a difference in the ends
subserved by the organization, there does not result a
difference in the laws of the organization: the required
mutual influences of the parts, not transmissible in a
direct way, being transmitted in an indirect way." click
for more...
Class, Revolution, Dialectical
Materialism
Excerpt from The Communist Manifesto (1848):
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history
of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and
plebian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a
word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant
opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted,
now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended,
either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large,
or in the common ruin of the contending classes....
It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face
of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their
tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of
communism with a manifesto of the party itself....
In short, the Communists everywhere support every
revolutionary movement against the existing social and
political order of things. In all these movements, they
bring to the front, as the leading question in each, the
property question, no matter what its degree of
development at the time. Finally, they labor everywhere
for the union and agreement of the democratic parties of
all countries. The Communists disdain to conceal their
views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can
be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing
social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a
communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to
lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Working men of all countries, unite!" click for more...
Emile Durkheim
"The Scientist"
Social Fact, Anomie
Excerpts from The Rules of the Sociological
Method (1893)
"Before beginning the search for the method appropriate
to the study of social facts it is important to know what
are the facts termed 'social'. .. When I perform my duties
as a brother, a husband or a citizen and carry out the
commitments I have entered into, I fulfill obligations
which are defined in law and custom and which are
external to myself and my actions. Even when they
conform to my own sentiments and when I feel their
reality within me, that reality does not cease to be
objective, for it is not I who have prescribed these duties;
I have received them through education... Here, then, is a
category of facts which present very special
characteristics: they consist of manners of acting, thinking
and feeling external to the individual, which are invested
with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise
control over him. Consequently, since they consist of
representations and actions, they cannot be confused with
organic phenomena, nor with psychical phenomena,
which have no existence save in and through the
individual consciousness. Thus they constitute a new
species and to them must be exclusively assigned the term
social." click for more...
Durkheim - Functionalism
Durkheim wanted to comprehend how society functioned. One of his major contributions to
Sociology was Mechanical and Organic solidarity. This concept leads on to his views on why
people commit suicide (anomie) and crucially, division of labor.
Mechanical solidarity basically means what holds society together. Durkheim believed this
was the case in pre-industrial times as most people shared similar jobs and this lead to
a collective conscience. People also had similar customs and values set in place which
resulted in a social glue.
When, during the industrial revolution and the division of labor, as people began to become
more skilled and work in different jobs, things changed rapidly and the complexities of
capitalism lead to a new form of solidarity, organic. This was mainly because of a division of
labor in society, as people were now more reliant on others, such as specialized workers.
Instead of people being dependent on others they knew (working in Feudal times, everyone
doing the same jobs, same rewards, etc) they were now relying on others they did not
know, and the general accord was replaced with functional interdependence. When
capitalism really took off in the 19th century, its rights did not penetrate to all who lived in
it. Because of this, according to Durkheim, many ended up feeling isolated, bored, and living
a life unfulfilled. This is where Durkheim's suicide theory comes in, as when people where
living in a organic solidarity, many thought of life as worthless and having no meaning.
There is more to be said on division of labor and suicide, but that is a very basic explanation
of them. Durkheim also believed that religion was played a crucial part in peoples' lives, and
had many positive aspects. He believed it was necessary in society and created boundaries,
customs and rules that have helped society. Obviously, each religion is different, but
according to Durkheim, they all have the same effects on people:
Religion is part of the socialisation process, creating norms and values
Religious system of beliefs help people by filling up their needs and giving them
a purpose in life
Religion gives people a social identity
Religion brings human beings together
Karl Marx - Class Conflict
Now I understand that any discussion about this man is completely futile as every myth
about him will be brought up, from he wanted dictatorships, he was utopian, he wanted to
kill all capitalists, etc. However, just to go over his views.
Marx believed that there were two classes in conflict with each other: bourgeois and
proletariat. The former held the means of production and the latter was forced to sell their
labor to them (which leads on to a whole host of other things). These two classes are in
conflict with each other over wealth and exploitation. Workers are being exploited because
they are forced to sell their labor and their labor power (they're energy, creativity, etc).
Whereas the bourgeois grow fat off of the labor of the workers. Although both need each
other, the exploitation of the workers is, in Marx's view, completely wrong and he predicted
that workers would rise up and overthrow capitalism.
Marx borrowed a lot from Hegel and others and elaborated on them. He believed that the
capitalist system alienated workers from themselves, each other, their work and the things
they produce. This leads on to a development of fetishism of commodities and more. Marx
took aim at religion for its help in keeping people subjugated.
Marx viewed religion as a way to keep people in line. Rather than rise up and fight for better
conditions, religion offered people a better world in the afterlife. Marx saw this is folly and
attacked religion for keeping people down and conforming to the system they are in.
Max Weber - Social Action Theory
Weber believed that in pre-industrial societies, people had a complete set of different
values. As times moved on and with industrialisation, people moved on with their beliefs and
customs. They began to think carefully about the consequences of their actions in the
future. Society is formed by the way people interact with each other. Religion is of course, a
key element in this interaction.
His biggest contribution arguably is his view that religion is central to what way a society
acts. He did this by touring different parts of the world and concluding that religions such as
Hinduism, Islam and Catholicism were not right for the development of capitalism, unlike
Protestantism. He did not mean that capitalism was Protestantism, he mean't that
Protestantism in a capitalist society was more suited. In his book The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber outlines how Calvinism did not teach people to acquiesce and
accept their role in life, unlike the caste system, for example.
Weber believed it was no coincidence that western European countries who were Protestant
lead the way in their development of industrial capitalism. John Calvin preached about
saving, investing and that it was a duty to God to work hard. Living your life like that will
lead to salvation.
Apologies if I have did a disservice to your favorite sociologist, I did only say I would be
terse and I haven't even touched on some of their, in my opinion, more interesting views on
the family, particularly Marx's. Personally, I tend to agree with all three. I think Durkheim's
division of labor is crucial in its analysis of suicide, even today. The same with Marx and
alienation because of labor. Anyway, do you agree with one, two or all three or do you
thoroughly disagree with all of them?
The political philosophy forum is probably the only forum that is troll free. I have a feeling
this will be moved to that forum by Cato. I only did not start it in that forum because you
can't and I couldn't be arsed Pming, so apologies in advance.
