Transcript Sociology-Then and Now

Sociology
Then and Now
The Sociological Perspective
 Allows
us to look at social life in a
scientific way.
 Moves us away from “Common Sense.”
 Recognizes that we are all social beings.
 There are many different perceptions of
social reality.
 Helps us understand our social desires.
 Realizes the larger worlds connection to
our personal lives.
Origins of Sociology

Rapid social and political changes in
Europe.
– Specifically…The Industrial Revolution
 Rural
farming surrendered to large-scale production
economy.
 Factories took over…people stopped making their own
products.
 People forced to move into cities for work.

Urbanization led to social issues
 More
–
–
–
–
people than available jobs.
Crime
Poverty
Dependence Issues
Pollution
Origins of
Sociology…Continued
 Personal
relationships of rural
communities replaced by impersonal
cities
 Impossible to ignore impact of
governments, cities and economy of
individuals
 ¡Viva la Revolución!
 America
and France revolt as a result of the
differences in society.
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
French philosopher…Never completed
college
 1st to use term Sociology
 Needed science & philosophy to help
explain the need for chaos and revolution.
 Comte's aim was to create a naturalistic
science of society, which would both
explain the past development of mankind
and predict its future course.
 The society of man, Comte taught, must be
studied in the same scientific manner as
the world of nature. It is subject to basic
laws just as is the rest of the cosmos, even
though it presents added complexities.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

For him, struggle rather than peaceful
growth was the engine of progress; strife
was the father of all things, and social
conflict the core of historical process.
 He
certainly struggled…kicked out of several
cities…died penniless in London.

Marx did not believe that all people
worked the same way, or that how one
works is entirely personal and individual.
Instead, he argued that work is a social
activity and that the conditions and forms
under and through which people work are
socially determined and change over time.
Karl Marx…Continued
 Marxian
thought rests on the
fundamental assumption that it is
human nature to transform nature.
– He calls this process of transformation
"labor" and the capacity to transform
nature "labor power."
 Basically,
Marx believed that social
structure is economically driven and
that influences the individual.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
 English
contemporary to Comte
 He developed a theory of two types
of society, the militant and the
industrial, which corresponded to this
evolutionary progression.
 Militant
society, structured around
relationships of hierarchy and obedience,
was simple and undifferentiated.
 Industrial society, based on voluntary,
contractually assumed social obligations,
was complex and differentiated.
Herbert Spencer…Continued
 Believer
in Social Darwinism
– Societies are living organisms that
evolve over time and eventually reach
perfection.
– Survival of the Fittest
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Applied the scientific method to Sociology
 Societies are held together by shared
values and beliefs.
 Sociologists should study only what is
directly observable.

 Social

observations cannot be staged.
Thoughts and feelings of the individual
should not be part of the observation
process.
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Received Doctorate from University of
Berlin
 Interested in groups within the whole.

 Go
beyond studying what is directly observed.
 Uncover thoughts and feelings of the individual within
the group.

Created to concept of Verstehen
 Sociologists
must try to see/view the situation
through another person’s eyes.