Transcript Comte Saint-Simon (1760

Ideology, History, & Classical
Social Theory
►
What is a theorist?
►
Observes
►Seeks
order
Why are theories created?
 Need

Impose order

Prediction & control
Theories Vary & Change
 Same
experiences can be
theorized in different ways
 Examples:
Greek understanding of
human body & personality
 Earth as center of universe
 Other examples?
The Universe
During first few centuries B.C.
 Greeks described first realistic model
of universe:

Earth in the center (sphere)
 Concentric spheres with sun, moon,
Mars, and Venus
 On outer sphere, were stars

Earth at the Center
Brief definition of theory

An idea or set of ideas that is
intended to explain facts or events

Three social theories applied:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paA61KfOcEc

Applied

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDZHlvP6Q6E
What is a Social Theory?

A body of organized, verifiable ideas
developed to explain various aspects of
society & social behavior.

Explains how & why specific facts are
related

Creates order

Makes sense of world & our place in the
world
The Development of Social Theory
 Historical
 French
Context
Revolution (1789) to WWI 1919
 Dramatic Changes
 Economic
 Social
 Political
The Development of Social Theory
 Change
 How
in Ideas
people saw & made sense of the
world
 Change after decades of little change
 Cause of social change
 Importance of religion
Ways of thinking about Change
 God’s
will
 Linear
(progress)
 Cyclical
Linear Change
Cyclical Change
Thrive
Rise
Decline
Life Before the Enlightenment

Absolute monarchy/divine right

Church-centered
Original sin
 Religious warfare


Church and state linked

Most Europeans’ daily lives consumed
with survival
Life After the Enlightenment
•
Importance of the Individual
People turned away from Church &
royalty for guidance - looked to
themselves.
 Used scientific method to understand
social and political relationships
 Religious toleration
 Freedom of the press and speech
Life After the Enlightenment

Reason – truth could be discovered through
reason
Happiness – rejected medieval belief that
people should concentrate on finding
happiness in hereafter rather than contentment
& joy in this world


Progress – Humankind could improve
Scientific Revolution Leads to
Enlightenment

1500-1700: European scientists used reason
to discover laws of nature

Astronomy


Chemistry


Galileo discovers Moon’s craters and Milky Way
Galaxy
Vaccine for smallpox (1796)
Biology

Robert Hooke-> Discovers the cell
Scientific Revolution Leads to
Enlightenment
 Early
1700s: If people used reason
to find laws that governed the
physical world?
 Why
not use reason to discover
natural laws that
 Govern
 Begin
human nature
studying human nature
 Societal problems
Major Enlightenment Ideas

Solve social, political, and economic
problems using Reason

Governments created->orderly society

All men are created “free and equal”

Free market should regulate trade
Enlightenment Thinkers
Thomas
Hobbes
John
Locke
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
•Humans are naturally cruel, •Humans are naturally
greedy, and selfish.
reasonable, moral and good
•To escape “brutish” life
people enter into a social
contract.
•Humans have natural rights:
life, liberty, and property
•Only absolute monarchy
keep society completely
orderly.
•If government violates
people’s natural rights,
people have right to
overthrow government
•People form governments
•Only powerful government to protect natural rights
could ensure orderly society. •Government with limited power
The Enlightenment
 Ways
of knowing
Ideology
Reason
Science
Ideology
 Justifies
existing social conditions
Value-laden
 Examples:
 “Divine right of kings”
 Racism
 Sexism
Reason
 Knowledge
discovered through
rational processes
 Universe operates based on “laws”
 Humans
have:
Free will
Intelligence
Control destiny & environment
Science
 Scientific
methods
 Guidelines for gathering &
interpreting information
 Value
free
Saint-Simon (1760-1825)
Social Environment
French social philosopher
 American Revolution



Served on side of colonists
French Revolution

Made a fortune in land speculation
Increasing industrialization
 The Enlightenment

Ideas
 Promoted
 Nature
study of nature
& society governed by laws
 Reorganization
 Organized
of society
by wise men
 Based on scientific division of labor
 Spontaneous social harmony
Ideas
 State’s
3 responsibilities
1.Public works
2.Free education
3.Uplifting recreation
Ideas
 “Industrial
army”
 Construction
of roads, bridges,
canals, planting forests
 Organism as metaphor for society
 Science-> replace religion
“Saint-Simonianism”
After Saint-Simon’s death
 Small group of follower’s organized
calling for:

Abolition of inheritance rights
 Public control of means of production
 Gradual emancipation of women


Became a moral-religious cult
 Sociologists as high priests*
August Comte (1798-1857)
Social Environment
Social Upheaval
 Series of governments:

Democratic
 Oligarchy of middle-class elites
 Dictatorship of Napoleon (1799-1814)
 Return to Bourbon monarchy


His parents liked the monarchy
Economic problems
 Religious turmoil

Goals for Sociology
 Create
order
 Unified
spiritual order
 Social & political stability to France

View of society=Organic

Society’s basic unit is the family
Not

the individual
Family is emotional & moral union
Goals for Sociology

Social & political problems improved
by science


Natural laws


Diagnosed & cured like human diseases
Explain stability & change
Sociology
Replace Roman Catholic Church as source
 Truth, Understanding, and Order *

Herbert Spencer
35
Herbert Spencer
 Religious
/ political / philosophical
background
 Laissez-faire
economics
36
Herbert Spencer
His book Social Statics:

Human happiness
 Achieved only when individuals
 Can satisfy their needs and desires
 Without infringing on the rights of
others to do the same.
37
Herbert Spencer
 “Society
is akin to a special
organism obeying its own laws of
progress.”
 The
natural order of all societies is
one of hierarchy.
38
Herbert Spencer
Almost a decade before Darwin
published On the Origin of
Species,
Spencer coined the phrase “survival
of the fittest.” *
39
Summary

Society as a social organism

Study society

Discover natural laws of society

Improve society

Explain stability and change

Produce social stability