Sociology Development

1. THE
DEVELOPMEN
T of
SOCIOLOGY in
EUROPE
The Sociologists' Perspective

2. The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th
centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural
societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban.
Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose
machinery, factories and mass production.

3. While industrialization brought about an increased
volume and variety of manufactured goods and an
.
improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in
often grim employment and living conditions for the poor
and working classes

4. Auguste Comte
(1798-1857)
coined the term "sociology."
He believed the study of social phenomena should employ
scientific techniques. But Comte was disturbed by the
chaos of French society and was critical of the
Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
He also stressed the systematic character of society and
accorded great importance to the role of consensus. These
beliefs made Comte a forerunner of positivism and
reformism in classical sociological theory.

5. According to Comte, each branch of our knowledge passes
successively through the different theoretical conditions.
It is known as law of three stages. The main aim of this
principle is that it provides the basis of sociological
thinking.

6. 1. Theological or fictitious stage, "all theoretical conceptions,
whether general or special bear a supernatural impress". Unable
to discover the natural causes of the various happenings, the
primitive men attributed them to imaginary or divine forces.
(a) Fetishism - man accepts the existence of the spirit or the soul.
(b) Polytheism - man begins to believe in magic and allied
activities. He then transplants or imposes special god in every
object. Thus they believed in several gods and created the class
of priests to get the goodwill and the blessings of these gods.
(c) Monotheism - man believes that there is only one centre of
power which guides and controls all the activities of the world.
Thus man believed in the superhuman power of only one god.

7. 2. Metaphysical or abstract stage
being an improvement upon the earlier stage, it was believed that
the abstract power or force guides and determines the events in
the world. Metaphysical thinking discards belief in concrete god.
3. Scientific or positive stage
The observation and classification of facts are the beginning of the
scientific stage, where there is no place for any belief or
superstition. Everything concludes rationally.

8. *Positivism means the philosophical system of Auguste
Comte, recognising only positive facts in observable
phenomena, and rejecting metaphysics and theism and
religious system founded on this. Thus, Comte was against all
types of irrational elements in social thinking.
Comte argued, "As long as man believes that social events
are always exposed to disturbances by the accidental
intervention of the legislators no human or divine no
scientific provisions of them would be possible".

9. Karl Marx
(1818-1883)
―Society was not formed by survival of the fittest
but by the consolidation of those similar
economic interests and experiences and it could
only be changed by class struggle not by
scientific planning.‖

10. He believed that:
*the economic structure of the economy shaped all other
aspects of social life and bred persistent internal strife.
*the conflict between these 2 classes (capitalists &
proletariat) would continue until the conditions of the
workers became so bad that they would unite and
overthrow the capitalists.

11. CONTRIBUTION
# his penetrating insights into his role of economic factors in shaping social
patterns
# his awareness of class consciousness and false consciousness.
# His use of historical research to understand how social structure and
institutions change over time and his deep humanitarian concern for the
plight of industrial workers at a time when pay scales and conditions in many
factories.

12. Herbert Spencer
(1820-1903)
Coined the phrase “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST”
(not DARWIN)
Through natural selection, only the optimal
social arrangements would eventually remain
which made his viewpoint led to adopt a
highly conservative, laissez-faire* attitude.
* a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the
minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights.

13. He strongly opposed such policies as public education, public
health care and laws protecting workers, because he felt that
the fittest are capable of offending themselves.
Those who are unable to care for themselves would soon be
eliminated --- society “progresses” by eliminating its weak
links.

14. Emile Durkheim
(1858 -1917)
His Interest in solidarity --- led him to
consider how crime and deviance affect
the social order.
His interest in deviance – led him to conduct
a systematic study of suicide in a number of
populations, a study that has served as a
model of scientific research for other
sociologists.

15. CONTRIBUTIONS:
-- pioneering use of statistics to investigate social life
–his insights into the social forces that underlie
seemingly individual acts
–his theory of how modern industrial societies work

16. Max Weber
(1864- 1920)
He
argued
that
economics, politics and culture
are the social forces that divide
and stratify people into groups
and link one group to another.
He believed that those who share the economic
fate—whether they be landlords or peasant, workers
or industrialists—form distinct social classes.

17. Weber
developed
major
theories on stratification and
bureaucracy and studied the
similarities and differences
that underlie the institutions
of various societies.
He stressed that in looking at
the group patterns, one must
not forget that people have
feelings, thoughts, conscienc
e, attitudes, and values that
affect their relationships.

18. He employed the concept
-- IDEAL TYPE --
a pure model of a particular
social pattern or process that
sociologists use to examine
and
compare
social
arrangements in the real
world. These are mental
constructs
that
allow
sociologists to highlight the
critical
properties
of
a
phenomenon.
Capitalism and Protestantism –
were ideal types.

19. Oyco, Karene
Amparado, Karyn
Ysabella
Espida, Richelle
Ravina, Brillant
Sola, Doni Lee
Gaylan, Grethel
Benito, Jarvin