Chapter 1 A Historical Sketch: The Early Years - Vocabulary Flashcards

A vocabulary set capturing the key terms and concepts from Chapter 1: A Historical Sketch—the Early Years, covering Saint-Simon, Comte, Durkheim, Ibn Khaldun, Weber, Spencer, Tocqueville, Pareto, and related ideas.

Saint-Simon

Early French thinker; conservative reformer and positivist who influenced Comte; favored scientific study of society and centralized planning.

Positivism

The idea that social phenomena should be studied with scientific methods and empirical data to reveal social laws.

Social physics

Comte’s term for sociology modeled after the hard sciences, focusing on social statics and social dynamics.

Law of the three stages

Comte’s theory that human thought evolves through theological, metaphysical, and positivist stages.

Social facts

Durkheim’s external, coercive forces/structures that shape individuals (laws, morals, institutions).

Collective conscience

The shared beliefs and moral order of a society; strongest in traditional societies, weaker in modern ones.

Anomie

A state of normlessness or social instability resulting from rapid change or weakened norms.

Division of labor

Durkheim’s idea that increased specialization binds society; transitions from mechanical to organic solidarity; can create social pathologies if imbalanced.

Totemism

Durkheim’s primitive religious system where sacred objects symbolize the group; tied to nonmaterial social facts.

Religion as nonmaterial social fact

Durkheim’s view that religion emerges from society and expresses the collective conscience.

Asibayya

Ibn Khaldun’s concept of group solidarity; strongest among desert nomads, weaker in sedentary societies.

Muqaddimah

Ibn Khaldun’s foundational work outlining social organization and the inner meaning of history.

Desert vs sedentary societies

Khaldun’s distinction between nomadic tribes and urban centers, with differing social bonds and division of labor.

Four-generation cycle

Khaldun’s cyclical theory of history: strong asibayya leads to city life and luxury, which erodes solidarity, leading to decline and cycle repetition.

Ibn Khaldun

14th-century North African scholar who developed systematic sociology and the study of social organization (Muqaddimah).

Industrial Revolution

Period of rapid industrial and economic change; rise of factories, urbanization, and capitalism.

Capitalism

Economic system based on private ownership of production and wage labor; generates profits through surplus value from workers.

Colonialism

Direct political and economic domination of one society by a foreign power; extraction of resources and cultural impact.

Ameliorism

British tendency to solve social problems through reform of individuals within the existing system, avoiding radical change.

Social evolution

British idea of gradual societal development; associated with Spencer and a move toward more advanced societies.

Spencer

English sociologist; social Darwinist who favored laissez-faire and viewed society as an evolving organism.

Survival of the fittest

Spencer’s idea (coined before Darwin) that the most 'fit' societies endure and improve without external intervention.

Tocqueville

French observer of American democracy; highlighted centralization, equality vs. freedom, and individualism within democracy.

Durkheim

French sociologist who emphasized social facts, collective conscience, religion, and reform to maintain social order.

Rules of Sociological Method

Durkheim’s work arguing sociology studies external social facts and their influence on individuals.

Division of Labor in Society

Durkheim’s early work examining how division of labor binds society and its potential pathologies in modernity.

Protestant Ethic

Weber’s idea linking Protestant values to the development of capitalism and its rational spirit.

Rationalization

Weber’s process by which social life becomes organized around efficiency, rules, and calculable procedures.

Bureaucracy

A formally organized, rule-governed system that embodies rational-legal authority in modern society.

Traditional authority

Legitimacy derived from long-standing customs and established beliefs.

Charismatic authority

Legitimacy derived from the extraordinary qualities of a leader.

Rational-legal authority

Legitimacy derived from formal rules and offices within a legal framework.

Max Weber

German sociologist who analyzed rationalization, bureaucracy, and multiple dimensions of social stratification.

Simmel

German sociologist known for microsociology (forms of interaction, dyad/triad) and macro concerns (money, culture).

Dyad/Triad

Simmel’s concepts of two-person and three-person social groups; triads enable mediation and power dynamics.

Pareto

Italian theorist who proposed elite theory of social change and non-rational factors; influenced Parsons.”},{