Socio Clep People

Karl Marx

Focused on class conflict between the bourgeoisie (owners) and proletariat (workers).

Believed capitalism leads to inequality and exploitation.

Argued social change comes through economic struggle.

Max Weber

Studied how culture and ideas influence society.

Linked Protestant ethics to the rise of capitalism.

Introduced the concept of bureaucracy.

Émile Durkheim

Focused on social order and stability.

Studied how social norms and values hold society together.

Introduced the idea of social facts.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Studied race, inequality, and African American life.

Introduced the concept of double consciousness.

Advocated for civil rights and education.

Gustave Le Bon

Studied crowd behavior.

Believed individuals act differently in groups.

Argued crowds are emotional and easily influenced.

Robert Merton

Expanded functionalism.

Developed strain theory of deviance.

Introduced manifest and latent functions.

Thomas Malthus

Studied population growth.

Believed population grows faster than food supply.

Warned this could lead to poverty and famine.

Erving Goffman

Focused on everyday social interactions.

Developed dramaturgical theory (life as a performance).

Studied impression management.

Adam Smith

Founder of modern economics.

Supported free markets and capitalism.

Introduced the idea of the invisible hand.

William Sumner

Introduced the concept of ethnocentrism.

Believed social customs shape behavior.

Supported social Darwinism.

Radcliffe-Brown

Key figure in structural functionalism.

Studied how social structures maintain society.

Focused on kinship systems.

Auguste Comte

Founder of sociology.

Believed society could be studied scientifically.

Introduced positivism.

Thomas Hobbes

Believed humans are naturally selfish.

Argued strong government is needed for order.

Introduced social contract theory.

Jean Piaget

Studied cognitive development in children.

Identified stages of learning.

Believed children actively construct knowledge.

Edwin Sutherland

Developed differential association theory.

Believed crime is learned through social interaction.

Focused on white-collar crime.

Harriet Martineau

Early sociologist and feminist.

Studied inequality and women’s rights.

Translated and expanded Comte’s work.

Jane Addams

Founder of Hull House.

Focused on social reform and poverty.

Linked sociology with activism.

Margaret Mead

Studied culture and gender roles.

Used cross-cultural research.

Showed behavior is shaped by culture.

Ferdinand Tönnies

Introduced Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.

Studied changes from traditional to modern societies.

Focused on social relationships.

Sigmund Freud

Founder of psychoanalysis.

Focused on the unconscious mind.

Studied personality development.

Edward Thorndike

Studied learning and behavior.

Developed the law of effect.

Influenced behaviorism.

Erik Erikson

Studied psychosocial development.

Identified eight life stages.

Focused on identity formation.

Talcott Parsons

Major functionalist theorist.

Studied social systems and stability.

Focused on social roles and norms.

C. Wright Mills

Introduced the sociological imagination.

Connected personal problems to social issues.

Criticized power structures and inequality.