Sociology Essentials: Comte, Kant, Spencer, Durkheim, and the Law of Three Stages

Luther's trial (Diet of Worms, 1515)

A historical event that fostered an environment for challenging ideas and discourse.

Auguste Comte

Founded sociology, advocating an empirical approach to human issues and coining the term 'sociology'.

Positivism

The belief that the world is best understood through science, focusing on observable, measurable phenomena to address social problems.

Theological Stage

Human understanding stage where explanations rely on gods and supernatural agents (e.g., animism, totemism, theism).

Metaphysical Stage

Human understanding stage where explanations rely on abstract forces and magical thinking (e.g., palmistry, astrology).

Rational/Positive (Scientific) Stage

Human understanding stage where explanations rely on observation, evidence, and science.

Social Technology

Religion viewed as a mechanism to manage fear and maintain social order.

Herbert Spencer

Contributed the organic analogy and is associated with 'Social Darwinism'.

Organic Analogy

Spencer's concept of society as an organism with interdependent parts, underpinning structural functionalism.

Social Darwinism

A scientifically invalid and ethically problematic misapplication of Darwinian ideas to justify social hierarchies, often used to promote racism, sexism, and classism.

Emile Durkheim

Considered a 'father' of empirical sociology, introduced the concept of social facts.

Social Facts

Culturally specific structures existing outside individuals that exert coercive power, shaping worldviews and potential (e.g., moral systems, laws, customs).

Durkheim's Suicide Study

A landmark study analyzing suicide as a symptom of lack of social cohesion, using secondary analysis of death certificates.

Social Cohesion Indicators

Marital status, number of survivors, employment, professional guild membership, and religious orientation used in Durkheim's study.

Extant

Meaning 'already in existence' ( \text{already in existence} ).

Biological Determinism/Reductionism

Critiques for reducing social life to solely biological explanations, often associated with Social Darwinism.