Ch 2 - Origins of sociology 

Sociology was founded upon 3 revolutions:

1- Industrial Revolution 2- Social upheaval of revolutions 3- Imperialism

Main figures in sociological development:

1. Auguste Comte (positivism): father of sociology Believed sociology could unite all sciences and improve society

2. Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism: second father of sociology. Believed that societies go through “natural evolution”. Created a principle called “survival of the fittest”. His beliefs come from Charles Darwin Believed that sociologists should not direct society

3. Karl Marx and class conflict: suggested revolution of social classes, where a group of people will reform their society and lead to a classless society without exploitation and class conflict

→ Bourgeoisie and proletariat

4. Emile Durkheim and social integration:

• Goals: to get sociology recognised as a separate academic discipline. To show how social forces affect people’s behaviour

• Group behaviour cannot be comprehended only concerning their behaviour; we must always examine that social factors influence people’s lives

5. Max Weber (Protestant Ethic): disagreed that economics is the central force in social change. Weber brought the birth of Capitalism. Believed that religion was the key factor in the rise of capitalism

Points of view based on each sociologist:

1. Positivism: the practice of the systemic method to the study of collective world

2. Bourgeoisie: capitalists who own the capital, land, factories, and machines

3. Proletariat: the exploited workers, who do not aims the means of production

4. Social integration: the degrees to which people are tied to their social group. The amount and quality to which any member of the group/society is connected by mutual values and social attachment

→ Weber suggested that sociology should be value free

• Value free: the view that a sociologists personal values or beliefs should not influence social research

• Value: standards by which people define what is desirable or not

• Objectivity: value neutrality in research

• Replication: the repetition of study in order to test its findings

• Scientific method: use of objective, systematic observations to test theoriesCommon sense: things “everyone knows” are true

• Pattern of Behaviour: reappearing events in society

• Generalisation: an assertion that seeing outside the particularised or personal situation is pertaining to a larger setting