Soon after the French Revolution, the academic field of sociology evolved as a positivist study of society, largely as a result of Enlightenment ideas. Its origins can be traced back to a number of significant philosophical movements in the history of science and knowledge, movements that emerged in response to modernity, capitalism, urbanization, rationalization, secularization, colonialism, and imperialism.[1]
Sociological discussions in the late 19th century were particularly interested in the creation of the contemporary nation state, including its constituent institutions, socialization units, and surveillance techniques.
As a result, the emphasis on modernity as opposed to the Enlightenment divides sociological discourse from that of traditional political philosophy very frequently.[1] Similarly, social analysis in a broader sense has its roots in philosophy’s canon.
Numerous quantitative social research methods are now standard tools for enterprises, organizations, and governments. They are also used in other social sciences. As a result of being freed from theoretical accounts of social dynamics, social research now has some independence from sociology as a field. Similar to how “science” has been taken, “social science” is now used to refer to a variety of fields that study people, interactions, societies, or cultures.[2]
Based on how each sociologist perceives the extent and nature of society and its members, sociology as a discipline comprises a variety of conceptions. It would be incorrect to rationalize the objectives and efforts of sociological study from various academic backgrounds by developing a purely linear definition of its science.
Antecedent history
Scope of being “sociological”
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (see 18th century part) and other figures from that time on are credited with the codification of sociology as a word, concept, and common vocabulary. Being aware of presentism, or putting concepts from the present into the past, is crucial while discussing sociology.
The individuals we see below produced powerful methodologies and critiques that reflect on what sociology is now, positioning them as significant characters in the advancement of our understanding of sociology. But because there was no such thing as “sociology” during this time, it took careful wording to include these earlier endeavors in the broader history of sociology.
The name proto-sociology[3] might be more appropriate.[4] shows that while the basic elements of sociology were available, they lacked it.
19th century: defining sociology
Sociology’s current definition was ultimately given by the French professor Auguste Comte in 1838.[19] The phrase “social physics,” which Comte had originally used to describe his study, would later be hijacked by others, including the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet.
European sociology: The Enlightenment and positivism
Henri de Saint-Simon
In 1813, Henri de Saint-Simon wrote Physiologie sociale. He spent a lot of time exploring the idea that human society could be guided toward advancement if scientists united to form a worldwide assembly to direct it. He maintained that by concentrating on generally enhancing the living conditions of their society, scientists may divert groups from war and conflict.
This would eventually unite various cultures and societies and avoid violence. Saint-Simon reshaped the scientific thinking that had been widely promoted since the Enlightenment to be more useful and applicable to society. The central thesis of Saint-Simon was that industrialism would usher in a new era in human history. He saw that people had been viewing advancement as a strategy for science.
Auguste Comte and followers
Auguste Comte wanted to unite all studies of humankind through the scientific study of the social sphere when he wrote after the original Enlightenment and was influenced by Saint-Simon, a political philosopher of the social contract. He held that all human life progressed through distinct historical stages and that, if one could understand this progression, one could prescribe the cures for social evils. His sociological theory was typical of the humanists of the 19th century.
According to Comte’s system, sociology was to be the “queen science” after all other fundamental physical sciences, which would then lead to the most inherently challenging science of human society.[19] Comte is now known as the “Father of Sociology” as a result.[19]
In the Course of Positive Philosophy, Comte outlined his more comprehensive philosophy of science.
The three states of knowledge are the foundation of Comte’s philosophy. This law states that all knowledge always starts out in a theological context. In this case, a superior supernatural force like animism, spirits, or gods can be used to explain the knowledge. The knowledge is subsequently transferred to the metaphysical form, where it is explained by speculative, abstract philosophy.
After being explained scientifically by observation, experimentation, and comparison, the knowledge finally turns out to be useful. The laws were put into a hierarchy of increasing difficulty.[2] Comparable to Karl Marx’s own theory of historiography from capitalism to communism is Comte’s account of social progress. The two would both be affected by various socialist utopians of the time and concur that communism in some form existed.
Marx and historical materialism
Following the secularization of Europe, Comte and Marx both aimed to create a new scientific worldview. Marx rejected the positivist technique in the Hegelian tradition, and the self-styled sociologists of his day reciprocated by rejecting him.
Marx nevertheless achieved recognition as the father of sociology by the middle of the 20th century for his efforts to create a thorough study of society. Marx was the “true father” of modern sociology, according to Isaiah Berlin, “in so far as anyone can claim the title.”[24]
The goal was to provide concise, consistent responses in familiar empirical terms to the most pressing theoretical concerns on people’s minds at the moment, and to derive concise, practical recommendations from those conclusions without overtly manufactured connections.
Karl Marx participated in the Berlin group known as the Young Hegelians in the 1830s, which held discussions and published writings on George W. F. Hegel’s legacy. Science of Logic, Hegel’s key work, was first published in 1816. He initially agreed with the group’s plan to attack Christianity in an effort to topple the Prussian government, but eventually developed opposing views and split from the Young Hegelians, criticizing their beliefs in works like The German Ideology.
Marx came to the conclusion that the power of the establishment is not based on religion (or the “ideal”), but rather on the ownership of capital (or the “material”), which includes processes that use technologies, land, money, and especially human labor to create surplus value[25].
Durkheim and French sociology
Émile Durkheim’s work was significant because he was interested in how societies could keep their integrity and coherence in the modern era, which is characterized by the absence of traditional social and religious ties and the emergence of new social institutions.
The Division of Labor in Society (1893) was his first significant sociological publication. He became France’s first sociology professor in 1895, wrote The Rules of Sociological Method, and founded the first sociology department in Europe.[27] He founded the L’Année Sociologique newspaper in 1898. Modern social research was pioneered by Durkheim’s key work, Suicide (1897), a study of suicide rates in Catholic and Protestant communities that helped to set social science apart from psychology and political philosophy.
Another major concern for Durkheim was whether sociology would be recognized as a valid discipline. He developed Auguste Comte’s original positivism, advocating what can be characterized as an epistemological realism and the use of the hypothetico-deductive paradigm in social science.
If the term “institutions” is taken in its broadest sense, which includes “beliefs and modes of behavior instituted by the collectivity”[28] and its objective being the discovery of structural social realities, then for him sociology was the science of institutions. A key proponent of structural functionalism, which is a fundamental viewpoint in both sociology and anthropology, was Durkheim. He believed that social science should be completely holistic, which meant that sociology should investigate phenomena related to society as a whole rather than being restricted to the individual.
German sociology: Tönnies, the Webers, Simmel
According to Ferdinand Tönnies, Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft are the two primary ways that people associate with one another. The former was a traditional community with strong ties to one another and common values, whereas the latter was a modern civilization where individualism and reason had taken over as the prevailing values.[30]
Additionally, he drew a clear distinction between the world of concepts and the reality of social activity, saying that the former must be approached axiomatically and deductively (in “pure” sociology), while the latter must be approached empirically and inductively (in “applied” sociology). Max Weber, another pioneering German sociologist, expanded on his theories.[30]
Weber maintained that social activity should be studied interpretively (as opposed to strictly empiricist) in order to better comprehend the meaning and purpose that people place on social action.
In his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber developed a thesis that combines economic sociology and the sociology of religion. He argued that ascetic Protestantism was one of the main “elective affinities” connected to the emergence of market-driven capitalism and the rational-legal nation-state in the West. He claimed that promoting capitalism was in line with the fundamental principles of Protestantism.
Therefore, it may be claimed that the spirit of capitalism is ingrained in the beliefs of the Protestant religion. Weber emphasized the significance of cultural influences found in religion as a way to understand the origins of capitalism in opposition to Marx’s historical materialism.[iii][33] The Protestant Ethic was the first component of Weber’s larger studies of world religion.
Herbert Spencer
One of the most well-known and prominent sociologists of the 19th century was the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), however his work has largely lost popularity in modern sociology. Writing before and after the Darwinian revolution in biology, Spencer tried to reformulate the field in terms of social Darwinism.
His early sociology was largely a reaction to Comte and Marx. He actually developed a logical theory of general evolution in his first writings, years before Darwin wrote anything about the subject.[39] Spencer’s 1874 publication of The Study of Sociology, the first book using the term “sociology” in the title, was encouraged by his friend and associate Edward L. Youmans. In his lifetime, he is thought to have sold one million books.
Due to Spencer’s social Darwinist ideas on race, which are commonly regarded as a sort of scientific racism, his work lost some of its influence on sociology in the 20th century. He claimed, for instance, that the removal of lower-class races from the planet by imperialism had advanced civilization:
“The forces working out the great scheme of perfect happiness, taking no account of incidental suffering, exterminate such sections of mankind as stand in their way…. Regardless of whether the obstacle is human or animal, it must be removed.[43] Spencer is today referred to in the academia as “of all the great Victorian thinkers… [the] one whose reputation has fallen the furthest” mostly because of his writings on race.[44]
North American sociology
Based on the fieldwork he conducted in 1896–1897, W. E. B. Du Bois published his first significant work, The Philadelphia Negro (1899), in July 1897. It is a thorough and exhaustive sociological study of the African-American population of Philadelphia.
The research was groundbreaking since it was the first scientific examination of African Americans and a significant contribution to the development of American scientific sociology.[iv][v][47] Du Bois used the term “the submerged tenth” to refer to the black underclass in the study. He coined the phrase “Talented Tenth” to refer to society’s upper stratum later in 1903.[48] The language used by Du Bois expressed his belief that a nation’s elite, black and white, were essential to its successes in culture and progress.[48]