Download Auguste Comte

FAMOUS SOCIOLOGISTS
• Auguste Comte
• Emile Durkheim
• Harriet Martineau
• Max Weber
• Herbert Spencer
• WEB DuBois
• Karl Marx
• Jane Addams
Auguste Comte
(French) 1798-1857
• “father” or “founder” of sociology (coined
the term)
• believed society could be studied like
any other science – positivism
(the application of the scientific approach to the social world)
• used the scientific method (hypothesis, collect
data, analyze data, evaluate hypothesis)
• was seeking natural laws to explain the
social world (response to the disorder caused by the French
Revolution)
Comte continued
• believed that sociologists should worry
about two problems: order and change
• social statics = overall structure of a society remains
unchanged
• social dynamics = elements within the society
change to allow for social development
Auguste Comte
Harriet Martineau
(English) 1802-1876
• translated Comte’s work into English
• concerned with social change and the
plight of women and children in English
factories during the early phases of
industrialization
• first acknowledged female sociologist
Harriet Martineau
Herbert Spencer
(English) 1820-1903
• society = an organism, therefore, an
“evolutionary entity” - social evolution
• coined the phrase “survival of the
fittest”
• Social Darwinism
• advocated against social reform efforts
because it would disrupt the natural
selection process of evolution
Spencer continued
• no need to correct society’s ills - the
best aspects would survive over time
• considered social change and unrest to
be natural occurrences in a society’s
evolution toward stability and perfection
• a structural functionalist
Herbert Spencer
Karl Marx
(German) 1818-1883
• economic determinism = “the structure of
society is heavily influenced by how the
economy is organized”
• means of production = land, factories, raw
materials, etc…
• society divided into two groups: *those
who own the means of production (bourgeoisie)
• *those who own their own labor (proletariat)
Marx continued
• the ones who own the means of
production control society
• most interested in capitalist society
• “social scientists should not be passive
observers” - should be “transformers”
of society
• considered the founder of the conflict
perspective
Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
(French) 1858-1917
• studied society using the scientific
method
• concerned with the problem of social
order
• viewed society as a set of parts and the
role of these parts in terms of their
function
Durkheim continued
• function = “positive consequence that
an element of society has for the
maintenance of the social system”
• believed that “shared beliefs and
values are the glue that holds society
together”
• a structural functionalist
Durkheim continued
• should study only the directly
observable
• thoughts and feelings not proper
subject matters
• used statistical analysis to test his
theories
• important concept was “anomie” or
lack of norms - he saw “anomie” as a
major source of society’s ills
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
(German) 1864-1920
• interested more in “groups within
society than in the social whole”
• analyzed the effects of society on the
individual
• thought you should take into
consideration more than just the directly
observable
• sociologists must try to uncover
thoughts and feelings
Weber continued
• Verstehen = “empathetic understanding of
the meanings others attach to their actions” put yourself in another’s place and see the
society (world) through their eyes
• believed sociologists could never capture the
reality of society but should focus on ideal
types
• ideal type = the essential characteristics of
some aspect of society
Max Weber
W.E.B. DuBois
(American) 1868-1963
• first African-American PhD graduate of
Harvard University
• racism affected his acceptance as a
sociologist
• each year between 1896 and 1914 he
wrote a book on race relationships
Du Bois continued
• NAACP
• believed sociologists should also be
social reformers
• used statistics to examine racial
discrimination against blacks
• influence of strong African-Americans
important for black communities
• a symbolic interactionist
W.E.B. Du Bois
Jane Addams
(American) 1860-1935
• believed sociologists should also be
social reformers
• pioneered the study of social problems
• won the first Noble Peace Prize given
to an American sociologist (1931)
• founded Hull House for the poor in
Chicago
• member of the NAACP
Jane Addams