Download Who`s Who of Sociology

Who’s Who of
Sociology
Auguste Comte
• often credited with being the
founder of sociology because he
was the first to suggest that the
scientific method be applied to
the study of the social world
• Focused on positivism- the
application of the scientific
approach to the social world
Herbert Spencer
• believed that societies evolve from
barbarian to civilized forms
• He was the first to use the
expression “the survival of the fittest”
– social evolution depended on the survival
of the most capable and intelligent and
the extinction of the less capable.
• His views became known as social
Darwinism
Karl Marx
• believed that social development
grew out of conflict between social
classes;
• under capitalism, this conflict was
between the bourgeoisie-those who
own the means to produce wealthand the proletariat-the mass of
workers.
• His work is associated with the
conflict perspective
Emile Durkheim
• responsible for getting sociology
recognized as a separate discipline.
• He was interested in studying how
social forces shape individual
behavior
• Focused on social integration-the
degree to which people are tied to
their social groups
Max Weber
• Argued individuals always
interpret the meaning of their
own behavior and act according
to these interpretations
– Sociologist must find out how
people feel or think about their own
behavior
• Sociologists should adopt a
method Verstehen- empathetic
understanding of their subject
– Putting themselves mentally in the
position of their subject
Jane Addams
• One of the founders of US
sociology and social work
• Hull House- center for social
reform and research in Chicago
• Most activists at Hull House were
women
• Organize citizens and lobby
political leaders to eliminate
social problems
W.E.B. DuBois
• Focused research on racial
problems
• Believed knowledge was the
way to combat prejudice
• Founded the Niagra
Movement and helped create
the NAACP