The People of Sociology

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The People of Sociology
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Auguste Comte (1798-1857, French)

• Coined the term sociology Theory- Societies
  contain social statics (forces for social order
  and stability) and social dynamics (forces for
  conflict and change)
• called positivism.

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Harriet Martineau (1802-1876, British)

• Translated and condensed Comtes work. Wrote
  Society in America 1837.

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Herbert Spencer (1820-1903, British)

• Used evolutionary perspective to explain social
  order. Societies had separate parts. They
  developed through a process of struggle (for
  existence) and fitness (for survival).
  Survival of the fittest. This notion has been
  used to justify class, racial, ethnic, and gender
  inequalities, and to rationalize the lack of
  action to eliminate harmful practices that
  contribute to such inequalities.

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Emile Durkheim (1858-1917, French)

• Limits of human potential are based socially not
  biologically. People are a product of their
  social environment.

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• Karl Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Georg Simmel
  established the course for modern sociology.

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Karl Marx (1818-1883, German)

• Economics is the central force for social change.
• Contrast to Durkheim, believes conflict is
  necessary to produce social change.

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Marx
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Max Weber (1864-1920,German)

• Concerned with large scale organizations
  bureaucracies.

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George Simmel (1858-1918, German)

• Society is best seen as a web of patterned
  interactions among people. The main purpose
  should be to examine these interaction processes
  within groups.

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Sociology in the U.S.
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Jane Addams (1860-1935, Chicago)

• Founded Hull House, the first settlement house
  in Chicago.

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Hull House
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Jane at Hull House
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W.E.B. Dubois and Atlanta University

• Created a sociology laboratory and instituted a
  program of systematic research. Sociology of
  African Americans.

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