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Auguste Comte
Frenchman; father of sociology. Believed that if societies were to advance, social behavior had to be studied. Created new thoughts called positivism, social statics, and social dynamics. Comte published a book titled Positive Philosophy but died before his work was truly appreciated. Comte died in the year 1857. -
Harriet Martineau
Englishwoman; founder of sociology. Due to rough patches in her life, she turned to writing. Best known for her translation of Comteś Positive Philosophy. She made original contributions in the areas of research methods , political economy and feminist theory.
She helped inspire future feminist theorists. Martineau died in the year of 1876. -
Karl Marx
German scholar; did not consider himself a sociologist. He split society into two social classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Key to unfolding history was class conflict. Guided by the idea that social scientists should try to change the world than to just study it. With the help of a fellow friend, Friedrich Engels, who helped put his ideas into writing. Marx died in the year of 1883. -
Herbert Spencer
Spencers´ career became a mixture of engineering, drafting, inventing, journalism and writing. Introduced a theory of Social Darwinism. Compared society to the human body because like the human body, society is composed of parts working together to become better. Spencer believed in the industrial revolution and thought that violent competition would fade in result to the industrial revolution. Spencer died in the year of 1903. -
Booker T. Washington
Born into slavery, he became an educator and founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881. Du Bois' demands for African American civil rights put Booker T. Washington at odds. Unlike Du Bois´, Washington thought that African Americans should accept segregation and in return promise economic gain. Washington died in the year of 1915. -
Emile Durkheim
Emilie believed that society exists because of a broad consensus. He published a book called Suicide: A Study in Sociology explaning that human social beahvior must be explained by social factors rather than just psychlogical ones. Durkheim died in the year of 1917. -
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was the best known female social reformer. She focused on the problems caused by the imbalance of power among the social classes. Active in the woman suffrage and peace movements. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931-
the first sociologist to this honor. Not considered a sociologist because she did not teach at a university, she was a woman, and worked with the poor. Addams died in the year of 1935. -
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead taught at the University of Chicago. Mead´s work laid the foundation for theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism. He explored how our sense develops, how we interact with the world. Mead died in the year of 1931. -
Max Weber
Max Weber was a university professor trained in law and economics and a writer who wrote about the nature of power, the religions of the world, law, economics, rural and urban sociology, the nature of classes and the develpopment and nature of bureaucracy. His most famous book is The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He believed in the concept of verstehen and the believe rationalization. Weber died in the year of 1920. -
Robert Ezra Park
Robert Ezra Park worked as an aide to Booker T. Washingon at the Tuskegee Institute, where he specialized in race relations and human ecology, the study of the relationship among individuals, social groups, and their social environments. He began a career as a journalist. Believed that sociologist was a kind of ¨superreporter.¨ Park died in the year of 1944. -
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois was an African American educator and social activist. He became the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. Du Bois decided to attack the ¨Negro problem¨ while attending Fisk University and from teaching in rural all-African American schools. He took this personal expiernece and decided to fight back. Du Bois died in the year of 1963. -
Julian Samora
Julian Samora became the first known Mexican American to earn a degree in sociology from Washington Unversity in St. Louis in 1953. His focused studies were on civil rights, discrimination, poverty, public health, and the movement of people from Mexico to the United States. He founded the Mexican American Graduate Studies Program. Samora died in the year of 1996.
