-
Period: to
Auguste Comte and Positiivsm
Applying the scientific method to the social world was through a process called positivism, it was proposed by Auguste Comte. Comte was the one that called this new process, sociology. -
First (Middle of 1800s)
The first was the social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution, massive amounts of people moved to the city looking for jobs, the city responded by giving long hours of work, miserable pay and dangerous works. -
Second
The social upheaval of revolution. The French and American Revolution swept away the existing social orders and the answers they had provided. Before this tradition had ruled. Because of this new social order there were challenges to traditional answers, stimulates original thinking, and it brought new ideas to society. -
Third
The third was the Imperalism that was occuring at the time. Asia, Africa, North and South America were all exposed to new ways of life because of the conquers of the Europeans. People started applying the scientific method to chemistry and physics, with this failing people started using it in questions about social life, and thats how sociology was born. -
Period: to
Tradition Verus Science
It emerged around the middle of 1800s, when social observers began to use scientific methods to test their ideas. There were three main events that set the stage to the challenge of tradition and the emerge of sociology -
Period: to
Karl Marx and Class Conflict
Karl Marx influenced not only sociology but also world history, he has been named one of the three greatest modern thinkers. He thinked like Comte, Marx thought that people should try to change society, this thoughts made him get thrown out of Germany and settled in England. Marx believed that the engine of human history is class conflict. Society is made up of two classes the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. -
Period: to
Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer is often called the second founder of sociology, he disagreed firmly with Comtes idea that sociologists should guide social reform, he said that sociologists should keep their hands off society because societies go through natural evolution. He thought that helping the poor was wrong because it merely helped the "less fit" survive -
Period: to
Emile Durkheim and Social Integration
Emile Durkheim had a goal, to get sociology recognized as a separate academic discipline. He achieved that goal in 1887 when the University of Bordeaux awarded him the worlds first academic appointment in sociology. His second goal was to show hoe social forces affect peoples behavior. He found several rates that were active inside of countries. He had the idea that people are more likely to commit suicide if their ties to other in their communities are weak -
Period: to
Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic
Max was a German sociologists and contemporary of Durheims, Weber was one of the most influential of all sociologists. -
Religion and the Origin of Capitalism
Weber disagreed with Marx claim that economics is the central force in social change. He said that role belongs to religion. Weber created the Protestant ethic. He termed the desire to invest capital in order to make more money the spirit of capitalism. He used cross-cultural and historical materials to trace the causes of social damage.