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Auguste Comte
(1798-1857)
*He was a Frenchman known to be the father of sociology.
*He created the term sociology.
*He believed in studying society through scientific observation and called this positivism
*Made book called Positive Philosophy -
Harriet Martineau
(1802-1876)
*Lost taste, smell, and hearing early on
*Sociological work began in 1825
*She became a very popular writer
*Translated Comte's "Positive Philosophy"
*Pioneering feminist therist -
Karl Marx
(1818-1883)
He didn't consider himself a sociologist.
*He had concern for the poverty in the working class.
*He believed that sociologists should change the world instead of study it.
*Friedreich Engels helped with this idea.
*Marx identified several social classes but predicted that eventually there would be only two, Bourgeoisie and proletariat.
*He thought class conflict could eventually create a classless society -
Herbert Spencer
(1820-1903)
*Didn't like scholarly work so didn't apply to Cambridge
*Thought social stability was like a body, several parts working together
*Created theory called "Social Darwinism" based on the theory of evolution
*He believed in natural selection (if left alone, natural selection would make the most capable society)
*"To interfere with poverty is harmful to society"
*His ideas began to go out of fashion -
Booker T. Washington
(1856-1944)
*Begun life in slavery and became educator after
*founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881
*Had belief that African Americans should accept segregation in return for economic gains -
Emile Durkhein
(1858-1917)
*Believed society existed because of a broad consensus
*Durkheim was one of the leading sociologists that developed research methods to replace speculation with observation
*Introduced the use of statistical techniques for studying suicide
*Believed suicide rate varied with group characteristics
*social behaior must be explained by social factors -
Jane Addams
(1860-1935)
*Co Founded Hull House in chicago with college friend Ellen Gates Starr: immigrants, sick, and poor could get help
*brought sociologists to Hull House so they could see the effects with industrialism on middle class
*active in women's suffrage
*won Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 (first sociologist to win this) -
George Herbert Mead
(1863-1931)
*taught at University of Chicago
Thought our sense of self develops as we interact with the world
*Laid Foundation For perspective of symbolic interactionism
*Languages, symbols, and communication are the heart of sense of self -
Max Weber
(1864-1920)
*Wrote on the nature of power, world religions, law, and urban sociology
*most famous book: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
*Believed in verstehen: understanding social behavior by putting yourself in the place of others
*rationalism: mind set emphasizing knowledge and planning -
Robert Ezra Park
(1864-1944)
*aide to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee (1905-1914)
*Taught at the University of Chicago in race relations and ecology
*Interested in how groups are made and how newspapers keep track of events and trends -
W.E.B Du Bois
(1868-1963)
*First African American to receive a diploma from Great Barrington
*First African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard
*Faced discrimination in Nashville and analyzed the social structure of African American communities -
Julian Samora
(1920-1996)
*First known Mexican American to earn a doctorate in sociology
*Washington Uni in 1953
*Focus was on civil rights, poverty, public health, and movement of people along the Mexican American border
*founded the Mexican American Graduate Studies Program