Introduction to Sociology

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The Development of Sociology

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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  Describe the development of sociology through the work and theories of classical sociologists
  

Figure 1. Since ancient times, people have been fascinated by the relationship between individuals and the societies to which they belong. Many topics studied in modern sociology were also studied by ancient philosophers in their desire to describe an ideal society, including theories of social conflict, economics, social cohesion, and power (Hannoum 2003). Plato and Aristotle, Confucius, Khaldun, and Voltaire all set the stage for modern sociology. (Photos (a),(b),(d) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; Photo (c) courtesy of Moumou82/Wikimedia Commons)

Creating a Discipline

Auguste Comte (1798–1857)

Figure 2. Auguste Comte is considered by many to be the father of sociology. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

In 1838 Auguste Comte, a Frenchman, coined the term sociology, from the Latin socius (companion or associate) and the Greek term logia (study of speech). Comte believed sociology could unify other sciences and improve society. The French Revolution, which began in 1789, greatly impacted Comte, as did the Industrial Revolution in Europe (1760-1840). Questions related to economic class, social status, urbanization, and the dangers of factory work raised new issues about society and social interaction.

Like other thinkers influenced by the Enlightenment (a philosophical movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason and individualism), Comte believed society developed in stages. In The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842) and A General View of Positivism (1848), Comte described The Law of Three Stages as follows: 

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   theological stage where people took religious views of society
   
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   metaphysical stage where people understood society as natural (not supernatural)
   
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   the scientific or positivist stage, where society would be governed by reliable knowledge and would be understood in light of the knowledge produced by science, primarily sociology. 
   

Comte originally studied to be an engineer, but later became a pupil of social philosopher Claude Henri de Rouvroy Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). They both thought that social scientists could study society using the same scientific methods utilized in the natural sciences. Comte also believed in the potential of social scientists to improve society. He held that once scholars identified the laws that governed society, sociologists could address problems such as poor education and poverty.
Comte named the scientific study of social patterns positivism. He believed that using scientific methods to reveal the laws by which societies and individuals interact would usher in a new scientifically oriented “positivist” age of history. In this view, rational claims are seen as scientifically and systematically verifiable, and are opposed to metaphysical and or supernatural explanations. Although much of Comte’s Courses, a six-volume treatise, has been discarded, particularly the highly simplified and under-examined approach to social development, Comte’s lasting contribution to sociology has been his classification of sciences. He presented a hierarchy of the sciences, with sociology at the top of a list that begins with mathematics, and then moves to astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology. He argued that the sciences increase in complexity and decrease in generality as you move up the hierarchy, and that they build upon each of the foundational sciences below. Comte declared sociology the most complex science for its attempt to integrate all of the other sciences in order to explain natural laws of increasing complexity.