Lecture 2The Origin

/Development of Sociology

OUTLINE:

Sociology as a DisciplineHow did Sociology begin?The Discovery Of Social Facts

3

CORE CONCEPT 1

Sociology emerged in part as a reaction to the Industrial revolution, an ongoing and evolving social force that transformed society, human behavior, and interaction in calculable ways.

Sociology emerged in the middle of the eighteenth century in Europe

How did sociology begin?

1. Three major social changes during the 1th to 18th centuries are important to the development of sociology.

•The rise of a factory-based industrial economy. (17th-18th c.)

•The emergence of great cities in Europe.

•Political changes, including a rising concern with individual liberty and rights.

The French Revolution symbolized this dramatic break with political and social tradition. (1789)

2.Travel / Cultural exposures3.Success of Natural Sciences

How did sociology begin?

1. Industrial Revolution

• Europe was changing from agriculture to factory production

• Masses of people moved to the cities in search of work

• In cities people met anonymity, crowding, filth, and poverty

• Industrial Revolution challenged the traditional order an opened the door for democratic changes

• Rapid social changes undermined the traditional explanations of human existence

2. Travel• The Europeans had been

successful in obtaining colonies (Africa, Asia, L America)

• Their colonial empires

exposed them to radically different cultures

• Startled by these contrasting ways of life, they began to ask questions why cultures differed

3. Success in natural sciences

• Newton’s laws explained the movement of everything visible in the universe

• It seemed logical to discover the laws underlying social phenomena

The Discovery Of Social Facts CORE CONCEPT 5

Early sociologists were witnesses to the transforming effects of the IR. They offered lasting conceptual frameworks for analyzing the ongoing social upheavals.

In 1825, the French Ministry of Justice began to collect criminal justice statistics.

Soon, they began collecting data on activities such as suicide, illegitimate births and military desertion.

Became known as moral statistics because of the moral implications of the activities.

André Michel Guerry (1802 –1866) a French lawyer and amateur statistician

• Became fascinated with the statistics and devoted himself to interpreting them.

• In 1833, he published the Moral Statistics of France and launched sociology.

Guerry’s Research: Stability and Guerry’s Research: Stability and VariationVariation

• Rates were stable from year to year:– In any French city or department, almost exactly the

same number of people committed suicide, stole, or gave birth out of wedlock.

• Rates varied from one place to another:– The number of suicides varied greatly from city to

city

Why Findings Important?

• If crime and suicide are purely individualistic (private, personal) then why the macro-level patterns?

• Perhaps factors outside the individual?

• Guerry and disciples began to think of social forces – population density, economic issues, religious variation