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The Development of Sociology

Social Thought: To the 19th Century It was not until the 19th century that sociology developed as a

separate field of knowledge. It’s primarily in the works of the famous Greek philosophers,

Plato and Aristotle, that the first comprehensive philosophy of human life and society came into existence.

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Plato (427-347 B.C.)

Plato was a pupil of Socrates, whom he considered the most just man of his time, and who exerted a large influence on his philosophy.

Plato was highly dissatisfied with the prevailing degenerating conditions in Athens. The Athenian democracy was on the verge of ruin and was ultimately responsible for Socrates’ execution.

Plato’s most famous book was the Republic, which contains much of his social philosophies.

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Plato (cont.)

Plato believed that human beings are capable of attaining the truth and to use this truth for the welfare of society in a rational manner.

Plato also believed that conflicting interests of different parts of society could be harmonized.

According to him, the best, rational and righteous political order leads to the harmonious unity of a society and happiness.

According to him, there are four characteristics of a good political society: four virtues: justice, wisdom, moderation, and courage.

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Plato (cont.)

Plato did not advocate democracy. According to him, democracy assumes that all men were

equal. He argued that all are not equal. He asserted that the majority are incapable of ruling, and of

those that are, some are more capable than others. According to him, democracy is a denial of the principle of

qualification; it holds that every citizen has a right to participate in government.

Plato believed that a right must correspond to capacity. He also believed that the average person had neither the knowledge nor the intelligence required for government.

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Plato (cont.)

Instead of government by all, good as well as bad, stupid as well as intelligent, Plato advocates aristocracy which is government by the best minds-philosophers. 

For Plato, aristocracy is the rule of reason. However, for Plato aristocracy is not exploitation; it is not a

condition in which the interests of the many are sacrificed to the interests of the few.

In aristocracy, the interests of the group are most important, and the rulers will be the servants of the community; they will not be rulers but leaders.

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Plato (cont.)

For Plato, in aristocracy the interests of all are safeguarded by a few exceptionally intelligent people. Such a state will be like a family in which the head works for the good of its weaker members.

Plato conceived the idea of “social contract”, according to which the people mutually agree to create a state, by giving it limited power to provide welfare of people.

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Plato (cont.)

Following Socrates, Plato argued everyone must practice an occupation in which he is naturally best suited (See division of labour).

Thus, Plato divides society into three classes -- the philosophers (governing class), the warriors, and the artisans (workers). (Something like caste in India).

It is a division of society upon the basis of function; the first class rules, the second protects the state, the third provides for its physical needs.

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Soldiers sacrifice family and private property, only the craftsmen are allowed to provide service to them. 

Craftsmen do not need education, except the professional for their own tasks, and they must obey political powers.

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Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Aristotle was a pupil of Plato. Although Aristotle was influenced by Plato as a teacher and

friend, he was much more scientific and practical. His most important book was Politics, which contains his

social and political philosophy. For Aristotle, society is a natural development of the instinct

of man. There is an instinct of sociability.

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The male is naturally led to a union with the female, so that the race may continue. The family, therefore, is a natural union.

One family is not able to provide for its own needs, so it associates with other families.

For Aristotle, the origin of government is likewise natural. According to him, man is by nature a political animal.

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Aristotle (cont.)

Aristotle’s main thesis is: Society, political organizations, family and social institutions are all of natural origin. The ultimate social forces lie within this natural order rather than in human intelligence and will.

Aristotle saw the foundation of authority in the family: the union of master (male) and slave (female) form this basic unit.

Government that is based on this principle, is a natural enlargement of family rule.

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Aristotle (cont.)

Aristotle found gradation in nature: superior beings control inferior, males over females, men over lower animals.

He considered slavery a natural phenomenon, and private property necessary for the continued existence of the family.

Aristotle did not agree with Plato on domestic and economic communism.

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Aristotle (cont.)

He argued that common property and common products from the land cause more dispute than private property.

Private property gives man a distinct interest, and more progress will be made if everybody is attending to his own business. A man will take better care of his own property.

(Compare, “The Tragedy of the Commons”

by Garrett Hardin, published in Science, December 13, 1968.)

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Emergence of the New Science of Society in the 19th Century Sociology was born shortly after the French Revolution, which

brought enormous social changes in France and destroyed feudal system and traditional class differences.

This coincided with the Industrial Revolution that was beginning to take place in France, and machines were replacing the manual labour.

Following these changes, new economic system entered into the picture, with improved transportation, trade and communication, increased production, accumulation of capital, and the rise of the bourgeoisie.

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19th century (cont.)

These produced increased social and political unrest, because of new problems and lack of knowledge and experience to deal with them.

This was accompanied by a revolution in social and logical thinking.

Scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry, physiology and astronomy were expanding and experimental methods were being perfected.

A number of social philosophers sought to address the social and political unrest and to bring social reform.

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Auguste Comte (1798-1857): A French Philosopher Comte coined the term “sociology” to refer to the science of

society. He believed that society is governed certain “social laws” just

as the physical universe is governed by certain physical laws. To him, sociology is “social physics.”

He believed that all societies passed through certain fixed stages of development and that they progressed toward ever-increasing perfection.

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Comte’s “Law of Three Stages”1.Theocratic

2. Metaphysical

3. Positive

1. In the theocratic stage, people explain the social events (social phenomenon) as the work of deities (such as the sun, trees, a variety of gods or a supreme deity).

These deities are supposed to possess supernatural qualities that allow hem to exert their effects on human beings.

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2. In the metaphysical stage, people draw upon abstract concepts to define social situations.

Metaphysics deals with big philosophical questions such as the nature of the human mind, the meaning of life, and good versus evil (Example of Holy Books such as the Bhagvad Gita)

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3. In the positive stage, people try to use scientific explanations to understand the world. (Comte is known as the father of positivism)

(Positivism is a theory according to which valid knowledge about the social world can be obtained only from sense experiences—through the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. )

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Comte’s approach to the study of social laws was called “positivism”: to analyze social patterns with rigours objectivity similar that used in natural sciences.

Comte placed sociology in this third stage of thinking. According to him, sociologists are scientists who study a social phenomenon by using scientific procedures, logic and rationales.

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Comte and Positivism

Positivism is a scientific approach. Positivism asserts that a social phenomenon should be

observed similar to physical objects.

Comte believed that positivism would eventually bring the knowledge necessary for rebuilding society on a rational basis.

He emphasized the use of scientific methods and sociological principles to address social policies for the betterment of society.

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According to Comte, sociologists should focus on two aspects of society:

Social statics. The forces that hold societies together such they endure over time (example: religion; family?)

Social dynamics. The forces that cause societies to change (example: industrialization and technology; economic crisis; ?)

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Comte’s Hierarchy of Science Mathematics: the most general, simple and abstract. Astronomy: builds on the basis of mathematics Terrestrial physics: (i) physics and (ii) chemistry Physiology: the science of man and living matter. Comte

considered psychology as part of physiology; he called it cerebral physiology.

Sociology or social physics: the most specialized and complex and dependent on all the other sciences.

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Herbert Spencer (1820-1903): A British Philosopher His three-volume Principles of Sociology, published in 1877,

was the first full-scale description of sociology as a science. Spenser is known as a social Darwinist. Like Darwin, Spencer believed in evolution and struggle for

existence, and survival of the fittest.

In this work, he defined sociology as the study of the family, politics, religion, social control, and industry (work).

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Spencer (cont.)

Applying Darwin’s theory, Spencer came to the conclusion that competition results in progress because it eliminates weaker individuals and groups.

Spencer compared society to a living organism and argued that society evolves just as biological organisms evolve through natural selection.

According to his theory, every society has evolved from hunting gathering stage to agricultural stage and finally to the industrial stage.

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Karl Marx (German): 1818-1883 Founder of the theory of socialism/communism Founder of conflict perspective Developed a theory of society that focuses on social class,

social power, and social conflict Believed that social inequality is the key to understanding

society. Famous for: Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das

Capital (1848, with Friedrich Engels). Key concepts: bourgeoisie, proletariat, capitalism, social

class, class struggle

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Max Weber (German): 1864-1920. One of the founders of “Symbolic interactionism.” Famous for: The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism

The Sociology of Religion. He showed that Protestant religious thinking was central

contributing factor to the development of capitalism in the West.

He argued that people behave the way they do because of the shared belief system, and the only way in which social scientists can understand a people’s actions is to understand their culture.

Key concepts: bureaucracy, Objective and Neutral Methodology, verstehen (empathetic understanding), value-free sociology

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Emile Durkheim (French): 1858-1917

Founded sociology as an academic discipline. Famous for his Suicide (1897); The Division of Labor in

Society (1893); The Rules of Sociological Method (1895); and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1915)

Key concepts: Social facts, social structure, mechanical solidarity, organic solidarity, social integration, division of labour, specialization, anomie.

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Modern Development: American Sociology The major development of sociology in the 20th century has

taken place in the United States. Until about 1940, the University of Chicago dominated the

discipline. It focussed on city as the social laboratory. Best known for human ecology and symbolic interaction. The University of Chicago started the first major journal of

sociology, American Journal of Sociology.

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American Sociology (cont.)

Sociologists from this school focussed primarily on urban decay, crime, race relations and families.

Most well known sociologists from Chicago’s sociology department include Albion Small, George Mead, Florian Znanieki, W. I. Thomas, Louis Wirth, Robert Park, Ernest Burgess , Franklin Frazier (Black family), Edwin Sutherland (Differential association theory), and Donald Bogue.

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American Sociology (cont.)

Harvard: Pitrim Sorokin; Talcott Parsons, James Coleman Columbia: William Ogburn, Robert Merton, Paul Lazarsfeld,

Kingsley Davis Chicago: George Mead, Ernest Burgess, Robert Park, Edwin

Sutherland, W. I. Thomas, Herbert Blumer, Donald Bogue Michigan: O. D. Duncan North Carolina: Amos Hawley, Gerhard Lenski Berkeley (University of California): Herbert Blumer, Erving

Goffman, Nathan Glazer, Kingsley Davis, Michael Burawoy (ISA) UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) Wisconsin

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Indian Sociology

Originally, heavily dominated by Anthropology, involving qualitative techniques such as participant observation, case studies of villages and tribes.

Lucknow University: Radhakamal Mukerji, D. N. Majumdar, D. P. Mukherji, A.K. Saran

Bombay University: G. S. Ghurye, A Ph.D. from Cambridge University (Caste and Race in India), Iravati Karve, M. S. Gore a Ph.D. from Columbia University)

Delhi University: M. N. Srinivas, a Ph.D. from Bombay University and D. Phil. from Oxford University (Village of Rampura; Sanskritization), Andre Beteille

Sociological Bulletin, the official journal of Indian Sociological Association; The Eastern Anthropologist , Contributions to Indian Sociology

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International Sociological Association Meets every four years, the last (2010) being in Sweden and

the next (2014) in Japan Consists for about 45 Research Committees T.K. Oommen (JNU) was President of ISA during 1990-94 Current Sociology International Sociology

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