A Brief History of Sociology

1
A Brief History of Sociology
Guys and Ideas (and Two Women)
2
In the Beginning
1848-1920
3
Auguste Comte

• The Father of Sociology
• French philosopher
• Dynamics processes by which societies change
• Statics processes by which societies endure

(1798-1857)
4
Herbert Spencer

• Englishman
• Living organism with interdependent parts
• Survival of the fittest
• Society will take care of itself

1820-1903
5
Three Influential Voices
1848-1920
6
Karl Marx

• German political philosopher and economist
• Social conflict (esp. class conflict) mark all
  societies
• Bourgeoisie capitalists
• Proletariat workers
• Economics play a larger role in determining a
  persons sociological views
• People have to act to change their societies

1818-1883
7
Emile Durkheim

• French philosopher and sociologist
• Systematically applied scientific methods
• Only direct observation is valid not peoples
  subjective experiences

(1858-1917)
8
Max Weber

• German political economist and sociologist
• Must consider peoples interpretations of events
• Verstehen empathetic understanding

1864-1920
9
One Influential Group
1848-1920
10
University of Chicago

• First official Department of Sociology at a
  major research university to offer a Ph.D. in
  1892
• American Journal of Sociology
• American Sociological Association
• Tradition of Chicago sociology
• Varieties of urban life
• Street gangs
• Immigrants
• Labor conflicts/issues
• Urban underclass

11
Jane Addams

• Preeminent founder of sociology in America
• Started the Hull House
• Technique of mapping
• Organizing communities and lobbying political
  leaders
• Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

1860-1935
12
Sociology Becomes a Science
1920 1960 Golden Age of Sociology in America
13
Talcott Parsons

• Harvard University
• General Theory of Social Action -- universal
  laws govern social systems
• Integrating disciplines

1902-1979
14
Robert Merton

• Columbia University
• Knowledge and ideas are rooted in society
• Sociology based on empirical research

1910 - 2003
15
Sociology Goes Global
1968-2000s
16
Pierre Bourdieu

• French sociologist
• Habitus social ways of acting that become taken
  for granted as part of everyday life
• Reproduction Theory

1930-2002
17
Dorothy Smith

• Canadian
• Feminist pioneer
• Critic of the systematic ignorance of the unique
  position of women in social life

1926 --
18
Michel Foucault

• French social historian
• A founder of queer theory
• Power-knowledge
• Investigated dynamics of power and subjugation

1926-1984
19
Paulo Freire

• Brazilian educator
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed
• Hidden curriculum
• Banking model of education
• Praxis

1921-1997