What factors led to the development of Social Sciences?

• French Revolution: A new social order was needed

• Industrial Revolution: Industries were replacing agriculture

• City life started to replace country life

• The scientific method could be applied to understand human life and behavior

Auguste Comte

• Auguste Comte -“father” or “founder” of sociology (coined the term)

• Positivism – view that information derived from logic and mathematics is the only accurate source of knowledge

• He focused on social order and social change– Social statics: processes that hold society together– Social dynamics: processes that change society

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)

• Respected British author• “Society in America” – democracy in the United States• Talked about marriage, race relations, education, etc.• Study of social systems was “a science of morals and

manners” • Set standards for objectivity in Sociology• Translated Comte’ work for English speakers• Believed scholars should look to solve the issues they studied• Spoke out in favor of women’s rights, religious tolerance, and

the end of slavery

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

• Studied natural and social sciences• He studied society like biology (influenced by Charles

Darwin) • Believed society functions like a living organism, with a

set of independent parts that work together to maintain the system

• Change in societies is part of evolution.• Survival of the fittest: Believed fittest societies (like

organisms) would survive over time.• Spencer’s view on Society is known as Social Darwinism

• Sociology employs three major theoretical perspectives: functionalism, conflict, and interactionism.

• Each of these perspectives is linked to one of the following people:

• Conflict = Marx• Functionalism = Durkheim• Interactionism = Weber

Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology

Early European ScholarsConflict Perspective (Marx) -Macro-

• Conflict perspective

– Focuses on elements that create competition and change between social classes

• Materialism: theory that historical change is about class conflict over concrete things (material goods, resources)

• Marx distinguished two important class groups in society:– Bourgeois (capitalists): wealthy people who owned the means of

production (ex. factories and farmlands)

– Proletariat (workers): people who only own the labor and must work for the bourgeois.

• There is conflict between classes because of imbalance in power.

1. View of society as a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social system

2. Viewed segments of society by their function

3. Emphasized cooperation rather than conflict

• Dysfunction– A negative consequence of an element of society

• Manifest function– The intended and recognized consequence of an element of society

• Latent function– Unintended and unrecognized consequence of an element of society

Functionalist Perspective (Durkheim) –Macro-

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective (Weber) • Interested in separate groups of society instead of the whole (Micro)

• Believes that sociology should try to understand the meaning that each individual gives to a situation. “Definition of a Situation”

• People act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them; and these meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation.

• Studies how people interpret symbols (ex. How we interpret words in a conversation)

• Verstehen (to understand): Understanding the meaning of actions from the individual’s point of view. Put yourself in the place of others.

The University of Chicago department of sociology became known for the idea that sociologists should look for solutions to social problems.

• Published a series of surveys about the problems of the urban poor in Chicago.

Jane Addams

American Scholars

• Examined life in African American neighborhoods

• Encouraged scholars to examine the problems of race and be more involved in social change.

W.E.B. Du Bois