TOPIC 5: CORE FOUNDERS (PIONEERS) OF SOCIOLOGY

There are several scholars who are associated with the emergence of the discipline of
sociology. The ideas of these scholars were influenced by the events that were taking place in
society and especially the sweeping changes brought about by the industrial and the political
revolutions which were taking place in Europe. Society was also changing in a way that religion
was losing its dominance as the source of all explanations and people were becoming more
rational. This rationality enabled people to begin questioning everything and in the process
embrace science and its methods.

These scholars include;

Auguste Comte (1789-1857)

He was a French social philosopher who is credited with the title ‘founding father’ of sociology.
He was the first to come with the name sociology ie He gave the discipline its name. Because
Comte believed strongly in using the methods of science, he first referred to the discipline he
had in mind as social physics. He argued that the methods of science should also be applied to
the study of society just as they are applied in the natural sciences. Because of his emphasis on
the use of the methods of science to study society, Comte was therefore a positivist. He even
wrote a book titled ‘The Positive Philosophy’in which he laid out his arguments on how
sociology should be like any other science.

Comte set out the aims of sociology as;

1) The study of social phenomena which should be considered in the same way/spirit as
astronomical, chemical or physiological phenomena.

2) It is also subject to natural invisible laws, and the discovery of these is its subject of
investigation.

He further established two specific problems for sociological investigation; namely:

a) Social Statics- This referred to the problem of order and stability. That is; the question of
how and why do societies hold together, and how and why they continue to do so over
time.

b) Social Dynamics- This referred to the problem of social change. That is; the question of
what makes societies change and what determines the nature and direction of the
changes.

Because he was a positivist, Comte was confident that the scientific method as applied in
sociology would help unravel the many secrets of society and solve its two major problems.
Being so confident in the scientific method, Comte came to regard sociologists as comprising of
a ‘priesthood of humanity’. These were the experts who would be able to explain social events
and also guide society in the direction of more progress.

Although he was quite ambitious in his views concerning the sociologists role in society, his
ideas were mainly speculative thinking. Nevertheless, sociologists have up to this day continued
to try and resolve the problems of social order, social stability and social change. His stress on
following the methods of science has greatly influenced the direction and place of sociology as
a science today. It has also helped to establish it as a science. This is because sociologists utilize
the methods of science as much as possible when they study society. ( See sociology as a
science and the problems sociologists encounter in their studies).

POSITIVISM

This is an approach in sociology which likens the discipline to the natural and physical sciences.
It views sociology as any other science. The approach argues that sociology should use the
same methods used by the natural and physical sciences. For example, in the same way the
chemist or the physicist collects evidence or data, tests hypotheses, formulates theories and
arrives at general laws concerning the phenomena they are studying, positivism argues that the
sociologist must do the same. That is; the sociologist must base his/her explanations on
empirical investigations and not on philosophy, speculation and/or inituition. The sociologist
should also eliminate value judgements from their analysis of society.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

He was another important 19th century social philosopher. He took up Comte’s two problems of
social statics and social dynamics and believed he had found an answer to the two issues of
society.

Spencer compared human societies to living organisms; that is, he saw society as comparable to
a something living. He observed that the parts of an animal (such as the heart, lungs, liver etc)
are interdependent and all work to contribute to the survival of the whole organism. He
therefore argued that the various parts (institutions) of a society such as the economy,
education, family, politics, etc are also interdependent and they all work to ensure the stability
and survival of the whole society.
Spencer was the first social philosopher to apply this analogy to society. By so doing, he was
utilizing the structural functionalism theory and this made him one of the major proponents of
functionalism. That is, the view that society is made up of interdependent parts which work
together in harmony.

By looking at society in this way, Spencer took care of Comte’s problem of social statics, ie the
problem of order and stability in society. How? Because, if the parts are working in harmony,
then there must be social order and social stability.

To explain the problem of social dynamics, Spencer carried his analogy a little bit further. He
argued that societies gradually evolve from the very primitive one’s found in the world to
become more complex as he was observing in the industrializing societies of his time ( the
aftermath and consequencies of the Industrial revolution). He thus applied the theory of
evolution to human societies to explain the social change that was taking place. He believed
that evolution meant progress but it should always be a natural process so that it does not
interfere with the harmony between the various parts.

Although Spencer’s ideas may have seemed far-fetched, they have remained influential up to
today. This is because many sociologists still view society as a more or less unified system
whose various parts work in harmony and all contribute to the overall stability and survival of
the whole society. This means that structural functionalism is still a very strong theory in
sociology. At the same time, many sociologists still generally believe that societies tend to
maintain a linear movement or progression, moving from simple to the more complex.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

He was the first to take a position in a university and because of the scientific journal he edited,
L'AnnŽe Sociologique (the sociological year) and his scientific work, he was able to help
sociology to become part of higher education's academic culture. He was also French and took
the first position at a university as a sociology professor.
Durkheim discussed Social Facts;a phenomena within society that typically
exists independent of individual choices and actions.
He also studied suicide;a subject that most thought of as being exclusively individualistic. He
defined suicide from a social fact perspective. This helped him to establish the unique wisdom of
sociological analysis.
To Durkheim, individual people don't cause suicide. It is a social fact that some members of
society participate in for various social reasons. Durkheim studied suicide among categories of
people in various contexts in Western Europe. He found four distinct types of suicide that occur
as social facts and specifically based on people’s degree of integration in society or the group
one belongs to.
Social Integration is the degree to which people are connected to their social groups. (check
your own degree of social integration. On a piece of paper right down how many close family
members you have. Then add in how many close friends you have. Finally add in all others
whose name you know and they know yours. This number is one measure of your social
integration. But, to really get an idea of your degree of social integration, you might evaluate all
these relationships by listing your top 6 closest relationships in order. Make a short list of the 6
closest relationships you have. Now, rank 1 for theclosest, 2 for next closest and so on up to 6th
Durkheim realized from his suicide studies that the closer we are to others, the more socially
integrated we are and the less likely weare to commit suicide.
Durkheim also came up with what he referred to as anomie. Anomie refers to a state of
relative normlessness that arises due to the disintegration of our routines and regulations.
Anomie is common when we go through sudden changes in our lives or when we live in larger
cities. Sudden changes bring stress and frustration.

For example, when you graduate from University, you become an adult and no longer a
student. This is a prime formula for anomie. Your role shifts, there are increased social
expectations, lack of clear guidelines of behaviour, lack of employment = Stress and
frustration = anomie.

As a larger social fact, anomie is a by-product of large complex societies, especially in the
large cities. It's easier to get lost in the crowd, not be noticed, and to rarely receive praise or
criticism for personal actions. Durkheim and others were aware that society impacted the life of
the individual even if the individual had very little impact on society.

Durkheim's first 2 types of suicide had to do with the degree of social integration of the
individual into their groups. Altruistic Suicide is suicide which occurs when people are over
involved and over committed to a group or society as a whole. This occurs when the needs of
society as a whole override the needs of the individual. Soldiers often do this to protect their
comrades and to fulfil their commitment to protect their country. Suicide bombers are also a
good example of those who commit altruistic suicide.
Egoistic Suicide is suicide which occurs when people are under-involved or under
committed to groups. You are on your own/by yourself. This is the loner-type suicide when
an individual is disconnected (or never connected) to others. Certain social pressures isolate us
more than others and suicide becomes more risky for the isolated. Certain social forces within
society create this isolated state within us-TV viewing, computer games, and other lone-type
activities that preoccupy us with our own interest and isolate us from our groups and
relationships. Durkheim found highest suicide rates for Protestants, males, singles, and
wealthy persons. He found lowest rates among Catholics, females, the married, and poor
persons.
The third and fourth types of suicide described by Durkheim have to do with the levels of social
control and social regulation. Anomic Suicide (deriving from a state of anomie) is suicide
which occurs when people are under-regulated by familiar norms that serve as security to their
social reality. You'd expect this type of suicide in very large cities or when dramatic social
changes have transpired (e.g., 9-11 terrorist attacks, economic recessions, rampant
unemployment, etc.
Fatalistic Suicide is suicide which occurs when people are over regulated or over constrained.
This might happen in oppressive societies where people prefer to die rather than continue under
the hopeless state of oppression (eg: prisoners of war, dictatorships, inmates, and refugees, etc.
Many of these suicides are still common today.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

He was an influential person in the development of sociology as a strong academic discipline. He
was a social analyst, an economist, philosopher, and revolutionary. He was born in Germany and
his writings on the class struggles that existed in society where the poor masses are exploited
by the few wealthy elite thus creating unending class conflict. Marx’s ideas still apply today
perhaps even more so than in his day. His philosophy and the timing of his writings helped early
sociologists in the development of social theories and scientific approaches.
He made remarkable contributions to the development of various social sciences including
sociology. He contributed greatly to sociological ideas. He introduced key concepts in sociology
like social class, class conflict, social oppression, alienation, etc.
Like Comte, he argued that people should make active efforts to bring about societal reforms.
According to him, economic forces are the key to underestimating society and social change. He
believed that the history of human society has been that of class conflict. He dreamed of, and
worked hard towards realizing, a free, classless society, in which there would be no exploitation
and oppression of one class by another. A society where all individuals will work according to
their abilities and receive according to their needs (and this where his ideas were seen as
revolutionary). Marx introduced one of the major perspectives in sociology initially referred to as
Marxist theory and later social conflict theory.

Max Weber (pronounced vey-bur) (1864-1920).

He was German and another key founder of sociology and a very intelligent person who strongly
influenced the development of sociology. He also taught some of the other early sociologists of
his day. Weber studied economics and his work gave balance to Karl Marx's extreme ideas. He
studied religion and the economy and published a work called, "The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism." He also studied bureaucracies. These are hierarchical forms of
organization that are based on rationality and people hold positions on the basis of
expertise. Weber studied bureaucracy from an Ideal Type point of view. An Ideal Type is
an abstract description of a social phenomena constructed from observations of actual/real social
phenomena or cases. Ideal types are given as hypothetical examples. For instance, we can
describe a typical Kenyan University organizational structure after observing real cases of
Universities.

Lester Ward (1841-1913)

He is considered the founder of US sociology. Ward saw sociology and its potential to better the
society in the US as tool. He emphasized the scientific methodology in using sociology to solve
real world social ills such as poverty.
Ward is the founder of US sociology and first president of the American Sociological
Association. His sociological principles and processes are still utilized by many who work in
governmental and social service sectors today.

Talcott Parsons(1902-1979)
He was another sociologist from the US. Parsons was a
functionalist theorist who did extensive work on Systems Theory. Parsons
was also a president of the American Sociological Association and for a short period of time was
the world's premier sociologist. His work at Harvard supported much of the professionalism
sociology has today.

Today,sociology has become a world wide scientific discipline with most sociologists living in
the US although there is significant sociological work being done in various countries of the
world. However,most of the 14,000 members of the American Sociological Association (the
world's largest professional sociology organization) live in the US.
During the 1920s and 1930s the Chicago School was a center for sociological research that
focused on urban and ecological sociological issues. Within the Chicago School were important
sociologists; namely, Charles H. Cooley (1864-1929) and George Herbert Mead (1863-1931).
Their work together gave tremendous support to the Symbolic Interactionism theory.The
construction of how we form the "I" and the "me", the self-concept, and the looking glass self
was crucial and is still widely used in today's scientific inquiry.