The Origins of Sociology

Sociology is the scientific study of the structure and development of society. It is a very broad science dedicated to understanding how people interact with eachother and their environments. Sociologists are interested in how individuals and groups can affect society as well as how society affects them. This science researches topics from crime and race relations to marriage and divorce rates; in short, it studies any factor that can impact society. Macrosociology deals with large-scale phenomena while microsociology investigates small-scale phenomena.

Sociology unofficially began with ancient civilizations raising questions about the society in which they lived. Not much came of this due to the lack of technology and development at the time. The scientific approach to sociology (which requires the creation of a theory to be researched and tested using the scientific method) came about in the mid-1800s. Like many philosophies, sociology emerged from a state of social turbulence. It began when the Industrial Revolution was well under way and unprecedented changes were occurring in society. Immense amounts of people were moving to urban areas in hopes of finding employment. It was a whole new way of life and not a particularly rewarding one either. People worked ridiculously long hours under hazardous conditions for minimal wages. All of their ties with tradition and their former ways of life were severed. These major changes caused many people to rethink the concept of society and its meaning... and then, there was sociology.

Over the years there have been many people who have influenced sociology. Here are some of the early influences and their contributions:

Auguste Comte is considered by many to be the father of sociology. Although he never conducted any formal research, it was he who came up with the idea to study society using the scientific method. This approach is known as positivism. Comte was interested in the structure of society and how it was held together. It was Comte who named the social science "sociology" and he intended to not only study society, but to use his findings to help improve it. The concept of applying sociological principles to society itself for the purposes of improvement or advancement later became known as applied sociology.

Herbert Spencer did not agree with Comte's intention to use sociological principles to bring about social reform. He was a believer in social Darwinism (modeled after Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection). Spencer believed that society would evolve and ultimately improve on its own. Although Darwin often receives the credit, it was actually Spencer who created the phrase "survival of the fittest." He felt that the most intelligent and apt members of society would reproduce and continue the species while the less capable people would die out; over time, society would improve through evolution. Spencer felt that any interference in this natural evolution process would upset the balance and aid those who were less adapted to survive. The concept of studying sociology with no intentions of applying it is known as pure sociology.

Karl Marx created the theory of class conflict. He felt that the root of all problems in society was the difference in economic classes. He claimed that an economic revolution was inevitable and would begin with the exploited working class (the proletariat) fight against the upper class (the bourgeoisie). According to Marx, the result of this revolution would be a classless society characterized by government control of property and even distribution of finances.