Ostapenko Lilia
Dragomanov
National Pedagogical University,
Institute
of Sociology, Psychology and Social Communications, student
(Ukraine, Kyiv)
Pet’ko Lyudmila,
Scientific supervisor,
Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Dragomanov
National Pedagogical University (Ukraine,
Kyiv)
THE HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY
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Since
ancient times, people have been fascinated by the relationship between
individuals and the societies to which they belong. Many of the topics that are
central to modern sociological scholarship were studied by ancient
philosophers. Many of these earlier thinkers were motivated by their desire to
describe an ideal society.
In
the 13th century, Ma Tuan-Lin, a Chinese historian, first recognized social
dynamics as an underlying component of historical development in his seminal
encyclopedia, General Study of Literary
Remains [8].
Sociology
has a relatively short history. The systematic study of
"patterns of behavior" began in the early part of the 19th century in
France, and then appeared in other European societies and the United States [6]
as that century progressed. Although sociology has its roots in the works of
philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and Confucius, it is a relatively new
academic discipline.
There was a great
desire to know what was happening, why it was happening, and where it was
leading. Were these changes beneficial ones? Were they harmful
ones? Could anything be done to influence the course of change?
These were the central questions that all the founders of sociology addressed
[3].
Sociology,
scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their
collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities – economic,
social, political, and religious. Sociologists study such areas as bureaucracy,
community, deviant behavior, family, public opinion, social change, social
mobility, social stratification, and such specific problems as crime, divorce,
child abuse, and substance addiction. Sociology tries to determine the laws
governing human behavior in social contexts; it is sometimes distinguished as a
general social science from the special social sciences, such as economics and
political science, which confine themselves to a selected group of social facts
or relations [4].
The
term sociology was coined by French
philosopher Auguste Comte in 1838, who for this reason is known as the “Father
of Sociology.” Comte felt that science could be used to study the social world.
Just as there are testable facts regarding gravity and other natural laws,
Comte thought that scientific analyses could also discover the laws governing
our social lives. It was in this context that Comte introduced the concept of
positivism to sociology – a way to understand the social world based on
scientific facts. He believed that, with this new understanding, people could
build a better future. He envisioned a process of social change in which
sociologists played crucial roles in guiding society [2].
The
founders of the modern study of sociology were Émile Durkheim
and Max Weber.
Durkheim pioneered in the use of empirical evidence and statistical material in
the study of society (he advocated for educational reform). Weber's major
contribution was as a theorist, and his generalizations about social
organization and the relation of belief systems, including religion, to social
action are still influential. In the United States the study of sociology was
pioneered and developed by Lester Frank Ward
and William Graham Sumner
[7].
The
most important theoretical sociology in the 20th cent. has moved in three
directions: conflict theory (Karl Marx, Ralf Dahrendorf and C.Wright Mills
[7]), structural-functional theory (Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton
[7]), and symbolic interaction theory (George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer
[7]). These pioneers of sociology all had a vision of using sociology to call
attention to social concerns and bring about social change.
We
looked for one video in the Internet, what explores the significance of three
events to the creation of the field of academic sociology: the Enlightenment,
the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. It also makes connections
between these events and the development of conflict theory [1].
To sum up,
Sociology was developed as a way to study and try to understand the changes to
society brought on by the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Some of the earliest sociologists thought that societies and individuals’ roles
in society could be studied using the same scientific methodologies that were
used in the natural sciences, while others believed that is was impossible to
predict human behavior scientifically, and still others debated the value of
such predictions. Those perspectives continue to be represented within
sociology today.
Bibliography
3. Founders of Sociology [Web
site]. – Access mode:
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/Courses/so11/frameworks/founders.htm
5. Kilminster Richard. The Sociological Revolution: From the Enlightenment
to the Global Age. – London : Routledge, 1998.
6. Section on the History of Sociology
[Web site]. – Access
mode: http://www.historyofsociology.org/our-history/
7. Sociologists’ Gallery [Web site]. – Access mode: http://www.macionis.com/gallery-of-sociologists/max-weber/
8. The History of Sociology [Web site]. – Access
mode: http://cnx.org/content/m42794/latest/?collection=col11407/latest