Sociology: Founders, Origins and Basic Sociological Concepts

Sociology Assessment Paper Example

Sociology has developed over time to become a science to research key aspects of social behaviour. Sociology has developed from just being an alternative way of thinking back during the industrial and French evolution to becoming a full-blown science It was founded first by Auguste Comte and then further developed by more contributors including Karl Marx, Emilie Durkheim and Max Weber. C. Wright Mills developed the 'The Sociological Imagination' which encompasses the idea of thinking and asking questions in order to understand sociological issues. This theory is used today to understand the difference between private and public issues. This essay will explore the origins of sociology and the founders who helped shape it into the science it is today.

The origins of sociology can be seen as far back as 1660 with the beginnings of the enlightenment - the enlightenment being the new way of thinking that focused on reason that allowed society to usher in a new era of development in art, philosophy and politics. 'Sociology', a term invented by one of the founders of sociology, Auguste Comte, is essentially the study of people in society, (their structure, relationships, institutions and behaviours). Auguste Comte is the founder of positivism which is a system that focuses on empirical evidence to come to conclusions. Sociology became more prevalent in society with the French revolution and industrial revolution as the founders of sociology tried to understand how these changes came about by studying the people in society.

Great Founders Who Created the Sociological Foundation

Karl Marx is one of the main founders of sociology and is where the sociological theory of Marxism originated from. Marxists believe that the working class should band together in revolution against the bourgeoise to become the ruling class. The Marxism view has its pros and cons. On the one hand it lends itself towards a more equal society in terms of access to education and healthcare as well as gender equality however on the other hand such equal opportunities tend to be present in a communist society which Karl Marx himself advocated. The other thing to consider is that for all of Karl Marx's dreams of revolution and a ruling class made up of the proletariat, no such thing has come to fruition so far and therefore suggests that Karl Marx's idea of such a revolution may indeed be a pipedream. Karl Marx is also responsible for the development of conflict theory which focuses on the competition between groups for resources. 'Conflict theory, first purported by Karl Marx, is a theory that society is in a state of perpetual conflict because of competition for limited resources'. Marx developed the theory to explain how the rich controlled the poor by controlling the wealth and using the wealth for power. A criticism of Marx's conflict theory is that is assumes that the employer and employee are in conflict when, however in reality both can work together to benefit each other with schemes such as pension plans. Marx used macro sociology to come to his conclusions by observing society on a larger scale which although can be seen as a benefit as to gaining information on an overall basis, it can also be seen as a draw back as macro sociology can overlook individuals which can sometimes lead to the wrong or uninformed conclusions which sometimes Marx has been criticized for with relationships between employers and employees as an example above.

Emilie Durkheim developed functionalism. Functionalism is the idea that everything and everyone in society plays a role in maintaining society and are all important. Durkheim was also the first to explain consensus theory. Consensus theory is the theory that people in society work towards the same goal and that everyone in society can agree on how it is run which is the opposite of Marx's conflict theory. Instead of competing, consensus theory suggests that society is better off in agreement and working together. Since consensus theory highlights organisations in a positive way, a criticism of consensus theory is that it assumes that everyone within an organisation will benefit and have a positive experience which is not always the case e.g., someone may have a better time learning in school than someone else. Like Marx, Durkheim's focus was on macro sociology. Macro sociology focuses on things on a wider scale which is in line with Durkheim's approach as functionalism focuses on society as a whole. The drawback to this, however, is that individual is lost in the reasoning for actions. 'Functionalism has been criticized for downplaying the role of individual action, and for being unable to account for social change'.

Lastly, Max Weber developed social action theory which in summary is the theory that individuals carry out acts with meaning. 'Action was said to occur when individuals attached subjective meanings to their action'. Weber's theory suggests that it's the actions taken by individuals that determines their success and not their economic or social background. This attention to the individual actions of people helps to emphasis the complexness of human behaviour instead of lumping people into larger categories like Marx and Durkheim, however social action theory has been criticised for many reasons including its inability to acknowledge within society as well as not seeing individual actions as something more passive than active. Weber uses micro sociology to come to his conclusions by observing society on a smaller scale which although can be seen as a benefit as it is key to gaining meaningful information, it can also be seen as a draw back as micro sociology cannot be applied to broader concepts which can sometimes lead to oversights when considering 'the bigger picture' which sometimes Weber has been criticized for as although social action theory has been known for using in depth research methods, the small scale of these methods can mean that they lack reliability when applied to the overall view.

Comparison of Basic Sociological Concepts 

When comparing these theories, a good example would be the contrast between Marx's conflict theory and Durkheim's consensus theory. The difference between these concepts is of course, while Durkheim highlights the importance of social unity, Marx suggests that people are more competitive in nature. The similarity within these concepts is that certain aspects of society must work together and even Marx must acknowledge that. 'Capitalists depend on a labour force to work in their businesses, just as workers depend on capitalists to provide wages'.

Another thing to consider when researching sociology is the different sociological concepts: socialisation, social order and social stratification. Socialisation is how one learns social norms through socialising with others and it can be split into primary and secondary socialisation. Primary begins in early childhood with your parents and immediate family with things like a parent potty training a child used as an example. Secondary socialisation occurs later once the child goes off to school or mixes with friends or other individuals out with the family. Weber's social action theory can be used to highlight socialisation as the actions of an individual could hold weight and meaning because of the secondary socialisation they received. Social order refers to society behaving in a coordinated and orderly manner. This concept can be highlighted with Durkheim's consensus theory as Durkheim highlights the importance of people working together for the better. This contrasts with Marx's more revolutionary conflict theory approach. Social Stratification can be seen as the class system of society whereby people are categorised into different groups which all each hold a different status within society. Marx paid particular attention to social stratification in his conflict theory by dividing the people into groups known as the bourgeoisie and proletariat. This distinction shows stratification in action with the bourgeoisie having more power and control than the proletariat as they paid their wages.

Due to the differences in the approaches taken by each sociologist, different issues may come to light depending on which approach you use to research society. For example, using Marx's conflict theory, public issues such as large-scale unemployment would be more apparent compared with Weber's smaller scale studies that focus on individuals. However, if you were to take Weber's person-by-person approach to study society you may find the reasons and motives behind these issues by contacting individuals who are experiencing them. This is where the private vs public issue argument comes into play because although public issues draw attention to serious problems occurring in large parts of society, if the issue had been dealt with when it had occurred earlier in a smaller group of individuals, the source of the problem could have been identified. In a blog by Eva Ruiz, she highlights that while researching the works by C. Wright Mills, 'He finds that most individuals attribute their problems to their own personal failure, when they are in fact a social issue'. This suggests that private issues can be the direct result of public issues therefore identifying certain private issues and finding the source of the problem can benefit society.

Conclusion

It can be said then that the relationship between the individual and society has developed as a scientific study and that the analysis of the individuals in society should therefore be taken more seriously as a science. Information should not be taken at face value by the likes of the media as propaganda is used cleverly to distort the reasoning behind the behaviour of groups and individuals for the gain of others. Empirical, thorough scientific research is imperative for analysing society as the lessons learned from such studies can be used to better the workings of society by better understanding different minorities and racial groups, get more people thinking rationally and to help work towards social equity.

References

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