1. UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICĂ DIN BUCUREȘTI
Facultatea de Antreprenoriat, Ingineria și Managementul afaceilor
Student: Ciovica Ilie David
Group:1512 BEM
The development of sociology
2. UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICĂ DIN BUCUREȘTI
Facultatea de Antreprenoriat, Ingineria și Managementul afaceilor
pg. 1 / 8
Sociology is the study of the lives of humans, groups and societies and how
we interact. Dramatic social times occurred because of the massive changes in society
that took place leading up to the modern world. The development of sociology as a
discipline emerged in the 19th century in response to modernity. Problems that arose
from modernity include industrialisation, urbanisation, rationalisation and
bureaucratisation (Montagna, 2010). The difference between ‘traditional’ and
‘modern’ led to the term ‘modernity’ and the modern world of the 19th century was
shaped by the Industrial Revolution.
Sociology was developed in Europe and was not widely accepted in the United
States until nearly the turn of the twentieth century. The University of Chicago was
the birthplace of sociology in the United States. In that setting, many researchers
and their students were able to work closely together to increase their understanding
of the subject.
Many of America's greatest sociologists of the time, such as Robert E. Park, W.
I. Thomas, and Ernest W. Burgess, were members of the Chicago school. The
majority of these people were Protestant ministers or sons of ministers, and they
were all passionate about social reform.
Major changes in the social environment strained societies, which were held
together by centuries of tradition and well-defined social relationships. Factory cities
began to supersede lords' rural estates as the focus of civilisation. People of diverse
backgrounds were brought together under the same factory roof to labor for wages,
rather than donating their services in exchange for land and protection.
Families were now required to defend themselves, purchase food rather than
cultivate it, and pay rent for their dwellings. These new living and working conditions
prompted the development of an industrial, urban lifestyle, which in turn resulted in
the emergence of new social issues. Many individuals were terrified by what was
going on and tried to find a method to comprehend and deal with the changes that
were taking place. The need for a systematic analysis of society, combined with
acceptance of the scientific method, gave rise to sociology.
Among the pioneers in the science of sociology we have:
3. UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICĂ DIN BUCUREȘTI
Facultatea de Antreprenoriat, Ingineria și Managementul afaceilor
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Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
Spencer clearly defined sociology. Sociology is the study of the family, politics,
religion, social control, work, and stratification, according to him. Spencer likened
society as a living thing. The various elements of society, like the many organs of the
body, are interrelated and provide their unique contributions to the living whole.
Every facet of society contributes to the greater good Every part of society is
responsible for a certain function that is necessary for society's general survival.
Herbert Spencer was a synthesizing genius who was mostly self-educated. He
started working on a single system to organize human knowledge in 1860. His basics
of sociology was the first sociology textbook (1876, 1882). In comparison to Comte,
Spencer was correct in his definition of sociology. He defined sociology as a discipline
that includes family studies, politics, and religion, among other things.
Those who could not compete successfully in contemporary society, according
to Spencer, were ill-suited and thus smaller. The failure was viewed as an individual
failure that had nothing to do with the restrictions erected by society (for example
prejudice or racism). In this light, it was vital to assist the poor and needy as part of
a natural evolutionary process.
The social Darwinist relationship between Spencer led a large number of
scholars to ignore his unique contributions to sociology. In the beginning, however,
Spencer developed numerous basic concepts and words which were still present in
sociology.
Many whites supported social darwinism because its control over institutions
was justified. It enabled them to oppose reforms or social protection programs that
they saw as interfering with the design of nature to eliminate unfitness. Social
darwinism became a reason for African Americans to be suppressed and neglected
after the Civil War. It was also used to justify tactics which resulted in white settlers
deceiving the indigenous population of Tasmania (close to Australia) in 1803-1876
4. UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICĂ DIN BUCUREȘTI
Facultatea de Antreprenoriat, Ingineria și Managementul afaceilor
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Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
Martineau was born of Huguenot ancestry in Norwich, England, in 1802. Her
father was a manufacturer, and her mother's family were, ironically, sugar refiners.
The progressive Unitarian Martineaus saw to it that all their children, boys and girls
alike, were well and equally educated. (Martineau 1877: 1-21). By the time she was
fifteen Martineau was, in her own words, 'becoming a political economist without
knowing it' (55). She had already read Thomas Malthus and had begun to think
seriously in sociological and political modes. She was, in fact, among the first
sociologists, though not much recognized in standard histories of that discipline.
By the time she was sixteen, she was forced to face and deal with increasing
deafness, which she described as 'very noticeable, very inconvenient, and
excessively painful.' She taught herself how to manage her handicap so that she
could take in what she needed in unobtrusive ways
After her father died in 1825 Martineau supported herself by writing, mostly
popular journalism with a political economy cast. Her first successes were
her Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-1934). These consisted of twenty-four
stories that illustrated for a popular audience the ideas of Thomas Malthus, James
Mill, David Ricardo, and Adam Smith. They appeared in monthly instalments and
sold more copies at the time than the novels of Charles Dickens. She earned
enough to be able to move to London in 1832
Martineau's study also revealed the level of impartiality that she believed was
necessary in order to analyze society by noting "the wider dissemination of non-
true things or the concealment of facts that are difficult to convey." She came to
the idea later on in her career that researchers should not only make observations
but actively use their study to promote societalimprovement. She invited her
audience to “judge for themselves … how far the people of the United States lived
up to” (HoeckerDrysdale, 1992).
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Facultatea de Antreprenoriat, Ingineria și Managementul afaceilor
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Martineau's second important contribution to sociology was the English
translation of August Comte's six-volume Positive Philosophy. Her two-volume book
edition introduced sociology to England, influencing people such as Herbert Spencer
and former American professors.
