S
ociology did not establish its
credentials as a discipline
until the 20th century,
but its many strands of thought,
approaches, and fields of study had
evolved from centuries of work by
historians and philosophers.
Although the first recognizably
sociological study was made by Ibn
Khaldun in the 14th century, the
pioneers of sociology as we know
it today only began to emerge
from the late 18th century, when
society underwent a sea-change
in Western Europe: Enlightenment
ideas were replacing traditional
beliefs, and the Industrial
Revolution was transforming the
way that people lived and worked.
These observers identified social
change being driven by forces that
became known as “modernity,”
which included the effects of
industrialization and the growth
of capitalism, and the less tangible
(but no less significant) effects of
secularization and rationality.A social science
Modern society was the product of
the Age of Reason: the application
of rational thought and scientific
discoveries. In keeping with this
mood, the pioneers of sociology,
such as French philosopher Henri
de Saint-Simon and his protégé
Auguste Comte, sought to provide
verifiable evidence to support
theories. Comte believed that not
only could the forces of social order
be explained by rules similar to the
laws of physics and chemistry, but
that applied sociology could bring
about social reform in the same
way that applied sciences had led
to technological advances.Like Comte, Karl Marx believed
that the purpose of studying
society is not simply to describe
or explain it, but also to improve it.
He was just as keen to be scientific,
but chose as his model the new
science of economics, identifying
capitalism as the major factor of
modernity driving social change.
Almost a century before Marx,
the Scottish philosopher Adam
Ferguson had warned of the threat
to traditional social cohesion posed
by the self-interest of capitalism,
and both Harriet Martineau and
Marx’s colleague Friedrich Engels
described the social injustices of
industrialized capitalist society in
the mid-19th century. Another
pioneer sociologist, Ferdinand
Tönnies, echoed Ferguson’s ideas
with his description of two very
different forms of social cohesion inINTRODUCTION
C.
1767
1837 1867 1887
1848 1874 – 85
1813
1830 – 42
In Theory and Practice of
Society in America, Harriet
Martineau describes the
social inequalities in the
oppressive treatment of
slaves, women, and the
working class.Karl Marx
produces the first
volume of his
comprehensive
analysis of
capitalism,
Das Kapital.Ferdinand Tönnies
differentiates
between traditional
community and
modern society
in Gemeinschaft
und Gesellschaft.Adam Ferguson’s Essay on
the History of Civil Society
explains the importance of
civic spirit to counteract
the destructive influence of
capitalism in society.Henri de
Saint-Simon
proposes a
science of
society in Essay
on the Science
of Man.Auguste Comte’s
Course in Positive
Philosophy details the
evolution of sociology
as a science.In his
Muqaddimah, Ibn
Khaldun describes
asabiyyah, the
Arabian concept of
“solidarity” or
social cohesion.
Herbert Spencer’s
multi-volume System
of Synthetic Philosophy
argues that societies evolve
like life forms, and only
the strongest survive.In The Communist
Manifesto, Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels
predict social change
as a result of a
proletarian revolution.18