Unit 4. The origins of sociology

Warm up

Exercise 1. Match the English words on the left with their Russian equivalents on the right. Learn the words by heart.

1. an approach	a) древний, старый;
2. to distinguish	b) отражение;
3. will	c) цель;
4. observation	d) происхождение;
5. an effort	e) подход (к решению проблемы);
6. to emerge	f) различать;
7. origin	g) воля;
8. a goal	h) наблюдение;
9. reflection	i) усилие, попытка;
10. ancient	j) появляться, возникать.

READING

Exercise 2. Read and translate the following text. Use the dictionary when necessary.

Approaches to the study of society

The key to distinguishing between understanding what society ought to be and what society is lies in the development of a scientific approach to knowing. During the medieval period in Europe, people’s view of humanity was heavily shaped by religion. Society was widely held to be an expression of God’s will – at least insofar as human beings, under the guidance of the church, were capable of fulfilling a divine plan. Gradually, however, science – based on identifying facts through systematic observation was growing in importance. Through the efforts of early scientists such as the Polish astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543), the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo (1564-1642), and the English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) a scientific understanding of the natural world emerged. More than a century after Newton, sociology was established as the scientific approach to the study of society.

Reflecting on the origins of scientific sociology, Auguste Comte (1851-1854) suggested that organized efforts to understand the world tend to become increasingly scientific as they move through three stages of development. Comte’s “law of the three stages” includes approaches he described as theological, metaphysical, and scientific. In the study of society, the earliest, theological stage is based on understanding society as a reflection of supernatural forces such as the will of God. The belief in a divine plan for human society dominated the ancient world and most of the feudal period of European history.

During the final centuries of the feudal era in Europe, the theological approach to society gradually gave way to what Comte termed the metaphysical stage, in which abstract forces (such as “nature”) were believed to confer basic characteristics on society. A metaphysical approach to understanding society is found in the writings of the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who suggested that society was a reflection of an innately selfish human nature. Notice that both the theological and the metaphysical approaches did not focus attention on society itself, but on other factors social thinkers believed shaped society – God’s will in the theological view and human nature in the metaphysical.

The last few centuries have seen the dawning of what Comte characterized as the final, scientific stage in the humanity’s long quest to understand society. Comte believed that a scientific approach focuses attention directly on society instead of external forces that, in earlier eras, were believed to be the cause of social patterns. The scientific approach is based on the assertion that society, like the physical world, operates according to its own internal forces and patterns. To Comte the goal was nothing less than a gradual understanding of all the laws of social life. This approach is often called positivism, which may be defined as the assertion that science, rather than any other type of human understanding, is the path to knowledge.

Exercise 3. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1. Society was widely held to be an expression of Nature’s will during the medieval period.

2. Galileo was the Polish astronomer and physicist.

3. Theological stage is based on understanding society as a reflection of supernatural forces such as the will of God.

4. The metaphysical stage, in which devine forces were believed to confer basic characteristics on society.

5. Comte believed that a scientific approach focuses attention directly on society.

Exercise 4. Answer the following questions.

1. When was people’s view of humanity heavily shaped by religion?

2. When was sociology established as the scientific approach to the study of society?

3. What is the essence of Comte’s law?

4. What is the basis of theological stage?

5. When did the belief in a divine plan for human society dominate?

6. What is the essence of metaphysical stage?

7. Where is this approach mainly found?

8. What is the scientific approach based on?

9. What was Comte’s goal?

10. How may positivism be defined?

Exercise 5. Match each definition with the correct word. Translate the words into Russian and learn them by heart.

1. a stage	a) to give a particular shape or form to;
2. heavily	b) to become aware of;
3. to fulfill	c) inborn; natural;
4. divine	d) to an increasing extent; more and more;
5. increasingly	e) the beginning or first appearance of something;
6. innate	f) a confident and forceful statement of fact or belief;
7. to notice	g) devoted to God; sacred;
8. to shape	h) to bring to completion or reality; achieve or realize (something desired, promised, or predicted);
9. dawning	i) to a large extent; very or very much;
10. an assertion	j) a point, period, or step in a process or development.

Exercise 6. Now read and translate the text on The Origins of Sociology. Use the dictionary when necessary.