The Origins of Sociology

Sociology is one the youngest academic disciplines – far younger than history, physics, or economics, for example. It was only about two hundred years ago that many new ideas about society began coming together to form a systematic discipline that studies society. Auguste Comte, a French social thinker, gave the discipline its name in 1838; he is widely regarded as “the father of sociology”.

People have had a deep interest in society since the beginning of human history, but the sociological perspective is a recent development, as is the scientific approach to knowledge on which sociological research is based.

The nature of society was an issue of major importance in the writings of brilliant thinkers of the ancient world, including the Greek philosophers Plato (427-347 В.С.) and Aristotle (384-322 В.С.). Similarly, during the medieval era in Europe – between about 1100 and 1700 – theologians such as St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) were deeply concerned with social life. Yet, as Emile Durkheim noted toward the end of the last century such social thinkers used a perspective somewhat different from that of sociology.

In other words, prior to the birth of sociology, philosophers and theologians were primarily concerned with imagining the “ideal” society as a standard to guide social life. They were less interested in understanding society as it was. Pioneering sociologists such as Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim reversed these priorities. Although they were certainly concerned with philosophical and moral questions about how human society could be improved, their major goal was to understand how society actually operates.

As sociology became established as an academic discipline in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century, early sociologists such as Lester Ward (1841-1913) were strongly influenced by Comte’s ideas. Today as well, many sociologists share Comte’s belief that science is a crucial element of sociology. But other sociologists do not agree that science can be applied to the social world in the same way it is applied to the physical world. These sociologists point out that the causes of human behaviour are often more complex than the causes of events in the natural world. In other words, human beings are more than physical objects; they are creatures with considerable imagination and spontaneity whose behaviour can never be fully explained in terms of any scientific “laws of society”.

Exercise 7. Choose the right answer.

1. Who is regarded as “the father of sociology”?

a) Emile Durkheim;

b) Auguste Comte;

c) Lester Ward;

d) St. Thomas Aquinas.

2. What scholars were deeply concerned with social life in ancient time?

a) Hobbes and Aristotle;

b) Plato and Thomas Aquinas;

c) Galileo and Aristotle;

d) Plato and Aristotle.

3. When did sociology become established as an academic discipline?

a) in the twenty first century;

b) in the nineteenth century;

c) in the twentieth century;

d) in the eighteenth century.

4. What were philosophers and theologians primarily concerned with?

a) imagining the “ideal” society as a standard to guide social life;

b) imagining the “perfect” society as a standard to guide social life;

c) imagining the “ideal” society as a standard to guide natural life;

d) imagining the “perfect” society as a standard to guide natural life.

5. What are human beings?

a) physical objects;

b) creatures with considerable imagination;

c) creatures whose behaviour can be fully explained in terms of any scientific “laws of society”;

d) creatures whose behaviour can never be fully explained in terms of any scientific “laws of society”.

Exercise 8. Fill in the gaps using the words given below, and translate the sentences into Russian.

goals ancient origin stages divine

approach distinguish observation reflection efforts

1. Since our research so far has not produced any answers to this problem, we need to adopt a different … to it.

2. It’s important to … between business and pleasure.

3. The police are keeping the suspect under … .

4. In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own … in a pool of water.

5. In their … to reduce crime the government expanded the police force.

6. People have lived in this valley since … times.

7. They have set themselves a series of … to achieve by the end of the month.

8. Her unhappy childhood was the … of her problems later in life.

9. The project is in its final … and should be completed by August.

10. Just because you’ve been promoted that doesn’t give you a … right to tell us all what to do.

Exercise 9. Match the verbs on the left with the nouns on the right. Make up sentences with the phrases you’ve got.

1. to be	a) way to;
2. to identify	b) in terms of
3. to reflect	c) one’s belief;
4. to confer	d) of major importance;
5. to focus	e) of social patterns;
6. to be cause	f) attention on;
7. to be an issue	g) characteristics on society;
8. to share	h) on the origins;
9. to explain	i) facts through observation;
10. to give	j) under the guidance of.

WRITING AND COMMUNICATION

Exercise 10. Write an essay on one of the given topics.

1. Approaches to the Study of Sociology.

2. Comte’s Theory.

3. The Origins of Sociology.