1. Responding to Chaos: A Brief History of Sociology
A tradition of skepticism…
Responding to Chaos: A Brief History of Sociology

2. In early history, people focused their efforts on gaining an understanding of the physical world.

3. Inquiries into the physical world
Ptolemy, 2nd century BCE
Copernicus, 1500s CE
Galileo, 1600s
Newton, 1600s
His laws explained the movement of everything visible in the universe
But the church maintained that it was God who controlled the social world

4. But then people started to speculate that maybe the mysteries of the social world could also be examined in a scientific way!

5. First attempt: Auguste Comte, 1798-1857
1842- coined the term sociology
Argued people no longer respected/accepted their place in society
Believed human greed and selfishness resulted in social chaos
Humans suffered from “intellectual anarchy”

6. First attempt: Auguste Comte, 1798-1857
Believed social chaos would be overcome when people accepted that knowledge should be based on scientific principles.
Sociologists would use the scientific method and advise people about how to live.

7. Origins of Modern Sociology: France’s Emile Durkheim
Even a society filled with selfish people would work together because we need each other to survive.
“Collective conscience”
Worked for pre-modern societies
Modern society was different

8. Origins of Modern Sociology: France’s Emile Durkheim, 1858-1917
In pre-modern society, people had been held together because of their likeness, but in modern society, held together by differences.

9. Origins of Modern Sociology: France’s Emile Durkheim
Paradox:
In modern society we want to be free but have no choice but to keep social ties
Society’s structure forces us to interact

10. Origins of Modern Sociology: France’s Emile Durkheim
Must focus on the nature of society itself!
Social phenomena do exist!
Social patterns do exist!
Social facts do exist!
Thus, his definition of sociology: the scientific study of social facts.
Durkheim’s definition of “social facts”- manners of acting, thinking, and feeling, external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue which they exercise control over him.

11. “social facts”- manners of acting, thinking, and feeling, external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue which they exercise control over him.
Test this definition!
Partner up and discuss:
Are norms truly social facts? Test this for yourself. Does the rule or norm that one must wear clothing to class qualify as a social fact according to Durkheim’s definition? Explain why or why not.

12. Origins of Modern Sociology: Germany
Ferdinand Tonnies,
Agreed with Durkheim but with a twist: he wanted to understand how social relationships between people differed in pre-modern and modern societies

13. Tonnies concluded there are two categories of social relationships:
“Gemeinschaft”
“Gesellschaft”
Communal relationships
Social relationships that people enter into as ends in and of themselves
For emotional reasons
He thought pre-modern society was more like this.
Goal-driven relationships
Social relationships that people enter into as means to specific ends
For the purpose of achieving a goal
He thought modern society was more like this.
Thus, the type of the relationship determines the rules of the relationship!

14. Test these definitions
Test these definitions! Partner up and discuss: Which of the following types of relationships are most likely to be gemeinschaft? What about gesellschaft? a. Friend-friend b. Wife-husband c. Doctor-patient d. Retailer- customer e. Minister- parishioner f. Parent-child g. Worker-boss

15. Challenge question:
Generally, the banker-client relationship in modern society is gesellschaft. Yet, from watching television advertisements for banks, one might conclude that the banker-client relationship is supposed to be gemeinschaft. For example, many banks seem to make a big deal of claiming to be “friendly bankers” or “good neighbors.”
Why would banks promote their services as gemeinschaft rather than gesellschaft?
What, if any, danger is there in thinking of your relationship with your banker as gemeinschaft when it is really gesellschaft?
Other relationships that may try to
blur this distinction? Why?

16. Origins of Modern Sociology: Germany
Max Weber,
Liked Tonnies ideas about motives
“Rational behavior:” seeing each other as means to an end; rational as “calculating”

17. Individual think time:
Think about two things you do for what Weber would call rational reasons? In what respect are your motives rational?
Consider the flip side. Think about two things you do for what Weber might consider non- rational reasons? In what respect are your motives non-rational?

18. Weber observed that people choose efficient, rational behaviors in modern society.
Also observed that “society” looks down upon those who simply do things for enjoyment (non-rational).
Weber wanted to know why society seemed to drive us toward “rational” behaviors

19. Origins of Modern Sociology: Germany
Karl Marx
Did not see himself as a sociologist!
But, sociologists rank him as completely influential
Economics mattered
Class distinctions mattered
Economics was the driving force behind social decisions
Hence, a sociologist!

20. Origins of Modern Sociology: England
Herbert Spencer,
Believed societies evolved
His work published six years BEFORE Darwin’s
“Social Darwinism”
Survival of the fittest
Can be deadly premise
His bottom line: the competition to survive will be won by “the best”

21. Sociology in the United States
US role in the field came later than Europe
1st course at Yale
1st sociology dept. at University of Chicago, 1892
American Sociological Association, 1905

22. Sociology in the United States
Different approach
Not focused on theories
Focused on solving specific social problems
Jane Addams
Social welfare reform (Hull House)
W.E.B. DuBois
Racial inequalities & ethnic differences
Wrote to expose injustices in order to remedy them

23. The Place of Sociology in Modern Society
Evolved to prominence by the end of the 19th century
Social world viewed as worthy of study
By using scientific tools we could make sense of the social world.
Skepticism continues today…