1. Sociological Perspectives
The “Big Five”

2. Auguste Comte
Considered to be the founder of sociology and coined the term
Focused on social order and social change
Social statics – Processes that hold society together (Family, religion, etc.)
Social dynamics – Processes that change society
Believed they could be uncovered through science

3. Herbert Spencer Believed society was made up of parts Social Darwinism
Best aspects of society will survive
No steps are needed to correct society’s problems
Over time, the best societies survive (“Survival of the Fittest”)

4. Emile Durkheim Created first university sociology course
Concerned with social order (like Comte) and believed society was made up of parts (like Spencer)
Each part has a function – The consequence that an element of society profuces for the maintenance of the social system
However, he believed you should only study features of society that are measurable (ex. Suicide)

5. Karl Marx
Structure of society is influenced by how its economy is organized.
2 classes in capitalist societies
bourgeoisie - owners of the means of production
proletariat – workers
Believed this caused inevitable conflict that would result in a proletarian revolution which would produce a classless society

6. Max Weber Interested in groups within society, not society as a whole
Verstehen – attempt to understand the meaning of individual actions (see situations through others’ eyes)
Ideal type – The essential characteristics of a feature of society that are found by examining different examples of the feature (ex. Schools)