who’s who of sociology
Post on 31-Dec-2015
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Who’s Who of Sociology
Auguste Comte
• often credited with being the founder of sociology because he was the first to suggest that the scientific method be applied to the study of the social world
• Focused on positivism- the application of the scientific approach to the social world
Herbert Spencer
• believed that societies evolve from barbarian to civilized forms
• He was the first to use the expression “the survival of the fittest” – social evolution depended on the survival
of the most capable and intelligent and the extinction of the less capable.
• His views became known as social Darwinism
Karl Marx
• believed that social development grew out of conflict between social classes;
• under capitalism, this conflict was between the bourgeoisie-those who own the means to produce wealth-and the proletariat-the mass of workers.
• His work is associated with the conflict perspective
Emile Durkheim
• responsible for getting sociology recognized as a separate discipline.
• He was interested in studying how social forces shape individual behavior
• Focused on social integration-the degree to which people are tied to their social groups
Max Weber
• Argued individuals always interpret the meaning of their own behavior and act according to these interpretations– Sociologist must find out how people
feel or think about their own behavior
• Sociologists should adopt a method Verstehen- empathetic understanding of their subject– Putting themselves mentally in the
position of their subject
Jane Addams
• One of the founders of US sociology and social work
• Hull House- center for social reform and research in Chicago
• Most activists at Hull House were women
• Organize citizens and lobby political leaders to eliminate social problems
W.E.B. DuBois
• Focused research on racial problems
• Believed knowledge was the way to combat prejudice
• Founded the Niagra Movement and helped create the NAACP
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