UE 1
Alexander Thompson
Longwood University
SOCL -401-01-Sociological Theory
Dr. Grether
August 28, 2023
Summary:
For UE 1 I have revised the comments provided in my feedback box. I fixed my issues where I had begun a new idea and paragraph and did not start a new paragraph to have my essay be clear and organized. I also clarified where my ideas and thoughts seemed cloudy and did not make sense by rewriting those sentences and making them easier to read. I did this because those sentences were unclear and made it difficult for the reader to understand the point I was trying to get across. I also revised and edited sentences that were not needed to clean up the quality of the paper.
Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, and Herbert Spencer were three early figures who helped establish sociology as an important scientific discipline. Auguste Comte aimed to create a more naturalistic science of sociology. This would be able to explain both the past development of mankind and be able to predict the future course. Auguste Comte coined the name sociology and believed that sociology could bring together all the different sciences to better understand and improve society. Auguste Comte was the one who theorized the Law of Three Stages otherwise known as (The Law of Human Progress). The three stages are comprised of theological, metaphysical, and scientific or positive. As stated in the reading “Comte’s goal was to create a naturalistic science of society and would be able to explain the past development of mankind and predict the future course” (Coser, 2003).
Harriet Martineau’s key concepts that contributed to sociology included morals and manners. Morals are collective societal ideals that prescribe behavior and manners are observable patterns of action and association in a society. Things and discourse of persons, things are objects within a society that embody or objectify the “common mind” the voice of the people. impartiality, critique, and sympathy are three concepts Martineau uses when advising how to study manners and morals. Domination can be described as the submission of one’s will to another. Lastly, feminism is based on the idea that women and men should have equal opportunities including respect and it is used to understand and transform inequalities between the two. As mentioned in (Lenggermann & Niebrugge, 2007) Martineau wanted to use society in order to develop a science that would be systematic and would allow for decisions that could be personal and political that would follow a scientific understanding. She did this by observing and studying society to see how they responded to different situations.
Last but not least Herbert Spencer’s concepts that contributed to sociology were that Herbert was concerned with evolutionary changes in social structures and social institutions. Herbert’s concepts included growth, structure, differentiation, militant and industrial societies, functionalism, social Darwinism, and survival of the fittest.
Sociological theory is an overall set of ideas that explain facts and help understand different experiences. A sociological theory can and will include assumptions along with interrelated concepts, but they are not made up in isolation (Edles & Appelrouth, 2010). These theories can be informed by multiple factors including personal experiences, the current period in which the theory was developed, reference past work, theories from other theorists, and gathered by examining results of research (Sternheimer, 2020). Sociological theories prove theories, provide predictions, and provide universal laws for human behavior. Sociological theories are meant to provide a paradigm in order to explain phenomena because it is more of a worldview way of thinking. However, they can extend old theories, modify, old theories, and refute old theories. Sociological theories try to explain how and why the social world is the way it is and focus on socially occurring phenomena. Sociological theories are basically an explanation of something within a society that we want to learn more about (Sternheimer, 2020). It can also be explained as a reflection of issues that were going on during that time. However, it will also reflect who has or had power during that time period. The overall big idea behind sociological theory is that it gives us an understanding of human behavior from an intellectual view. For example, it can explain how individuals may act in certain opportunities and tell us why things have happened.
Sociological theory is unique from other scientific theories because of the way it tries and explains connecting society and people into one group by connections. Sociological theory is unique because it tries to explain why and how people do what they do. Sociological theory will examine different things such as relationships, society as a whole, and what in particular influences people within society. A sociological theory doesn’t just look at one issue and try to examine and explain why that happens. It looks at the issue from a much broader point of view and allows for multiple different points of view depending on how you look at it in order to explain how and why. Sociological theory will also use and examine multiple different types of institutions that are able to influence society. Social context, changes in behavior within a society, and common patterns are used to attempt to give explanations. Other scientific theories do not look at it from this point of view. For example, other scientific theories attempt to explain the world around us too, however, those theories attempt this by looking it at from only one point of view and at a much smaller scope. These theories will find one issue or one thing about society in particular that has changed and examine it from that perspective in an attempt to find an answer. Sociological theory is important because compared to its counterparts it allows for more explanations and opportunities to arise due it its wide scope of view.
Reference:
Sternheimer, K. (2020, February 17). Theories and Hypotheses. Everyday Sociology Blog. https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2020/02/theories-and-hypotheses.html
Edles, L.D., & Appelrouth, S. 2010. Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Text and Readings. 3rd edition.
Lengermann & Niebrugge 2007. A sociology is a systematically developed consciousness of society and social relations. Dorthy E. Smith
Coser, L. A. (2003). Masters of sociological thoughts: Ideas in historical and Social Context. Waveland Press, Inc.