Deegan Norman
SOCL 401-01
Dr. JoEllen Pederson
February 10th, 2024
What is Sociology Theory and Early Theorists
Sociology is the science of understanding human society, sociologists are interested in societies and relationships formed by individuals. A sociological theory is an idea that sociologists use to try and understand what might shape decisions or outcomes in a person’s life. In sociology there are many varied factors of society that can be studied so theories can vary, theories can also change with the changes and challenges of the times they were created. Sociologists’ theories try and explain why people do things. Some factors that sociologists look at when making theories are power dynamics and how this might affect people in society. The reason sociologists create theories is because the main goal of a theory is to be able to answer an empirical question or a pattern regarding the social world, for example in many sociology classes we talk about income inequality, and a theory is used to try and explain what can cause it. One problem with theory in sociology is that not all sociologists interpret theory the same way (Abend, G. ,2008).
While scientific and sociological theories are similar in some ways, they are also quite different. Both scientific and sociological theories look at research and find patterns to solve different problems and have different goals. What makes sociology theory so unique, as opposed to other scientific theories is that sociological theories look at the functions of humans in society. Scientific theories look at how forces in the world work, with the example of the theory of gravity. Sociological theories on the other hand are ideas of how individuals act and what can influence them. Many factors go into sociological theories such as social class, economics, education, and income to name a few (Talcott Parsons, 1948). Sociological theories also change more often than scientific theories because society is constantly changing with different social issues. One social issue that has influenced many early sociologists is urbanization. Due to society constantly changing and new social issues are evolving as well as society changing, sociological theories are changing with the times, and with new research and technology available there are more connections that can be made.
Sociological theories also can convert all sorts of other disciplines, for example, many courses here at sociology here at Longwood have investigated how sociology influences many different areas. Some courses include Sociology of Sport, Sociology of Welfare State, Sociology of Healthcare, and Sociology of Law. Many theories can be applied to different disciplines within sociology whereas in scientific theory it is not as broad. In scientific theory one theory can, be applied to only a particular set of issues but in sociology, theories can be applied to all sorts of things. In sociology there are also two different types of theories, there are micro and macro-level theories. Macro-level theories look at society as a whole, while micro-level theories look at personal relationships between individuals or groups. So, while scientific theories investigate explaining issues that take place in the natural world, sociological theories look into explaining issues in society.
Some of the early sociologists were individuals such as Auguste Comte who coined the phrase sociology, his main addition to sociology was his idea of positivism. Positivism is understanding societies through science and that something becomes true when you can be positive about it. Another early Herbert Spencer, Spencer believes social institutions are made up of various parts and must work together for society to function. Herbert Spencer also believed in the idea of social Darwinism and looked at natural selection in society. Another early sociologist was Karl Marx, Marx looked at conflict in society and the struggle between classes. He believed society was made up of two social classes, the proletariat, and the bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie are the high class and the owners of the businesses that the proletariats work for. He believed at one point that the proletariat working class individuals would one day overthrow the bourgeoisie working class. The Bourgeoisie goal is to make the most money and pay less for workers, this exploits the workers of the proletariat class who have little power in society. One of Marx’s biggest works was the Communist Manifesto. He believed that the bourgeoisie class has many controls over the proletariat group including media and religion which in the end helps maintain their positions of power (Kenneth Allan, & Sarah Daynes, 2017).
Emile Durkheim is the next early sociologist. Durkheim looked at the idea of social cohesion, which are social institutionalized values that people hold onto. He believed society was built with a foundation of shared morals, beliefs, and values but society can also change as well as society first began in religion. Durkheim believed that society shapes individuals and that they will conform to society even if they oppose it and that people are created by the societies people live in (Kenneth Allan, & Sarah Daynes, 2017). Durkheim was the first sociologist to use the scientific method in sociology for collecting qualitative data. One of his major works was studying suicide and looked at how individuals’ connection to societies can determine the likelihood of someone committing suicide. Durkheim also made contributions to the sociological theory of Functionalism. He believed that the traditional frameworks of society that were once a prominent feature of society had lessened in importance and that there was less to hold people of society together (Turner, J. H. ,1990).
Another early sociologist was Max Weber, whose works look at the idea of rationalization. Weber did most of his work in three areas which include religion, politics, and economics as well as how social class and status can produce social change. One aspect of sociology that all these early theories had in common is the idea and importance of culture in society (Kenneth Allan, & Sarah Daynes, 2017).
References
Kenneth Allan, & Sarah Daynes. (2017). Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory : Seeing the Social World: Vol. Fourth edition. SAGE Publications, Inc.
Abend, G. (2008). The Meaning of “Theory.” Sociological Theory, 26(2), 173–199. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20453103
Turner, J. H. (1990). Emile Durkheim’s Theory of Social Organization. Social Forces, 68(4), 1089–1103. https://doi.org/10.2307/2579135
Talcott Parsons. (1948). The Position of Sociological Theory. American Sociological Review, 13(2), 156–171. https://doi.org/10.2307/2087030