Unit Essay 1
Gracyn Troupe
Department of Sociology, Longwood University
SOCL 401: Sociological Theory
Dr. Scott Grether
September 6, 2023
Sociology can be defined as the study of the structure and the functioning of society. Many different individuals influenced the theory of sociology and helped establish sociology as a scientific discipline; those individuals are Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, and Herbert Spencer. All three figures came up with their own contributions to sociology whilst coming up with the definition of sociology itself. Auguste Comte contributed greatly to sociological theory which will be explained further. Although sociological theory is a theory like many others, it is unique in a way of its own for many reasons.
Auguste Comte was a positivist theorist who was born in the late 1700s. Comte was well-educated and always questioned his teacher’s work. Comte believed that scientific truth is the real truth which is why he deemed sociology as a science. Comte’s aim for sociology was to examine past developments of society and predict future development. There were a few key concepts attached to Comte’s aim and those consist of social physics, or in other words sociology, social dynamics, social statics, methods of inquiry, and the law of three stages. Social physics was a term coined for the idea of new science, social dynamics refer to the idea that societies are constantly progressing, social statics refers to the idea of how societies create order, methods of inquiry is the term that refers to how data is gathered, and the law of three stages is the idea that society evolves progresses just as an individual’s mind does.
Harriet Martineau was a theorist who was born in the early 1800’s and was home-schooled growing up. Martineau’s goal was to create a science of society that would be structured, enabling people to make personal and diplomatic decisions that are guided by scientific understanding. There were a couple of key concepts that Martineau explained were crucial to achieving this goal; morals and manners, things & discourse of persons, dominations, and feminism. Morals refer to forces that compel individuals to behave a certain way in particular situations while manners refer to observing the way people do things. Things refer to stuff in society that embodies the common mind of people in society while the discourse of persons is the interactions of language use between people. Domination refers to the idea that dominant groups do not obtain the right to act as moral beings and feminism refers to the idea that women and men should have equal opportunities.
Hebert Spencer was a theorist born in 1820 who grew up home-schooled as well. Spencer’s key contribution is that human societies evolve like all other phenomena. “Evolution… was to Spencer that universal process, which explains alike both the ‘earliest changed which the universe at large is supposed to have undergone… and those latest changes which we trace in society and the products of social life,’” (Coser, 2003, p.90). Spencer explains that sociology should be the science society uses to detect the laws that govern humans and their societies.
Sociological theory is a theory that tries to explain how and why the social aspects of the world are the way they are; Sociological theories tend to evaluate situations and be more critical than theories that are of the natural sciences (Edles & Appelrouth, 2010, p. 3). Sociological theory is a fundamental feature of the discipline of sociology for the reason that it provides us, as a society, with elucidation for human behavior from different theoretical standpoints. With sociological theory, we are able to explain the behaviors of individuals or groups when they encounter certain social circumstances. This theory is a theory that sociologists use to delineate why situations may have occurred and why individuals or groups reacted the way they did, this provides us with a framework to stimulate social change within societies. Sociologial theory is important for very many reasons but the major reason is because it provides sociologists and other theorists with a framework when trying to interpret the social world and reactions to phenomena. One of the main features of the sociological theory is that it seeks to explain how and why something is what it is. There are three different levels to which we can categorize phenomena; the micro-level, the meso-level, and the macro-level. The micro-level is the smallest level, it pertains to issues that affect individuals meaning interactions between people. The meso-level refers to the groups within societies like organizations and communities. The macro-level consists of society as a whole.
Sociological theory differs from other theories in the sociological realm in the way that sociological theory does not have the intent to attempt to predict what the outcome of a situation will be. In order to understand a sociological theory, we need to be aware of what a theory is. A theory is a set of ideas that was developed that attempts to explain recognizable facts or make sense of experiences (Sternheimer, 2020). Sociological theory is unique from other theories in the way that it looks very closely at interconnected relationships within the many systems that make up society. Sociology is unique in and of itself in the way that it uses existing frameworks and research techniques to study social life, social structures, and social change. Sociological theory is also unique in the fact that sociological theory has been a topic of conversation within sociology for a very long time (Sternheimer, 2018). Sociological theory is unique in the way that it’s a science that studies solely humans and the structures that make up society because not all scientific theories have one main focus that is so crucial in understanding society and the way it works. Sociological theory is very important and crucial to understanding the social world around us and how individuals behave when in a specific social phenomenon.
Throughout the following paper, I have examined and explained a few very important figures that made great contributions to sociology and sociological theory. I have also explained what sociological theory is and why it is important. Sociological theory helps provide sociologists with a framework and a lens through which we view the social world. Sociological theory is unique in the way that it studies and predicts social behaviors due to certain social situations.
References
Coser, L. A. (1977). Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in historical and social context
(2d ed.). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Edles, L. D., & Appelrouth, S. (2004). edles, L.D., & Appelrouth, S. 2010. Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Text and Readings. 3rd edition. Sociological Theory in the Classical Era, 1–10.
Sternheimer, K. (2020, February 17). Theories and hypotheses. Everyday Sociology Blog. https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2020/02/theories-and-hypotheses.html (Sternheimer & Norton, 2020)
Sternheimer, K. (2018). Joining the conversation: Why study theory?. Everyday Sociology Blog. https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2018/01/joining-the-conversation-why-study-theory.html