2.3 Creating a Discipline: European Theorists
As previously noted, the origins of sociology are typically traced back to a variety of European thinkers who lived primarily in the 1800s and early 1900s. Often, these theorists sought to explain the major social changes that were occurring in their societies at the time. Some theorists wrote extensively about very different aspects of society. To help maintain some coherency, we will focus on what the theorists said about the economy and religion when appropriate. Yet, as noted earlier, there were some topics these theorists did not address, such as issues related to gender, race, and colonialism.
Positivism and Social Science: Auguste Comte (France, 1798–1857)
The term sociology was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836) in an unpublished manuscript. In 1838, the term was reintroduced by Auguste Comte (figure 2.6). Comte was a pupil of social philosopher Claude Henri de Rouvroy Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). They both thought that social scientists could study society using the same scientific methods utilized in the natural sciences. Comte developed a theory of positivism, which means that science produces universal laws, science controls what is true, and objective methods allow you to pursue that truth. Comte viewed sociology as the study of two important forces: stability, which he called statics, and change, which he called dynamics. Statics are the laws or structures that contribute to the stability of society. Dynamics are aspects of the society that are changing.
Capitalism and Morals: Harriet Martineau (England, 1802–1876)
Harriet Martineau introduced sociology to English-speaking scholars through her translation of Comte’s writing from French to English (figure 2.7). She was an early analyst of social practices, including economics, social class, religion, government, and women’s rights. Her career began with Illustrations of Political Economy, a work educating ordinary people about the principles of economics (Johnson 2003). She later developed the first systematic methodological international comparisons of social institutions in two of her most famous sociological works: Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838).
Martineau found the workings of capitalism at odds with the professed moral principles of people in the United States. She pointed out the faults with the free enterprise system in which workers were exploited and impoverished while business owners became wealthy. She further noted that the belief that all are created equal was inconsistent with the lack of women’s rights. Martineau was often discounted in her own time because academic sociology was a male-dominated profession. In the 1970s, feminist scholars rediscovered her work. What would the foundations of sociology look like today if her work had been included earlier on?
Class and Conflict: Karl Marx (Germany, 1818–1883)
Karl Marx was a social critic and