History of Sociology

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Sociology is thought about of the social sciences - along with economics, psychology, anthropology, geography, and political science (among others). The social sciences were born in the 18th and 19th centuries, as people began applying the scientific technique to human life and behavior. The world was changing dramatically and quickly as industrial production replaced agriculture, as democratic republics replaced monarchies, and as city life replaced country life. Realizing how plenty of great insights science had lent regarding the natural world, people decided to try to make use of the same technique to understand the social world.

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Among the social sciences, sociology has always been unique in its ambition to understand the whole social world - thinking about all its aspects in combination than in isolation. It is a daunting task, and that sociologists are still struggling with today.

The most important early sociologists had clear ideas about how to study and understand society; these ideas still form the basis for much sociological inquiry and discussion today. Karl Marx emphasized the importance of physical resources and the material world; they believed that conflict over resources is at the heart of social life. Emile Durkheim emphasized cooperation than conflict: They was interested in the shared norms and values that make cooperative social life feasible. Max Weber took ideas from both Marx and Durkheim and argued that both conflict and cooperation, both material resources and cultural values are essential to social life.

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Over the past century, sociologists have continued to debate the early sociologists' ideas and have applied them to specific societies all over the world. Thanks largely to the influence of "the Chicago School" of sociologists in the early 20th century, sociologists today pay close attention to small groups and person-to-person interaction as well as to the grand sweep of social history. Today, sociologists appreciate that the gigantic questions and the small questions regarding society are interlinked, and that you cannot understand the macro (the gigantic) without also understanding the micro (the small).



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