SOCIOLOGY AS A HUMANISTIC AND SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE

CHAPTER 1

A. IMPORTANCE OF SOCIOLOGY

1. We become more understanding, broad-minded, and tolerant

2. It enables us to learn the application of scientific methods and techniques to our daily life problems.

3. Enables us to see the connection between our own personal forces in the bigger social world daily which influence life.

4. It furnishes interested people and specialized sciences with principles and scientific data which they can use in their work.

5. It undertakes scientific sociological researches and inquiry on immediate and contemporary social problems

6. It has made great strides in the study of criminology, ethnic relation, social processes, the family, population and collective behavior.

7. Provides insights into the interrelationship of human beings within the group so that we may live in harmony with others.

8. The results of sociological investigations provide a better background for meeting and solving social problems.

9. The results of sociological inquiry can help dispel popular myths, superstition, and stereotypes with accurate knowledge about human behavior and human societies.

10. It broadens our experiences as we learn to discard our prejudices and biases as we become more understanding and tolerant of the customs of other people.

11. Results of sociological investigation are useful to everyone.

B. AREAS OF SOCIOLOGY

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

SOCIAL CHANGE

HUMAN ECOLOGY

POPULATION STUDIES

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND RESEARCH

APPLIED SOCIOLOGY

C. PIONEER/FORERUNNERS OF SOCIOLOGY

Henri Sain-Simon (1760-1825)

He based his ideas on the assumption that the law of human behavior could be determined in the same manner that the law of nature had been arrived at by natural scientist.

Auguste Comte (1978-1857)

He advocated the idea of “positivism” or the use of empirical investigation to understand society and social phenomenon

Herbert Spencer (1830-1903)

Scientist who argued that human societies go through an evolutionary process and who coined the concept “survival of the fittest”

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

He believed that the misery and exploitation of the working lower classes in society was caused by capitalism the existing industrial order.

Emil Durkheim (1858-1917)

He focused on the characteristics of social groups, particularly the cohesion or non-cohesion of religious groups.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

His works dwelt on the significance of subjective meanings people give to their interactions with others.

OTHER PIONEERS

Walter Bagehot (1826-1877), English

Ludwig Gumplowicz (1838-1909, Polish)

Gustav Ratzer Hoofers (1842-1912, Austrian)

Jacquez Novicow (1849-1912, Russian)

Achille Loria (1857-1943, Italian)

Adolphe Coste (1842-1901, French)

Benjamin Kid (1858-1916, English)

William Graham Sumner (1840-1913, American)

Albion Small (1854-1926, American)

Lester Ward (1841-1913, American)

Franklin Giddings (1855-1931, American)

OTHER EARLY THEORISTS

Adolfe Quetelet (1796-1874, Belgian)

Frediric Le Hay (1806-1882, French)

Edward Taylor (1832-1917, British)

Lewis Morgan (1818-1881, American)

Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882, English)

Henry Buckle (1821-1862)

Nicholas Danilevsky (1822-1885, Russian)