The Founding Fathers of Sociology

Sociology is the scientific study of human interaction and society in general. The subjects in sociology are diverse, from religion, immigration and crimes to families, to the study of social classes and fall of empires. Sociology officially became an academic discipline in the 19th century due to the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, life-changing inventions were made, and society changed with more people moving to big cities. Additionally, it led to the rise of capitalism, which has shaped today's society. 

Auguste Comte

Known as the father of sociology and positivism, Auguste Comte believed that society could be studied scientifically like subjects such as chemistry, biology, and physics - he was also the first to use the term ‘sociology’ in the 1830s. His idea to use scientific methods such as comparison, observation, and experimentation was called positivism.         

Other key founders

1. Karl Marx:  A revolutionary sociologist, economist, and historian. He believed that economics, class struggle, and capitalism were the primary forces shaping society.

2. Émile Durkheim: A famous social scientist known for his work on suicide. He studied how society holds together through shared values and institutions such as education and religion.

3. Max Weber: A well-known sociologist and political economist who focused on understanding people's ideas, motivation, and values. His most famous work, “The Protestant Ethic” examined religion, bureaucracy, and the development of capitalism, while linking religion and capitalism together. 

These thinkers are important because they laid the foundation for today's sociology with the help of their fantastic work. They tried to understand society, the cause of conflict, and how we manage to all live in a community, and we can all agree that their work paid off because without them, today's sociology wouldn't be as advanced 

The questions sociology raises are still relevant to this day. We continue to ask ourselves the same question that early sociologists asked: why do people behave the way they do in groups? What is the cause of inequality? 

Nowadays, with all the challenges that the world faces, such as pollution, global warming, war, and racism, sociology helps us study our society and create new ideas to make it better 

“The function of sociology, as of every science, is to reveal that which is hidden.” — Pierre Bourdieu

Reference list

Form, W. and Faris, R.E.L. (2019). sociology | Definition, History, Examples, & Facts. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/sociology.

UNC (2018). What is Sociology? [online] Unc.edu. Available at: https://sociology.unc.edu/undergraduate-program/sociology-major/what-is-sociology/.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Sociology - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology.