Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of

sociology
Humans have, no doubt, always thought about their lives and the conditions of their existence. Such thoughts are
the life-blood of religion, philosophy, ideology, and the many other ways that humans can think about themselves
and their world. There is, therefore, nothing new in the basic impulse that eventually led to the emergence of
sociology as a discipline concerned with understanding human behavior, interaction, and organization. Several things
in which modern sociology is interested were certainly thought of by ancient philosophers, religious leaders,
of Manu, Yagyavalkya, Kautilya,  Confucius, Aristotle, Plato and several other scholars certainly had a good deal of
sociological content. Sociology is, after all, only the more systematic study of what people do in their daily lives and
routines. But sociology did not emerge as an inevitable extension of what people typically do; rather, it arose from
the rebirth or Renaissance in Europe after centuries of apparent stagnation and miserly. The rebirth or Renaissance
represented a specific set of social changes which Europe underwent i.e. modernity. The roots of the ideas
developed by the early sociologists lies in the social, economic and political conditions that prevailed in medieval
Europe. The emergence of sociology as a scientific discipline can therefore be traced to that period of European
history which saw such tremendous social, political and economic changes as embodied in the European Society is
known as the ‘Enlightenment Period’.
To understand the social changes that were taking place in European society, it is important to know about the kind
of society that existed in traditional Europe; i.e. prior to the Enlightenment period.

European society before enlightenment

Old Europe was traditional. Land was central to its economic system. There were owners of land, the feudal lords
and the peasants who worked on the lands. Religion formed the corner stole of society. The religious heads decided
what was moral, what was not. Family and kinship were central to the lives of the people. Monarchy was firmly
rooted in society. The king was believed to be divinely ordained to rule over his people.

Social changes during the Renaissance period

Expansion of trade and commerce

Between 1450 to approximately 1800 there was a shift from the largely subsistence and stagnant economy of
Medieval Europe to a more dynamic and worldwide system. It involved tremendous expansion of trade and
commerce that took place from the 15th century onwards. With the overseas discoveries & conquests,  Europe’s
trade with the Oriental or Eastern countries like India and China was earlier transacted by land routes. Subsequently,
a shift from land routes to sea-routes began... Remember, this was the era of expansion of trade and the beginnings
of colonialism. The new business organisation and expansion of financial system aided the process.

Rise of middle class

One of the most distinctive characteristics of this period was the rise of the middle class to economic power. By the
end of the 17th century, the middle class had become an influential group in nearly every western European country.
It included merchants, bankers, and ship owners, investors. Their power, at this stage, was mainly economic.

The growth of science and scientific thought

Medieval society was characterised by the feudal system. The Church was the epicentre of power authority and
learning. Nothing could challenge the ‘dogmas’ or rigid beliefs of the Church. The ‘Renaissance’ period saw the
beginning of the ‘Scientific Revolution’. It marked an area of description and criticism in the field of science. It was a
clear break from the past, a challenge to old authority. Thus , the Enlightenment derived considerable inspiration
from the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The scientific revolution reached a
symbolic peak, at least in the eye of eighteenth-century thinkers, with Newtonian physics.
The first major break from the entire system of ancient thought came with the work of the Dutchman, Nicholas
Copernicus. The Copernican revolution shattered the very foundations on which the old world rested. The work of
physicists and mathematicians like Galileo Galilee (1564-1642), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and subsequently, Isaac
Newton revolutionized science. It brought to the forefront the experimental method. Old ideas were challenged and
alternatives were suggested.
Scientific methods thus came to be regarded as the most accurate, the most objective. When we study the
emergence of the discipline of sociology, we will see how the use of the ‘scientific method’ in studying society was
recommended. Dissection of the human body helped people gain a better upstanding of it’s working. This led to a lot
of rethinking. The human organism came to be viewed in terms of interrelated parts and interconnected systems-
this had its impact on the social thought of Comte, Spencer, Durkheim to name a few.
One of the most interesting contribution in Biology, which created a furor in the society of that time came when the
British naturalist, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published the “Origin of Species” in 1859. Darwin also studied ‘human
evolution’-tracing it in his work “Descent of Man” (1863). He traced the origins of the human species to some ape-
like ancestors, which over the centuries, evolved into modern man. This book created uproar. It was believed that
‘God’ made man ‘in his own image” and conservatives were not willing to accept that they were descended from the
monkey. Darwin’s evolutionary theory did, however gain wide acceptance. It was applied later on to the social world
by ‘evolutionary’ thinkers, notably Herbert Spencer. Not just organisms, but societies were seen as constantly
‘evolving’ or developing from a lower to a higher stage.

Transition from feudalism to industrialism

The expansion of trade, rise of middle class and scientific revolution led to more widespread changes which came to
known as industrial revolution. The Industrial Revolution began in late 17 th century in England. It brought about
great changes in the social and economic life of the people first in England, then in other countries of Europe and
later in other continents. In Europe, especially England, the discovery of new territories, explorations, growth of
trade and commerce and the consequent growth of towns brought about an increase in demand for goods. New
tools and techniques were discovered which could produce goods on a large-scale. A series of inventions in tools and
techniques and organisation of production took place which gave rise to the factory system of production. Thus, a
change in economy from feudal to industrial and capitalist system of production developed. A class of capitalists
emerged which controlled this industrial system.

Structural changes in society – migration and urbanism

With the change in the economy of society several social changes followed. New class of industrial workers,
managers, capitalists emerged. In the strict sense , the urban areas started emerging , which were based only on
new factories. Factory system lead to large scale migration of people to the cities. Women and children joined the
work force in the factories. Thus Family relations got transformed with the emergence of nuclear families. Religion
was questioned. Religion lost its important position. Family loyalties gave way to ideological commitments. The
position of women changed. And finally monarchy was overthrown.

Rise of liberal democracy- The French Revolution

The emergence of a new liberal democratic system in Europe was also not dissociated from the above mentioned
changes. The fuller development of science and industrialism required a conducive and more tolerant political
system. The political changes were occurring in Europe , which finally got their fuller expression in the French
Revolution, which erupted in 1789. It marked a turning point in the history of human struggle for freedom and
equality. In put an end to the age of feudalism and ushered in a new order of society. This revolution brought about
far reaching changes in not only French society but in societies throughout Europe . The French society was divided
into feudal ‘estates’. The structure of the feudal French society comprised the ‘Three Estates’ i.e. nobility, clergy,
peasants and others. There was a vast difference between the condition of the peasants and that of the clergy and
the nobility. The peasants worked day and night but were overloaded with so many taxes. As compared to the
peasants, the condition of the middle classes, comprising the merchants, bankers, lawyers, manufacturers, etc. was
much better. These classes too belonged to the third estate. But it had no social status as compared with the status
of the members of the first and the second estates.
Like in all absolute monarchies, the theory of the Divine Right of Kings was followed in France too. For about 200
years France, was ruled by the Kings of the Bourbon dynasty. Under the rule of the king, the ordinary people had no
personal rights. They only served the King and his nobles in various capacities.  The kings of France, from Louis XIV
onwards, fought costly wars which ruined the country and when Louis XIV died in 1715. France had become
bankrupt. Louis XV instead of recovering from this ruin kept on borrowing money from bankers.
Certain intellectual developments in France proved to be the igniting force in bringing about the revolution. France,
like some other European countries during the 18th century, had entered the age of reason and rationalism. Some of
the major philosophers, whose ideas influenced the French people, were rationalists who believed that all true
things could be proved by reason. Some of these thinkers were, Montesquieu (1689-1755), Locke (1632-1704),
Voltaire (1694-1778), and Rousseau (1712-1778). The major ideas of these, and several other intellectuals, stuck the
imagination of the French people. Middle class was deeply affected by these ideas of liberty and equality.
French revolution totally dismantled the feudal system and leaders advocated a democratic form of a political
system and the society be organised on democratic lines.

Modernity

Taken together, the changes described above came seen as characterizing a modern society or as constituting an era
of modernity. The belief system of modernity came to be based new ideologies of industrialism, urbanism,
democratic thought and new science. The modernity

Emerging problems and emergence of sociology

But the social change in Europe in general and rise of modernity in particular was not devoid of pain. These changes
particularly industrialization and changes in political system brought a number of problems and developments which
could not properly understood and explained with the help of the then existing academic disciplines. A brief
summary of problems is given as under.
 The peasants in the new industrial society found themselves with thousands of other people like
themselves, winding cotton in a textile mill. In the early years this working class, lived in poverty and
squalor.
 Instead of the familiar countryside they found themselves in unhygienic living conditions. They were
socially deprived. It was recognised that the poverty of this class of workers is not natural poverty but
social poverty.
 With the increase in production, population started increasing. Rise of population led to the increased
rate of urbanisation. The industrial cities grew rapidly. In the industrial cities socio-economic
disparities were very wide. New cities were known as repositories of misery and inhumanity. It was
these aspects of the new cities, which concerned the early sociologists.
 New type of Crimes like pick pocketing, house breaking, juvenile crime etc started increasing, which
the contradicted  with the high ideals of democracy and science.
 The factory workers were involved in repetitive and boring work, the result of which they could not
enjoy. In Marxist terms the worker became alienated from the product of his/her labour. City life in
the industrial society became an altogether a different way of life.
All these were new developments in Europe for which there was no clear cut explanations. Intellectuals started
thinking of reasons for this. This led to wide spread disorder in the society. Intellectual started looking for Science
which can explain the changes and establish order in the society. The pace of political changes in France became an
immediate context for the emergence of sociology.
 In France, the transition from feudal/autocratic system to democratic was not smooth, as leaders were
not sure whether system will succeed or not. Democratic Institution were not developed and there
 was total chaos in society. At one point of time, even some thought of reverting back to old system.
The Revolution and the century of political turmoil that followed provided early French sociologists
with their basic intellectual problem. French intellectuals thought of need for a Science of Society
which could predict the changes.
Thus, Change forces new ways of thinking to emerge, and so it was with the intellectual currents of The
Enlightenment, the transformation of feudalism into capitalism, and the political upheaval that came with the
demise of the old feudal order and the rise of the state. New material conditions force both ordinary people in their
daily routines and scholars in their more systematic pursuit of understanding to reconceptualize the world. For much
of the eighteenth century, scholars had been grappling with changes in the old order, trying to find comfort and
promise in what was occurring. By the turn into the nineteenth century, the time was right for a new discipline,
sociology.
Therefore, the sociology emerged as a distinct discipline in France. The idea of Sociology as a separate discipline was
conceived by Saint Simon in France for the first time. He called it as Social physics. He thought that the changes could
be predicted on the lines of physical Sciences. But the term sociology was coined later by Auguste Comte in 1838.
Comte became the father of sociology, with the conceptualization of a distinct discipline.

Intellectual Influences Affecting the Emergence of Sociology

Intellectual background is an essential force behind conceptualization of new ideas. Apart from social changes the
there were intellectual influences which also contributed the context for emergence of new discipline.
In England and Scotland, The Enlightenment was dominated by a group of thinkers who argued for a vision of human
beings and society that both reflected and justified the industrial capitalism that first emerged in the British Isles.
Scholars such as Adam Smith believed individuals are to be free of external constraint and allowed to compete,
thereby creating a better society. In France, The Enlightenment is often termed the Age of Reason, and it was
dominated by a group of scholars known as the philosophes. Sociology was born from the intellectual ferment
generated by the French philosophes.
In the eighteen-century, French and German philosophers of history like Abbe’de Saint-Pierre, Giambattista Vico,
Montesquieu, Voltaire, Herder, Ferguson, etc., and those in the early part of the nineteenth century like Hegel, Saint
Simon, Comte contributed ideas which provided the earliest intellectual sources for the establishment of the
discipline of sociology. 
Although, Sociology emerged as a response to the forces of change, which took place during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries in Europe. But much of the early sociology was affected by the thinkers of the Enlightenment.
The initial subject matter, methodology and perspective were borrowed and developed under the influence of a
number of intellectual themes.
Firstly, a scientific approach to the study of society dates back to the tradition of the Enlightenment. The eighteenth
century thinkers began more consistently than any of their predecessors to study the human conditions in a
scientific way using the methods of the natural sciences.
Secondly, they upheld reason as a measure to judge social institutions and their suitability for human nature.
Thirdly, they believed that human beings are capable of attaining perfection. By criticizing and changing social
institutions they can create for themselves even greater degree of freedom.
Sociological thinkers are concerned with the above three assumptions. Apart from them, three other intellectual
influences current in the post-Enlightenment period influenced the emergence of sociology in Europe. They can be
identified as: The philosophy of history, the biological theories of evolution; and the surveys of social conditions.
In the early part of the nineteenth century the philosophy of history became an important intellectual influence. The
social thinkers, who developed the philosophy of history such as, Abbe Saint Pierre, and Giambattista, were
concerned with the whole of society and not merely the political, or the economic, or the cultural aspects. Body of
knowledge in sociology has been derived from philosophy of history.
The influence of the philosophy of history was further reinforced by the biological theory of evolution. Sociology
moved towards an evolutionary perspective, seeking to identify and account for the principal stages in social
evolution. The writings of initial sociologists like Comte, Herbert Spencer and Durkheim reflect the liberal use of this
perspective.
Scholars like Sinclair, Le Play and Booth conducted social surveys aimed at social reform in Scotland France and
England respectively.  Social survey forms an important method in modern sociology. Social surveys initially
established that poverty was not natural but social. Thus social survey was adopted as one of the initial methods of
sociological inquiry.
 
 
[1] Vasco da Gama reached the Indian shores in 1498. Columbus discovered America in 1492
[2] Portuguese were the pioneers in adventurous navigation and exploration
[3] One of the important reasons for the expansion of trade was the growth of banking. Credit facilities were
expanded, making it easy for merchants all over Europe to do business. The “Cheque” was invented in the 18th
century. Paper money came to replace gold and silver coins. As trade and commerce expanded, new kinds of
business organisation had to be devised to cope with this growth. “Regulated companies” arose in the 16th century.
These were associations of merchants who bounded together to cooperate for a common venture .“Joint-stock”
companies emerged in the 17th century. In this set-up, shares of capital were distributed to a large number of
investors. Some of these companies were also “chartered companies”; their governments gave them a charter or a
contract which guaranteed them a monopoly of the trade in a particular region. Examples of these companies
include the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company.
[4] It was generally believed that the earth was fixed or stationary, the sun, and other heavenly bodies moved
around it. (This is known as a ‘geocentric’ theory). Copernicus demonstrated that the earth moved around a fixed
sun. (This is a ‘heliocentric’ theory). In a nutshell, science in the Renaissance period was marked by a new attitude
towards man and nature.
[5] Darwin put forward the theory that various living organisms compete for the limited resources. Thus “survival of
the fittest” is the natural law. Some species evolve or develop certain traits, which made their survival possible,
other species die out
[6] Some of the significant mechanical inventions which led to a quicker and better method of production in various
industries were for example, the Spinning Jenny, invented in 1767 by James Hargreaves, an English weaver. Another
invention made in 1769 was Arkwright’s Water Frame invented by Arkwright, an English barber. This Water Frame
was so large that it could not be kept in one’s home and a special building was required to salt it up. Thus on account
of this it is said that he was responsible for introducing the factory system. There were several other inventions, too,
which all contributed to the industrial development of European society.
[7] Traditional feudal Europe was based on extended families.
[8] Even countries in order continents such as, India, wee influenced by the ideas generated during this revolution.
ideas like liberty, fraternity and equality, which now form a part of the preamble to the constitution of India, owe
their origin to the French revolution
[9] Estates are defined as a system of stratification found in feudal European societies whereby one section or estate
is distinguished from the other in terms of status, privileges and restrictions accorded to that estate. The First Estate
consisted of the clergy, they lived a life of luxury and gave very little attention to religion. The Second Estate
consisted of the nobility. The Third Estate comprised the rest of the society and included the peasants, the
merchants, the artisans, and others.
[10] Montesquieu in his book, “The Spirit of the Law”, help that there should not be concentration of authority, such
as executive, legislative, and judicial, at one place. He believed in the theory of the separation of powers and the
liberty of the individual.
[11] Locke, an Englishman, advocated that every individual has certain rights, which cannot be taken by any
authority. These rights were, right to live, rights to property, and the right to personal freedom. He also believed that
any ruler who took away these rights from his people should be removed from the seat of power and replaced by
another ruler who is able to protect these rights.
[12] Voltaire, a French philosopher, advocated religious toleration and freedom of speech. He also stood for the
rights of individuals, for freedom of speech and expression.
[13] Rousseau wrote in his book “The Social Contract” that the people of a country have the right to choose their
sovereign. He believed that people can develop their personalities best only under a government which is of their
own choice.
[14] Contrary to the earlier belief
changed