The Development of Sociology and other

Social Sciences

Prof. Janice Zamora-Morales

 Ancient Greece
• Explanation of how the world was created:
Pantheon or collection of Gods vs. Rational
Theory
 Ancient Greece
• Two Great Philosophers that greatly influenced
the study of human beings and society:
1. Plato (428-348 B.C.)
2. Aristotle (348-322 B.C.)
 Ancient Greece
• Philosophical debates/issues that later formed
into issues of the social sciences:

1. Role of the state

2. Interaction of individuals in society

 Ancient Greece
• It was during the Crusades that the Europeans
get acquainted with the learning of the Greeks.

• By the middle of the 15th

century, the rediscovery of
Greek Civilization in Europe
was widespread.
 Middle Ages
• Religion became the central theme of life.

• The only answer to all

problems of humanity is
‘God.’
 The Renaissance (1453-1690)
• Renaissance is a French word which means
‘the rebirth.’

• General attitude of scholars

during the early period: “It is
possible to know everything.”
However, as the store of
knowledge grew it became
harder and harder to know
everything
 The Renaissance (1453-1690)
• A natural division opened: 1) Humanities
(literature, music, art) and 2) Physics

• Later on Physics was refined broken up into:

1) Empirical Studies (later developed into the
natural sciences)
2) Metaphysics (later developed into
philosophy)
 The Enlightenment (1700-1800)
• It is during this period that the development of
the social sciences took hold and flourished.

• More and more that forms of knowledge

became specialized.
Philosophy was further divided into 1)
Metaphilosophy 2) Social Philosophy
 The Enlightenment (1700-1800)
• From social philosophy, which used the
method of rational speculation to SOCIAL
SCIENCE, which uses empirical research in
understanding social phenomena.
 Significant events that influenced the
development of the social sciences
• The Social Revolutions :
1. French Revolution
2. Industrial Revolution
• Increase in Population
• Worsening Condition of Labor
• Transformation of property
 Significant events that influenced the
development of the social sciences
• Urbanization
• Technology and
mechanization
• The development of
Factory system
• The Development of
the Political Masses
Timeline: Origin of the Social Sciences
Physics Metaphy
History (Natural sics
Science) Metaphiloso
Humaniti Physics phy
es Social
(Philosophy
Religion vs. ) Philosop
rationalism hy
Religion as the Social
central theme
From mystical Sciences
explanation to
Ancient Middle
‘rationalism’ Renaissanc Enlightenme
The Development of Sociology as a
Separate Discipline
 Sociology
• It is the systematic study of human social
interaction.

• The first name of the discipline is social

physics.

• In 1838, Auguste Comte coined the term

‘Sociology.’ Comte is considered as the
father of Sociology.
 Sociology
• Some of the Influential Figures in Sociology:
1. Auguste Comte
2. Herbert Spencer
3. Emile Durkheim
4. Max Weber
5. Karl Marx
6. Talcott Parsons
7. W.E. Dubois
8. Harriet Martineu
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

• The new social science that Comte

sought to establish was first called
social physics but he coined the
word sociology, a hybrid term
compounded of Latin and Greek
parts
• Comte first used the term sociology
in print in 1838
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
August Comte’s philosophy
based on his conclusion that an
intellectual discipline
progresses only to the degree
that it is grounded in facts and
experience, i.e., rests on
information about which one
can reasonably make positive
statements
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
• Coined the term “survival of
the fittest” in reference to
human social arrangements
(Social Darwinism)
• Advocated against social
reform efforts to poor people
because it disrupts the
natural selection process of
evolution
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• Founded sociology as an academic
discipline
• Famous for his study on suicides (1897)
• Use of statistics in sociology
• Among his famous works:
- The Division of Labour in Society
(1893)
- The Rules of Sociological Method
(1895)
-Suicide (1897)
- The Elementary Forms of Religious
Life (1912)
 “Suicide” (1897)
• Durkheim discovered that suicide rates in all the countries
tended to be higher:
• Among widowed, single, and divorced people than
among married people
• Among people without children than among parents
• Among Protestants than among Catholics

What make these groups of people different?

 Two major functions of society
• Integration is the degree to which collective sentiments
(knowledge, beliefs, values) are shared by members is society
• Regulation is the degree of external constraint on people, i.e.
the common norms of people.
Durkheim’s four types of suicide
 Max Weber (1864-1920)

• Weber was highly influenced by his

father who was a bureaucrat and his
mother, who was a Calvinist.
• At the age of 18, he attended the
University of Heidelberg.
• In 1884 upon return to military service,
he went to the University of Berlin
where he finished his PhD and where he
became a lawyer.
 Max Weber (1864-1920)

• Among his publications include:

-The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of
Capitalism (1905)
-Economy and Society (1920)
• He helped found the German
Sociological Society in 1910.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• Received a Doctorate in
Philosophy at the University
of Berlin (A school heavily
influenced by Hegel)
• He was introduced to French
Socialism and English
Political Economy when he
moved to Paris.
 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• He met a man who became his lifelong
collaborator in the name of Friedrich
Engels. Engels is a socialist whose
father, a textile manufacturer
experienced the worst condition of the
working class.
• Marx was expelled in 1845 due to anti-
French government sentiments. He then
moved to Brussels.
 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• He became an active member of the
Communist League, and was asked to
write a document together with Engels.
The result is the COMMUNIST
MANIFESTO written in 1848.
• When he moved to London, he began his
famous study in the British Museum.
This resulted in his three volumes of
CAPITAL.
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)
• Got an undergraduate degree in
Amherst College (1924). He
pursue graduate education in the
London School of Economics,
but a year after he moved to
Heidelberg, Germany. This is
where he was influenced by Max
Weber’s ideas.
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)
• From an Action theorist he
became a significant
figure in Structural-
functionalism.
• He taught at the Harvard
Sociology Department in
1944
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)
• He was elected as president of
the American Sociological
Association in 1949.
• Among his works include: The
structure of Social Action
(1941), The Social System
(1951).
• He became the dominant figure
in American Sociology
particularly in the 1950s and
1980s.
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
• Translated A. Comte’s work into
English
• Concerned with social change and
the plight of women and children in
English factories during the early
phases of industrialization
• First acknowledged female
sociologist.
• Examined emerging American
society (c 1834)
 Sociology
• Perspectives in Sociology:
1. Functionalism
2. Conflict
3. Symbolic Interactionism
4. Feminist Theory
 Structural-Functionalist Perspective
• Parts of a social system work together to maintain a balance
– Functions are actions that have positive consequences
– Dysfunctions are actions that have negative consequences
– Manifest functions are intended
– Latent functions are unintended
 Conflict Perspective
• Society is held together by who has power at a moment in time
– Power allows some to dominate others
– Dominance leads to conflict
– Conflict and change are inevitable
– Conflict holds society together as new alliances are formed and others
fail
 Interactionist Perspective

• Individuals construct the nature of

their social world through social
interaction
–Social life is possible only because
humans can communicate through
symbols
 Interactionist Perspective

–All human communications take

place through the perception and
interpretation of symbols
–How people define situations is
important
 Interactionist Perspective

–There is a general consensus on

how situations are defined.
–We do not respond directly to
reality but to the symbolic
meanings we attach to the real
world.
 Roots of Phenomenological Sociology (Lee
2000:58)
INTERPRETIVE INTERACTIONISM
MAX GEORGE SIMMEL G.H.
WEBER Interaction Mead
Verstehen Self
EDMUND
HERBERT BLUMER
HUSSERL
Symbolic
Transcendental
Interactionism
Phenomenology
ERVING GOFFMAN
ALFRED SCHUTZ
Dramaturgical [Sociology]
Social Action
(Agency)
HAROLD
Critical Theory GARFINKEL
Cultural Ethnomethodology
Studies Postmodernism
Conversation
Analysis
 Feminist Perspectives

feminism is defined as, ‘a political

stance of someone committed to
changing the social position of
women.
 Timeline: Feminism across
different epoch
Postmodern
Feminism
Radical &
Liberal Marxist Socialist Ecofeminism
tradition: tradition Feminism
Equality
with men Third
World
Feminism

17th Late 1960s 1980s 1990s

cent. 19th
 American Sociology
In the United States, sociology and the modern
university system rose together. Early American
sociology was optimistic, forward-looking, and
rooted in a belief in progress, the value of
individual freedom and welfare
 American Sociology
An exception to such optimism is the work of
W.E.B. DuBois, who took sociology out of the
ivory tower and did investigative fieldwork.
 Early American Sociologists

• W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)

– Combined emphasis on analysis

of everyday lived experience
with commitment to
investigating power and
inequality based on race
 Early American Sociologists

• W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)

– Revealed social processes

that contributed to
maintenance of racial
separation.
 American Sociology
3. Contributions of considerable significance to sociology were
also made by sociologists at the University of Chicago, where
the first department of sociology in the United States was
established in 1892.
• Dominated sociology for the first half of the 20th century.
• Noted for study of urban problems and cities
 Sociology in the Philippines

• 3 stages of development of the discipline:

1. Sociology as social philosophy
2. Sociology as problem or welfare
oriented
3. Sociology as a scientific endeavor
 Sociology in the Philippines
• Sociology was introduced by Fr. Valentin
Marin when he offered a course on
criminology at the UST.
• A.W. Salt and Murray Bartlett offered similar
course in UP Manila, Clyde Heflin at Siliman
University in Dumaguete.
• Conrado Benitez and Luis Rivera also taught
sociology courses.
 Sociology in the Philippines
• Sociology as a problem-oriented
discipline was introduced by Serafin
Macaraig. He was the first to earn a
doctorate degree in Sociology and to
write a book entitled, An
Introduction to Sociology (1938).
 Sociology in the Philippines
• Little research were done, except for
some western social scientists.
• Sociology and anthropology were
merged into a department headed by
H. Otley Beyer.
 Sociology in the Philippines
• In the 1950s, the scientific tradition in the
discipline started.
• Benicio Catapusan did a pioneering research
on rural development that helped for the
distribution of economic aid in different
regions.
• 1952- Philippine Sociological Society was
formed by UP, Ateneo de Manila and Siliman
University
 Sociology in the Philippines
• PSS begun its quarterly publication of the
Philippine Sociological Review.
• 1957- the Community Development Research
Council was created to support social science
research.
• One of those who availed grant at CDRC was
Mary Hollsteiner in her work, The
Dynamics of Power in a Philippine
Municipality. Other social scientists who
availed were Prospero Covar, Agaton Pal,
and Fr. Francis Madigan, S.J.
 Sociology in the Philippines
• 1960- Fr. Frank Lynch, S.J. founded the Institute
of Philippine Culture at Ateneo de Manila
University.
• 1960s-1990s- researches sprang from various
entities such as UP, Ateneo, Xavier University,
Siliman University, Divine Word University,
University of San Carlos, Siliman University and
Asian Social Institute.
 Sociology in the Philippines

• Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, National

Economic Council, Agency for International
Development and UNESCO provide grants for
researches.
• Lately, grants came from other sources such as
Japan and Europe.
• UP was the first school to offer a major in
Sociology and Xavier University was the first
to offer a Ph.D. in Sociology
 Sociology in the Philippines
• 1968-the Philippine Social Science Council
was formed to improved the quality and
relevance of Social Sciences.
• The PSSC Research Committee drafted a set
of guidelines regarding rights and
responsibilities of the social scientists.
• The PSSC also awarded grants, subsidized
researches and publications, and ran research
trainings.
 Sociology in the Philippines
• Sociology in the Philippines undergone
extensive expansion.
• 1960s- attempts to reexamine western
concepts and the indigenization of concepts,
methods and theories commenced.
• Dr. Cynthia Bautista pointed out in her paper
the need to utilize social research in policy
making.
• Prof. Randolf David depicted social realities
in the Philippines in his paper, Philippine
Underdevelopment and Dependency Theory.