Founders of Sociology

Have you ever wondered how the discipline of sociology developed?

There have been thinkers since ancient times who dealt with themes now associated with sociology, even though back then, it was not called that. We will look at them and then discuss the works of academics who laid the groundwork for modern sociology.

• We will look at the history of sociology.
• We will start with a history of sociology timeline.
• Then, we will look at the founders of sociology as a science.
• We will mention the founders of sociological theory.
• We will consider the founders of sociology and their contributions.
• We will look at the founders of American sociology.
• Finally, we will discuss the founders of sociology and their theories in the 20th century.

History of Sociology: Timeline

Ancient scholars already defined concepts, ideas, and social patterns that are now associated with the discipline of sociology. Thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, and Confucius all attempted to figure out what an ideal society looks like, how social conflicts arise, and how we can prevent them from arising. They considered such concepts as social cohesion, power, and the influence of economics on the social sphere.

Fig. 1 - Scholars of Ancient Greece already described concepts now associated with sociology.

It was in the 13th century that a Chinese historian named Ma Tuan-Lin first discussed how social dynamics contribute to historical development with overwhelming influence. His work on the concept was titled the General Study of Literary Remains.

The next century witnessed the work of Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun, who is now known as the world’s first sociologist. His writings covered many points of modern sociological interest, including a theory of social conflict, the connection between a group’s social cohesion and their capacity for power, political economics, and a comparison of nomadic and sedentary life. Khaldun laid down the foundation of modern economics and social sciences.

Thinkers of the Enlightenment

There were talented scholars throughout the Middle Ages, but we would have to wait for the Age of Enlightenment to witness a breakthrough in the social sciences. The desire to understand and explain social life and ills and thus generate social reform was there in the work of John Locke, Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, and Immanuel Kant (to mention a few of the Enlightenment thinkers).

The 18th century also saw the first woman gaining influence through her social sciences and feminist work - British writer Mary Wollstonecraft. She wrote extensively about the status and rights of women (or rather the lack thereof) in society. Her research was rediscovered in the 1970s after long being ignored by male sociologists.

The rise of empires in the early 19th century opened up the Western world to different societies and cultures, which generated even more interest in sociological studies. Due to industrialization and mobilization, people started to abandon their traditional religious beliefs and the more simplistic, rural upbringing many had experienced. This was when great developments occurred in almost all sciences, including sociology, the science of human behavior.

Founders of Sociology as a Science

French essayist, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyés, coined the term ‘sociology’ in a 1780 manuscript that never got published. Later on, the term was reinvented and entered the use we know today.

There was a line of established thinkers who did influential work in social sciences and then became known as sociologists. We will now look at the most important sociologists of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

If you would like to know more about each of them, you can look at our explanations on Famous Sociologists!

Founders of Sociological Theory

We will now discuss the founders of sociology as a discipline and look at the works of August Comte, Harriet Martineau, and a list of forgotten female sociologists.

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

French philosopher Auguste Comte is known as the father of sociology. He initially studied to become an engineer, but one of his teachers, Henri de Saint-Simon, made such an impression on him that he turned to social philosophy. Both master and pupil thought that society should be studied through scientific methods, just like nature.

Comte worked in an unsettling age in France. The monarchy was just abolished after the French Revolution of 1789, and Napoleon was defeated in trying to conquer Europe. There was chaos, and Comte was not the only thinker searching for ways to improve society. He believed that social scientists had to identify the laws of society, and then they could pinpoint and fix problems like poverty and poor education.

Comte’s approach to the study of society in a scientific way is known as positivism. He included the term in the titles of two of his significant texts: The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830-42) and A General View of Positivism (1848). Furthermore, he believed that sociology was the ‘queen’ of all sciences and its practitioners were ‘scientist-priests.’

Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)

While Mary Wollstonecraft is considered the first influential female feminist thinker, English social theorist Harriet Martineau is known as the first woman sociologist.

She was a writer, first and foremost. Her career started with the publication of the Illustrations of Political Economy, which aimed to teach economics to ordinary people through a series of short stories. Later she wrote about major social scientific issues.

In Martineau's book, titled Society in America (1837), she made insightful observations on religion, child-rearing, immigration, and politics in the US. She also researched the traditions, class system, government, women’s rights, religion, and suicide in her home country, the UK.

Two of her most influential observations were the realization of problems of capitalism (such as the fact that workers are exploited while business owners gain incredible wealth) and the realization of gender inequality. Martineau also published some of the first writings on sociological methods.

She deserves great credit for translating the work of the "father" of sociology, August Comte, thus introducing positivism to the English-speaking academic world. This credit was delayed as male academics overlooked Martineau as they did with Wollstonecraft and many other influential female thinkers.

Fig. 2 - Harriet Martineau was a very influential female sociologist.

Founders of Sociology and Their Contributions

We will continue with the founders of sociological perspectives such as functionalism and conflict theory. We will consider the contributions of theorists such as Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim.

Karl Marx (1818–1883)

German economist, philosopher, and social theorist Karl Marx is known for creating the theory of Marxism and establishing the conflict theory perspective in sociology. Marx opposed Comte’s positivism. He detailed his view of society in the Communist Manifesto, which he co-authored with Friedrich Engels and published in 1848.

Marx argued that the history of all societies was a history of class struggle. In his own time, after the industrial revolution, he saw the struggle between the workers (proletariat) and the business owners (bourgeoisie) as the latter exploited the former to maintain their wealth.

Marx argued that the capitalist system would eventually collapse as the workers realize their situation and start a proletarian revolution. He predicted that a more equal social system would follow, where there would be no private ownership. This system he called communism.

His economic and political predictions did not come true exactly as he proposed. However, his theory of social conflict and social change remains influential in modern sociology and is the background of all conflict theory studies.

Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)

English philosopher Herbert Spencer is often referred to as the second founder of sociology. He opposed both Comte’s positivism and Marx’s conflict theory. He believed that sociology was not meant to drive social reform but simply to understand society better as it was.

Spencer’s work is closely associated with Social Darwinism. He studied Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, in which the scholar lays out the concept of evolution and makes the argument for the ‘survival of the fittest’.

Spencer applied this theory to societies, arguing that societies evolve over time as species do, and those in better social positions are there because they are ‘naturally fitter’ than others. Simply put, he believed that social inequality was inevitable and natural.

Spencer’s work, particularly The Study of Sociology, influenced many significant sociologists, Émile Durkheim, for example.

Georg Simmel (1858–1918)

Georg Simmel is rarely mentioned in academic histories of sociology. It is probably because his contemporaries, like Émile Durkheim, George Herbert Mead, and Max Weber, are regarded as giants of the field and may overshadow the German art critic.

Nevertheless, Simmel’s micro-level theories on individual identity, social conflict, the function of money, and European and non-European dynamics significantly contributed to sociology.

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)

French thinker, Émile Durkheim, is known as the father of the sociological perspective of functionalism. The basis of his theory of societies was the idea of meritocracy. He believed that people acquire status and roles in society based on their merit.

In Durkheim’s opinion, sociologists could study objective social facts and determine whether a society is ‘healthy’ or ‘dysfunctional.’ He coined the term ‘anomie’ to refer to a state of chaos in society - when social control ceases to exist, and individuals lose their sense of purpose and forgot about their roles in society. He claimed that anomie usually occurs during social change when a new social environment presents itself, and neither individuals nor social institutions know how to cope with that.

Durkheim contributed to the establishment of sociology as an academic discipline. He wrote books about sociological research methods, and he set up the European department of sociology at the University of Bourdeaux. Demonstrating the effectiveness of his sociological methods, he published a noteworthy study on suicide.

Durkheim’s most important works:

• Division of Labor in Society (1893)

• Rules of the Sociological Method (1895)

• Suicide (1897)

George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)

George Herbert Mead was a pioneer of the third significant sociological perspective, symbolic interactionism. He researched self-development and the socialization process and concluded that individuals created a sense of self through interacting with others.

Mead was one of the first to turn to micro-level analysis within the discipline of sociology.

Max Weber (1864–1920)

Max Weber is another very well-known sociologist. He established a sociology department at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in Germany in 1919.

Weber argued that it was impossible to use scientific methods to understand society and people’s behavior. Instead, he said, sociologists must gain ‘Verstehen’, a deep understanding of the specific society and culture they observe, and only then make conclusions about it from an insider’s point of view. He essentially took an antipositivist stand and argued for using subjectivity in sociological research to represent cultural norms, social values, and social processes accurately.

Qualitative research methods, such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, became common in in-depth, small-scale research.

Founders of American Sociology: W. E. B. DuBois (1868 - 1963)

W. E. B. DuBois was a Black American sociologist credited with carrying out significant sociological work to tackle racial inequality in the US. He believed knowledge about the issue was crucial in combatting racism and inequality. Thus, he conducted in-depth research studies on the lives of both Black and White people, especially in urban settings. His most famous study was focused on Philadelphia.

DuBois recognized the importance of religion in society, just like Durkheim and Weber did before him. Instead of researching religion on a big scale, he focused on small communities and the role of religion and the church in the lives of individuals.

DuBois was a great critic of Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinism. He argued that the current status quo must be challenged and Black people must gain the same rights as Whites in order to experience social and economic progress on a national level.

His ideas weren’t always welcomed by the state or even academia. Consequently, he got involved with activist groups instead and practiced sociology as a social reformer, just like the forgotten women of sociology did in the 19th century.

Founders of Sociology and Their Theories: 20th Century Developments

There were notable developments in the field of sociology in the 20th century as well. We will mention some remarkable sociologists lauded for their work in those decades.

Charles Horton Cooley

Charles Horton Cooley was interested in small-scale interactions of individuals. He believed that society can be understood through studying intimate relationships and small units of families, friend groups, and gangs. Cooley claimed that social values, beliefs, and ideals are shaped through face-to-face interactions within these small social groups.

Robert Merton

Robert Merton believed that macro- and micro-level social research can be combined in an attempt to understand society. He was also an advocate for combining theory and research in sociological study.

Pierre Bourdieu

French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, became especially popular in North America. He studied the role of capital in sustaining families from one generation to the next. By capital, he understood cultural and social assets as well.

Sociology Today

There are many new social issues - generated by technological development, globalization, and the changing world - that sociologists examine in the 21st century. Contemporary theorists build on the research of early sociologists in discussing concepts around drug addiction, divorce, new religious cults, social media, and climate change, just to mention a few ‘trending’ topics.

Fig. 3 - New Age practices, like crystals, are a topic of sociological research today.

A relatively new development within the discipline is that now it broadened beyond North America and Europe. Many cultural, ethnic, and intellectual backgrounds characterize today’s sociological canon. They are more likely to gain a more profound understanding of not just European and American culture but cultures all around the world.