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Essay / Sociology: Founders, Origins and Basic Sociological Concepts
Table of Contents Sample Sociology Assessment PaperGreat Founders Who Created Sociological FoundationsComparison of Basic Sociological Concepts ConclusionReferencesSample Sociology Assessment PaperSociology has developed over time to become a science for researching key aspects of social behavior. Sociology has gone from being a simple alternative way of thinking about industrial and French evolution to that of a science in its own right. It was first founded by Auguste Comte and later developed by other contributors, including Karl Marx, Emilie Durkheim and Max Weber. C. Wright Mills developed the “sociological imagination” which encompasses the idea of thinking and asking questions in order to understand sociological problems. This theory is used today to understand the difference between private and public issues. This essay will explore the origins of sociology and the founders who helped make it the science it is today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay The origins of sociology date back to 1660 with the beginnings of the Enlightenment - the Enlightenment being the new way of thinking that focused on reason which allowed the society to usher in a new era of development in the fields of art, philosophy and politics. “Sociology,” a term coined by one of the founders of sociology, Auguste Comte, is essentially the study of people in society (their structure, relationships, institutions, and behaviors). Auguste Comte is the founder of positivism, a system that focuses on empirical evidence to reach conclusions. Sociology became more prevalent in society with the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, as the founders of sociology attempted to understand how these changes occurred by studying people in society. Great founders who created the sociological foundation Karl Marx is one of the main founders of sociology and this is where the sociological theory of Marxism comes from. Marxists believe that the working class should unite in a revolution against the bourgeoisie to become the ruling class. The Marxist view has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, this lends itself to a more equal society in terms of access to education and healthcare as well as gender equality, but on the other hand, this equality of opportunity tends to be present in a communist society advocated by Karl Marx himself. The other thing to consider is that for all of Karl Marx's dreams of revolution and a ruling class made up of the proletariat, nothing of the sort has come to fruition so far and therefore suggests that Karl Marx's idea of 'such a revolution could indeed be a pipe dream. . Karl Marx is also responsible for the development of conflict theory which focuses on competition between groups for resources. “Conflict theory, first put forward by Karl Marx, is a theory that society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources.” Marx developed the theory to explain how the rich controlled the poor by controlling wealth and using wealth for power. A criticism of Marx's conflict theory is that it assumes that the employer and employee are in conflict when in reality the two can work together to benefit each other through schemes such as retirement. Marx used macro-sociology to arrive at his conclusions inobserving society on a larger scale, which although can be seen as an advantage in terms of obtaining information on a global basis, can also be seen as a disadvantage in that macro-sociology can neglect individuals who can sometimes lead to erroneous or uninformed conclusions for which Marx was sometimes criticized with employer-employee relations as the example above. Emilie Durkheim developed functionalism. Functionalism is the idea that everything and everyone in society plays a role in maintaining society and is all important. Durkheim was also the first to explain the theory of consensus. Consensus theory is the theory that members of a society work toward the same goal and that all members of the society can agree on how it is run, which is the opposite of the theory of Marx's conflicts. Instead of competing, consensus theory suggests that society benefits from getting along and working together. Since consensus theory highlights organizations in a positive way, one criticism of consensus theory is that it assumes that everyone within an organization will benefit and have a positive experience, which does not is not always the case. For example, someone may spend more time learning in school than someone else. other. Like Marx, Durkheim focused on macro-sociology. Macro-sociology focuses on things on a broader scale, which is consistent with Durkheim's approach, just as functionalism focuses on society as a whole. The downside, however, is that the individual gets lost in the reasoning for their actions. “Functionalism has been criticized for downplaying the role of individual action and for failing to account for social change.” Finally, Max Weber developed the theory of social action which, in short, is the theory that individuals perform meaningful acts. “Action was said to occur when individuals attached subjective meanings to their action.” Weber's theory suggests that it is the actions taken by individuals that determine their success and not their economic or social origin. This focus on the individual actions of individuals helps emphasize the complexity of human behavior instead of lumping them into broader categories like Marx and Durkheim. However, social action theory has been criticized for many reasons, including its failure to recognize within society and failure to see individual actions as something more passive than active. Weber uses microsociology to arrive at his conclusions by observing society on a smaller scale, which although can be seen as an advantage because it is essential for obtaining meaningful information, can also be seen as a disadvantage in that the microsociology cannot be applied to a broader view. concepts that can sometimes lead to oversights when considering "the big picture", for which Weber has sometimes been criticized, because although social action theory is known for using in-depth research methods, the The small scale of these methods may mean that they are unreliable when applied. to the big picture.Comparison of Fundamental Sociological Concepts When comparing these theories, a good example would be the contrast between Marx's conflict theory and Durkheim's consensus theory. The difference between these concepts is of course that while Durkheim emphasizes the importance of social unity, Marx suggests that people.,