Sociology And Development Of Sociology

Sociology is “the scientific study of human society and interactions” (A. Thio 1994). This is to say that sociology is studied using systematic procedures in order to study and understand the behaviour of humans. This is done to show the difference between common sense or regular knowledge and sociological knowledge. Compared to older disciplines such as psychology, economics and political science, sociology is relatively new. It was thought that sociology first emerged in the 18th century due to the French Revolution. Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, a French essayist, was the first to coin the term sociology (sociologie) in an unpublished manuscript in 1780. Around 50 years later, Auguste Comte, reconceptualised the term in the way that we understand

This revolution overthrew the French monarchy and started demands for democracy and decolonization and also brought about periods of political unrest as the revolution swept through Europe. It changed the structure of society by reducing social distinctions. Power shifted away from the church and into the hands of the people causing the clerical hierarchy to give up its rights and property. Civil marriage and divorce were brought about along with changes in education and religion. The political unrest brought about social upheaval and chaos, which in turn attracted social theorists and led to the development of sociology as a discipline. This is where the founding father of sociology, Auguste Comte, came to the forefront. Comte was attracted to the societal changes that came about due to this revolution and began to work on an area of study focusing on trying to restore social order in French society. This study, in a way, marked the beginning of

Summed up it brought about major shifts in technological, socioeconomic and cultural conditions. It began in Britain before spreading throughout the world. This revolution gave rise to factories and more specialized machinery. It also caused people in the rural areas to move to the cities as they were forced to look for work as their lands were taken over by landlords who were interested in them for intensive farming purposes. This resulted in overpopulation in the towns and cities which led to poor sanitation, poor health and as a result high death rates. It brought about the emergence of discussions on the individual’s right to life, the pursuit of happiness and liberty as well as new variations on the ideas of democracy and political rights. The exploitation of the lower classes by these new capitalists attracted the attention and focus of the famous sociologist Karl Marx whose work in this field had an enormous influence in the political arena. Early sociologists were thus captivated by the grave social problems (crime, pollution, deviance, prostitution and congestion) brought about by urbanization and industrialization and found themselves looking for scientific reasons and solutions for these problems. They viewed sociology as a scientific guide to