CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Question:-

1. How did the origins of British Sociology influence in the development of Sociological theory ?

2. Write an essay on Jeffrey Alexander's idea of neo- functionalism.

3. "The history f all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle". Discuss

SOCIAL FORCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Outline:

Political Revolution

The Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Capitalism

The Rise of Socialism

Feminism

Urbanization

Religious Change

The Growth of Science

An intellectual fields are profoundly shaped by their social settings. This is particularly true of sociology, which not only is derived from that setting as its subject matter. It was the utmost significance in 19th and early 20th centuries in the development of sociology.

POLITICAL REVOLUTION (FRENCH REVOLUTION)  

The French revolution in 1789 which carried over through the 19th century was the most immediate factor in the rise of sociological theorizing. The impact of this revolutions on many society was enormous and many positive changes resulted. However, what attracted the attentions of many early theorists was not the positive consequences but the negative effects of such changes, These writers were particularly disturbed especially in France. They were united in a desire to restore order to society. Some extreme thinkers and sophisticated thinkers wanted to return to the peaceful and relatively orderly days of the middle ages and recognized that social change had made such a return impossible. Thus they sought instead to find new bases of order in societies that had been overturned by the political revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. This interest in the issue of social order was one of the major concerns of classical sociological theories especially Comte, Durkheim and Parsons.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE RISE OF CAPITALISM

The industrial revolution mainly happened in the nineteenth  centuries. The industrial revolution was not a single event but many interrelated developments that culminated in the transformation of the western world from a largely agricultural to an overwhelmingly industrial system. Due to industrial revolution large number of people left the farms and agricultural land and work for the industrial occupations offered in the burgeoning factories. The factories themselves were transformed by a long series  of technological improvements. Large economic bureaucracies arose to provide the many services needed by industry and emerging capitalist economic system. In this economy, the ideal was a free marketplace where the many products of an industrial system could be exchanged. within this system, a few profited greatly while the majority worked long hours for low wages. A reaction against the industrial system and capitalism in general followed and led to the labour movement as well as to various radical movements aimed at overthrowing the capitalist system. The industrial revolution, capitalism and reaction against them all involved an enormous upheaval in western society, as upheaval that affected sociologists greatly. Four major figures in the early history of sociological theory Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and George Simmel were preoccupied.

THE RISE OF SOCIALISM

One set of changes aimed at coping with the excesses of the industrial system and capitalism can be combined under the heading "Socialism". Although some sociologists favored socialism as a solution to industrial problems, most were personally and intellectually opposed to it. On one side, Karl Marx was an active supporter of the overthrown of the capitalist system and its replacement by a socialist system. Marx did not develop a theory of socialism but he spent a great deal of time criticizing various aspects of capitalist society. In addition, he engaged in a variety of political activities that he hoped would help bring about the rise of socialist societies. Max Weber and Emile Durkheim were opposed to socialism- although they recognized the problems within capitalist society, They sought social reform within capitalism rather than the social revolution argued for by Marx. They feared socialism more than they did capitalism. This fear played a greater role in shaping sociological theory than did Marx's support of the socialist alternative to capitalism.

FEMINISM

In one sense there has always been a feminist perspective, wherever women are subordinated and they have been subordinated almost always and everywhere- they seem to have recognized and protested that situation in some form. While precursors can be traced to the 1630's high points of feminist activity and writing occurred in the liberationist  movements of modern western history- a first flurry of productivity in the 1780's and 1790's with the debates surrounding the American and French revolutions- a far more organised, focused effort in the 1850's as part of the mobilization against for women's suffrage (rights to vote in election) and for industrial and civic reform legislation in the progressive Era in the united states. All of this had an impact on the development of sociology, in particular on the work of a number of women in or associated with the field. Feminist concerns filtered into sociology only on the margins, in the work of marginal male theorists or of the increasingly marginalized female theorists- The men who assumed centrality (Critical role position in middle) in the profession from Spencer, through Weber and Durkheim made basically conservative responses to the feminist arguments going on around them, making issues of gender on inconsequential topic to which they responded conventionally rather than critically in what they identified and publicly promoted as sociology. They responded in this way even as women were writing a significant body of sociological theory. The history of this gender politics in the profession, which is also part of the history of male response to feminist claims, is only now being written.

URBANIZATION

Partly as a result of the industrial revolution, large members of people in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were uprooted from their rural homes and moved to urban settings. This massive migration was caused, in large part, by the jobs, created by the industrial system in the urban areas. But it presented many difficulties for those people who had to adjust to urban life. In addition, the expansion of the cities produced a seemingly endless list of urban problems, over crowding, pollution, noise, traffic and so fourth. The nature of urban life and its early sociologists, especially Max Weber and George Simmel. In fact, the first major school of American sociology, the Chicago school, was in large part defined by its concern for the city and its interest in using Chicago as a laboratory in which to study urbanization and its problems. 

RELIGIOUS CHANGE

Social changes brought on by political revolution the industrial revolution and urbanization had a profound effect on religiosity, many early sociologists came from religious backgrounds and were actively and in some cases professionally involved in religion. They brought to sociology the objectives they wished to improve people's lives, sociology was transformed into a religion. For others, their sociological theories bore an unmistakable religious imprint. Durkheim wrote one of his major works on religion, morality played a key role not only in Durkheim's sociology but also in the work of Talcott Parsons. A large portion of Weber's work also was devoted to the religions of the world. Marx too, had an interest in religiosity, but his orientation was for more critical.

THE GROWTH OF SCIENCE

As sociological theory was being developed there was an increasing emphasis on science, not only in colleges and universities but in society as a whole. The technological products of science were permeating (spread though) every sector of life, and science was acquiring enormous prestige. Those associated with the most successful sciences (Physics, biology, chemistry) were accorded honored places in society. Sociologists (Comte, Durkheim, Spencer and Mead) from the beginning were preoccupied with science, and many wanted to model sociology after the successful physical and biological sciences. However, a debate soon developed between those who wholeheartedly accepted the scientific model and those who thought that distinctive characteristics of social life made a wholesale adoption of a scientific model difficult and unwise. The issue of the relationship between sociology and science is debated to this day, although even a glace at the major journals in the field, at least in the united states, indicates the predominance of those who favor sociology as a science.

INTELLECTUAL FORCES AND THE RISE OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Outline:-

The Enlightenment

The Conservative Reaction to the Enlightenment

The Development of French Sociology

The Development of German Sociology

The Origin of British Sociology

The Development of Italian Sociology

The Enlightenment

The enlightenment constitute a critical development in terms of the later evolution of sociology. It was a period of remarkable intellectual development and change in philosophical thought. There were long standing ideas and belief related to social life seen in enlightenment period. The most prominent thinkers who were associated were Charles Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The Enlightenment sociological theory was mostly negative and indirect than the positive and direct.The above Enlightenment thinkers were associated with two intellectual currents.

• Seventeenth century philosophy
• Science

Seventeenth Century philosophy was associate with the work of thinkers who were on producing grand, general and very abstract systems of ideas that made rational sense. Later part thinkers derived their ideas from the real world and to test them; in other words they wanted to combine empirical research with reason.The Enlightenment was characterized by the belief that people could understand and control the universe by means of reason and empirical research.It was the reason that physical world was dominated by natural law, so to discover the social law.When the Enlightenment thinkers understood the social law in terms of practical goal, it was the 'better' and more 'rational' world. The enlightenment philosopher inclined to reject beliefs in traditional authority; and when thinkers examine the traditional values and institutions, they found them irrational.

The Conservative Reaction to the Enlightenment

The French sociology became rational, empirical, scientific and change-oriented by reaction to the  Enlightenment. " The ideology of the counter- Enlightenment represented a virtual reversal of Enlightenment liberalism. In place of Modernist premises, we can detect in the Enlightenment critics a strong anti-modernist sentiment". Sociology in general and French sociology in particular has the beginning been an uncomfortable mix of Enlightenment and counter Enlightenment ideas. The most extreme form of opposition to Enlightenment was French Catholic counterrevolutionary philosophy  as represent by the idea of Louis de Bonald and Joseph de Maistre. These two thinkers were reacting against the Enlightenment and French Revolution which were the product of Enlightenment.The Enlightenment Philosopher were seen as the inferior to traditional religious beliefs. They considered irrational social life and assigned them positive value and they regard such phenomena as tradition, imagination, emotionalism and religion as useful and necessary components of social life. In that they disliked distribution and sought to retain the existing order, they deplored developments such as the French Revolutions and the Industrial Revolution as the disruptive forces. Actually the conservative tended to emphasize social order which become the central themes of the work of several sociological theorists.

The Development of French Sociology

The actual founding of sociology as a distinctive discipline was the work of three French thinkers Claude Saint-Simon, Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim. The most interesting aspect of Saint-Simon was his significance to the development of both conservative and radical Marxian theory. On the conservative side, Saint-Simon wanted to preserve society as it was, and on the radical side Saint-Simon saw the need for socialist reforms, especially the centralized planning of the economic system. Many of Saint-Simon's ideas are found in Comte's work, but Comte developed them in a more systematic fashion.He was the first one to use the term Sociology and later enormous influence on later sociological theorists like Emile Durkheim and Herbert Spencer. According to Comte study of sociology should be scientific as many classical theorists and most contemporary sociologists do. Comte developed his 'positivism' or 'positive philosophy' through the negative and destructive philosophy of the Enlightenment and the Revolution. And too he developed social physics which later in 1839 he called sociology. He too discuss social statics and social dynamics; and his approach of evolutionary theory or the law of the three stages.Emile Durkheim had the number of positive effect on the Enlightenment, he looks at the best inheritor of the conservative tradition especially as it  was manifested in Comte's work. He developed an increasingly strong academic base as his career progressed. Durkheim legitimized sociology in France, and his work ultimately become a dominant force in the development of sociology in general and of sociological theory in particular.He too developed like Social facts as distinctive subject matter of sociology; and in The Rules of Sociological Method argues that it is the special task of sociology to study what he called social facts. And his theory of Suicide, Division of labour, religion in the work of his The elementary form of Religious life.

The Development of German Sociology 

As the French Sociology had the progression from the Enlightenment and the French Revolution to the conservative reaction and to the increasingly important sociological ideas of Saint-Simon, Comte and Durkheim German sociology was fragmented from the beginning. The German sociologist were Max Weber and George Simmel. Max influence sociology through his theory like Dialectical Materialism, Political Economy, Alienation, Bureaucracy, Power and Authority, theory of religion, surplus values, economic determinism, class struggle, Verstehen approach, ideal type and social action theory and also world religion and western capitalism. And George Simmel discuss formalistic, the metropolis and mental life, philosophy of Money and so on.

The Development of British Sociology

The development of sociology in France (Comte, Durkheim) and Germany (Marx, Weber and Simmel) and now the parallel development of sociology in England like Philip Abrams who discuss Political Economy, Ameliorism and Social Evolution. And Herbert Spencer another influential eminent person in the development of sociology in the England; he was influenced by Comte in terms of their development of sociological theory but there were some differences between them. He was the English father of sociology  and second father of sociology. He contributed to sociology as the evolutionary doctrine and the organic analogy.

The Development of Italian Sociology

The key figure of Italian sociology is Vilfredo Pareto; he was the influential but his contemporary relevance is minimal. There was a brief outburst of interest in Pareto's work in the 1930's, when the major American theorist, Talcott Parsons, devoted as much attention to him as he gave to Weber and Durkheim. But in recent year, except for a few of his major concepts, Pareto also has receded in importance and contemporary relevance. His major contribution to sociology are Methodology-logic-experimental method, the social system theory and the circulation of Elites.

FUNCTIONALISM AND NEO- FUNCTIONALISM: 

Talcott Parsons: Structural Functionalism

Robert K. Merton: Revision of Functional Analysis

Jeffrey Alexander: Neo- Functionalism.

Talcott parsons: Structural Functionalism

Introduction

Talcott parsons was born Dec 13 1902, Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S, died May 8 1979 (aged 79). He was an American Sociologist. He studied in Harvard University and London School of Economics. His doctoral students were Clifford Geertz, Robert K. Merton, Harold Garfinkel and others. He too influenced by Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Anthony Giddens. He too served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. Parsons contributed many sociological theory among them 'Action Theory' which based on the methodological principle of Voluntarism and the epistemological  principle of analytical realism. He was considered as a major structuralist functionalist scholar where he exhibits substantially on the term 'Functional' or Structural Functional' theory. And he developed the concept of 'Grand Theory'.

The Emergence of Functionalism

The early 19th century functionalism is the oldest and dominant conceptual perspective in sociology.The organicism of Comte and later that of Spencer and Durkheim clearly influenced the first functional anthropologists Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. Durkheim shaped the modern functional perspectives. Weber's emphasis on social taxonomies or ideal type which become the strategy of the 'social organism'. The early functional theorists often conceptualized social needs or requisites which were  mostly of Malinowski in which institutional arrangements meet one of various levels of needs or requisites- biological, structural and symbolic. Emile Durkheim and A.R.Radcliffe-Brown analyse social needs or requisite separately through causes and functions of  a socio-cultural items which later generate two related problems in the analysis 1) tautology (In logic, a tautology  is a formula that is true in every possible interpretation) 2) illegitimate teleology (A teleology is an account of a given thing's purpose). To say structural items, such as the division of labor, emerges because of the need for social integration is a teleological assertion for an end state is presumed to cause the event, which brings about this very end state.

When we look back the theoretical efforts of early functionalists, then the legacy of their work as follows-

1. The social world was viewed in systematic terms. (needs and requisites)
2. Despite their concern with evolution, thinkers tended to view systems with needs and requisites as having normal and pathological states.
3. System viewed as the social world was seen as composed of mutually interrelated parts- focused on requisites of systemic wholes, maintaining system normality or equilibrium.
4. Viewing typically interrelated parts in relation to the maintenance of a systemic whole, causal analysis frequently became vague, lapsing into tautology and illegitimate teleology.

The positive side of functional theorizing has stimulated attempts to expand upon old conceptual perspectives and to develop new perspectives as alternatives to what are perceived to be the inadequacies of functionalism. But for the present, let us concentrate on a detailed overview of contemporary functional theorizing.

Structural Functionalism

Robert Nisbet argued that structural functionalism was 'without any doubt, the single most significant body of theory in the social sciences in the present century' took the position that structural functionalism was, for all intents and purposes, synonymous with sociology. Alvin Gouldner too attacked largely western sociology through a critical analysis of the structural functional theories of Talcott Parsons. The structural functionalism was declined after the world war II and lost the significance of sociological theory but Even Wilbert Moore was associated him with this theory and argued that it had "become an embarrassment in contemporary theoretical sociology". And others two observed "thus, functionalism as an explanatory theory is, we feel, 'dead' and continued efforts to use functionalism as a theoretical explanation should be abandoned in favor of more promising theoretical perspectives". The later Nicholas Demerath and Richard Peterson took a more positive view, arguing  that structural functionalism is not a passing fad and they admitted that it is likely to evolve into another sociological theory.

In structural functionalism, the term structural and functional need not be used in conjunction, although they are typically conjoined. We could study the structures of society without being concerned with their functions for other structures. Similarly we could examine the functions of a variety of social processes that may not take a structural form. Still, the concern for both elements characterized structural functionalism. Although structural functionalism takes various forms societal functionalism is the dominant approach among sociological structural functionalism. The primary concern of societal functionalism is the large-  scale social structures and institutions of society, their interrelationships, and their constraining effects on actors.

Talcott Parsons' theory of Social Action

Social System

Parsons's conception of social system begins at the micro level with interaction between ego and alter ego, defined as the most elementary form of the social system. Parsons define a social system thus- A social system consists in a plurality of individual actors interacting with each other in a situation which has at least a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are motivated in terms of a tendency to the "optimization of gratification" and whole relation to their situations, including each other, is defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured and shared symbols.This definition seeks to define a social system in terms of many of the key concepts in Parsons's work- actors, interaction, environment. optimization of gratification, and culture.

This definition seeks to define a social system in terms of many of the key concepts in Parsons's work- actors, interaction, environment, optimization of gratification, and culture. Parsons in his study of social system does not take 'interaction' as his fundamental unit rather he used the 'status role'  complex as the basic unit of the system. This is neither an aspect of actors nor an aspect of interaction, but rather a structural component of the social system. Status refers to a structural position within the social system, and role is what the actor does in such position, seen in the context of its functional significance for the larger system. The actor not view in terms of thoughts and actions but instead as nothing more than a bundle of statues and roles.Parsons was interested in large-scale components of social systems as collectivities, norms and values. And in his social system; he is not only the structuralist but too functionalist.Thus he delineated number of the functional prerequisites of a social system.

1. Social system must be structured so that they operate compatibly with other systems.
2. To survive, the social system must have the requisite support from the other systems.
3. The system must meet a significant proportion of the needs of its actors.
4. The system must elicit adequate participation from its members.
5. It must have at least a minimum of control over potentially disruptive behavior.
6. If conflict becomes sufficiently disruptive, it must be controlled.
7. A social system requires a language in order to survive.

Parsons identifies four general analytic components of the 'unit act'

1. Agent or Actor- An act implies an agent who is able to exert a degree of voluntaristic (free will) control over events.
2. End or Goal- An act implies an end or goal, a state of affairs towards which the action is oriented.
3. Situation- It includes condition of action- trends and circumstances the actor cannot control and mean of action trends and circumstances the actor can control.
4. Normative- Finally action implies a normative component.

Parsons identifies four general functional requirements, four functions that must be accomplished for a system to survive as a system.

1. Adaptation- Refers to obtaining disposable goods and facilities from the environment to be allocated among tasks.
2. Goal attainment- Refers to allocating goods and facilities among competing goals within a system so that specific goals can be achieved.
3. Integration- Refers to coordinating inputs and outputs among various subsystem, each with its own specific goals.
4. Latency (Pattern maintenance)- A system must furnish, maintain, and renew both the motivation of individuals and the cultural pattern that create and sustain the motivation.

More on AGIL Model

Functional System Problems – AGIL (P) 

According to Parsons, social systems have needs.  In order to survive and continue, each social system or subsystem has four characteristics that must be met.  These are functional needs of the system, “a complex of activities directed towards meeting a need or needs of the system.” (Ritzer, p. 240).  The first two are necessary for survival and continued operation (instrumental or production and reproduction), with the last two being a means of regulation of the social system (consummatory or completion).   The functions can also be classified by whether they refer entirely to social action within the system (internal) or whether they refer to how social action in any system deals with external conditions (external).  In the handout, the sector of society that is most closely indentified with each function is also given.  While the sectors overlap with more than one AGIL function for each sector, this is an ideal type way of sorting through some of the functions and sectors of a social system.   These functional needs can be remembered by the acronym AGIL, and these functions are a set of ideal types.

a. Adaptation (A).   Each system exists in an environment, and must be able to adapt to this environment.  In the process of adaptation, the environment is also affected and may become oriented or  adapted to the society.  This is the mobilization of resources so that the system can survive and that things can be done to meet goals of the system.  In the family or household, adaptation could include obtaining economic resources – earning an income to support the family.  For larger social systems, the economy that produces the goods and services for members of a society allows the society as a system to survive, grow, change, and develop.  The major institutions in the economic sphere, agriculture, industry, and services provided through the market are the means by which adaptation takes place.  These serve the function of allowing the system to survive and provide the goods and services required for society to operate.  In economic analysis, there are  equilibrating mechanisms within the economy that tend toward producing an orderly outcome.  The market mechanism itself can be regarded as a system that has tendencies in the direction of stable equilibria.  Some of the government institutions relating to the economy also help serve this function (infrastructure, defense).   Note also how the economy as a system modifies the natural environment.

b. Goal Attainment (G).  Each system has certain purposes associated with it.  The goals of the system must be defined, means of attempting to achieve these goals must be laid out, and then these goals must be achieved.  Within the social system, the polity (political sphere and government) is an important aspect of this, setting and altering the goals for the society as a whole, and “mobilizing actors and resources to that end” (Ritzer, p. 246).  The state bureaucracy and other organizations – business and nonprofit – all help to implement and achieve these goals.  Smaller scale institutions also have goals, for example, the University of Regina as a system has the goal of teaching, research, and community service.  Within a family or individual system, there will also be goals, although these may not be so clearly spelled out as in formal organizations.  Each organization, as a subsystem, has certain goals, and within this there will be positions with roles to play in helping the organization achieve these goals.  Within a business, there will be marketing, production, finance, etc. positions that each have specific roles within the context of attempting to make profits for the business and help the business expand.  Within the family, husband and wife, parents and children are each statuses with roles for meeting family goals.

c. Integration (I).   This is the means by which social relationships, and interrelationships among units or groups, are regulated.  One aspect of these is the rules and procedures associated with an institution, organization, or system.  “By integration Parsons means the need to coordinate, adjust, and regulate relationships among various actors or units within the system … in order to keep the system functioning” (Wallace and Wolf, pp. 39-40). 

As various social process functions occur, strains, tensions and conflicts may emerge.  These are a result of the way that individuals relate to each other, and as different units carry out their tasks and roles that need to be done in a system.  At the level of society as a whole, there are a variety of institutions and ways that these functions are performed.  Socialization is a major function with respect to the raising of children, and also with respect to the ongoing socialization that occurs through over the life span.  Religion, education, the media, the legal structures – police and courts – all play a role.  Ritzer refers to these as societal community.  Any institutions that help disseminate the shared culture, and reinforce “that culture through ritual celebrations of its values” (Cuff, p. 45) help in this.  Sporting events could be seen in this light – anthems, rules of the game, common allegiances, etc.   Where strains are great, there may be a need for social control, formal and informal sanctions, or discipline so that the system can enforce social order.  In general though, Parsons argued that systems develop automatic means of integration, along with roles and organizations to assist integration.  Within subsystems, there is a set of roles that do this, although these may not always be specialized.  For example, in educational institutions, teachers carry out the roles of adaptation, goal attainment, and integration as part of their activities.   Norms are also important in providing guidance, along with social approval and disapproval, which tend towards enforcement of the norms. 

d. Latency (L) or pattern maintenance (P).   This is the function of pattern maintenance and Parsons also refers to this as the cultural-motivational system (Parsons, 1967, p. 261).  These are referred to as latent because they may not always be as apparent as the A, G, or I functions.  These involve means of managing these tensions and diffusing and resolving conflicts, so that there are orderly means of carrying on activities. For Parsons, “All institutionalization involves common moral as well as other values.  Collectivity obligations are, therefore, an aspect of every institutionalized role.  But in certain contexts of orientation-choice, these obligations may be latent ... .” (Parsons, 1951,  p. 99).  Even though these exist they may not be readily apparent and thus are latent.  The test of their nature would be to determine the actors reaction in a specific situation. 

The organizations and roles that perform latent functions can be regarded as those that “furnish, maintain, and renew both the motivation of individuals and the cultural patterns that create and sustain this motivation” (Ritzer, p. 242).  Parsons refers to these as fiduciary, that is, founded on trust.  At the level of the social system, these are schools, educational institutions, and the major institution that is concerned with the latent function is kinship and family or other forms of personal relationships.  Within this, leisure, affection, love, sex, and friendship, can all play an important function.  People provide comfort, consolation and relief to each other, thus reducing tension or keeping it within manageable limits.  For Parsons, the role of women was key here, as will be seen when discussing his view about proper family structures and functioning.  Within organizations, there may be few latent functions that are an explicit part of the organization, but people within any organization tend to develop these, or come to the organization with these functions developed. 

For Parsons, the AGIL functions exist at all levels of society and in each subsystem.  These may not be consciously worked out functions, and roles and functions can be shared among organizations or individuals.  In traditional societies, most of these functions would have been centred in family and kinship structures, and in local communities.  In the traditional society, there may have been little differentiation in functions, although culture and the integration function often came to be associated with religion.  As societies have developed, these functions tend to evolve and differentiate themselves, with different institutions emerging to undertake different functions; within organizations, as they develop, there is a differentiation of functions, so that organizations become more bureaucratic, with different departments, branches, and programs developing responsibilities for separate functions – finance, human resources, marketing, service, production.  Specialized functions and roles develop, and specialized institutions to carry these out also evolve, and it is best to have specialized roles and specialized institutions to carry out the functions of a modern, complex society.  These may develop in an evolutionary fashion, without any conscious consideration, much like Durkheim's “natural” development of the division of labour.  Or, as in bureaucracies, they may be consciously worked out organizational structures. 

Parsons designed the AGIL model to be used at all levels in his theoretical system. In the discussion below on the the FOUR ACTION SYSTEMS.

1. The Behavioural Organism-is the action system that handles the adaptation function by adjusting to and transforming the external world.
2. The Personality System- performs the goal attainment function by defining system and mobilizing resources to attain them.
3. The Social System- copes with the integration function by controlling its component parts.
4. The Cultural system- performs the latency function by providing actors with the norms and values that motivates them for action.

Parsons' problem of order in structural functionalism has following set of assumptions.

• Systems have the property of order and interdependence of parts.
• Systems tend toward self-maintaining order, or equilibrium
• The system may be static or involved in an ordered process of change.
• The nature of one part of the system has an impact on the form that the other parts can take.
• System maintain boundaries with their environments.
• Allocation and integration are two fundamental processes necessary for a given state of equilibrium of a system.
• Systems tend toward self- maintenance involving the maintenance of boundaries and of the relationships of parts to the whole, control of environmental variations and control of tendencies to change the system from within.

Pattern Variables of Parsons'

Pattern Variables are five dichotomies, developed by Talcott Parsons, to draw out the contrasting values to which individuals orient themselves in social interaction. One side of the dichotomies reflect the values pattern dominant in traditional society (Gemeinschaft) the other reflects the dominant values of modern society (Gesellschaft)

1. Affective Versus Affective Neutrality- concern 

INDIAN SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Sociology in India: Past and Present, Indological/ Textual Perspective: G.S Ghurye; Louis Dumont, Structural- Functional Perspective: M.N Srinivas; S.C Dube, Marxist Perspective: D.P Mukherji; A.R Desai, Cultural and Civilisational perspective: Yogendra Singh; N.K Bose, Subaltern Perspective: B.R Ambedkar; Ranajit Guha

Question:-
1. Describe the development of Indian Sociology from Pre-independence to Post- independence period
2. Critically examine the state of Sociological Research in India today. Mention some possible measures that could aid in improving the condition ?
3. Explain the term Indology with specific reference to Indic and Oriental studies.
4. Elaborate Ghurye's structural features of Caste System

5. According to Louis Dumont, "Hierarchy is in direct opposition to Power", Illustrate the validity of the above statement.

Development of Sociology in India

In India, the development of Sociology is seen from the view point of historical and contemporary based on scholars' ideas and contributions. The Indian Sociological perspective look at historical background of the growth of Sociology and identify the emerging trends in the development of several specialties and sub-specialties within the discipline. It too looks for the teaching programmes on various discipline both in BA and MA level. The development of Sociology in India with focus on certain aspects like

• Sociology in Pre-independence India
• Sociology in Post-independence India -Development in the seventies -Perspective in the Eighties -Imperatives in the Nineties
• Sociology Research in India

The origin of Sociology and Social Anthropology in India was the days when the British officials realized the need to understand the native society and its culture in the interest of smooth administration. The Sociology and Social Anthropology came to exist for academician as discipline in university late twentieth. The popularity which enjoy today and their professionalization is a post independence phenomena.

Development of sociology and social anthropology are cognate disciplines and are in fact indissoluble. And this two discipline remain together and functioned both in European continent as well as in the United states. Indian sociologists and anthropologists have and made an attempt to integrate sociology and anthropology in research, teaching and recruitment. They have made a prominent contribution to the development of indigenous studies of indian society. Another significant contribution of indian sociology lies in their endeavour to synthesize the text and the context which provided valuable insights into the dialectic of continuity and change to contemporary indian sociology.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Technological society and the need for a humanistic technology, Characteristics of a technological society, The malaise of contemporary technology, Features of an alternative humanistic technology.

Introduction

The term post industrial society was coined by Daniel Bell in 1978 in the American Review Called An Intellectual Technology to describe the future state of society. He said, "It was a speculative construct against which the Sociological reality could be measured decades hence."

He used this term post industrial society for two reasons.

1. To emphasize transitory nature of these changes.
2. To underline the central role of an intellectual technology.

Industrial revolution relied on machine power, whereas knowledge would be main feature of the post industrial society.

Characteristics of the Post industrial Society

1. Explosion of knowledge (information revolution and knowledge explosion): Information revolution consists of tremendous technological advances in human capabilities to decode, record, reproduce and disseminate information. Use of audio-visual and computerized information and processing networks for storage, reorganization and distribution of computers using qualified information in form of bits. Information becoming a commodity and new basic resources over other natural resources of energy and materials.
2. Growth of Science based industries: Science has become the theoretical basis for technology as there has been growth in science based industries like the computer industry. No more is science based on trial and error method but perfection, thus indicating advancement in intellectual premises for technology of the future.
3. Rise of the Knowledge Class: In industries society blue collar and semi skilled labour predominate. However according to Bell a new breed of technical and professional class will be the single largest group in the post industrial society, replacing the agricultural majority in India.
4. Changing form of science: Unlike its Greek beginnings, science no longer is only an end in itself nor an activity carried. Instead it has become a means to achieve goals like getting a degree, job and improving one's status. Science today operated at governmental level and has become a dominant factor in shaping the social ethos.
5. Resurgence of the family unit: Industrial revolution separated workplace from home and led to the fragmentation in the family unit. Whereas the post industrial society would witness revival in the family structure, without authoritarianism but having more of consultative nature. Decrease in working  hours and increase in the leisure hours have helped employees in building their personal lives, thus having a direct and positive impact on family relationships.
6. Movement towards higher forms of consciousness: There has been growing awareness in many fields of thought. The French geologist and theologian, Teilhard de Chardino applied the theory of evolution of human species to the evolution of the human mind, speaking of the 'Omega Point' being the culmination of the evolutionary process of humanity.Sir Aurobindo spoke of the 'Divine Reality' passing through matter and consciousness- example 'super mind'. Thus the rise of this 'Consciousness age' is manifested in the resurgence of interest in Eastern mysticism and in Yoga.
7. Service Economy: In post industrial society, agriculture and manufacturing don't absorb a majority of the work force. Instead majority of the population is engaged in services related to health, education, research and government. However other business services like banking, transport communication and utilities will exist.
8. Technological Planning: In  modern society use of technology is often harmful, eg DDT has affected crops, birds and wildlife. Nuclear plants create nuclear waste and accident risk. But the post industrial societies have technology assessment by government and people to prevent harmful side effects of technological advances.

Therefore the post industrial society is a combination of various dimensions or features. Daniel Bell has described the new social structure evolving in the industrially advanced societies particularly in the USA in the second half of the 20th century.

Malaise of Contemporary Technology

Introduction

The industrial revolution of the 17th century was one of the most significant events in the history of human civilisation having its impact an economy, trade and education and also affecting the socio-cultural ethos of the people. The same revolution led to the development of technology and the careless use of which has caused a lost of problems to the human society as well as nature. The malaise of contemporary technology seeks to find how technology has proved detrimental to the people in the society.

Harmful effects on the environment

1. Environment degradation: Technology has been misused by human beings with a callous in differences to the environment. The irretrievable natural resources are depleted to an alarming extent posing a threat of energy crisis in the future.
2. Effects of Nuclear Energy: Uranium used in nuclear reactions is short in supply and inadequate to meet the world's power requirements. The reactors are useful for producing plutonium, the vital ingredient in producing atom bombs. The most frightening is the danger of even minute doses of nuclear radiations which has adverse effects on biological system even in the next generation.
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SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

Introduction to Religion, Religion Groups, Religion and Society, Religious movements and Religion and social change

Introduction 

The definition of religion:General and sociological (substantive, functional and symbolic definitions), Nature and Scope, Sociological Perspective of Religion, Sociological methods of Studying Religion, Functions of Religion, Distinction between Religion and Magic, Importance of the Study.

Introduction

Religion is one the major social institution. Religion plays a very vital role in personal as well as social life. It has close with other social institution. There are some unique functions of the religion as social institution. They are like-

• Religion gives meaning of death
• Religion answers the meaning of life
• Religion gives answers for the unknown forces in the world
• Solve many social, psychological and injustice of the society 
• Religion is the medium of all joys and sorrow with the certain things

World Religion

They are number of world Religion 

1. Christianity (Christians)
2. Judaism (Jews)
3. Islam (Muslim)
4. Hinduism (Hindus)
5. Buddhism (Buddhists)
6. Jainism (Jain)
7. Confucianism (Confucians)
8. Taoism (Taoists)
9. Shinto (Shintoists)
10. Sikhism (Sikhs)
11. Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrians) 

Definitions of Religion

a) General Definition

     Religion is a belief in one or many gods, or in supernatural beings. The best definition is "the religion is man's attempt to achieve the highest possible good by adjusting his life to the strongest and best power in the universe." This power is usually called God.

b) Sociological Definition

1. Substantive: By Edward B. Tylor, "Belief is spiritual beings". And by Emile Durkheim "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden. Beliefs and practices which unite into a single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them".
2. Functional: By Milton Yinger who defines "Religion can be  a system of beliefs and practices, by means of which a group of people suggests the ultimate problems of human life.
3. Symbolic: By Cliford Geertz who defines "religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long lasting moods and motivations in people." By formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing factual that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."

Nature and Scope of Sociology of Religion

a) Nature

  Sociology of Religion is a science- The sociology of Religion will be called science when it is adapt the exact definition, characteristics and methods which the pure sciences uses in daily life. As we see in the science which is a systematic body of knowledge dealing with cause and effect relationship of natural phenomena and sociology deals with the social phenomena. And the science uses several characteristics which too sociology has like quantifiable, universal, predictable, verifiable, empirical, ethically neutral. However, the science too have some methods which also found in sociology in the study like problem formulation, identifying variables, framing hypothesis/hypotheses, data collection, analysis and interpretation and report writing.

b) Scope

  The Sociology of Religion has both Micro and Macro level scope which is very much relevant in the understanding of Religion in study of sociology. The Micro is an wide scope which provide many information about religion. It is to understand thoroughly and have in depth knowledge on religion as a social institution and the Macro is an interconnected web which has deep relationship with other social institutions. It is the study of sociology of religion which provide wide and has its relationship with other social institutions.

Sociological Perspective of Religion

It is nothing but the scientific perspective which focuses on the social dimension of religion and on those aspects  of religion affecting social behaviour. The sociological perspective is characterized by two fundamental principles.

• Reliance on the empirical data
• Objectivity 

Religion as Moods

Religion as a system create different moods

• Powerful moods and motivation
• Pervasive which reaches out to life
• Long lasting moods

Sociological methods of Studying Religion

1. Historical analysis
2. Cross cultural comparative analysis
3. Controlled experimentation 
4. Observational studies
5. Sample Survey
6. Content Analysis

Function of Religion

They are two function in religion

• individual function
• societal function
• meaning function
• identity function
• basic for collective identity
• enhances social stability by sacralizing the norms and values of the society
• influences the social values and morality
• acts as an agent of social change

Religion and Magic

Magic is a set of meaningless rites, based on the manipulation of the impersonal transcendent power, which occur only at critical times in order to exploit the situation, where a magician acts like a leader and whose behaviour considered to be unethical in nature and doesn't allow others to understand him and aims only for personal benefits.

Difference between Religion and Magic

1. Presence of group consciousness
2. Moral ethos or ethics
3. Nature of the rites
4. Frequency of the rites
5. Targeted functions
6. Level of participation
7. Reason or purpose to worship

Importance of sociology of religion

• It undertakes scientific studies of the religious behaviour of the people.
• It distinguishes the religious from the cultural phenomenon
• Critically analyses the existing beliefs and practices
• Gives new knowledge about the religious behaviour
• It gives better understandings of various religious and their actual role in the society
• It gives clarity of religion
• Gives better understanding of religions as a social institution.
• Helps in social control among the various religious groups
• Helps to differentiate between the sacred and the profane
• Helps in policy decisions
• Clarifies the mind and purifies the soul
• Solves many social problems

Conclusion 

Sociology of religion is the understanding of the sociological perspective of religions is vital to every sociology student. It becomes clear to know the social functions of various religious. One gets a critical outlook on the functions and problems of religions. In a secular society like India which we understand the relationship of religion with other social institutions.

RELIGIOUS GROUPS

Meaning of Religious Groups, Characteristics, Social Process in the evolution of religious (charismatic) groups, Elements of religious groups, Relevance and importance of religious groups

Introduction

No religion is born as religion rather as religious groups. Religion is born as sect one's upon a time and it slowly moved to become sect usually it doesn't remain as statics its always changes and become larger and larger and it reaches to denomination. And the denomination slowly go on increasing and become or reaches the final stage which we all called as 'Religion'.

Meaning of Religious Groups

Sect- A sect is a voluntary society, composed of strict and definite believers bound to each other by the fact that all have experiences the new birth.

Denomination- A denomination is a type of religious group which represents a midpoint in the continuous between sects and religion.

Religion/church- A church is an institution which has been endowed with grace and salvation as the result of the work of redemption. Religion is able to receive the masses and to adjust itself to the world.

Although Troeltsch had suggested a process of movement from sect to church or religion, it was Niebubr who elaborated the point and described the forces causing the change. He developed the sociological use of the term 'denomination'. According to Niebubr, the process takes the following

sect  ....... denomination.......church or religion

Cult

The sociologists use the term 'cult' in three distinct ways. They are 

1. A cult is a small religious group which has a highly committed membership, lacks a bureaucratic structure, is led by a charismatic leader, and holds some esoteric and occult ideas.
2. A cult is seen as an urban, non exclusive, loosely associated group of people who hold some esoteric beliefs. They are kindred spirits who have some common views relative to one particular aspect of reality, but such person may also belong to other more conventional, church groups. The presence of a charismatic leader is common.
3. A cult is a beginning phase of an entirely new religion. The group may be loosely structured or it may demand tremendous commitment, but it must provide a radical break from existing religious traditions.

Characteristics/ differences between sects and church or religion

1. Membership: In sects the membership is volitional (voluntary) and the membership is emphasis on adult convention are commitment. Where as religion is largely on the basis of birth which emphasis on religious education of children.
2. Policy: In sect the member become exclusive to one particular groups, in which individual doesn't belong to any other groups. Whereas in religion the member are inclusive may coincide within national citizenship or geographic boundaries.
3. Attitude towards others: In sect the attitude is particularism  where judgement passed towards those who don't accept the one true path, self image that of the faithful remnant or the select. But the religion is universal which accepted by diversity of people and emphasis on the brotherhood and sisterhood of all humanity.
4. Nature of Group: In sect the member are seen as very small faithful group. Whereas religion is large, bureaucratic organisations.
5. Salvation: In sect the salvation achieved through moral purity including ethical austerity or asceticism.Whereas in religion salvation granted by the sacraments where God as administered by church. Here sacraments and church seen as hierarchical.
6. Priesthood: In sect, priesthood of all believers, clergy emphasized or non existent and lay participation seen very high. Whereas in religion leadership is control by highly trained professional clergy,
7. Attitude towards secular society: In sect, hostile or indifferent to secular society and to the state.Whereas religion tendency to adjust to compromise with, and support exiting social values and social structures.
8. Theology: In sect the member follow fundamentalistic theology only the original revelation is an authentic expression of the faith. Where as in religion, they follow Bither Orthodox or modernist theology formulations and interpretation of the faith in later periods of history are legitimate in their own rights.
9. Types of followers: In sect, predominantly a group of lower class persons or those otherwise socially disenfranchised (worldly prestige is eschewed and spiritual or charismatic qualities been the basis of internal stratification. Where as religion membership comprise of upper and middle class people, but with professional classes controlling most leadership positions (stratification of the society is reflected within the church)
10. Worship: In sect, the worship is informal and spontaneous where as in religion the worship is formal and orderly followed.
11. Social ethics: In sect the social ethics is radical emphasizing the quality of all persons and the necessity of economic equality where as in religion the social ethics is conservative justifying the current socio-economic relationships.  

Elements of Religious Groups/Nature of Religious Groups/Elements in the analysis of Religious Groups

Theology

The comprehensive point of view theology means study of God, which means God in every aspect. Theology is a system consists of various aspect of God. Theology are different from one religion to another, there are three types of theology.

1. Reversionism
2. Orthodoxy
3. Modernism 

Reversionism: Reversionism is doctrine which stresses on the purity of the original tradition and attempts to preserve the tradition. This may also involve a literal interpretation of scripture (fundamentalism). It involves a concerted effort  to avoid contemporary modification of the world view and to revert to the original formation of the faith.

Orthodoxy: Orthodoxy is an approach which assess the truth of any contemporary doctrine in terms of its conformity to earlier doctrine, but not limited to the original formulation.

Modernism: Revelations from an earlier era are treated as important but the emphasis is on what God is saying to contemporary culture. Since earlier revelations were received in an age when many of the laws of science were not yet discovered, the world-view of that earlier groups is thought to contain less than the whole truth.This theological approach is referred to as liberalism or modernism.

Ritual

Belief and practices go hand in hand. They are two types of ritual.

1. Simple/High church
2. Dionysian/Apollonian

Simple church is characterised by a simple liturgy, a causal, unpretentious atmosphere and a lack of elaborate artwork, architecture or musical productions. High church is characterized by the ritual as the primary appeal.

Apollonian orientation stresses logical understanding. The deity is believed to communicate with persons through their minds, humans are conceived largely as rational beings. Apollonian worship tends to be cerebral, reserved and sober. Dionysian liturgy, on the other hand is based on the promise that the deity speaks to humanity primarily through emotions.

Organization

Arrangement of institution or people as a religion group or sect.

1. Ecclesiastical
2. Sectarian

Ecclesiastical has complexity of structure which is highly institutionalized, Clergy are formally trained and membership policy to ecclesiastical is restrictive.

Sectarian has complexity of structure which is small in member/group, Clergy who doesn't have anything of their which they can recite by themselves of ritual and membership policy of sectarian is open to all.

Relation with Secular society

1. Withdrawal - when people have the attitude of indifferent, for their selfish sake, can withdraw.
2. Transformation - it is the stole of modifying or transforming or changing.
3. Acceptance - it is the attitude of adjusting oneself or accepting oneself.

Realm

1. This worldly: It is the belief of heaven and earth on this world everything is available. We don't have to search anywhere which sectorian believe in.
2. Other worldly: It is the religion who believe in other worldly realm.

Piety

Piety is a element which express attachment to God or goddess. There are two types of Piety.

1. Being Piety (Passive): They always being piety by individual and themselves without doing good work to the humanity rather for their own self like meditation, prayer and mass. It also called mystic piety, pays much less attention to human effort and much more to human experience and to an individuals character.
2. Doing Piety (Active): In the name of God doing piety work to the humanity through which people benefit like serving in the hospital to the sick people. It implies that individuals are to participate in creating their own salvation and establishing the kingdom of God.

Scope of the World View

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz has suggested that religion may be studies in terms of the 'scope' of its impact on adherents  for some persons, religion is one of many concerns in life, blocked off into a separate sphere having little to do with economic behavior, political opinions, religion is a private affair which may be of profound importance to the life of an individual. However, the individual insists that it is one's responsibility as a citizen to 'render to Caesar that which is Caesar's. Clergy are not expected to mingle with politics and religion is believed to have little or nothing to do with business transaction. Such a person views reality through 'multiple , narrow range vectors'. Life is seen as many separate and distinct realms.

On the other hand, religion people consider the lens through which all other institutions one to be understood. In this case, religious norms, attitudes and motivations are expected to affect all of life. Such a world view is described as "Unitary wide range vector".

Social Process of a Charismatic Group

It is a long process which starts from the any of the religious group by protests. And this protest is led by leader who has charisma and people follow the leader as his tells to do. In the process of leading the folk of people by the charismatic leader; he starts to gather people of his believer and create one kind of sects which latter becomes denomination and then religion, if the leader is of true kind.

Meaning of Charisma

It is a special and extraordinary quality in a person whose everyone listen and follow according to his words. For example Mother Theresa  had a charisma to mobilize people and serve the poor and downtrodden people as his own child or her people.

Definition of Charisma

Charisma can be define as certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he/she is set a part from ordinary people and treated as super being. He or she endowed with super natural grace and quality which said to be called as super human at least specifically with an exceptional quality. They are such who are not accessible to the ordinary people but regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary and on the basis of the inner quality, the individual consent treated as a leader.

Charismatic leader (Cult) /Characteristics of Cult or Charismatic leader

1. Power to mobilize the followers
2. Create a sense of mission in the followers
3. Acts as anti establishments
4. Having revolutionary tendency
5. He is different from ordinary people

Stages of Religious Group

1. Steady state
2. Period of increased stress
3. Period of cultural distortions
4. Period of revitalization: a)  reformulation of the world view b) communication of the world view c)  emergence of an organisation d)  adaptation and modification of the world view          e)  cultural transformation f) routinazation
5. New steady state

Religion and Society

Introduction

No religion is born as religion rather as a religious group in different period of time, then they institutionalized. The religion is born as a sect, then slowly it moved into larger group of people and become a denomination. And this small denomination increase more and more and at the end they form religion. When it become religion it is the prior duty of the reader to form some bundle of rules and regulation which make them united and they live in unity and freedom. The institution of religion is a long process. It starts from the beginning, the initial stage the leader cult/sect.

Meaning of Institution

An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behaviour of  a sect of individuals within a given community. May it be human or a specific animal one. Institutions are identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intuitions by mediating the rules that govern co-operative living behavior.

The term 'institution' is commonly applied to customs and behavior patterns important to a society, as well as to particular formal organisation of government and public services. As structures and mechanisms of social order among certain species, institutions are one of the principal objects of study in the social sciences. Institutions are also a central concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule making and enforcement.

Meaning of Institutionalization of Religion

It is a process in which the religion is an organised collection of beliefs, cultural systems and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence. Many religion have narratives, symbols and sacred histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and or explain the origin of life or the universe from their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle.

Sect: A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical beliefs system, usually an offshoot of a larger religious group. Although is past it was mostly used to refers to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refers to any organisation that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more negative path than the original.

Denomination: A religious denomination is a sub group within a religious that operates under a common name, tradition and identity. Example the term describes various christian denominations like- Eastern orthodox, Anglicanism, Protestantism, Judaism- orthodox, conservative, reform and reconstruction, Islam sunni and shia  and the Hinduism has the shaivism, shaktism, vaishnavism, smartism are the some denomination.

Religion: Religion is a belief in one or many gods or in supernatural beings, The best definitions in 'religion is man's attempt to achieve the highest possible good by adjusting his life to the strongest and best power in the universe. This power is usually called God.

Importance

The institutionalization a process in which the grass root cult begin to grow by a charismatic leader which takes form slowly and gradually denomination. And then the denomination again increases in size and followers begin to accept more and more and the denomination begin to regulate through different rules and regulation which make in written form as scripture. It is the long process in which the religious faith get institutionalization.

conclusion

Faith and beliefs are the prime factor in religious persons. It forms not in a day rather get institutionalize day by day. Followers folk towards the religious denomination and at the end the denomination become the complete religion.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRENCH SOCIOLOGY 1789

The actual founding of  Sociology as a distinctive discipline- specifically, to the work of four French thinkers 

• Alexis De Tocqueville
• Claude Saint-Simon
• Auguste Comte
• Emile Durkheim

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 1805-1859

He and his work were such pure products of the enlightenment ( he was strongly and directly influenced by Montensquieu) especially his "the spirit of the laws" and because his work was not part of the clear line of development in French social theory from Saint Simon and Comte to the crucially important Durkheim. Tocqueville has been seen as a political scientist, not a sociological and furthermore many have not perceived the existence of a social theory in his work, but it is one that deserves a much more significant place in the history of social theory not only in France but in the rest of the world like American democracy and French revolution.

C LAUDE SAINT-SIMON 1760-1825

Saint-Simon was older than Auguste Comte and in fact Comte, in his early years, served as Saint-simon's secretary and disciple. There is a very strong similarity between the ideas of these two thinkers, yet a bitter debate developed between them that led to their eventual split.

The most interesting aspect of Saint-Simon was his significance to the development of both conservative and radical Marxian theory. On the conservative side, Saint-Simon wanted to preserve society as it was, but did not seek a return to life as it had been in the middle ages- as did Bonald and Maistre. In addition, he was a positivist, which meant that he believed that the study of social phenomena should employ the same scientific techniques that were used in the natural sciences.

On the radical side, saint-simon saw the med for sociologist reforms, especially the centralized planning of the economic system. But saint-simon didn't go  nearly as far as Marx did later. Although he like Marx, saw the capitalists superseding (replace something less efficient) the feudal nobility, he felt it inconceivable that the working class would come to replace the capitalist, many of saint- simon ideas are found in comte's work, but comte developed them in a more systematic fashion.

AUGUSTE COMTE 1798-1857

Comte was the first to use the term sociology. He had influence on later sociological theorists especially Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim. He believe that the study of sociology should be scientific, just as many classical theorists did and most contemporary sociologists do.

Comte was disturbed by anarchy and thinkers who had spawned both the enlightenment and the French revolution. He developed "Positivism" or "Positive philosophy" to combat what he considered to be the negative and destructive philosophy of the enlightenment. Comte was influenced by the French counterrevolutionary Catholics especially Bonald adn Maintre. However, his work can be apart from theirs on at least two grounds-

• he didn't think it possible to return to the middle ages- advances in science and industry made that impossible
• he developed sophisticated theories than his predecessors

Comte developed "social physics" or what in 1839 he called 'sociology'. This new science ultimately become the dominant science, was to be concerned with both social statics and social dynamics. Although both involved the search for laws of social life, he felt that social dynamics was more important than social statics.This focus on change reflected his interest in social reform, particularly reform of the ills created by the French revolution and enlightenment. Comte didn't urge revolutionary change because he felt the natural evolution of society would make things better. Reforms were needed only to assist the process a bit. This leads us to the cornerstone of Comte's approach- his evolutionary theory, or the law of the three stages, The theory proposes three intellectual stages through which the would has gone throughout its history. According to Comte, not only the world go through this process but groups, societies, sciences, individuals and even mind.

1. The theological is characterized the world prior to 1300. During these period major idea system emphasized the belief in supernatural power and religious figures modeled after humankind, are at the root of everything. The social and physical world is seen as produced by God.
2. The metaphysical stage which occurred roughly between 1300 and 1800. This era was characterized by the belief that abstract forces like 'nature' rather than personalized gods explain virtually everything.
3. The positivistic stage which entered into the world 1800 and it is characterized by belief in science, people now tended to give up the search for absolute causes (god and nature) and concentrated instead on observation of the social and physical world in the search for the laws governing them.

Comte's point of view, it was intellectual change that was needed, and so there was little reason for social and political revolution. Comte emphasised the need to engage in abstract theorizing and go out and do sociological research. He urged that sociologists use observation, experimentation and comparative historical analysis. He was in the foremost of the development of positivistic sociology.

EMILE DURKHEIM 1858-1917

Durkheim has been seen as an inheritor of the enlightenment tradition because of his emphasis on science and social reformism and also of the conservative tradition. Durkheim developed an increasingly solid academic base as his career progressed. Durkheim legitimized sociology in France, and his work ultimately because a dominant force in the development of sociology in general and of sociological theory in particular like.

• social facts -material and non material
• suicide 
• religion