The History of Sociology
The interaction between people and the society they belong to has captivated people since the dawn of time. By distinguishing between physis (nature) and nomos, the ancient Greeks are credited with laying the groundwork for sociology. (law or custom). The Greeks believed that nomos, in the form of rules or traditions, were human conventions intended to control human behavior, but nature, or physis, was "what emerges from itself" without human intervention. A proto-anthropological work called Histories by Herodotus (484–425 BCE) documented the vast differences in the nomos of several ancient communities across the Mediterranean, showing that human social existence was not a creation of nature but rather a product of the human invention.
Since the beginning of time, humans have been fascinated by how individuals interact with the societies to which they belong. The ancient Greeks are credited with establishing the foundations of sociology by differentiating between physis (nature) and nomos. (law or custom). The Greeks held that nature, or physis, was "what emerges from itself" without human intervention, whereas nomos, in the form of laws or traditions, were human conventions meant to influence human behavior.
The huge disparities in the nomos of several ancient societies around the Mediterranean were described in Herodotus's Histories, a proto-anthropological book written between 484 and 425 BCE. This work demonstrated that human social existence was not a creation of nature but rather a result of human design.
Chinese historian Ma Tuan-Lin initially acknowledged social dynamics as a fundamental element of historical history in his ground-breaking encyclopedia, General Study of Literary Remains, published in the 13th century. According to modern institutional analyses, the study traced the historical evolution of Chinese state administration from antiquity. The Berber philosopher Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) of Tunisia, who some historians claim to be the world's first sociologist, rose to prominence in the following century.
With a comprehension of "the nature of things which are born of civilization," His Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History is renowned for going beyond descriptive history to analyze historical processes of change. (Khaldun quoted in Becker and Barnes 1961). The dichotomy between the sedentary lifestyle of cities and the nomadic lifestyle of pastoral peoples like the Bedouin and Berbers was crucial to his research.
The nomads, who are autonomous from outside control, formed a social link based on blood ties and "esprit de corps" ('Asabijja), which allowed them to mobilize rapidly and work cooperatively in the face of challenging conditions in the desert. The sedentary of the city began a new cycle in which esprit de corps is absorbed under the institutional authority and political groups and the drive towards increased luxury, ease, and refinements of taste takes the place of the requirement to be focused on subsistence. The link between nomadism and sedentary living, the two poles of existence, provided the foundation for the rise and fall of civilizations. (Becker and Barnes 1961).
The foundation for the current field of sociology, however, cannot be said to have been completely built until the 19th century. The development of modern science from the 16th century onward, the emergence of democratic forms of government with the American and French Revolutions (1775-1783 and 1789-1799, respectively), and the Industrial Revolution starting in the 18th century all served as the catalyst for the ideas that eventually culminated in sociology.
These events not only formed the foundation for sociological knowledge but also the original impetus for developing a science of society. Early sociologists like Comte and Marx strove to develop a logical, fact-based answer to the tremendous social disruption and unheard-of societal issues brought on by the shift from the European feudal age to capitalism. A logical and thorough understanding of society and its workings was necessary, whether the goal was to bring order to the chaotic disintegration of society, as in Comte's case, or to lay the groundwork for a revolutionary transformation, as in Marx's.
Early social condition researchers first became aware of "society" as a phenomenon in this context, using the word in its contemporary sense.
Modern science's growth gave sociology the model of knowledge it required to advance past prior moral, philosophical, and religious styles of study on the human situation. The technical mindset, which Max Weber referred to as the disenchantment of the world, was essential to the advancement of science: "In principle, there are no mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather one can, in principle, master all things by calculation." (1919). The medieval worldview, which characterized God as "the unmoved mover," as a changeless, cyclical creator who ordered and gave meaning to the natural and social world, has been abandoned by modern science. Instead, modern science brought together two philosophical schools that had previously clashed: Aristotle's empiricism and Plato's rationalism.
In the hands of early scientists like Galileo and Newton, rationalism sought the laws governing the truth of reason and ideas and reached its ultimate form of expression in the logical constructions of mathematics. Empiricism seeks to understand the workings of the world via meticulous, deliberate, and in-depth observation. Therefore, the new scientific worldview combined a method of empirical inquiry based on observation through the senses with a conceptual articulation of rationalist concepts that was clear and logically coherent. These fundamental ideas were embraced by sociology to emphasize the need for well-defined, methodologically sound social science assertions.
The emergence of democratic forms of government in the 18th century demonstrated that humans had the capacity to change the world. The rigid hierarchy of medieval society was not a God-given eternal order, but a human order that could be challenged and improved upon through human intervention. Society came to be seen as both historical and the product of human endeavours. Age of Enlightenment philosophers like Locke, Voltaire, Montaigne, and Rousseau developed general principles that could be used to explain social life. Their emphasis shifted from the histories and exploits of the aristocracy to the life of ordinary people.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), Mary Wollstonecraft expanded the male Enlightenment thinkers' critique of the status of women to include their gender. They suggested that the use of reason could be used to address societal evils and to free humanity from servitude, which was significant for modern sociology. For instance, Wollstonecraft maintained that giving women access to a good education would enable them to contribute to society's advancement, particularly through their impact on young people.
However, the bloody experience of the democratic revolutions, particularly the French Revolution, which led to the "Reign of Terror" and ultimately Napoleon's attempt to subjugate Europe, also served as a cautionary tale for the early sociologists regarding the necessity of a sober, scientific assessment of society in order to address social problems.
The development of industrial methods of production, the introduction of industrial machinery, and the organization of labor in new manufacturing systems are all considered to be part of the "industrial revolution" in its strictest sense.
These economic shifts serve as an emblem of the profound transformation of human life brought about by the emergence of wage labor, capitalist competition, increased mobility, urbanization, individualism, and all the social ills they produced, including poverty, exploitation, hazardous working conditions, crime, filth, disease, the dissolution of traditional family and social networks, etc. The rise of empires during this period of significant social and political turmoil exposed many individuals to societies and cultures other than their own for the first time. Many people were abandoning their old religious beliefs as millions of people moved into cities.
Wars, strikes, uprisings, and revolutionary movements were responses to unabated social pressures that demanded critical analysis. Particularly August Comte saw the new science of sociology as the cure for what he called "moral anarchy" in society.
Sociology, therefore, emerged as a crucial response to the novel and unprecedented kinds of social problems that surfaced in the 19th century, as an extension of the new scientific worldview, as a component of the Enlightenment project and its appreciation of historical change, social injustice, and the potential for social reform. However, because its creators brought distinctly different ideas to its early formulations, it did not develop as a united science.
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