Caught up in the events surrounding this revolution and attempted to comprehend both their emergence and potential consequence.
Therefore, sociology was defined as the study of human social life, groups, and the society. There are four founding fathers of sociology who are most prominent in the history of sociology are: Emile Durkheim
Auguste Comte
Karl Max
Max Weber
They all happened to be white European men because Revolution started in their own time and in Europe as well. As said earlier they all sought to explain the emergence of social change and its intellectual consequences on the society.
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
Particular prominence is given to him because his thinking reflected the turbulent times of his age and also because he coined the word sociology in other to be different from other thinkers. He was a French man who noticed that the French revolution had introduced significant changes into the society and he also sought to explain and create a science of the society that could explain the social laws of the world just as science explained the laws of the physical world. He argued that the society conforms to the invariable laws in much the same way that the physical world does.
His law of three stages claims that the human efforts to understand the world have passed through the theological and metaphysical and positive stages. He was keenly aware of the state of the society that he lived. He was concerned with the inequalities being produced by industrialization and the threat they posed to social cohesion.
In his view, the long term solution was the production of moral consensus that would help to regulate or hold the society together. His visions for the society were never realized, his contribution to systemizing and unifying the science of society.
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
He was another French writer whose writing has had a more lasting impact on modern sociology than those of Comte. For him his main intellectual concern of sociology is the study of social facts. He stated that the aspects of social life shape our actions as individuals, such as the state of the economy or the influence of religion.
However, he conceded that social facts are difficult to study because they are invisible and intangible and they can not be observed directly. He instead states that they must be revealed indirectly which is by analyzing their effects or by considering attempts that have been made at their expression, such as laws, religious texts or written rules of conduct.
He was concerned with the changes that were transforming society in his own lifetime. He was particularly interested in social and moral solidarity; this was in other words what held the society together and held it from descending into chaos. He stated that there are two types of solidarity and he contrasted them together, mechanical and organic, relating them to the division of labour and the growth and distinctions between the different occupations.
However, the forces of industrialization and urbanization led to a growing division of labour that contributed to the breakdown of solidarity.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
His ideas contrast sharply with those of Comte and Durkheim, but like them, he sought to explain the changes that were taking place in society during the industrial revolution. His political activities brought him into conflict with the German authorities, after a brief stay in France, he settled permanently in exile in Britain. He however witnessed the growth of factories and the inequalities that resulted.
His viewpoints were grounded in what he called the materialist conception of history. According to this view, it is not ideas or values human beings hold that are the main sources of social change. Rather social change is prompted primarily by the economic influences.
He believed in the inevitability of a workers revolution which would overthrow the capitalist system and usher in a new society in which there would be no classes, the rich and the poor. He did not meant that inequalities would disappear; he rather stated that society would no longer be split into a small class that monopolizes economic and political power and the large mass of people who benefit little from the wealth their work creates.
He believed that in the society of the future production would be more advanced and efficient than production under capitalism.
Max Weber (1864-1920)
He simply can not be labeled a sociologist as his interest and concerns ranged across many areas. He was born in Germany were he spent most of his academic career. He was most concerned with the development of modern capitalism and the ways in which modern society was different from earlier forms of social organization.
In common with thinkers of his time, he sought to understand the nature and causes of social change; he was influenced by Marx but was also critical of some of his views. He saw class conflict as less significant than Marx. `
He believed that sociology should focus on social action, not structures; he argued that human motivation and ideas were the forces behind change. According to him, individuals have the free will to act and shape their future.
In conclusion the four fathers of sociology all were white European men because the origin of sociology which resulted from the quest to provide answers to the burning issues regarding social change
