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For thousands of years, attempts to understand human behaviour relied on ways of thinking passed down from generation to generation. Before the rise of modern sciences, ‘folkways’ – traditional knowledge and practices passed down through generations – held sway in most communities, and these persisted well into the twentieth century. One example is people’s understanding of their health or illness. Older people, with a good knowledge of a community’s folkways, provided advice on how to prevent illness and cure diseases. Reflecting on his American childhood in Lawrence County, Kentucky, Cratis Williams gives us a flavour of the Appalachian culture of the time (Williams 2003: 397–8):

A plaque of lead suspended on a string around a child’s neck warded off colds and kept witches away while the child was sleeping. Children plagued by nightmares could wear these lead charms to assure themselves of sweet sleep and pleasant dreams, for nightmares were caused by witches and evil creatures that could not operate in the presence of lead. Adults given to snoring and nightmares sought relief by smelling a dirty sock as they went to sleep.

Today very few people advocate such measures or hold similar beliefs. Instead, a more scientific approach to health and illness means that children are vaccinated against previously common diseases and taught that nightmares are normal and generally harmless. Pharmacies do not routinely sell smelly socks to cure snoring either. The origins of systematic studies of social life lie in a series of sweeping changes ushered in by the French Revolution of 1789 and the mid-eighteenth-century Industrial Revolution in Europe. These events shattered older, traditional ways of life, and the founders of sociology sought to understand how such radical changes had come about. But, in doing so, they also developed more systematic, scientific ways of looking at the social and natural worlds which challenged conventional religious beliefs.

The next section looks at the key ideas of some early thinkers, who, until quite recently, went unchallenged as the key ‘founders’ of sociology. There is no doubt that these early sociologists played an important part in developing a sociological perspective and in establishing sociology as a legitimate academic discipline. However, their focus was on the development of the modern world, what sociologists call modernity, insofar as this refers primarily to Europe and North America. Over the last twenty-five years or so, a movement known as postcolonialism has challenged the accepted account of modernity and the origins of sociology (Bhambra 2014). There are numerous elements in this challenge, which are discussed in chapter 3, ‘Theories and Perspectives’, but two in particular should be borne in mind as you read through the rest of this section.

First, postcolonial scholars argue that sociology has generally not taken enough account of the devastating impact of colonialism on countries in the Global South. Not only did this involve exploitation at the time, but the legacy of colonialism continues to blight these countries long after they achieved independence. Second, the lack of Global South perspectives in the formation and development of sociology led to the discipline adopting a fundamentally Eurocentric position that was, and still is, focused primarily on the industrialized countries of the Global North (Connell 2018). Opening up sociology to more studies by scholars in the Global South is one way in which this situation can begin to be addressed. We have included something of the continuing engagement between sociology and postcolonialism at various points throughout this volume.

The book’s chapters also introduce ‘classic studies’ in specific areas of sociology. These are pieces of research, theories or novel methods that have had a large influence on the subject. However, these are our selections, and there are many more that could have been chosen. Classic studies boxes incorporate a brief critical commentary which points readers towards the limitations of these studies. With these necessary qualifications, we now turn to the established West European founders of sociology.

The process of industrialization is discussed in chapter 4, ‘Globalization and Social Change’, and chapter 13, ‘Cities and Urban Life’. Some of the damaging consequences of industrialization are outlined in chapter 5, ‘The Environment’.