Читать книгу Essentials of Sociology - George Ritzer - Страница 42

The emergence of sociological theory was closely related to intellectual and social developments throughout the nineteenth century in Europe. It is important to recognize that sociological theory did not develop in isolation or come of age in a social vacuum. In Chapter 1, we briefly mentioned the impact of the Industrial Revolution. Other changes that profoundly affected sociological theorizing were the political revolutions that wracked European society (especially the French Revolution, 1789–1799), the rise of socialism, the women’s rights movement, the urbanization occurring throughout Europe, ferment in the religious realm, and the growth of science.

Among the most important early sociological theorists are Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, and Herbert Spencer.

 Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is noted, as pointed out in Chapter 1, for the invention of the term sociology, development of a general theory of the social world, and interest in developing a science of sociology (Pickering 2011).

 Harriet Martineau (1802–1876), like Comte, developed a scientific and general theory, although she is best known today for her feminist, women-centered sociology (Hoecker-Drysdale 2011).

 Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) also developed a general, scientific theory of society, but his overriding theoretical interest was in social change, specifically evolution in not only the physical domain but also the intellectual and social domains (Francis 2011).

Harriet Martineau was a social theorist essential for, among other things, bringing attention to gender in sociology.

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Although Comte, Martineau, and Spencer were important predecessors, the three theorists to be discussed in this section—Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim—are the most significant of the classical era’s social theorists and of the greatest continuing contemporary relevance to sociology (and other fields).