Auguste Compte, who lived in France when chaos erupted after Napoleon lost the Battle to conquer Europe tried to look for ways to improve the society and believed that sociology could greatly contribute towards that. Compte coined the word Sociology and called it the queen of sciences. Compte believed that all societies passed through three stages of developed which are: Theological, metaphysical and positive stages. In the theological stage, Compte believed that life was guided by religious ideas and also the belief in the supernatural while in the metaphysical stage, Compte was of the view that life was seen to be natural as opposed to supernatural. Compte however came to the realization that humans are aware of a sphere of life beyond the…show more content… Durkheim believed Compte’s ideas were too speculative and they did not establish sociology as a scientific discipline. Durkheim played a great role in the development of sociology. He sought to get sociology recognized as a separate academic discipline and was interested in understanding the different social that influence behavior in different individuals. Durkheim strived to study the rates of suicide among different groups and came to the realization that social integration or the degree to which people are tied to the social groups was a major factor in…show more content… Max Weber- (1864-1920)
Max Weber was born in Germany and was influenced by the works of Karl Marx. He was however very critical of Marx’s observations. He saw class conflict as less significant; this was contrary to Marx’s views. According to Weber, social action was an action carried out by an individual and the individual takes account of the behavior of others. An action that a person does not think about cannot be a social action according to Weber. For example an accident is not a social action because it’s not intentional. Weber was also of the view that a secret action cannot be a social action.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
According to Spencer, the concept of survival for the fittest best explains class differences, he viewed societies as evolutionary. Spencer also argued that there was no need to try and change the society or intervene in the evolution since change would come on its own anyway. He was also of the view that attempts at social reform were
