1. POSITIVISM
System of philosophy based on experience and empirical knowledge of natural phenomena, in which metaphysics and theology are considered imperfect and inadequate systems of knowledge.
1.1- Evolution of the Concept:
The term positivism was first used by the 19th-century French philosopher and mathematician Auguste Comte, but some of the positivist concepts date back to the British philosopher David Hume, the French philosopher Saint-Simon, and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
To give an answer to the scientific, political and industrial revolution of his time, Comte offered an intellectual, moral and political reorganization of the social order. Adopting a scientific attitude was the key, he thought, to any reconstruction.
He affirmed that from the empirical study of the historical process, especially the progression of various interrelated sciences, a law that he called the three stages emerged and that governs the development of humanity. He analyzed these stages in his voluminous work Course in Positive Philosophy (6 Vol. 1830-1842) Given the nature of the human mind, he said, each of the sciences or branches of knowledge must pass through "three different theoretical stages: theological or fictitious stage; the metaphysical or abstract stage; and finally, the scientific or positive ».
In the theological stage, events are explained in a very elementary way by appealing to the will of the gods or of a god. In the metaphysical stage, phenomena are explained by invoking abstract philosophical categories. The last stage of this evolution, the scientific or positive, endeavors to explain all the facts by means of the material clarification of the causes.
All attention should be focused on figuring out how phenomena occur with the intention of arriving at generalizations subject in turn to verification by observation and verification.
Comte's work is considered the classic expression of the positivist attitude, that is, the attitude of someone who affirms that only the empirical sciences are the adequate source of knowledge.
Each of these stages, Comte claimed, has its correlative in certain political attitudes. The theological stage is reflected in those notions that speak of the divine Right of kings. The metaphysical stage includes some concepts such as the social contract, the equality of persons or popular sovereignty. The positive stage is characterized by the scientific or "sociological" analysis (a term coined by Comte that means study or treatise on the social) of the political organization. Quite critical of democratic procedures, Comte longed for a stable society governed by a minority of scholars who used the methods of science to solve human problems and to impose new social conditions.
Although he rejected the belief in a transcendent being, Comte recognized the value of religion, since it contributed to social stability. In his work Positive Politics System (1851-1854; 1875-1877), he proposes a religion of humanity that would stimulate a beneficial social behavior. The greatest relevance of Comte, however, stems from his influence on the development of positivism.
Comte chose the word positivism on the basis that it indicated the reality and constructive tendency that he claimed for the theoretical aspect of the doctrine. In general, he was interested in the reorganization of social life for the good of humanity through scientific knowledge, and in this way, the control of natural forces. The two main components of positivism, philosophy and government (or program of individual and social behavior), were later unified by Comte into a whole under the conception of a religion, in which humanity was the object of worship. Many disciples of Comte refused, however, to accept this religious development of his thought, because it seemed to contradict the original positivist philosophy.Many of Comte's doctrines were later adapted and developed by the British social philosophers John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer as well as the Austrian philosopher and physicist Ernst Mach.
Positivism competed with materialism, conforming as one of the most deeply rooted philosophies of the nineteenth century.
The positive philosophy is clearly expressed from the experimental sciences, that is to say, physics, biology and chemistry, as a reaction against metaphysical constructions and idealism.
Comte considers science as the only instrument capable of guaranteeing positivism. It was based on the tradition of classical empiricism, that is, on the idea that any knowledge, to be true, must be based on experience. Any thesis that is not empirically behavioral is considered metaphysical and rejected as scientific truth.
The different particular sciences are assigned to a certain sector of reality. For positivism, philosophy has the exclusive mission of developing a total conception of the world, that is, of organizing the partial knowledge of the various sciences. Reality always responds to the same laws. In the orbit of positivism, minor currents such as cultural evolutionism and mechanistic materialism later appeared. As a rational basis for humanity's action on the outside world, as a positive study of nature, it is beginning to be universally appreciated today.
For Comte, positive philosophy implied a social reform, a policy, an educational process, a hierarchy of the sciences and even a religion, and in this comprehensive sense it must be understood.
Thus, at the first coining of the positive term it is very important to note:
- Exalting science is the only thing that most positivists have in common. Other positivists also focus on science and technology, but thinking about political aspects since what they are interested in is proposing and idealizing socio-political orders cohesive by organizations of technical and industrial nature, as the only appropriate orders. Adjusting to its time, the new positive philosophy will pretend to be the synthesis of all the singular sciences in view of a total radical and technical orientation of human life, thus declaring that: "the particular sciences They are elements of general science, that is, philosophy must have been conjecture while the particular sciences have not been and will be fully positive when all the particular sciences are,however, general policy will not be a science of observation since general policy is an application of general science ”.
1.2- Relationship between the Laws of Nature and society.
Comte's positivism considers that in social life there is total harmony and is governed by invariant natural laws independent of human will.
Consequently, society cannot be transformed, it must be accepted as it is, being impossible any revolution, or even the evolution that changes it in its fundamental bases.
In our twentieth century there is a neo-positive trend, cybernetic models allow us to consider sociology as a natural science, as they study human social behavior, with the same objective spirit that a biologist studies a nest of bees, a colony of ants, termites or the organization and functioning of a living organism.
1.3- Conceptualization of Positivists on Order and Progress.
Social aesthetics equivalent to order, social dynamics equivalent to progress. Comte realizes that ideas are what governs the world, so the system that is capable of explaining the past and foreseeing the future will be master of the future. That is why it explains the past in various ways.
Knowledge evaluation, which culminates in the unit, thanks to a hierarchy of the sciences, but not only knowledge is explained but also the politics of morality, law.
To the theological stage corresponds a theocratic government, and a military regime that maintains order, to the metaphysical stage corresponds a legalistic regime, to the positive stage corresponds a positive government and an industrialized society, there is an affinity between the theological and the military, because They are regimes of conquest, and there is between the positive and the industrial scientific spirit, because it seeks to satisfy human needs, and it is limited to practical things.
In summary; the theological state corresponds to a doctrine of the kings, the metaphysical state corresponds to a doctrine of the peoples and in the positive stage it is about seeing in order to foresee, so politics must be a new science, a scientific doctrine.
As for morals; in polytheism, it is subordinated to politics, in monotheism it becomes independent, in the metaphysical stage it is lost in sterile ramblings and in the positive state, it acquires its essential character because the appropriate feelings are awakened through the political, social and educational order.
From the observation of the hierarchy of the sciences, says Comte, an order can be deduced from which the idea of progress clearly stands out. These two terms order and progress, which are part of the motto of positivism (love, order and progress) translate the static and dynamic aspects that sociology deals with. To maintain this culmination, Comte, proposes the overcoming of anarchy in order and overcoming the reaction in progress.
1.4- The Law of the Three Stages
He formulated the law of the three stages, as many stages in the evolutionary life of humanity, Comte says: that all speculation passes, both in the individual and in the species, through three different, theoretical stages:
1.4.1- THE THEOLOGICAL
It is provisional and preparatory, looking for essential causes, primary causes. Absolute knowledge. In this stage, Fetishism first arises, which attributes to all bodies a life similar to ours. Then Polytheism, which gives life to fictional beings and finally Monotheism. The human attributes the origin of natural phenomena to the intervention of supernatural powers.
1.4.2- THE METAPHYSICAL
It is the theological solvent and tries to explain the nature of beings, the origin and destiny of all things. The essential mode of production of all things, the essential mode of production of all phenomena, has a great tendency to argue, instead of observing, it destroys the theological stage, for this reason is incompatible, but it remains chimerical (unreal or subjective). The phenomena are considered as an expression of the virtues of nature itself (it is the moment when the notions of force appear in physics of bond and attraction in chemistry and of dialectics in philosophy.)
1.4.3- POSITIVISM
Through these two previous stages, the human being asks why? of things. The questions of why? It arises in the third stage in which humans explain phenomena to ourselves through scientific and positive laws that regulate their relationships.
Through the three stages, humanity has progressed, believed Comte, from being dominated by fear of irrational powers to being able to control the natural environment in which he lives.
Positivism sticks solely and exclusively to the field of the possible, pointing out that science does not pretend to know everything but everything that it is possible to know. For Comte, just as it happens in nature, society is regulated by universal or temporal laws that serve both the present and the future of humanity.
1.5- How do Positivists conceptualize Social Classes?
For Comte social classes are the following:
1.5.1- THE INDUSTRIALS
Comte says that it is enough for him that the industrialists produce and remain sole owners of the wealth. Thus, there is again an alliance of the industrial aristocracy with the State, which leaves the former alone as long as they produce and assume responsibility for the results.
1.5.2- THE PROLETARIATS
Comte says that they act and produce, they fight against nature, without worrying about the results. The aims of the proletariat are simpler and for this reason the effectiveness of a popular pedagogy will lie in the clarity and generality that provides them with the intelligence and morality necessary to maintain order and allow them a contemplative leisure.
1.6- What role do the Institutions play?
In addition to considering society as a set of social relationships that develop between individuals and between social groups, society can be conceived as a set of large social institutions.
The institutional analysis will consist of examining these institutions; cultural, political and religious, as well as the relationships that occur between them; because many social groups carry out their activities within the institutions, which in turn need to interrelate.
The university, the judiciary, the parliament and the army among the most important; They are public institutions that civil society uses through the State to coordinate and organize itself in social, political and economic life.
Social institutions constitute a complex structure that make up the social fabric, through individuals they develop their social action, from the simple marital relationship to the complex economic political relationships.
In mass urban societies, an extraordinarily complex social fabric has been created. Public and private institutions, associations of all kinds, interest groups intermingle and form a complicated fabric, sometimes difficult to grasp.
Sociology seeks precisely to unravel this plot, analyze its components, differentiate its parts, study its institutions, its groups, its interrelationships and discover the role that human beings occupy in each link of the spider web that is modern society.
The great French thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) pointed out, in the 1830s, anticipating his times with extraordinary vision of the future, the need for humans to implant a network of intermediate associations as the best formula for the individuality was not drowned out by mass society and the ever-spreading tentacles of an all-powerful state.
1.7- The Logical Positivists.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of philosophers interested in the evolution of modern science, rejected the traditional positivist ideas that believed in personal experience as the basis of true knowledge and highlighted the importance of scientific verification. This group became known as the logical positivists among whom were the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein and the British philosophers Bertrand Russell and George Edward Moore. The work of the first "Tractatus logico-philosóficus" (logical treatise on philosophy of 1921) turned out to have a decisive influence on the rejection of metaphysical doctrines for their lack of meaning and the acceptance of empiricism as a matter of logical demand.
Positivists today, who have rejected the so-called Vienna school (logical positivists), prefer to call themselves logical empiricists in order to dissociate themselves from the importance that early thinkers gave to scientific verification. They maintain that the principle of verification itself is unverifiable in the philosophical field.
1.8- Historical Critique of Positivism
"THE MATERIAL FORCE" is the necessary basis of a new society. From here follows the determining cause of social development.
Taking as a starting point the way in which the means of life are obtained, and the relations between humans that they create under the influence of those forms and in the system of those relations, the Production Relations; Scientific sociology using Historical Materialism as a method, sees the basis of society in forms of production.
In production, humans not only act on nature but also on each other. It cannot be produced without associating in a certain way to act in common and establish an exchange of activities. Consequently, organized production as a mode of production not only encompasses the productive forces of society (technical elements), but also the relations of production between social beings (socio-economic), relations that are therefore the material form of unity. social within the production process.
A characteristic of production is that it is not touched at one point over a long period, but that it changes and develops constantly, as is the peculiarity that these changes in the mode of production inevitably provoke the entire social regime.
2. COMPREHENSIVE SOCIOLOGY
Wanting to refute the economic determinism of the materialist theory of Carl Marx; Max Weber combined his interest in economics with sociology, in an attempt to establish, through a historical study, that the historical cause-effect relationship did not only depend on economic variables. In one of his most famous works, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1904-1905), he attempted to show that ethical and religious values had exerted an important influence on the development of capitalism. He returned to this topic in his last books, when analyzing Asian religions and affirming that the religious and philosophical ideas that prevailed in Eastern cultures had prevented the development of capitalism in these societies,despite the existence of favorable economic factors for such evolution to take place. Calling your sociology,"Comprehensive" and defining it as the science of social facts.
There is divergence and confusion when it comes to specifying the notion of a social fact, apart from some essays aimed at capturing a general restriction, so the authors limit themselves to a numerative procedure and qualify as social facts all the structures of the society. society, institutions, customs and collective beliefs among the most relevant. Understood this way, sociology becomes an essentially formal discipline.
The originality of Weber resides in not having cut the social structures and institutions of the multiform human activity, who is at the same time worker and teacher of the meanings of those, in this way appears, in the center of his sociology, the notion of the social activity.
2.1- The Object of Study of Comprehensive Sociology
For M. Weber the object of study of his theory is not to reject the conception of sociology, that is to say, a discipline that aims to develop general relationships and provide morphological knowledge. Weber follows this path by forming the different types of groups, the institution, the domination, the law and the bureaucracy, or statistically establishing general rules of experience, in the sense that individuals consider each other when submitting to a social relationship. Weber refuses only to limit sociology to that point. Whatever the science, no matter what your research needs are, adopt the general or individual method.
2.2- Of Social Action
Weber says that social action is human behavior and that it can also be oriented according to the past, present or foreseeable behavior of others.
Social action is the origin of all kinds of social relationships that Weber defines as meaningful relationships as those used by individuals to orient their behavior reciprocally. Without a minimum of reciprocity, there is no social relationship or meaningful orientation of behavior. This notion is therefore a fundamental characteristic. That is not to say that everyone in a social relationship gives it exactly the same meaningful content. In other words, reciprocity in behaviors is not synonymous with reciprocity, in the sense of giving to the social relationship. The most common form of social relationship is the group characterized by regulations that subject the adherence of third parties to a certain number of more or less restrictive conditions and also by representation,while the group involves an individual or collective management that more often is an administrative apparatus.
Weber subdivided social action into 4 large categories:
- 2.2.1- Those destined to achieve a rational purpose. 2.2.2- Those that, in addition to being oriented towards the achievement of a rational end, are guided by moral principles or norms. 2.2.3- Actions imbued by emotions and passions of a more or less irrational character. y2.2.4- Actions guided by principles, norms, habits and customs of a traditional nature, in which the rational component is, as in the previous case, almost insignificant.
2.3- What Research Method does Weber propose?
Weber says: Whatever the science and the needs of your research, you can adopt the generalized or the individual method since the scientific examination of problems remains open and the horizon cannot be created in the name of prejudices and philosophical prescriptions; in other words, there is no reason for sociology to exclusively forget the singular.
On the contrary, sociology is harmed if certain means of research suitable to enrich our knowledge, such as demographic, geographical or geological research, are forbidden.
Without going into the details that interest the history of philosophy, Weber conceives Comprehension, when his theory of interpretation is linked to that of causality, which means that, in his opinion, the purely naturalistic method is not enough to make the theory intelligible. human behavior, because it only knows the purely external relationship and on the other hand, interpretation by understanding, to be valid, must overcome the mistakes of pure subjectivity and submit to the current methods of scientific research.
Now we understand the reason why Weber defended himself from having invented a new methodological instrument by proposing the notion of "ideal-type", since he did nothing more than logically elaborate a spontaneous practice of historian and sociologist, who constantly refer to the course of your explanations to an ideal picture of the activity to understand an action. In summary, the "ideal-type" is a concept of great resources, because it combines flexibility in research with scientific rigor.
2.4- What does this method consist of?
The research method is that Weber wanted the research to be even easier to carry out since rational activity by finality is considered to be more appropriate between the means and the end, always taking into account the consequences that this brings.
This way of how it is carried out, making the investigation easier for the human, is the use that is made of the ideal-type is valid if the objective is to understand a significant relativity.
3. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
Before going into detail it is necessary to analyze what they mean in social theory; social structure and functionalism.
3.1- Social Structure
Set of ways in which groups and individuals organize and relate to each other and to the different areas of a society. In sociology, structure is an instrument for analyzing social reality.
The concept of structure has a long evolution. It was already used in the 17th century in the field of natural history to refer to the relationships between the parts of a whole. The term "structure" was used in anatomy, but in the 19th century it was transferred to sociology as a consequence of the use of certain organic terms by the thinkers of the time (Auguste Comte, Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer).
The English social theorist Herbert Spencer established the parallelism between the organization and evolution of biological organisms, and the organization and evolution of societies. Society, considered as a "living organism", could be divided into ordered and differentiated parts.
For Spencer, the social structure would be the "web of mutual positions and interrelations through which the interdependence of the parts that make up society can be explained."
The American sociologist Talcott Parsons elaborated his theory of the social system and organization in terms of structure and function: the structure, according to Parsons, comprises the relatively constant and stable elements of the system, which would be: the roles (such as father, teacher, priest, doctor and so on), collectivities (family, political party and factory, among others), norms (models) and values.
However, AR Radcliffe-Brown and Claude Lévi-Strauss were the representatives of two different and conflicting conceptions about this theory:
Radcliffe-Brown compared society to a functioning mechanism whose parts can be described and represented by the participants themselves (conceptual model).
Lévi-Strauss, opposed to the conception of Spencer and Radcliffe, considered the structure as something "latent" in reality but as a "hidden order", that is, its parts can only be interpreted and explained as a theoretical model.
3.2- Functionalism
Theory that considers society as a set of parts (normally, institutions) that function to maintain the whole and in which the non-functioning of one part forces the readjustment of the others.
The idea that society consists of a set of related institutions working in favor of the system as a whole dates back, in modern times, to the writings of Machiavelli and was developed by Montesquieu, the Enlightenment, and in the first half of the century XX, functionalism is used as an important theoretical model to carry out anthropological studies.
Malinowski, based on field research carried out in the Trobriand Islands (Papua-New Guinea), conceived a theory of culture that explained the existence of social institutions by their ability to satisfy human psychological needs.
Radcliffe-Brown's structural-functionalism reacted to this point of view, arguing that the functioning and existence of social institutions should be explained in social terms, and not reduced to psychological motivations. This point of view was created around the study of small, self-sufficient social units, in which it is relatively easy to assume a functioning system as a whole.
Due to its insistence on maintaining the system, functionalism has been criticized for its tendency as a reactionary ideology.
Of course, in the study of complex societies it is difficult to apply functionalist models, especially in class societies that attach great importance to conflict, although attempts to apply systems theory and the sociological work of Talcott Parsons have given rise to important models. functionalist understanding of complex societies.
3.3- Structural Functionalism
The study of structural-functional theory as it is applied in sociology, must be done as this theory tries to make of sociology a systematic science and a sociological theory; taking as a starting point the structural function of the phenomena within the social sphere to be studied and not their historical genesis.
It focuses its attention on the social system, which is where actions occur, on social reality and the logical integration of all its parts, in order to give it the possibility of being a systematic sociological theory.
In order to analyze the social system, the system of reference categories derived from the general theory of action must first be taken into account and, second, the analytical scheme itself, which distinguishes precisely the social system from other systems.
The conceptual scheme allows distinguishing the social system according to the way in which human action is presented in reality, as a single act and at the same time distinguishing the social reality from the social system as an object of study, typical of sociology.
In the structural-functionalist sociological analysis, the social stratification and the division of labor are already highlighted, that is to say that every society must be stratified and divide work among its members. This is an exceptional characteristic of the structure of the social system, in which the human being, in most of his actions, does not participate in its entirety, since he does so through a very different sector of his social action. Such sector represents the unit of a system of social relations which is designated by the name of the role.
In synthesis, this theory explains the forms and social effects, the result of human interaction in social factors, playing roles and assuming a status in society without entering the realm of causes.
3.4- The Functional Need
In recent decades, the use of this concept has become more prominent, since it has been used in other scientific disciplines such as psychology, biology and physics. From its disclosure by Roberto K. Merton, sociology has used the term fusion in the sense of "Observable Objective Consequences of Social Phenomena"
Any element of the social structure, from an individual to a social group or an institution produces social actions aimed at generating certain ends whose objectives are survival, stability, and the integration of global society. In other words, all social action fulfills certain functions.
In short, functional necessity is the set of actions developed by an individual, institution or social group aimed at achieving certain ends whose main objective is survival.
3.5- The Social Role
Social roles are the different segmentations in which the participation of the human being as an actor in the different systems is presented, the actor not participating in any case, in any system, in its entirety.
This means that the human presents himself in society playing different roles or social roles depending on the constellation of his actions.
The roles can be very varied since they are learned with the acquisition of the individual, of the culture of the group to which it belongs, without forgetting that life is a drama where the human plays different social roles.
In summary, the role is the set of activities developed by an individual in the development of their social action, aimed at the fulfillment of a social function according to established guidelines or norms of conduct.
3.6- Social Inequality
As has been said, certain statuses, with their corresponding roles, carry peculiar forms of life, with their corresponding levels of wealth; power and authority.
Other individuals, on the other hand, will have social positions that occupy status, completely devoid of wealth, power and authority.
This reveals a fact universally known as social differentiation or social inequality which exists between individuals within a social formation.
Society in all ages with the exception perhaps of primitive peoples anchored in a mere subsistence economy and organized in small classes rather than social by technological organization, has observed these differences or social inequality. Nothing else remains to ask the following questions: What is its origin? What causes such differences in ways of life, in wealth and income levels?
Thus, what Structural-Functionalism does is structurally order social inequality in roles and status in relation to wealth, power and authority as Paradigms of "social satisfaction" (n. Of c.)
In short, Structural-Functionalism does not answer the questions posed because it considers the social structure apart from that of evolution, dynamics, genesis and history of social development.
In his attempts to somehow overcome this flaw in the theory; R. Merton introduces the concept of Dysfunction, as an action that alters the stability of the system; but that keeps the character of functionalism static. In other words, the Company is considered as a system in operation and not in the process of development.
Another defect of Structural-Functionalism is that it refuses in its analysis of social structure to highlight the determining basis of social life and to justify this lack of acceptance of the Materialist theory, already proven, T. Parsons uses the System of Cartesian coordinates affirming that each element of social life can be an “argument” (Independent Variable) and / or also “function” (Dependent Variable)
Consequently, the theory of Structural-Functionalism, without avoiding the fundamental problem of philosophy, about the primacy of the material or the ideal in social development, solves it within the framework of subjective idealism.
4. SYNTHESIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Currently the concept of Sociology is defined in two ways:
- As a method of Dialectical Materialism to study social development, it uses the concept of Historical Materialism that says, Science that studies the most general laws and the driving forces of the development of society, and As a pragmatic method to study social development, it uses the concept Structural- Functional that says, science that studies the development, structure and function of society.
Other disciplines of Social Science (economics, politics, anthropology and psychology) also study topics that belong to the field of sociology.
Sociologists analyze the ways in which social structures, institutions (class, family, community and power) and problems of a social nature (crime) influence society.
Sociology is based on the idea that human beings do not act according to their own individual decisions, but under cultural and historical influences and according to the wishes and expectations of the community in which they live. Thus, the basic concept of sociology is social interaction as the starting point for any relationship in a society. Sociologists who study the details of interactions in everyday life are called micro-sociologists, and sociologists who deal with the patterns of relationships between broader social sectors (the state, the economy, and even international relations) are called macro sociologists.
4.1- History of Sociology
The origin of sociology as a discipline or systematized knowledge is relatively recent. The concept of civil society as an area other than the State is found for the first time in the seventeenth century in the work of the English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke (1632-1704 English thinker, maximum representative of the philosophical doctrine of empiricism), and thinkers of the Enlightenment (in France and Scotland)
The first focus of sociology is already found both in these works and in the writings on philosophy of history by the Italian Giambattista Vico.
Regarding the study of social change, sociology is influenced by the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
4.2- Origin of the Concept of Sociology
The first definition of sociology was proposed by the French philosopher Auguste Comte. In 1838, Comte coined this term to describe his concept of a new science that would discover laws for society similar to those of nature, applying the same research methods as the physical sciences. The British philosopher Herbert Spencer adopted the term and continued Comte's work.
Today some nineteenth-century social philosophers who never considered themselves sociologists are also considered founders of this discipline. Chief among them was Karl Marx, although we must not forget the French aristocrat Count de Saint-Simon, the writer and statesman Alexis de Tocqueville and the English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill. In the nineteenth century the empirical statistical current developed that later he joined academic sociology.
4.3- Development of the Concept of Sociology
It was not until the end of the 19th century that sociology began to be recognized as an academic discipline. In France, Émile Durkheim, the intellectual heir to Saint-Simon and Comte, began teaching sociology at the universities of Bordeaux (a city in southwestern France) and Paris (the French capital). Durkheim, founder of the first school of sociological thought, emphasized the independent reality of social facts (independent of the psychological attributes of people) and tried to discover the relationships between them. Durkheim and his followers studied non-industrialized societies extensively in a similar way as later would social anthropologists.
In Germany, sociology was formally recognized as an academic discipline in the first decade of the 20th century, largely thanks to the efforts of the German economist and historian Max Weber. Faced with attempts by France and English-speaking countries to model the discipline according to the physical sciences, German sociology was based on a broad historical scholarship modulated by the influence of Marxism, very present in Weber's work. The efforts of the German philosopher Georg Simmel to define sociology as an independent discipline underscored the human approach to German philosophical idealism.
In Great Britain, sociology underwent a slow evolution. Until the 1960s, the teaching of this discipline was basically confined to one academic institution, the London School of Economics, at the University of London. British sociology combined an interest in large-scale evolutionary social change with a practical interest in administrative problems of the welfare state.
In the second half of the 20th century, when interest in the evolutionary theories of Comte and Spencer had already waned, sociology began to study certain social phenomena such as crime, marital disagreements, and the acculturation of immigrants.
The most important center for the study of sociology before World War II (1939-1945) was the University of Chicago (USA). There, the American philosopher George Herbert Mead (-1863-1931-, pragmatic philosopher and American social psychologist born in South Hadley, Massachusetts. USA. He studied at several universities in the United States and Europe and taught at the University of Chicago from 1894 until his death), trained in Germany, highlighted in his works the influence of the mind, the self and the society in human actions and interactions. These approaches (later known as 'symbolic interactionism') emphasized microsociological and psychosocial aspects (behavioral group activities. Compiler's note…).
In 1937 the American sociologist Talcott Parsons used the ideas of Durkheim, Weber and the Italian sociologist Vilfredo Pareto in his main work The Structure of Social Action, thus broadening the narrow and limited focus of American sociology, and focusing on the study of social action. At Columbia University, American sociologist Robert Merton attempted to link the theory with rigorous empirical data collection research. (Not without first declaring in his 1949 work, Social Theory and Social Structure –Social Theory and Social Structure-; “The stereotype of the social theorist who stands on the heights of the empyrean of pure ideas not contaminated with human facts,it ages as quickly as the stereotype of the research sociologist armed with a questionnaire and a pencil hunting for isolated and meaningless data. Compiler's note…)
In both the United States and Western Europe, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber are considered the most relevant classical thinkers in the sociological tradition, and their works continue to exert great influence on contemporary sociologists.
4.4- Areas of Sociology
Sociology has long been identified with a broad evolutionary reconstruction of historical change in Western societies and with the study of the relationships and interdependencies between institutions and aspects of social life (Economy, State, Family or Religion). For this reason, sociology was considered a synthesizing discipline that attempted to integrate the results of other social sciences.
Although these concepts about the scope and focus of sociology are still valid, today there is a tendency to consider them as a part of sociological theory which in turn is only one area of the science of sociology.
Sociological theory also encompasses the study and analysis of basic concepts common to all spheres of social life studied by sociologists. The emphasis placed on empirical investigations, carried out with standardized and often statistical research methods, diverted the attention of sociologists from the abstract vision of 19th century studies to more concrete areas of social reality.
These areas became subareas and specialties of sociology and today they are the object of study in academic courses, books and specialized magazines. Much of the research work of sociologists refers to one of the many subareas into which the discipline is divided. Most of these subareas share the same basic concepts and research techniques. For this reason, sociological theory and research methods are two compulsory subjects for any sociologist.
4.5- Subareas of Sociology
The oldest subareas of sociology are those that study social phenomena that have not yet been considered the object of study by other social sciences; for example, marriage and family, social inequality, social stratification, ethnic relations, social deviance, urban communities, and formal organizations.
Subareas of more recent origin are gerontology (science that deals with the elderly and especially with the social and behavioral aspects of aging from the age of 65), the sociology of sex and gender roles (human personalities by age and sex; such as man, woman, father, mother, husband, wife, young person, adolescent, son, daughter, student, professional, worker, technician, among the most).
Given that practically all human activity implies a social relationship, another of the important subareas of specialization of sociology is the study of the social structure in the different fields of human activity, such as agrarian, industrial, services, politics, law, religion, etc. education, military, occupations, professions, bureaucracy, industrial, arts, science, language (or sociolinguistics), medicine, biology (sociobiology), media and sports. These subareas differ considerably in terms of research volume and number of adherents.
Some subareas (such as the sociology of sport) are of recent origin, while others (such as the sociology of religion and law) have their roots in early sociological studies. Other subareas of little popularity have been incorporated into larger ones. Industrial sociology, for example, was a flourishing area in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, to be later absorbed by the study of complex organizations (due to their technological diversity) -Coller's Note-
In Britain, however, industrial sociology has remained an independent area of research.
A more common sociological phenomenon is the division of a subarea into subdivisions. Thus, for example, the sociology of knowledge has been divided according to the fields it covers: science, art, literature, popular culture and language.
Two subareas, demography (science that studies the size, growth and distribution of the population - because humans are an economic resource, natural consumers and producers and consumers of our social nature. (Compiler's note…) and criminology (social science that studies the nature, extent and causes of crime; characteristics of criminals and criminal organizations; problems of detention and punishment of criminals; operation of prisons and other prison institutions; rehabilitation of convicts both inside and outside prison and crime prevention), were already separate areas long before the formal discipline of sociology existed.
Formerly they used to be associated with other disciplines. In some countries demography is closely linked to economics, but in others, especially Western ones, it is seen as a subdivision of sociology or human geography.
In recent decades, criminology has become increasingly related to the study of deviations (any form of conduct other than that considered normal or acceptable from a social point of view) and its non-criminal forms of conduct.
4.6- Interdisciplinary Areas of Sociology
The oldest interdisciplinary subarea of sociology is Social Psychology (a branch of psychology that studies how the social environment directly or indirectly influences the conduct and behavior of individuals), considered an independent discipline that attracted scholars from both sociology and of psychology.
While sociologists mainly study norms, roles, social institutions, and group structures, social psychologists focus on their impact on the individual's personality.
Social psychologists trained in sociology have studied interactions in small informal groups, the distribution of beliefs and attitudes in the population, and the formation of character and aspirations under the influence of family, school, friends and other institutions. of socialization. Psychoanalytic ideas derived from the work of Sigmund Freud and other later psychoanalysts have also influenced the area of social psychology.
Comparative historical sociology, determined by the ideas of Marx and Weber, has been of great interest in recent years. Many historians have been guided by concepts derived from sociology, while some sociologists have carried out studies of comparative history on a large scale.
The barriers, previously very defined between history and sociology, have now disappeared, especially in areas such as social history, demographic change, economic and political development, the sociology of revolutions and protest movements.
4.7- Research Methods used in Sociology
Sociologists use almost all information gathering methods used by other social sciences and humanities, from advanced mathematical statistics to text interpretation.
Some sociologists also rely on statistical information regularly collected by governments, such as censuses and demographic statistics, unemployment, immigration and crime records.
The most relevant methods are the following:
4.7.1- DIRECT OBSERVATION
Direct observation of some aspects of society has a long history in sociological research. Sociologists obtain information through participant observation, that is, by being part of the studied group or by relying on selected informants from the group. Both methods have been equally used by social anthropologists.
In recent years this direct observation has been applied to smaller settings, in clinics, religious and political gatherings, bars, casinos, and classrooms (such as the work presented by Erving Goffman).
Erving Goffman was born in Mannville, Alberta, Canada on June 11, 1922, and died on November 19. from 1982, Sociologist who analyzed implicit social rules such as the interactions of "non-verbal communication" postulating a theory and different models for this type of study.
Goffman argues that the basis of social reality is everyday life and not statistical or conceptual abstractions. This theory has prompted intensive microsociological research, making use of tape recorders and video cameras in real social situations, instead of artificially created situations (see chapter 4 "Social Interaction and Everyday Life" by Anthony Giddens in his book "Sociology "Alianza Editorial, third reprint 2001, Madrid, Spain. (Compiler's Note…)
Sociologists, like historians, use second-hand sources that include medical records, personal documents produced by institutions, and medical records.
Although stereotypes have depicted sociologists as people who capture qualitative observation of human experiences and reduce it to quantitative (statistical) summaries, this is not entirely accurate. Although it is true that sociology has emphasized quantitative social research and that it has distanced itself from humanistic disciplines such as anthropology, philosophy, history and law, qualitative research has always been of great value in this science.
4.7.2- QUANTITATIVE METHODS
These increasingly sophisticated and computerized methods continue to play an important role in sociology. Quantitative sociology encompasses the collection of large volumes of descriptive statistical data and the use of sampling techniques, advanced mathematical models, and computer simulations of social processes. Quantitative analysis has become popular in recent years as a means of investigating possible causal relationships, especially in the investigation of social mobility and the acquisition of social states.
4.7.3- SURVEYS
The term survey means the collection and analysis of the responses of large groups of people, through polls and questionnaires designed to find out their opinions, attitudes and feelings towards a given topic.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the conduct of surveys and statistical methods to tabulate and interpret their results were considered the main sociological research technique. Opinion polls, especially pre-election polls or market research, were first used in the 1930s. Today, polls are tools used by politicians as well as by many organizations and companies related to public opinion.
Although polls are used by sociologists in almost all subareas of sociology, their main field of application is the study of voter behavior, ethnic prejudice, or response to the media. Despite the fact that surveys are an important sociological research tool, their use has at times been widely criticized. Direct observation of social behavior cannot be substituted for verbal responses to a standard list of questions presented by an interviewer, even though these responses are easily adapted to tabulation and manipulation.
Direct observation allows the sociologist to obtain detailed information about a certain group; sampling, however, allows you to obtain uniform but superficial information on a much larger sector of the population.
4.8- New Sociological Trends
Beginning in the 1960s, sociology became popular in Europe and the United States. In addition to the diversification of theories, new subareas emerged, such as the sociology of gender or sexual stereotypes, promoted especially by feminist movements and which includes the analysis of social roles and inequalities according to sex, the study of emotions and aging.. Older subareas such as comparative and historical sociology, applied sociology, and political sociology were revitalized. Sociologists apply their knowledge in their work as assistants, planners, educators, researchers and managers in local and national administration, in non-profit organizations and in private companies, especially in the areas of marketing, advertising, insurance,human resources and organizational analysis.
Beginning in the 1960s, sociologists interested in the study of social phenomena have intensified the use of both traditional research methods associated with other disciplines (analysis of historical material, for example), as well as the more sophisticated mathematical techniques and statistics. The development of computers and other devices for managing and storing information has facilitated the processing of sociological data today.
Due to the great diversity of research methods and theoretical approaches, sociologists working in a particular subarea have more in common with professionals in a complementary discipline than with sociologists specializing in other subareas. A sociologist of art, for example, is much closer in interests and methods to a historian or an art critic than to a sociologist who designs mathematical models of occupational mobility. Currently there are no specialized schools in the different theories, methods or subjects of sociology.
QUOTES
Empiricism, in Western philosophy, a doctrine that affirms that all knowledge is based on experience, while denying the possibility of spontaneous ideas or a priori thought; (in Latin, 'what comes before'), in philosophy it refers to the knowledge acquired without counting on experience, that is, that which is acquired through deductive reasoning. Grolier / 2005
Metaphysics, branch of philosophy whose study focuses on the nature of ultimate reality. Metaphysics is divided into ontology (From the gr. Ὄν, ὄντος, the being, and -logy. F. Part of metaphysics that deals with being in general and its transcendental properties; adj. That communicates or extends to other things; In Kantianism, it is said of what refers to reality but exceeds the limits of experience), which analyzes the fundamental types of entities that make up the Universe, and in metaphysics itself, which describes the most general features of reality. Together, these general features define the reality that may perhaps characterize any Universe. Since the former are not defining of the latter, but are common to all possible worlds, metaphysics can achieve the highest degree of abstraction. The ontology,instead, as it investigates the ultimate divisions within this Universe, it is more related to the physical plane of human experience. British / 2005
Theology, a discipline that tries to express the contents of a religious faith presented as a coherent set of propositions. The word is used to refer to the Christian faith, although in some cases it is used by analogy to refer to other creeds, but it was Christianity that gave it its current meaning. It has a more limited scope than faith, because while faith is an integral attitude of the individual and encompasses will and feeling, theology tries to express in words the elements of belief that are contained in faith implicitly or explicitly. However, not every verbal expression of faith can be considered theology. The first verbalizations of faith were naive and mythological. Theology arises from reflection on these first naive manifestations. For example,In the New Testament the disciple Thomas says to Jesus: "My Lord and my God!", but there was a long process of reflection and speculation between this simple confession and the theological statement, made by the Council of Nicaea (325), that Jesus Christ is "one in substance with the Father." This example demonstrates the tendency to move from concrete language ('Lord') to conceptual language ('substance'). Although theology deals with God, many theologians maintain that the concepts held about him are by definition insufficient. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is often described in negative terms, as invisible and incorporeal. In order for this negative theology not to become a true agnosticism, it has to be completed with other indirect ways of referring to God (which implies analogy,symbolism and metaphor) so that the language of theology is not conceptual in the strict sense, retaining in its place some images from the preological times of religious belief. A thorough analysis of theological language is an essential prelude to the theological adventure. A language appears that uses images as concepts alike and that is both critical and confessional. Encarta / 2005
Augusto Comte, was born in Montpellier (France) on January 19, 1798. From an early age he showed a strong rejection of traditional Catholicism and monarchical doctrines. He managed to enter as a professor of mathematics at the École Polytechnique de Paris in 1814, but in 1816 he was expelled from this center for having participated in a student revolt. For some years he was the private secretary of the socialist theorist Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Count of Saint-Simon, whose influence would be reflected in some of his works. The last years of the French thinker were marked by mental alienation, due to crises of madness in which he plunged for long periods of time. He died on September 5, 1857 in Paris. Encyclopedia Britannica / 2002
David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher, historian and economist. His thought exerted a notable influence on the development of skepticism and empiricism. Encarta Encyclopedia 2004
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Count of Saint-Simon (1760-1825), French socialist, born in Paris. At age 16 he traveled to the United States to fight in the American War of Independence. When he returned to France, he offered his support to the Revolution, renouncing his title. He is considered one of the founders and theorists of modern socialism. His writings contain reasoning in favor of a social organization, headed by wise men and based on industry, that benefits equally all the components of society. After his death, Saint-Simon's disciples organized and popularized his ideas, and his principles and theories were called Saint-Simonism. His main work is The New Christianity (1825). Encarta / 2004
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher, considered by many to be the most influential thinker of the modern era. Born in Königsberg (present-day Russian city of Kaliningrad) on April 22, 1724, he studied at the Collegium Fredericianum from 1732 to 1740, the year he entered the university in his hometown. His primary education was based mainly on the study of the classics, while his higher studies were on Physics and Mathematics. Encarta / 2004
Transcendentalism or Transcendentalism, in philosophy and literature, believe in a higher reality than that acquired through the experience of the senses or a higher class of knowledge than that achieved by reason. Almost all transcendental doctrines derive from the division of reality into a realm of spirit and a realm of matter. Such a division identifies many of the great religions of the world. Encarta / 2004
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), British philosopher and economist, son of James Mill; his work had a great impact on 19th century British thought, not only in philosophy and economics but also in the areas of political science, logic and ethics.
Born in London on May 20, 1806. Encarta / 2004
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), English social theorist, considered the father of evolutionary philosophy. Spencer noted for his research on social change from an evolutionary perspective Encarta Encyclopedia 2004
Ernst Mach (1838-1916), Austrian physicist and philosopher, born in Turany (now the Czech Republic). He studied at the University of Vienna and was a professor at the universities of Graz, Prague, and Vienna from 1864 to 1901, the year in which he retired from academic life. Mach thought that science should be restricted to the description of phenomena that could be perceived by the senses. His writings went a long way in freeing science from metaphysical concepts and helped establish a scientific methodology that paved the way for the theory of relativity. Encarta Encyclopedia 2004
Materialism, in Western philosophy, the doctrine that all existence can be reduced to matter or to an attribute or effect of materiality. According to this doctrine, matter is the ultimate reality and the phenomenon of consciousness is explained by physiochemical changes in the nervous system (physicochemical, based on techniques derived from physical science, although focused on problems of a biological nature). Materialism is therefore the opposite of idealism, which asserts the supremacy of the mind and for which matter is characterized as an aspect or objectification of the mind. Encarta Encyclopedia 2004
Idealism, theory of reality and knowledge that attributes a key role to the mind in the structure of the perceived world. Throughout the history of philosophy, different applications and definitions can be distinguished. In its most radical and often rejected form, it is equivalent to solipsism, a point of view that affirms that reality is derived from the activity of one's own mind and that nothing exists outside of oneself. However, in a usual way, the idealist fully recognizes the external or natural world, and avoids claiming that it can be reduced to mere thinking. For idealists, on the other hand, the mind acts and is in fact capable of making things exist that would not otherwise be possible such as law, religion,art or mathematics and its claims are more radical in stating that objects perceived by a person are affected to a certain extent by mental activity: if a study of the real world claims to be scientific it is essential to take this fact into account. Encarta / 2004
Cultural evolutionism, an anthropological term that in a unilinear sense is outlined before Darwin, but that ultimately derives from the biological evolutionism that emerged in the late 19th century. In its classical sense, a theory according to which societies 'must' go through successive stages of development. In a more current sense, the obligatory nature of the transit by stages is eliminated, but the existence of some kind of differentiation is contradictorily maintained. Encarta / 2004
Mechanicism (in Greek, macana, machine), in Western philosophy, a term that designates any concept according to which the universe is explicable in terms of mechanical processes. Since these mechanical processes are best understood through their motions, mechanism often involves the attempt to show that the universe is nothing more than a vast moving system. In this general sense, mechanism is almost equivalent to materialism. The term mechanism, however, is often used as a synonym for (philosophical) naturalism, a doctrine according to which the phenomena of nature are not regulated by divine or supernatural intelligence but are explained exactly by the mechanical laws of chemistry and of physics. In the latter sense, the usual antonym of mechanism is teleology,sometimes called finalism, a doctrine for which nature and creation are ordered by a divine plan and fulfill ends marked by the creative divinity. British / 2002
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), French writer, thinker and politician. A distinguished representative of political liberalism, his works became classic treatises on political science. Charles Alexis Henri Clérel, lord of Tocqueville, was born in Verneuil on July 29, 1805. Encarta / 2004
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Austrian philosopher (British nationalized), one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, who was recognized especially for his contribution to the movement known as analytical philosophy. Encarta Encyclopedia / 2004
Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl of Russell (1872-1970), British philosopher, mathematician, and writer, winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature. His emphasis on logical analysis had a marked impact on the course of 20th-century philosophy. Born in Trelleck (Wales) on May 18, 1872, he studied Mathematics and Philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge University from 1890 to 1894. Encarta Encyclopedia / 2004
George Edward Moore (1873-1958), British philosopher, known for his role in the development of contemporary Western philosophy, his contribution to ethical theory, and his defense of philosophical realism. Born in Upper Norwood, London, on November 4, 1873, Moore studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University. Bertrand Russell, who was his companion, encouraged him to study philosophy. Moore then lived for a few years as a private student, supported by an inheritance, and in 1911 he began teaching at Cambridge, retiring in 1939. He died on October 24, 1958 in Cambridge. Encilopedia Encarta / 2004
Karl Marx (1818-1883), German philosopher, creator together with Friedrich Engels of scientific socialism (modern communism) and one of the most influential thinkers in contemporary history. Marx was born in Trier on May 5, 1818, and studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Jena. Encarta Encyclopedia / 2004
Weber, Max (1864-1920), German economist and sociologist, known for his systematic analysis of world history and the development of Western civilization. Weber was born on April 21, 1864 in Erfurt, and studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Göttingen. A lawyer in Berlin (1893), he was later Professor of Economics at the universities of Freiburg (1894), Heidelberg (1897) and Munich (1919). He was editor, for some years, of the Archive für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, (for sociology and social policy) German sociology journal. Encarta Encyclopedia / 2004
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979), American sociologist, his theories about the mechanisms of social action and the organizational principles underlying social structures contributed to the development of sociology. Born in Colorado Springs (Colorado), he studied at Amherst College, the London School of Economics and the University of Heidelberg (Germany). In 1931 he gave his first sociology classes at Harvard University (USA) and in 1944 he was appointed professor. Two years later he held the position of president of the Department of Social Relations of that university. Considered a functionalist, he thought that society tends towards self-regulation and self-sufficiency by satisfying certain basic needs, which include the preservation of social order, the supply of goods and services,and the protection of children. According to functionalist theory, society is an organism and each part fulfills a purpose or performs a function. All members of society cooperate to meet their needs because they have common goals and values. Among Parsons' works are: The Structure of Social Action (1937), The Social System (1951) and Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives (1966). He was one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century, but he has been criticized for not paying enough attention to social change and the conflicts associated with it. Encarta / 2004All members of society cooperate to meet their needs because they have common goals and values. Among Parsons' works are: The Structure of Social Action (1937), The Social System (1951) and Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives (1966). He was one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century, but he has been criticized for not paying enough attention to social change and the conflicts associated with it. Encarta / 2004All members of society cooperate to meet their needs because they have common goals and values. Among Parsons' works are: The Structure of Social Action (1937), The Social System (1951) and Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives (1966). He was one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century, but he has been criticized for not paying enough attention to social change and the conflicts associated with it. Encarta / 2004
Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald (1881-1955), British social anthropologist, born in Birmingham and trained at the University of Cambridge. He is considered one of the founders of functionalist anthropology. He was a disciple of the French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who argued that scientific methods should be applied to the study of societies and their shared values. His first book, The Islanders of the Andaman (east of India in the Bay of Bengal), was published in 1922 and collects the anthropological research carried out on the inhabitants of these islands in the southwest of Indochina. He also studied the kinship systems of Australian aboriginal societies, describing his own conclusions and the discoveries of other researchers in the famous work The Social Organization of Australian Tribes (1931).Radcliffe-Brown was a professor at the Universities of Cape Town, Sydney and Chicago, before becoming the first Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford in 1936. His last work Structure and Function in Primitive Societies (1952) was a general exposition of his functionalist theories. Encarta / 2004
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-), French anthropologist and main defender of the structuralist approach in social anthropology. He was born in Brussels, but was educated in France, where he studied philosophy and law at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1934 he traveled to Brazil as a professor of sociology at the University of São Paulo, where he carried out fieldwork for three years on the indigenous communities of Mato Grosso and the Amazon. In 1942 he moved to the United States as visiting professor at the New School for Social Research in New York (New School for Social Research); He was appointed associate director of the Musée de l'Homme (museum of man) in Paris in 1949 and later director of studies at the Practical School of Higher Studies at the Sorbonne (1950-1974).In 1959 Lévi-Strauss worked as a professor of social anthropology at the Collège de France (College of France) and at the same time directed the Laboratory of Social Anthropology. Member of the French Academy, he was awarded the Legion of Honor. Lévi-Strauss enjoys a prominent place among researchers who claim that the different cultures of human beings, their behaviors, linguistic schemes and myths reveal the existence of patterns common to all human life. His books include: Elementary structures of kinship (1949), his autobiography Structural Anthropology (1958), Tristes Tropics (1955) and Wild Thought (1962). In 1964 he published the first volume of Mythologics, which includes: The raw and the cooked (1964), From honey to ashes (1966),The origin of the ways in the table (1968) and The naked man (1971). Encarta / 2004
Nicolas Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian historian and political philosopher, whose amoral but influential writings on political skill made his name synonymous with cunning and duplicity. Born in Florence on May 3, 1469, Machiavelli began working as a civil servant and began to stand out when the republic was proclaimed in Florence in 1498. He was secretary of the second chancellery in charge of Foreign Affairs and War of the republic. Machiavelli thus carried out important diplomatic missions before the French king (1504, 1510-1511), the Holy See (1506) and the emperor (1507-1508). In the course of his diplomatic missions within Italy, he met many Italian rulers, and had the opportunity to study their political tactics, especially those of the ecclesiastical and military César Borgia,that at that time it tried to extend its possessions in central Italy. Between 1503 and 1506 Machiavelli reorganized the military defenses of the republic of Florence. Although mercenary armies were common at that time, he preferred to have local troops recruited to ensure a permanent and patriotic defense. In 1512, when the Medici, a Florentine family, regained power in Florence and the republic disintegrated, Machiavelli was deprived of his position and imprisoned for a time for alleged conspiracy. After his release, he retired to his estates near Florence, where he wrote his most important works. Despite his attempts to win favor with the Medici, he never again held a prominent position in the government. When the republic was temporarily reestablished in 1527,many Republicans were suspicious of his pro-Medici tendencies. He died in Florence on June 21 of that same year. Encarta / 2004
Charles-Louis de Montesquieu (1689-1755), French writer and jurist born in the Château de La Brède and universally known for his Persian Letters and The Spirit of the Laws, studied at the Juilly School of Oratory and later in Bordeaux. In 1714 he became advisor to the Parliament of Bordeaux, of which he was president between 1716 and 1728. Montesquieu first stood out as a writer with his Persian Letters (1721). In this work, using the epistolary relationship between two Persian aristocrats traveling through Europe, Montesquieu makes a satire of the French politicians of his time, as well as of the social conditions, ecclesiastical affairs and literature of the time. The book quickly gained enormous popularity. The Spanish writer José Cadalso had him as a model for his Moroccan Letters.It was one of the first works of the Enlightenment, which, with its criticism of French institutions during the monarchy of the House of Bourbon, already heralded the germ of the French Revolution. The fame that Montesquieu acquired with it opened the doors of the French Academy in 1728. His second outstanding work was Considerations on the causes of the greatness and decadence of the Romans (1734), one of the first important works in the Philosophy of the history. But his masterpiece is The Spirit of Laws (1748), which is among the three main works of Political Theory. In it, the author analyzes the three main forms of government (republic, monarchy and despotism) and establishes the relationships that exist between geographical and climatic areas and the general circumstances and forms of government that occur.It also maintains that there must be a separation and a balance between the different powers in order to guarantee individual rights and freedoms. Throughout Latin America, Montesquieu's texts were read with enthusiasm in the early 19th century. In the Río de la Plata, for example, both the Semanario de Agricultura newspaper (1802) and the Correo de Comercio (1810, directed by Manuel Belgrano (1770-1820), an Argentine politician and soldier, a prominent independentist. He was born in Buenos Aires and studied law in Spain.In 1794, Belgrano became secretary of the Consulate of Buenos Aires, a position from which he firmly promoted the generalization of education and economic reforms), they were means of disseminating the ideas of Montesquieu and Rousseau (Jean -Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), philosopher, political and social theorist,French musician and botanist, one of the most eloquent writers of the Enlightenment), and they were the ferment of what would later become the May Revolution of 1810, the beginning of the emancipation of Latin America. Before that date, Montesquieu's books were read in secret and in secret, although his followers did not hesitate to make public their fury for the principles of the Physiocrats and free traders. Encarta / 2004
Age of Enlightenment or Enlightenment, a term used to describe trends in thought and literature in Europe and throughout America during the 18th century prior to the French Revolution. The phrase was used very frequently by the writers of this period themselves, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science and respect for humanity. Grolier / 2004
Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), British anthropologist of Polish origin, considered the founder of the functional school of anthropology, argued that human institutions should be analyzed in the general context of their culture. Born in Krakow, Poland, he studied at the universities of Krakow, Leipzig and London. In 1914 he participated in an expedition to New Guinea and Melanesia, and for the next four years he devoted himself to studying the peoples of the Trobriand Islands. Malinowski began teaching at the University of London in 1924 and was appointed professor of social anthropology in 1927. Between 1939 and 1942 he was visiting professor at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut. USA). His research on the formation of human culture led him to carry out numerous studies in Africa,Latin America and some parts of the United States of America. For Malinowski, the notion of context and interdependence of social facts are fundamental for the study of cultures. He wrote several books on sociocultural anthropology, among which are: The family among the aborigines of Australia (1913), Crime and custom in savage society (1926), Sex and repression in primitive society (1927), The cultivation of the land and agricultural rites (1935), Coral Gardens and their magic (1935). Some of his works were published after his death, such as: Dynamics of the change of culture (1945) and Magic, science and religion (1948) Encarta / 2004He wrote several books on sociocultural anthropology, among which are: The family among the aborigines of Australia (1913), Crime and custom in savage society (1926), Sex and repression in primitive society (1927), The cultivation of the land and agricultural rites (1935), Coral Gardens and their magic (1935). Some of his works were published after his death, such as: Dynamics of the change of culture (1945) and Magic, science and religion (1948) Encarta / 2004He wrote several books on sociocultural anthropology, among which are: The family among the aborigines of Australia (1913), Crime and custom in savage society (1926), Sex and repression in primitive society (1927), The cultivation of the land and agricultural rites (1935), Coral Gardens and their magic (1935). Some of his works were published after his death, such as: Dynamics of the change of culture (1945) and Magic, science and religion (1948) Encarta / 2004Dynamics of Culture Change (1945) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948) Encarta / 2004Dynamics of Culture Change (1945) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948) Encarta / 2004
Robert King Merton (1910-), a contemporary American sociologist, made important contributions to the social theory of functionalism. Born in Philadelphia, he received his doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University in 1936. Professor at Tulane and professor of sociology at Columbia University, he participated in the Bureau of Applied Social Research at this university. Merton proposes functional analysis as the basis for the study of society, but from a 'relative' point of view. Opposed to the 'absolute' functionalism of Bronislaw Malinowski, it shows that it is excessive to maintain that every cultural or social element performs a function and is, therefore, indispensable. Merton introduces the concept of 'dysfunction', contrary to function,as "one that hinders the adaptation or adjustment of a particular social system", and makes an interesting analysis of anomie in society. Likewise, it divides the functions into 'manifest' and 'latent': the manifest are the functions understood and desired by the participants of the system, and the latent functions are those that are neither understood nor desired. In the field of methodology, she is dedicated to elaborating what she calls 'medium-range theories', restricted theories applied to specific sectors of social organization. Encarta / 2004In the field of methodology, he is dedicated to elaborating what he calls 'medium-range theories', restricted theories applied to specific sectors of social organization. Encarta / 2004In the field of methodology, he is dedicated to elaborating what he calls 'medium-range theories', restricted theories applied to specific sectors of social organization. Encarta / 2004
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher and political thinker, whose mechanistic and naturalistic theories provoked distrust and controversy in political and ecclesiastical circles. From 1646 to 1648 he served as professor of mathematics to the Prince of Wales, later King Charles II, who was also living in exile in Paris. Hobbes' best-known work, Leviathan (1651), is a vigorous exposition of his doctrine of sovereignty. In 1660, when the monarchical restoration took place in England and his former student acceded to the throne, Hobbes again had his favor. Hobbes's philosophy represents a reaction against the freedom of conscience of the Reformation which, he claimed, led to anarchy. Supposedly it supposed the rupture of English philosophy with scholasticism,and he established the foundations of modern scientific sociology by trying to apply to human beings, as authors and matter of society, the principles of physical science that govern the material world. Hobbes elaborated his politics and his ethics from a naturalistic base: he maintained that people fear each other and for this reason they must submit to the absolute supremacy of the state in both secular and religious matters. Encarta / 2004
Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), Italian philosopher of history. Born in Naples, he was the son of a low-income bookseller. He studied law at the university in his hometown, where he was a professor of rhetoric from 1699 to 1741. From 1735, and until his death, he was the historian of King Carlos VII of Naples (from 1759 King of Spain with the name of Carlos III). In 1725 he published in Naples his best-known work, Principi di una scienza nuova d'intorno alla natura delle nazioni, per la queale si ritruovano i principi di altro sistema del diritto naturale delle genti (Principles of a new science around the nature of nations, for those who discover the principles of another system of people's natural law), better known by the name of New Science.In this book he expounded a spiral theory of the different historical periods, according to which human societies succeed one another through a series of cyclical stages (divine, heroic and human). In the first stage ("ages of the gods") appear religion, family and other basic institutions; in the next ("age of heroes") society is dominated, by force, by an aristocratic class; In the last stage (“age of men”), individuals, thanks to reason, rebel and achieve equality, but, in the course of the process, society begins to decompose and returns to the beginning of the cycle. Vico influenced many later social theorists, such as Montesquieu, Auguste Comte, and Karl Marx. Grolier / 2004according to which human societies succeed each other through a series of cyclical stages (divine, heroic and human). In the first stage ("ages of the gods") appear religion, family and other basic institutions; in the next ("age of heroes") society is dominated, by force, by an aristocratic class; In the last stage (“age of men”), individuals, thanks to reason, rebel and achieve equality, but, in the course of the process, society begins to decompose and returns to the beginning of the cycle. Vico influenced many later social theorists, such as Montesquieu, Auguste Comte, and Karl Marx. Grolier / 2004according to which human societies succeed each other through a series of cyclical stages (divine, heroic and human). In the first stage ("ages of the gods") appear religion, family and other basic institutions; in the next ("age of heroes") society is dominated, by force, by an aristocratic class; In the last stage (“age of men”), individuals, thanks to reason, rebel and achieve equality, but, in the course of the process, society begins to decompose and returns to the beginning of the cycle. Vico influenced many later social theorists, such as Montesquieu, Auguste Comte, and Karl Marx. Grolier / 2004in the next ("age of heroes") society is dominated, by force, by an aristocratic class; In the last stage (“age of men”), individuals, thanks to reason, rebel and achieve equality, but, in the course of the process, society begins to decompose and returns to the beginning of the cycle. Vico influenced many later social theorists, such as Montesquieu, Auguste Comte, and Karl Marx. Grolier / 2004in the next ("age of heroes") society is dominated, by force, by an aristocratic class; In the last stage (“age of men”), individuals, thanks to reason, rebel and achieve equality, but, in the course of the process, society begins to decompose and returns to the beginning of the cycle. Vico influenced many later social theorists, such as Montesquieu, Auguste Comte, and Karl Marx. Grolier / 2004
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), German philosopher, maximum representative of idealism and one of the most influential theorists in universal thought since the 19th century. In 1816 he accepted the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and, shortly after, systematically published his philosophical thoughts in his Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1817). In 1818 he entered the University of Berlin, an institution in which he exhibited and taught the whole of his thought until his death, which occurred in that same city on November 14, 1831. Hegel's purpose was to develop a philosophical system that could encompass the ideas of his predecessors and create a conceptual framework under which both the past and the future could be understood from rational theoretical assumptions.Such a purpose required taking into account, first, reality itself. Thus, Hegel conceived it as a whole that, with a global character, constituted the subject of study of philosophy. He referred to this reality, or process of total development of everything that exists, as the absolute, or absolute spirit. For Hegel, the task of philosophy is to explain the development of the absolute spirit. This implied, first, to clarify the internal rational structure of the absolute; second, to show how the absolute manifests itself in nature and in human history; and thirdly, to explain the teleological nature of the absolute, that is, to show the destination or the purpose towards which it is directed. As regards the rational structure of the absolute, Hegel,following the classical Greek philosopher Parmenides (-c. 515-c. 440 BC- Greek philosopher, considered by many scholars as the most important member of the Eleatic School, a Greek current of philosophy that had its heyday in the 6th and 5th centuries BC that he supported the principle that: "only through philosophical reflection, they affirmed, can the ultimate truth be reached" for which he affirmed: "what is rational is real and what is real is rational"). This must be understood in terms of his later claim that the absolute has to be considered as thought, spirit or mind, in a process of continuous self-development. The logic that governs this development process is dialectic. By itself it constitutes a method of thought. The dialectical method is based on the fact that the movement, process or progress,it is the result of the conflict between opposites. Traditionally, this dimension of Hegelian thought has been analyzed in terms of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Although Hegel did not use these concepts, they are very useful to understand his vision of dialectics.
The thesis can be an idea or a historical movement. Such an idea or movement has deficiencies that give rise to an opposition or antithesis, which generates internal conflict. As a result of this conflict, a third point of view appears, a synthesis that overcomes the conflict by reconciling on a higher plane the truth contained in the thesis and the antithesis. This synthesis becomes a new thesis that generates another antithesis, giving rise to a new synthesis, thus conforming the process of intellectual or historical development. Hegel thought that the absolute spirit itself (the sum total of reality) develops along this path towards an ultimate end or a higher goal. British / 2004
Georg Simmel (1858-1918), German philosopher and sociologist of Jewish descent. He spent most of his career as a self-employed reader in his native Berlin, but in 1914 he became a professor at the University of Strasbourg, Alsace (north-eastern region of France) Simmel's work encompasses an immense range of interests: philosophy of history, sociology, ethics, art and metaphysics. According to Simmel, history studies the content of our experience, while sociology deals with forms of human interaction, such as: 'superiority and subordination, competition, the division of labor, the formation of groups, the representation and internal solidarity associated with exclusivity abroad. However,His influence is due less to his systematic thought than to his acute essays on the most diverse subjects, such as the foreigner, adventure, secrecy and the secret society, the aesthetic meaning of the face, the loneliness of the individual, the dyad (beings or objects especially linked to each other) and the triad (set of three elements, symptoms or characteristics, which define a pathological or unhealthy process). His ethical views were influenced by Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, novelist, playwright and scientist and one of the leading figures in German literature) and Nietzsche (Friedrich)the dyad (beings or objects specially linked to each other) and the triad (a set of three elements, symptoms or characteristics that define a pathological or unhealthy process). His ethical views were influenced by Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, novelist, playwright and scientist and one of the leading figures in German literature) and Nietzsche (Friedrich)the dyad (beings or objects specially linked to each other) and the triad (a set of three elements, symptoms or characteristics that define a pathological or unhealthy process). His ethical views were influenced by Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, novelist, playwright and scientist and one of the leading figures in German literature) and Nietzsche (Friedrich)
Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher, poet and philologist, whose thought is considered one of the most radical, rich and suggestive of the 20th century): for him the perfection of the individual was an objective value, independent of the importance it had for others or your own happiness. His vision of death in Concepción de la vida influenced Martin Heidegger (-1889-1976-, German philosopher. Founder of the so-called existential phenomenology, he is considered one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century. The fact that we know that we are going to die, but let us not know when, it is something inherent in our whole life; the death of individuals allows us to extract the values that they embodied in the course of their lives. Death is like the final point that conforms and concludes a sentence. works include:Introduction to Moral Science (1892-1893), Philosophy of Money (1900), Sociology (1908) and The Conflict of Modern Culture (1918) Encarta / 2004
Welfare state, project and model of society that constitutes the main programmatic point of a large number of current ideologies and political parties. The concept, which emerged in the second half of the 20th century, starts from the premise that the government of a State must execute certain social policies that guarantee and ensure the 'well-being' of citizens in certain frameworks such as health, education and, in general, the entire spectrum (in Sociology the meaning of Chemistry is adapted, which is the variety of elements that make up an organization in motion. Note from the compiler, Lic. Otto René López Orellana) possible of social security. These government programs, financed from state budgets, must be free of charge, as they are possible thanks to funds from the public treasury,paid for from the fiscal impositions with which the State taxes the citizens themselves. In this sense, the welfare state does nothing but generate a process of redistribution of wealth, since, in principle, the lower classes of a society are the most benefited by social coverage that they could not achieve with their own income. In general, almost all political groups in developed societies exercise policies aimed at achieving a certain welfare state. Despite this,Yes, there are differences between the policies applied in this sense by the parties with a more conservative liberal tendency (which understand the welfare state as the guarantee that no individual subsists below a minimum threshold of quality of life) and the socialist or social democratic formations (for which the welfare state means the possibility of building a more just and caring society) British / 2004
Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), Italian economist and sociologist, tried to establish a theory of social systems that would explain their stability. Born in Paris, Vilfredo Samaso, Marquis de Pareto, was the son of an Italian aristocrat and a French mother. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Turin (Italy) and in 1869 he received his doctorate and began working as a consulting engineer on the Italian railways. Later, he went on to direct an important group of iron mines owned by one of the great Italian banks. From this new position he was involved in the controversies about the Free Trade economy (non-intervention of the State government) and Protectionism (economic policy that advocates the safeguarding of national economic activity against international competition,through the establishment of foreign trade control procedures); defending free trade. It was at this time that he began to write about economics and study politics and philosophy. In 1893 he accepted the chair of political economy at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), where he replaced the French Léon Walras (-1834-1910- French economist born in Evreux. Professor at the University of Lausanne, he denounced economic theories from 1870 onwards liberals that were taught in universities and that he considered insufficient to explain the economic problems of his time, introducing mathematical calculation in the study of economics) and in which he remained until his retirement. Pareto was one of the most outstanding economists of his generation and devoted much of his time to teaching. In your first job,Political economy course (1896-1897), develops Walras's thesis on the equilibrium of economic systems and a law of income distribution that caused an enormous controversy, by wanting to demonstrate, mathematically, that the relationship between income and wealth is deliberate and not haphazard. In the last years of his life, he became interested in sociology, considering that economics needed this discipline to study those non-logical and scientific elements contained in systems of thought. In 1916 he wrote his best-known book, A Treatise on General Sociology, in which he studies the nature of the relationships between individual and collective action. He became famous for his highly controversial theory of the movement of elites in social change and their relationship to the masses. His work has been associated,not with too much justice, to the development of fascism in Italy. Disillusioned by the inefficiency and corruption of the liberals, and after Mussolini's triumph in 1922, Pareto collaborated that year with the dictator; However, shortly before his death he fell out with the regime for lack of freedom. Vilfredo Pareto died in the Swiss city of Geneva. Encarta / 2004
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Austrian physician and neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis - a name given to a specific method for investigating unconscious mental processes and an approach to psychotherapy. The term also refers to the systematic structuring of psychoanalytic theory, based on the relationship between conscious and unconscious mental processes- Freud's main contribution was the creation of a radically new approach to understanding the human personality, by demonstrating the existence and power of the unconscious.Grolier / 2004
Non-Verbal Communication: John M. Dyckman Clinical Psychoanalyst of the Kaiser Hospital Foundation in Vallejo, California USA, defines this composite concept as the transfer of information between people without the use of words; Non-verbal communication takes place through facial expressions, head movements, body positions and gestures, tones of voice, dressing, and scent alike. Although some people, such as actors and politicians, make deliberate use of non-verbal communication, people need to be unaware when sending a message to communicate non-verbally. Reciprocally, the receiver of a non-verbal message may be unaware of it and aware only of feeling a certain way about the sender. Non-verbal messages, being less under conscious command,They can also betray differences between spoken words and a person's true feelings. Grolier / 04
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