sociology as a science began to develop in the 19th century thanks to the work of French scientist Auguste Comte.The founder of sociology, Auguste Comte first stated the need to create a science of society.He is the founder of the positivist direction.
Stages of Development Sociology
Problems associated with social order, saw Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece, T. Moore, Francis Bacon and Machiavelli in the Renaissance, Thomas Hobbes, John. Locke, F. Rousseau, Montesquieu in modern times.
In the 19th century sociology begins to develop rapidly.There are works of Herbert Spencer, Comte, Marx, Engels.This time can be called the first stage in the development of social science (1840-1880 gg.).
second phase (1890-1920 gg.), The evolution of the science of society has been associated with the development of methods of sociological analysis and the development of categorical apparatus.The positivist conception of Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte continued to develop in the work of French scientist Emile Durkheim, the author of the theory, based on the functional analysis of social institutions.Around this time starts to develop a scientific school of Max Weber, the founder of the "understanding" sociology, which, in his view, must understand social action and try to explain its development and results.
third phase (1920 to 1960) is characterized by the beginning of active development of sociology in the United States, with its empirical component.The most important at this stage is the theory of T. Parsons, which allows us to represent society as a kind of dynamic functional structure.Charles Mills has created the so-called "new sociology", which gave the development of the sociology of action and critical.
fourth stage in the development of science, which began in the 1960s., Represented a wide variety of approaches, concepts, a number of authors: Robert Merton's theory, ethnomethodology H. Garfinkel, the theory of symbolic interactionism G. Mead and G. Bloomer,conflict theory encoder and others.
Modern sociological theories
the first to apply the structural-functionalist analysis to the study of society was A. Radcliffe-Brown.He viewed society as a superorganism that has all the necessary conditions for the existence of what, in fact, there are social institutions.B. Malinowski said the concept of function and applied functionalist approach to the study of culture.Parsons considered the founder of systemic-functional concept.It is further developed by R. Merton, who introduced the concept of theories of the middle level.
Modern sociological theories also include theory and symbolic interactionism, which develops J. G. Mead and Charles Cooley.Personality is believed Charles Cooley, is the result of communication.Personality of man becomes through interaction (interaction) between individuals.J. G. Mead suggested the idea that the individual, as well as social action should be formed with the help of characters acquired by individuals in the process of socialization.
Modern sociological theories can not be imagined today without phenomenological sociology A. Schyutsa, who says that there are phenomena directly in the mind and are not related to logical conclusions.P. Berger and T. Lukman became known for his work on the social construction of reality.According to Berger and T. Luckmann society can exist as both objective and subjective reality.
leading representatives of neo-Marxism was Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Habermas, E. Fromm.Basic methodological principles of Marxists: commitment to humanism, positivism, with its denial of the separation of facts and values, the liberation of the individual from a wide variety of forms of exploitation.
Bourdieu, the founder of the constructive structuralism, attempted to avoid the confrontation of theoretical and empirical sociology.
These are the main contemporary sociological theories.
