SYG 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Social Darwinism, Harriet Martineau, Proletariat
16 Jan 2018
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Theories: propositions that seek to explain the social world and help to make predictions about future events. Typically address social processes at either the microsociological level or macrosociological level. Auguste comte: sociology needed to be treated like any other scientific discipline. He laid groundwork for future sociologists and helped establish the discipline. Harriet martineau: social activist who traveled the united states and wrote about social changes that were radical for this time period. Martineau translated comte"s work into english, making his ideas more accessible to america and england. Believed in evolution and coined the phrase survival of the fittest. Believed that societies evolve through time by adapting to their changing environment. His philosophy is often referred to as social darwinism. Max weber: studies how society was becoming industrialized. Rationalization: applying economic logic to all human activity. Disenchantment: the result of dehumanizing features of modern society.
