SOC 302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Auguste Comte, Southern Sociological Society, Social Fact
Document Summary
By next tuesday, we have enough info to write our first memo. Herbert spencer used a scientific theory for his theory of social darwinism. Durkheim"s rigorous analytical techniques (statistical and comparison) intended to make sociology actually scientific. Durkheim"s mentor august comte thought sociology was the logical extension of natural science. Social facts: ways of acting, thinking, and feeling, external to the individual, and endowed with a power of coercion, by which they control him (durkheim pg 3) Similar to freud who identified internal, invisible forces influencing us. Durheim identified external invisible forces influencing us. Intellectuals found both ideas shocking and even offensive. Collective representations: religious beliefs and institutions, traditions, cultural ideas (legends, myths, etc) Social morphologies (large scale echanges): demographic changes, population distribution, ecological. Religion, language, economy, political system, common practices. Social facts are emergent phenomena from the collectivity of individuals. Society is more than simply a collection of individuals.
