Sociology 2270A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Macrosociology, Egotism, Polytheism
25 Apr 2018
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First person to use the term sociology. Enormous influence on spencer and durkheim: developed positivism (scientific view) to combat the enlightenment. Believed the study of sociology should be scientific. Critical of thinkers who spawned from the enlightenment. He did(cid:374)"t (cid:271)elie(cid:448)e the(cid:455) (cid:272)ould tur(cid:374) (cid:271)a(cid:272)k to the middle ages, a(cid:374)d de(cid:448)eloped sophisti(cid:272)ated theoretical system. Created the term social physics, naming it to model hard science. Later called sociology: social statistics, social dynamics (more important) Believed intellectual disorder to be the cause of social disorder governing social/physical world: little reason for revolution. His sociology focused on larger units like the family. He was the forefront in positivistic sociology. Laws can be derived from research or theories. Positivism: search for invariant laws of both natural and social world. Comte is a realist: believes there is a real world (biological/sociological) that scientists must research.
