Development And History Of Sociology- Detailed History Of Sociology

The origin of sociology 

in the United States. — Why sociology arose in the United States following the Civil War. Character of early sociology in the United States. Characterization of the sociology of the pioneers Ward, Sumner, Small, Giddings, Ross, Cooley, Thomas. Tendencies in early American sociology. Development of sociology in the United States since the pioneers. Relation of sociology to social work. Sociology as a university subject. Hesitancy to use the term “sociology” in university curricula. The progress of sociology. ——— Sociology is usually supposed to have begun with Comte. As a matter of fact, however, there were a number of presociological movements, in which certain men manifested the beginning of the sociological attitude. To a sociologist it looks as if those responsible for the abolition of slavery in the British colonies had sociological insight. Chalmers, in his objective study of dependency in his parish in Edinburgh, and in his policy based on that study, showed a sociological attitude. Pinel, who as the result of his study of the results of the traditional methods of treating the insane, struck off the restraints and adopted humane methods, attacked the problem as a modern sociologist. Beccaria, in so far as he faced frankly the effects of age-old methods of treating the criminal and suggested other methods based upon a study of results, was a sociologist. The striking thing about all of these examples is that the men mentioned adopted a new attitude in the study of social problems. A frank skepticism characterized them. They refused to accept the traditional attitudes and policies. They questioned the working of the dominant policies. They sought to understand the processes by which the observed results were brought about. That is what may be called a presociological approach to sociology. It is just fifty years since Professor Sumner at Yale gave what is usually thought of as the first course in sociology in the United States. However, Thorpe, in his Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania, says that Professor Thompson gave such a course at that institution in 1874. As a text Sumner used Spencer’s Sociology (probably his Principles of Sociology, not his Introduction to the Study of Sociology), which was then appearing in parts. After a year or so the course disappeared to appear again about 1885 as “social science,” under which title sociology has been given at Yale to the present time. In 1881 Professor Dunstan offered a course called “social science” at Michigan. It was not until 1883 that the first American book on sociology, Lester F. Ward’s Dynamic Sociology, appeared. In 1885 Professor Woodford gave a course in sociology at Indiana. In 1889 President Albion W. Small started a small class in Sociology at Colby University. In the same year Professor Frank W. Blackmar introduced sociology at the University of Kansas. In 1890 Professor Franklin H. Giddings announced a course on “Modern Theories of Sociology” at Bryn Mawr College. In 1891 Professor Edward A. Ross gave his first course in sociology at University of Indiana. In 1892 appeared Ward’s Psychic Factors of Civilization, and in 1893 the Department of Sociology was opened at the new University of Chicago.* In 1894 a chair of sociology was established at Columbia University, and Professor Giddings was invited to occupy it. Such was the origin of sociology in the United States and its development during the first eighteen years of its history
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WHY THE RISE OF SOCIOLOGY AT THIS TIME?

 How shall we account for the fact that such great interest was manifested in sociology at just this time? Were there any conditions in the life of the people of the United States which excited an interest in these questions? Were there any conditions in the world situation which contributed to this interest? It is significant that interest in sociology arose in the United States just after the Civil War. It has been suggested that the War left this country with many problems which challenged the attention of men. It had rocked the social structure of our people to its foundations. It had challenged thinking men to a reconsideration of the fundamental problems of government and social relation ships. Like every important war, the Civil War and its after-results disturbed the settled status of classes and raised questions concerning settled opinions, and to thinking minds presented the challenge of re-examining some of our fundamental notions. It was a time when social readjustment was necessary and new relationships had to be established. It was in 1865 that the American Social Science Association was formed in Boston along the lines of the British Social Science Association founded a quarter of a century before. Mr. Frank Sanborn, one of the founders of the American Social Science Association, attributes its origin to the necessity of studying these new questions raised by the Civil War.

Development of sociology:-

Humans being have always been curious about the source of their own behavior. The systematic study of human behavior and human society is a relatively recent development in the west. It was the first time when people face the new social and physical environment. The main aspects which play important role in development of modern societies are follows:

·       Industrialization:

·       French revolutions:

Industrialization:-

Industrialization is the process by which an economy is transformed from primarily agricultural to one based on the manufacturing of goods. Industrialization is usually associated with increases in total income and living standards in a society. The Main key points are following:

1.    World population crossed the limit of billion.

2.    Urbanization started at mass level.

3.    Introduction of machine made items rather than hand made.

4.    Transfer of main resources (education, health, facilities, bus) from rural to urban areas.

French Revolutions:-

The French Revolution was a watershed event in modern European history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s.the main key point of French revolution are following:-

1.  Rising social and economic inequality

2.  It effected the masses and resultantly political reforms took place in almost all over the world.

3.  The same ultimately affected the societies, culture and other aspects of social life all over the world.

Causes of the French Revolution 

1. International: struggle for hegemony and Empire outstrips the fiscal resources of the state 2. Political conflict: conflict between the Monarchy and Aristocrats over the “reform” of the tax system led to paralysis and bankruptcy. 3. The Enlightenment: one variant reinforces traditional aristocratic constitutionalism, as in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws (1748); Rousseau introduces new notions of good government in Social Contract (1762), with the argument for popular sovereignty 4. Social antagonisms between two rising groups: the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. 5. Ineffective ruler: Louis XVI 6. Economic hardship, especially the agrarian crisis of 1788-89 generates popular discontent and disorders caused by food shortages.