IHSS Blog 2020-2021

  Alex Gross Mr. Roddy IHSS 19 October 2020 Development of Sociology: Karl Marx vs. Max Weber Karl Marx was a philosopher, economist, sociologist, and someone with very profound political views. He is best known for believing in two basic societal classes that set apart the workers and the owners. These two social classes were the Proletariat (workers) and the Bourgeoisie (owners/capitalists). He believed that the workers would eventually overturn the bourgeoisie which would destroy capitalist society. He also believed in the principles of communism, although he technically had his own ideology with these beliefs as the main principles called “Marxism”. He thought that after the capitalists were overthrown that communism would take over. Max Weber was someone who shared some similar beliefs to him but varied in specific when it came to social classes. Max Weber focused most of his work on criticizing the work of Karl Marx. He believed that while property and money are very import...

            Emile Durkheim contributed to the study and understanding of sociology in many ways. He is known as the father of the French School of Sociology. Emile Durkheim was enrolled originally at a rabbinical school, but decided he wanted to switch and study sociology. He then went the École Normale Supérieure in 1879 to further study sociology. His first major work "The Division of Labor in Society" where he introduced anomie, the concept of breaking down the influence of social norms on individual people within a society, was published in 1893. He published another major work in 1897, "Suicide: a Study in Sociology" this explored differing suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics and argued that the stringer social control of Catholics resulted in lower suicide rates. Durkheim's life goal of getting an influential position in Paris was achieved in 1902 when he became the chair of education in Sorbonne. He later died of a stroke in 1917....

       When I was little the toys I was given and the toys that I picked would always be pink, purple, or teal. The toy aisle for girls was also full of dolls and play kitchen toys that were pink and purple. There we always a few toys that would were originally just in the boys' aisle but had been added to the girl aisle once the company had made a girl version in pink or purple. But then when I was at home with my brothers it wouldn't matter the color of the toy or if it came from the girl aisle or the boy aisle. We would play together with the red, blue, and green nerf guns and the legos that came in the blue boxes. We could have water gun fights in the backyard with our red water guns, sure, I would pick the pink basketball if we were playing basketball, but I had been taught that pink is for girls and blue is for boys by what colors were in what section of the stores. Maybe if all the toys were in the same aisle I wouldn't have always picked the pink toy. Maybe i...

I chose to focus on Karl Marks's conflict theory and Herbert Spencer's the theory of survival of the fittest, because they to me seem to be the exact same, worded in different ways but very similar. If you look at Social Darwinism its base ideals it pretty much states that if a person can't do well in an environment they are not well adapted to the environment and will die off. From a quick glance this looks just  like how people see nature if there is a species of animal it has to adapt or it will die off which in turn suggests that people haven't developed at all above the animal brain level, I however don't disagree but I don't agree I see how it is in effect today this is where Karl Marks and his conflict theory which in order for it to work there has to be some form of social hierarchy and for you to have a hierarchy you have to have some people who are not fit for the upper spots in the hierarchy so they have to adapt to the environment that they are in or...

Katie Vojvodic   Mr. Roddy   IHSS A   12 October 2020   Martineau, Functionalism, and Their Effects on Sociology           Harriet Martineau was born on 12 June 1802 in Norwich, England. She described her childhood to be "burdensome," what with her strict, "domestic tyrant" of a mother. Martineau found her escape in the 1820s after her family hit an economic decline, a result of her father's death. She decided that she would dedicate her life to writing. Her earlier works include Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838) , reports of things she discovered after spending two years in the United States. Though Martineau studied and wrote about many subjects throughout her lifetime, she is known best for translating Auguste Comte's Cours de Philosophie Positive ( Course on Positive Philosophy ) into English when she was around 50 years old. This book was a revolutionary introduction to positive ...

       The first theory I'll go over was thought of by Herbert Spencer. Spencer was active during the Victorian period and known for his ideas contributing to evolutionary theory. Spencer coined the phrase "Survival of the Fittest". This meant that the people who were most fit and suited to their environment would survive because of some biological difference that made them superior to others. Those that were fittest would survive long enough to pass on their genes to offspring. This also meant that he believed that some humans were inferior and would be too weak to survive long enough to pass on their genes to offspring. "survival of the fittest" is also another way of saying "natural selection".      Next, I'll go over Emile Durkheim, a French Sociologist.  Durkheim released his first major book in 1893, called "The Division of Labor in Society". This work broke down the different roles played by people in a society, introducing the con...

  IHSS Blog Sociology: Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau was an English writer who wrote on several social topics that often evoked thought amongst the masses. One of Her overlaps with sociology was when she translated Auguste Comte’s Cours de philosophie positive into English, making it more accessible to the public. She then went to the United States and wrote her  Society in America and later Retrospect of Western Travel which supported the controversial Abolition movement. She traveled to the middle east to study religion, this caused her to question it’s credibility and led to her atheism. She then wrote Letters on the Laws of Man’s Nature and Development about her vow of atheism which caused shock across the board during a very religious time. Overall I think she was an important person because she was constantly challenging social norms. During my research into her I noticed that in the articles she was noted as an important person in her field b...

 Karl Marx contributed to the study of sociology in that he explored the relationship between economy and the workers within that system. Over his lifetime, he developed a theory that human societies progress through a struggle between two distinct social classes. The workers, the lower class and the upper class managers, bosses and rulers. This system became known as Marxism, which protected the wealthy, not the common good. I think his discovery was incredibly important as many countries would probably be run a whole lot different now if they didn't really know about this system consciously. He also created a type of sociology called Marxist sociology that looks at the way economics define social roles and expectations. Marxist sociology theories are used to study society through economic systems. Max Weber is someone else who I believe to have contributed much to the study of sociology. Max Weber suggested that the  technological and economic relationships that organized an...

  Jayla Balderas  Mr.Roddy IHSS 11 October 2020                                          Development of Sociology IHSS Blog                                            Charles Darwin and Emile Durkheim  Charles Darwin was a British Naturalist who rooted the idea of “Survival of the Fittest.” He published his idea of Evolution but didn't have a degree or education in genetics. All of his theories were based purely on observation. Writing about natural selection would bring his ideas a long way, including creating the foundations for modern evolutionar...

 Emile Durkheim     When Emile Durkheim began writing books on sociology it was also a time when sociology was not considered its own field of study, it was most often grouped with philosophy, and he was someone who made the gap between sociology and philosophy a little bit bigger. Emile Durkheim was a f rench s ociologist who claimed society is " a reality unique to itself and irreducible to its composing parts." with this claim he implies it is its own subject and it should be studied in its own way, this also means it can be studied scientifically. Durkheim uses what he calls "Social facts" as the big chief in his procedure in studying sociology. Social facts are shared expectations that influence individuals, the most common examples are norms, social norms, va lues, social structure, etc. He believed sociology should be  the study of social facts through observation and or experience. The studies Durkheim had done later in the years were much different than his...

  IHSS Blog: Development of Sociology     The first person I am talking about is Emile Durkheim. He has contributed a lot to the study as well as the evolution of sociology. He has created great ideas and theories by creating a stable platform that has been and still is being built off of today. The division of labor concept was one that I really liked by expressing how he believes a standard society should be it allows the rest of us to create our own concept based on the differences and similarities that we experience in our society which is quite a leap from Durkiems standards. What he has written about how society is a system such as our own body is a simple but effective way to understand how society is viewed.  We talked about this in a class by replacing organs with the different parts of America's government which is a great example. For example, if the lungs stopped working then the whole body would eventually collapse. T he way I see it this has more relati...

                   contributions on sociology  karl marx - karl marx was born may 5, 1818 in trier, Germany. marx studied law and philosophy and contributed upon many things to the world of sociology, one of the most influential and important of all of his contributions was something called conflict theory, which was a focal point in regards to the organization and social exchanges that are based upon conflicts that arise in today's society. this idealism is incredibly interesting to have under your belt because it comes from the words of a brilliant philosopher named georg wilhelm hegel. hegel developed a concept of dialectics, based on the idea that "everything carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction, but that a new form will emerge from its ashes." karl marx took this concept from dialectics and he later chose to apply it in a social setting, stating that origins of change are entirely materialistic, and not based ...

Leon Hoang Mr. Roddy IHSS 12 October 2020 IHSS Blog: Development of Sociology Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte was born on January 19, 1798 in Montpellier , Hérault, France. Doubling as both a writer and philosopher he changed the world with his ideas. Comte’s most famous theory to date is the positivism theory, which from my understanding means a study based on experience, statistics, and facts, as opposed to belief. A good example of this would be denying religion because of the lack of evidence. As well, Auguste Comte was important in the founding of sociology, the study of human behavior through social relationships, culture, interaction, etc. Eventually, his work peaked to create “The religion of humanity” combating traditional worship. Basically this meant it was an atheist-based religion. Comte even went as far as to introduce the positivist calendar, a calender dedicated to philosophers and thinkers. Auguste Comte’s discoveries are responsible for many of the social ...

 The first person I chose was Max Weber. Max Weber was born on April 21, 1864 in Erfurt, Prussia (Germany). He was a German sociologist and a political economist best known for his thesis of the "Protestant ethic" which was relating to Protestantism and capitalism. Weber's profound influence on sociology theory stems from his demand for objectivity in scholarship and from his analysis of the motives behind human action.  The second person I chose was Karl Marx. Born on March 14, 1883 in London, England, he was a revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist. He published the Communist Manifesto in 1884. It was the most celebrated pamphlet in the history of the socialist movement. He was also the author of the movement's most important book, Das Kapital. 

  Emilio San Vicente Mr. Roddy HISS 10/12/20                            Contributions on Sociology  Karl Marx  Karl Max contributed in many things for sociology, but what I personally think about all these contributions the most important thing that he worked and thought throughout his life was the ideology that it is called, conflict theory, which it was basically the organization and social change that are based on the conflicts that arise in society. This idea is very interesting to know because it comes from the texts of a philosopher called  Hegel. He developed the concept of dialectics which was based on the idea that everything carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction, but that a new form will emerge from its ashes. Marx took this concept from dialectics and later he decided to apply it to society, claiming that the origins of change are all materialistic, and not based on i...

Alex Karni Mr. Roddy October 12, 2020 Karl Marx is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. Marx is a huge influence in the creation of the modern world. He was trained as a philosopher but then around his mid twenties, he leaned towards economics and politics. Marx joined a movement known as Young Hegelians,  who strongly criticized the political and cultural establishments of the day. He became a write which got him  expelled by the governments of Germany, France, and Belgium. Later on in 1848,  Marx and fellow German thinker Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto,” which introduced their concept of socialism as a natural result of the conflicts inherent in the capitalist system. He wrote another book 19 years later called Das Kapital, which consisted of his vision of capitalism and its self destruction.  S...

Sara Avalos Mr. Roddy IHSS 10/12/2020 Development of Sociology: Functionalism Theory and Interactionist Theory Functionalism is a sociolegal theory when all parts of a society are vital for society to flow. This theory was established by Herbert Spencer, who was an English philosopher and biologist. Spencer thought that the major parts of the society, which he referred to them as social institutions, these where government, education, family, healthcare, religion, and the economy. There were also other sociologists that adapted and expanded on Spencer’s theory. Some of these were Émile Durkheim, Alfred Radcliff-Brown, and Robert Merton. Durkheim applied Spencer’s theory and noted how the major parts of society can change and survive over time. Durkheim believed that the society was composted interrelated and interdependent parts, these two parts are shared by values, languages, and symbols. Some of the parts that he believed were part of functionalism are laws, morals, values, religio...

Kilali Latter Mr. Roddy IHSS 10/12/20 Functionalism and Conflict Theory Functionalism says that society is a system of interconnected parts that work together in order to maintain balance within society. For example, “Family provides a context for reproducing, nurturing, and socializing children; education offers a way to transmit a society’s skills, knowledge, and culture to its youth; politics provides a means of governing members of society.” These things contribute important functions to society to help society run and be balanced. The functionalist perspective looks into how each part of society benefits and impacts society. There are two terms that are used a lot in functionalism and they are functional and dysfunctional. Dysfunctional Parts of society do not contribute to or benefit society and they disrupt social stability. Functional parts do benefit society and keep social stability. There are also two types of functions within functionalism: manifest and latent. Manifest fu...

 Auguste Comte:       Auguste Comte was born in 1798 in Montpellier, France. He is known as the founder of  positivism which is a social/political movement that was most popular in the second half of the 19th century but it died out in the beginning of the 20th century. He believed that "religious society" went through three stages. The first being the " Stone Age", he made the argument that during this time they would blame things that they didn't explain on a "super-natural" power. In the next stage, they would take these ideas and create their own god or gods that would have power over them. The third stage being positivism, where you only believe things that can be observed or proved. There was a large concern that Auguste Comte had with positivism. Religion had become so involved in society, he believed if it was abolished law would fall apart and the world would erupt into chaos. To prevent this he tried to star...

 Micah Weinstock Mr. Roddy IHSS 10/10/2020 People of Sociology Auguste Comte is one of the original modern philosophers. He was also the first to set out in search of the "science of man." Comte was so early to the field that he actually was the one to coin the term sociology. He additionally split sociology into two halves: social statics and social dynamics. He also played a big role in how strongly sociology gets viewed by the rest of the world as he saw it as the most important branch of science.                           Max Weber is remembered as "One of the most important theorists on the development of                                W estern society." He published a major thesis that combined economic sociology and                        ...

  Andres  Yengle Mr. Roddy IHSS 11 October 2020 Sociology Blog Herbert Spencer was born in 1820 and died in 1903. The slides tell that he wrote the first sociology text, The Principles of Sociology. Although I didn’t have time to read the whole thing, I did get a chance to read a summary. The summary explains that Spencer saw himself more as a philosopher rather than as a sociologist. It says that even though Spencer took up sociology late in his career, he was still very accomplished in the field and a mediocre philosopher at best. The slides also explain that he is most well known for “proposing a doctrine called “Social Darwinism”.” Social Darwinism is basically the idea where individuals, groups, or people can be subject to the same natural selection laws that plants and animals can be subject to. This is most commonly known as “survival of the fittest”.  The Development of Sociology in the U.S. according to the slide show started in the early 20th century. Accordin...

 Wyatt Quillin Mr. Roddy IHSS 11 October 2020 Development of Sociology     Karl Marx was a sociologist and an economist who wanted to create a governmental system that bettered the lives of the working class. Marx believed that Capitalists and Capitalism was the problem. He was pro socialist and eventually wrote the famous Communist Manifesto, which laid the foundation for modern communism. Marx most definitely made a huge impact on government, society, and culture around the world. Many see communism as a very bad thing, but on paper communism isn't too terrible. The reason so many communist countries have suffered is because a person in power abuses the system and becomes a dictator. Marx wanted to help the poor working class and wanted the rich people's money to do it. Marx contributed a whole new governmental and economical system to the world, and his impact on sociology was exponential. Marx viewed society in a very different way than Americans did--today and back t...

  IHSS Blog: Development of Sociology - Aiden C Development of American Sociology: A Brief Historical Overview American sociology was brought here by European pioneers. People from Europe coming here to make a settlement or just get a piece of the new AMERICA! for themselves. This is probably because Europe had studied this before, and America had been so involved in war and reform that this just hadn’t occurred yet. These were the people to bring sociology to America, and the first evidence of that was the journal that came from the University of Chicago, called the “American Journal of Sociology” (Very typical name). This journal was all about the thought that “knowledge is related to dealing with real-life problems and social reforms”, and that you could study the way people act and use it to improve their lives. Karl Marx Karl Marx was an intellectual and a rebel. He seemed like the type of person that would be leading a protest, but normally that wasn’t true. He spent most of ...

 Emile Durkheim was born in France on April 15, 1958. His whole family was Jewish and his father was a rabbi. Everyone thought Emile was going to be one as well but instead, he chose to research his religion instead of taking apart into it. He, later on, went to school to study sociology from a scientific point of view. He got a degree in philosophy and started teaching it. He influenced the school system to incorporate more classes about sociology so students could understand it a lot better. Before this happened social sciences weren't exactly classified as important.  C Wright Mills was born on August 28, 1916, in Waco, Texas. His parents moved a lot which caused him not to be as social of a person. He studied at Texas A&M University for one year but then moved to UT Austin and got a bachelor's degree in sociology there. Then he got a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Wisconsin. A lot of his work focused on how the government is getting a bit too powerful and how ...

     In analyzing the history of sociology, two important people that heavily impacted the discipline were Karl Marx and Max Weber. Especially when put in comparison to one another, their countering thoughts show the deep differences between various sociological perspectives.      Marx created the concept of Communism, which is a belief system centered on government control of business. He believed the existing system of capitalism was creating a growing gap between the rich and the poor. To that end, he thought communism would fix this issue by allowing workers to seize the “means of production.” Since his idea was brought to the world, countries to this day still debate on being Capitalist or Communist. Another major idea that Marx developed was the Conflict Theory and its relation to religion. The theory stated that religion prevented peoples’ demand for social change.  Max Weber differed from Marx’s opinions on the connections between economics and...

Nora Mayral Boyle Dr. Roddy IHSS 11 October 2020 Development of Sociology Auguste Comte, born January 19, 1798, is the French philosopher best known for his dedication to the study of sociology, a study he coined “sociology”. He dedicated most of his life to studying sociology, breaking it down into 2 major components- the components holding society together, and the components driving social change. These terms were dubbed ‘social statistics’ and ‘social dynamics’. In 1826, he began a long series of lectures to groups of French intellectuals. Shortly after beginning, he suffered a nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized consistently for the next 15 years. Despite all this, he was able to complete and produce his biggest work- the 6-volume Course of Positive Philosophy . Auguste died on the 5th of September in 1857.  Karl Marx, who was born in 1818, when Comte was only 20 years old, was a Prussian sociologist who would later co-author The Communist Manifesto, as well as Das Kapital...