Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim

     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 concept of "anomie". His next work, published in 1895, is called, "The Rules of Sociological Method". Here he talks about what the meaning of sociology really is and how he thinks it should be performed. His third work, published in 1897, is called "Suicide: A Study in Sociology". This work looked into the different suicide rates of Protestants and Catholics. It was found that Protestants had a higher rate of suicide which he believed meant that the Catholics stricter rules and social control lead to lower suicide rates. His last major work, published in 1912 is called "The Elementary Forms of Religious Life". In this book, he takes a deeper look into religion and calls it a social phenomenon.