The Development of Sociology and Anthropology

The history of Anthropology and Sociology is long and full of invaluable insights into the human condition. It provides a mirror that reaches deep into ourselves and explains why we do things that are sometimes contradictory to logic, and most often in alliance with societal standards. For these reasons, Anthropology and Sociology have remained highly esteemed fields of study and continue to flourish as a library of social thought grows.

August Comte was the first to coin the term "sociology". He was not the first to create theories of sociology, but was the first to proclaim himself a sociologist. Comte was a functionalist who believed every aspect of society served a purpose. He is most famous for his idea of social statics and dynamics. Social statics is the study of social order, whereas social dynamics is the study of social change and progress. Dividing the study of sociology into these two categories created two different frames of reference from which sociology could be studied (Collins and Makowsky 26).

The next significant development in sociology came with Karl Marx. Marx was a conflict theorist who believed that all aspects of society could be explained as a struggle between two or more opposing groups. There were three parts to Marx's theory. First, there was his sociology which established the class system (Collins and Makowsky 34). This system included the capitalists, or bourgeois, who owned the means of production and profited from exploiting workers, or the proletariat (Collins and Makowsky 40). Next, Marx's politics explained that a class struggle for power would be won by the group that best suits the evolving economy (Collins and Makowsky 36).