Further Development in Sociological Theory

Occasionally, sociologists argue that Marx and Spenser were not sociologists. They worked in a century when the social sciences were, at least, in their infancy. For example, Spenser wrote about biology, philosophy, economics, and what we now call sociology. Likewise, Marx was a philosopher, an economist, a jurist, and a political scientist. In addition, neither Marx nor Spenser did their scholarly work from university departments. In the United States, sociology departments began to emerge at the beginning of the twentieth century. Cooley and Mead could just as well be described as social psychologists or social philosophers.

Most sociologists agree that the early founders of sociology dealt with important issues affecting social life. To many, the economy is still one of the most important things to examine when considering social change. Our society is changing, perhaps as rapidly as in the Industrial Revolution.

Many sociologists in the functionalist tradition of Durkheim or the economic conflict of Marx still find their intellectual issues to be important. There are other sociologists, however, who take for granted their own theoretical perspectives, often not realizing their indebtedness to either of these two great traditions of sociological thought.

Finally, we share the concern that the very existence of isolated academic disciplines detract from our understanding of society. Can a sociologist understand social change without considering its historical context? Can we understand much about individual psychological responses without considering the social and cultural setting in which people respond? Sociology itself has become divided into several subsections. These include sociology of religion, sociology of family, sociology of law, political sociology, medical sociology, sociology of education, etc.

Both Marx and Durkheim stimulated a long succession of scholarly debate about their ideas. One of the most important German social theorists was Max Weber, who developed many of his ideas in an ongoing dialogue with scholars in the tradition of Karl Marx.

Marx, Durkheim, and Weber were primarily interested in studying society at the macro or large-sclae level. By contrast, there are many sociologists who focus on social interaction at the level of individuals and small groups – the micro level of analysis. The micro level of sociological analysis became quite important in the development of American sociology, particularly with the intellectual tradition associated with John Dewey (1859-1952) and George Herbert Mead. This theoretical tradition, symbolic interactionism, will be discussed in great detail when we consider social interaction and when we analyze socialization.