Sociology came to be established as an independent and a separate social science in the middle of the 19th century. Various factors paved the way for its emergence. There are three main factors that hastened the process of the establishment of sociology as a separate science. They are briefly mentioned below -
- Industrial Revolution of England and the Social and the Political revolution of France
- Inspiration from the growth of Natural Sciences.
- Inspiration provided by the radically diverse societies and cultures of the colonial empires.
During the second half of the 18th century, some far reaching changes had occurred in Western Europe. These changes agitated the minds of some people and made them very conscious of what had happened around them. To begin with, the Industrial Revolution which emerged in England during the late 18th century was one such event of tremendous social significance. Never before in history did social changes take place on such a massive scale. Industrial Revolution not only revolutionized the method of production, but also brought about far reaching social changes. The simple rural life and small-scale home industries were replaced by complex urban life and mass production of goods.
Industrialization changed the direction of civilization. Social problems became rampant in the fast developing cities. All of a sudden, the people were brought face to face with problems, which they or their forefathers had never experienced before. These challenges stirred deeply the minds of men. And they began to ponder over the ways of combating social evils which emerged as an off-shot of Industrial Revolution. Social thinkers like Comte, Spencer and others argued that there was an urgent need to establish a separate science of society. They believed that such a science would be of great help in understanding the nature and problems of society and to find solutions for the same.
19th century was a period in which natural sciences had made great progress. The success attained by the natural scientists inspired and even tempted a good number of social thinkers to emulate them. A question arose in the mind of people that if the methods used by natural science could be successful in the physical world to understand physical or natural phenomena, could they not be applied successfully to the social world to understand social phenomena. As an answer to this question, Comte and others successfully demonstrated that these (scientific) methods could be used to study the social world also. Along with these, the colonial powers of Europe were exposed to different types of societies and cultures in the colonial empires. Their exposure to such diversities in societies and cultures provided an intellectual challenge for the social scientist of the day. So, the conditions which gave rise to sociology as an independent discipline were both intellectual and social.
Subscribe on YouTube - NotesWorld
For PDF copy of Solved Assignment
Any University Assignment Solution
.webp)
