THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY

Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups and societies.

There was no sociology as a distinct discipline before the advent of 19th century. As a distinct discipline it
emerged about the middle of the 19th century when European social observers began to use scientific
methods to test their ideas. It looks that three factors led to the development of sociology.
The first was the Industrial revolution.
·
By the mid 19th century Europe was changing from agriculture to factory production. There was
the emergence of new occupations as well as new avenues of employment away from the land.
·
Masses of people migrated to cities in search of jobs. Pull and push factors were instrumental in
such migrations. In the countryside, due to the nature of agricultural society, there were no
occupations that could be alternatives to agriculture. Hence people got pushed to look for new
places whereas the urban/industrial places with new job opportunities provided a pull to the same
population.
·
At the new places there was anonymity, crowding, filth, and poverty. Ties to the land, to the
generations that had lived there before them, and to the ways of their life were abruptly broken.
Eventually the urban life brought radical changes in the lives of people.
·
The city greeted them with horrible working conditions: low pay; long and exhausting working
hours; dangerous work; foul smoke; and much noise. To survive the vagaries of life, families
had to permit their children to work in these uncongenial conditions.
·
People in these industrial cities developed new ideas about democracy and political rights. They did
not want to remain tied to their rulers. Therefore the ideas about individual liberty, individual
rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness emerged, which actually laid the foundation to future
political revolution.
The second factor that stimulated the development of sociology was imperialism. Europeans successfully
conquered many parts of the world. They were exposed to radically different cultures. Startled by these
contrasting ways of life, they began to ask why cultures differed.
The third impetus for the development of sociology was the success of the natural sciences. People moved
to question fundamental aspects of their social world. They started using the scientific method (systematic
observation, objectivity) to the study of human behaviour.
Auguste Comte
The idea of applying the scientific method to the social world, known as positivism, was apparently first
proposed by Auguste Comte (1798-1857). He was French. He migrated from a small town to Paris. The
changes he himself experienced, combined with those France underwent in the revolution, led Comte to
become interested in the two interrelated issues: social order (social static) and social change (social
dynamics).
What holds the society together (Why is there a social order)? And once the society is set then what causes
it to change? Why its directions change?
Comte concluded that the right way to answer such questions was to apply the scientific method to social
life. There must be laws that underlie the society. Therefore we should discover these principles by applying
scientific method to social world. Once these principles discovered then we could apply these for social
reform.

How the sociology start in the Philippines

Sociology is the study of societies and the people who inhabit them; this sort of
study looks at the culture and development of a country throughout the various eras
of history. Sociology in the Philippines likely started with the advent of post-
secondary education; colleges and universities in the Philippines would have
offered study on the society and its people. Over time, students of sociology would
become sociologists, and they would publish works that delved further into the
history of the Philippines.

• History books are really the first sociological textbooks - they record historical
facts about the Philippines during different centuries, and also offer the observations
and conclusions of authors, who weigh in on sociology topics, such as religious
beliefs of the people, women's rights, human rights, and indigenous culture. 
• In order to understand exactly how sociology started in the Philippines, you'll need
to go back to the earliest recorded histories for that country. Over time, the
information found in these valuable textbooks would be used to make sociological
observations about the culture and people of the region.

DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES

AUTHOR(S)
Catapusan, Benicio T.

PUB. DATE
July 1957

SOURCE
Philippine Sociological Review;Jul-Oct57, Vol. 5 Issue 3/4, p53

SOURCE TYPE
Academic Journal

DOC. TYPE
Article

ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the development of sociology in the Philippines. It examines early and
contemporary sociological offerings in colleges and universities. It provides an interpretation of the
emphasis given to sociology since 1899. The first course in Sociology was recorded in the University of
Philippines. A few years later, a section devoted to Sociology was organized under the department of
Anthropology. This arrangement continued until 1946. By 1919, the interest in Sociology had spread to
the Visayan Islands but the textbooks used throughout the archipelago were of Occidental origin. These
textbooks met the immediate needs of the time due to lack of local materials on the subject. The
importance of Sociology to national planning was first noted in 1951, when the Homemakers and Mother's
Cooperative Inc. was formed. The emphasis on Sociology and Social Work continued to be recognized
with the founding of the Philippine School of Social Work. The development of Sociology in the
Philippines is marked by four distinct stages of development, namely: 1. The stage where considerable
effort was made in defining and determining the field of Sociology. 2. The period of considerable
specialization in subject matter. Sociological principles were being employed as means of understanding
local social conditions. 3. The stage when the problems of teaching Sociology were met with all available
techniques, although greater emphasis was still needed in the discovery and analysis of social data; and
on the developing, refining and perfecting of new methods of sociological investigation. Thus, the search
for solutions to all these may give rise to the fourth phase of sociological development, namely; 4. The
stage of research, experimental and dynamic Sociology. A fifth stage should be devoted to the
formulation of sound social philosophical thinking which will serve as the basis of future planning, a
condition quite necessary in nation-building.
Development of Sociology:

Sociology as a science of society originated with August Comte in the nineteenth century. He worked out

a general approach to the study of society. He called sociology the “queen of all sciences” and

recommended that as the highest of all sciences, it would use the ‘positivist’ method of observation,

experimentation and comparison to understand order and promote progress. Sociology as a separate

discipline originated with Comte in the middle of nineteenth century. Since then a galaxy of thinkers and

scholars have contributed for the development of sociology.

There are four men, however, whom everyone in sociology regardless of his special emphasis, bias, or

bent will probably accept as the central figures in the development of modern sociology. They are: August

Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.

Together, they span the whole of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, during which modern

sociology was formed. They represent the main national centres France, England and Germany in which

sociology first flourished and in which the modern tradition began. Each exerted a profound personal

influence on the conception of sociology as an intellectual discipline.

The theory of scientific evolution was brought into sociology by Herbert Spencer (1820- 1903) in his book

Principles of Sociology (1876). Spencer observed that the study of sociology was, the study of evolution

in its most complex form”.

The nineteenth century sociology was evolutionary because it attempted to identify and account for the

principal stages in the social evolution. At the same time that evolutionism blossomed, a new analytical

approach to sociology emerged.

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, four men made outstanding contributions to this trend. The

three pioneers of analytical sociology were Ferdinand Tonnies, George Simmel, and Gabriel Trade.

Durkheim was one among them. Each of them has contributed significantly to modern sociological theory.
Tonnies inaugurated the study of basic types of social groups and suggested a system for their

classification. Simmel initiated the study of types of social processes.

Trade was the first to provide what, according to many thinkers, is a sound basis for a theory of social and

cultural change. Efforts of these pioneers prepared the way for systematic sociological theory based on

empirical investigation.

The writings of Herbert Spencer had a remarkable impact on the psychologists who had displaced his

biological interpretation of social phenomenon to psychological interpretation. The notable among them

were Graham Wallace and Mc Dougol (England); Wars, Codings, Mead and Deway (America)

In the early twentieth century, Durkheim made valuable contributions to sociological theory and method.

His theory was fairly systematic and has been highly suggestive for his successor in France and

elsewhere. Durkheim was aware that most of the earlier social theorists had neglected the problems of

the appropriate method to be used in analysing social phenomena.

The Rules of Sociological Method, one of the Durkheim’s principal work is specifically concerned with

methodological problems.

Further, sociology was enriched by the contribution of Max Weber. The development of sociological

theory was advanced by Weber’s use of the comparative method, for he contributed more to comparative

sociology than almost any other scholar. Weber gave a new start with his work on important subjects

such as bureaucracy, sociology of law and religion.

It is a fact that the European classical scientists, particularly Marx, Max Weber and Durkheim sought to

establish the scope and methods of sociology to show its value by investigation and explanation of major

social phenomena.
Karl Marx sought to discover the objective laws of history and society and attempted to show that the

development of society is natural historical process in which various social systems succeed each other.

But Marx introduced an entirely new attitude and orientation in the study of society. It is this attitude and

orientation that has made significant contribution to the development of sociology, for it has compelled

thinkers to give their attention on social (including economic) relationships than the social thought.

In the early twentieth century, important contributions have been made by the giants-Cooley, Thomas and

Pareto. Many of their formulations guide sociological work today.

In the mid of the twentieth century, sociological theories were developed by the representatives of

systematic sociology. Most important among them are Sorokin, Parsons, Florian Znaniecki, Maclver,

Gerge C. Homans, Charles P. Loomis and others. All the major representatives of present-day systematic

sociology are concerned, though in varying degrees, with both social structure and function.

All the proponents of systematic sociology agree that abstract theory must be tested by empirical

research. In contrast to Spencer who accepted the significance of individuals and Durkheim who stressed

emphasis on the significance on the group, the systematic sociologists seem to be in fundamental

agreement about the relationship of society and individual.

It is noteworthy that systematic sociologists including Maclver were in basic agreement about the

interdependence of individual and society. The systematic sociologists mainly developed elaborate

conceptual schemes.

Sociological studies acquired a system at the hands of Talcott Parsons. He laid emphasis on conceptional

schemes such as social system, cultural system, personality and such other in sociological theory and for

their relevance to modern life.

On the other side there developed modern empirical sociology based on the social survey tradition.

Sociological research developed rapidly after World War-I and even more so during and after World War-

II, especially in USA.

Theoretically, sociology emerged historically as a kind of speculation about general laws, as illustrated in

the broad theoretical schemes of August Comte, Herbert Spencer and other pioneers. In the twentieth

century, most sociologists shifted their attention to much less ambitious problems and particularly to the

gathering of empirical data about social life.

In recent years, however, the sociological quest once more has become focused upon broader

generalisations and theoretical systems. Since the 1960’s an unmistakable sign of a renaissance of the

classical tradition in sociology, as it was fashioned by Max Weber and Durkheim, is discernible not only in

advanced industrial societies but also in developing countries of Third World .

On the one side the growing interest in social change in the industrially advanced societies is encouraging

the wider acceptance of Weber’s method in the formation of problems, in the ideal-type of definition of

concepts .On the other side, there has been a resurgence of Marxism as a general theory of society.

Initially concerned primarily with the problem of industrial society, sociology continued to expand its

scope, making its concern comprehensive enough to include not only the sociology of politics, but also

those of many other branches such as law, education, religion, family, art, science, medicine, leisure and

knowledge, says R.K. Merton.

The recent changes in world situation have altered the attitude to the study of society. There is a change-

over from the encyclopedic conception of society to a segmental interest of societies. Instead of studying

the entire social structure, sociological knowledge is directed to a specific approach of the types of society

of microscopic and macroscopic phenomena.

Reference:
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9866335/philippine-sociology-seventies-trends-prospects

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