The founding generation of sociology as an academic discipline, working from the mid nineteenth through the early twentieth century, before the field split into the specific theoretical traditions gathered elsewhere on this page. This group collects the theorists who coined the discipline's name, established its first university departments and journals, and set out its founding questions: how modern, industrial societies hold together, what distinguishes sociological explanation from history or philosophy, and how social facts can be studied with the same rigor as natural phenomena. It includes early European founders such as Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber alongside the first generation of American sociologists who built the discipline's earliest departments and methods.
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Classical Sociology (Founders)
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1. Wikipedia: Sociology
WikipediaSociology, lead section, era sentence
The term sociology was coined in the late 18th century to describe the scientific study of society.
Sociology, lead section, definition sentence, applied to theorist school classification
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on human social behaviour, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life.
View the Source Ludwig Gumplowicz (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Ludwig Gumplowicz, Lead, placementQuote, Has Member: Ludwig Gumplowicz, Lead, placement
one of the founding fathers of sociology across German-speaking countries
Franklin Henry Giddings (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Franklin Henry Giddings, Lead, placementQuote, Has Member: Franklin Henry Giddings, Lead, placement
was an American sociologist, economist, and journalist
Albion Woodbury Small (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Albion Woodbury Small, Lead, placementQuote, Has Member: Albion Woodbury Small, Lead, placement
founded the first independent department of sociology in the United States
Leopold von Wiese (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Leopold von Wiese, Legacy, formal sociologyQuote, Has Member: Leopold von Wiese, Legacy, formal sociology
Together with Georg Simmel, he is considered the founder of formal sociology.
Maksim Kovalevsky (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Maksim Kovalevsky, LeadQuote, Has Member: Maksim Kovalevsky, Lead
Maksim Maksimovich Kovalevsky (Russian: Макси́м Макси́мович Ковале́вский; 8 September 1851-5 April 1916) was a jurist and the main authority on sociology in the Russian Empire.
René Worms (Wikipedia)
Has Member: René Worms, LeadQuote, Has Member: René Worms, Lead
In 1893 Worms established the "Revue Internationale de Sociologie," of which he became the editor, and later founded the "Bibliothèque Sociologique Internationale," besides organizing the Institut International de Sociologie and the Société de Sociologie de Paris.
Alfred Vierkandt (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Alfred Vierkandt, LeadQuote, Has Member: Alfred Vierkandt, Lead
Previously, Vierkandt had been one of the founders, in 1909, of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie.
Célestin Bouglé (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Célestin Bouglé, LeadQuote, Has Member: Célestin Bouglé, Lead
one of Émile Durkheim's collaborators and a member of the L'Année Sociologique
Paul Barth (sociologist) (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Paul Barth (sociologist), LeadQuote, Has Member: Paul Barth (sociologist), Lead
was a German sociologist and philosopher
Scipio Sighele (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Scipio Sighele, LeadQuote, Has Member: Scipio Sighele, Lead
was an Italian psychologist, sociologist, criminologist and a pioneer of mass psychology
Enrico Ferri (criminologist) (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Enrico Ferri, LeadQuote, Has Member: Enrico Ferri, Lead
an Italian criminologist, socialist, and student of Cesare Lombroso
Adolphe Quetelet (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Adolphe Quetelet, Lead, groupQuote, Has Member: Adolphe Quetelet, Lead, group
was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician, and sociologist
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