Thinking Sociologically
You may not use theory to understand your reality, but theory certainly uses you. Whether you are a teacher, principle, lecturer, student or simply curious, in this short EDDi section Dr Stephen Whitehead will answer common questions related to sociological theory.
All of his answers were originally published on Quora*. We offer these answers on EDDi in the hope you acquire some sociological insights into the 21st century.
Treat these articles as a healthy, and heavier, counter-point to all the lighter fluff which gets posted on social media.
Question: What is the contribution of Auguste Comte in sociology?
By: Dr Stephen Whitehead
I’m happy to give credit to Auguste Comte (1798–1857) for being the first person to use the word ‘sociology’ and I respect his position as a positivist.
But beyond that he has had little influence on modern sociology other than in encouraging the propensity of many sociologists to continue to believe that they can somehow find ‘truth’ through the application of scientific method.
The problem is with Comte’s (and Emile Durkheim’s) concept of positivist methodology. Essentially, both thinkers had a desire to objectify, classify and render ‘scientifically’ observable, all the complexity of the social world; individual and communal. Like all positivists, Comte believed that objective (scientific) analysis and research (quantitative) could establish connections between variables and in so doing explain human behaviour even to the extent of developing ‘real laws’ which governed all human action. For example, following Comte, Durkheim famously believed he had discovered the laws of human behaviour which governed the suicide rate.
Comte and other positivists believe they can somehow stand outside the knowledge and discourses they are attempting to identify, analyse, and explain.
So I would definitely part company with Comte, and Durkheim, regards their dismissal of feelings, emotions, motives, subjective interpretation and discursive internalisation as being of concern to sociologists. Sociologists are not outside the social. They are part of it. They replicate it continuously. Better therefore to acknowledge this from the outset in any methodology and to recognise, reflexively, our partiality and bias.
For me, a far more important and influential (but often overlooked) sociologist is C Wright Mills. His book ‘The Sociological Imagination’ (1959) is not just a repudiation of Comte’s positivism, but a brilliant treatise in favour of the sociologist as not a rational and objective ‘scientist’ but an element in that which she/he is researching:
“There is no way in which any social scientist can avoid assuming choices of value and implying them in his work as a whole…he (sic) is already working on the basis of certain values.” (ibid, p. 177–78)
Since 2017, Dr Stephen Whitehead has answered over 10,500 Quora questions, mostly on relationships, education, sociology, life and living, and philosophy. To date, his answers have received approximately 3.2 million views increasing at the rate 60,000 views a month. He has nearly 1,000 followers.
Stephen’s latest book (International Schooling: The Teacher’s Guide) is available via: teachabroad.ac.
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