French Sociology & Enlightenment

• The French sociology was influenced by the Enlightenment movement.
• French sociology became rational, empirical, scientific, and transformative.
• Anti-Enlightenment ideology viewed the Enlightenment's liberalism in reverse.
• Critics of the Enlightenment harbored strong anti-modern sentiments.
• Sociology, encompassing French sociology, embodies a blend of Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment ideas.

Conservative Reactions to Enlightenment

• The Catholic counter-revolutionary philosophy in France opposed Enlightenment ideas.
• Key figures in this opposition were Louis de Bonald (1754-1840) and Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821).
• Bonald and de Maistre opposed both the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
• They viewed the revolution as an offspring of Enlightenment thinking.
• Bonald yearned for a return to the peace and harmony of the Middle Ages.
• Bonald considered God the origin of society, devaluing reason compared to traditional religious beliefs.
• Bonald believed society was created by God, so people should not alter this sacred creation.
• Bonald opposed anything that weakened traditional institutions like patriarchy, monogamous families, monarchy, and the Catholic Church.
• De Bonald's conservatism was extreme; calling it conservative is an understatement.
• Bonald's work served as a precursor to general conservative debates.
• Conservatives rejected the simplistic rationalism they attributed to the Enlightenment.
• They acknowledged irrational aspects of social life and valued them positively.
• Conservatives viewed tradition, imagination, emotion, and religion as beneficial and necessary for social life.
• Conservatives sought to maintain order and opposed turmoil.
• Conservatives lamented the French and Industrial Revolutions as disruptive forces.
• Conservatives emphasized social order, which remains a core theme in sociological theory.
• Zeitlin identified ten key propositions originating from the conservative reaction that shaped the foundation of French sociology.

Propositions Arising from Conservative Reaction

• While Enlightenment thinkers emphasized the individual, conservatives focused on society and broad social phenomena.
• They believed society is more than the sum of its individuals, possessing its own existence, laws, and roots in the past.
• Conservatives regarded society as the primary unit of analysis, shaping individuals through socialization.
• Conservatives downplayed the role of the individual as a basic element of society.
• They viewed society as composed of roles, positions, relationships, structures, and institutions, with individuals merely filling these units.
• Conservatives believed societal parts are interconnected and interdependent, which is a foundation of society.
• This view led them to a conservative political orientation, as they believed tampering with one part could harm others and disrupt society.
• Any social change should be approached cautiously.
• Conservatives viewed change as a threat to society, its components, and its individuals.
• They believed societal elements fulfill people's needs and disrupted institutions could harm people and lead to social disorder.
• Conservatives favored preserving key elements of society.
• They displayed less interest in the negative consequences of existing social structures and institutions.
• Smaller units like family, neighborhood, religious and occupational groups were seen as essential for society and individuals.
• These units provide intimate, face-to-face environments needed for people to survive in modern societies.
• Conservatives viewed modern social changes like industrialization, urbanization, and bureaucratization as disruptive.
• They feared these changes and sought ways to counter their harmful effects.
• Conservatives emphasized the importance of non-rational factors in life.
• Conservatives supported a hierarchical system in society and believed a ranking system of prestige and reward is important for society.
• These ten propositions formed the initial intellectual foundation for the development of sociology in France.

Synthesis of Enlightenment and Anti-Enlightenment Ideas

• Although some Enlightenment ideas, such as empiricism, influenced early sociological thought.
• Many conservative ideas found their way into this thought.
• While the separation between Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment is emphasized, connections exist between the two.
• Anti-Enlightenment reaction built upon the scientific tradition developed by the Enlightenment.
• Anti-Enlightenment extended the Enlightenment's emphasis on collective phenomena.
• Both schools of thought focused on modern society and its negative effects on individuals.
• The foundation of sociology as a distinct discipline, emphasizing the works of Claude Saint-Simon, August Compte, and Emile Durkheim.
• All three are considered founders of sociology.

Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Count of Saint-Simon (1760-1825)

• Saint-Simon predates Aguste Comte.
• Comte served as Saint-Simon's secretary and disciple early in his career.
• Intellectual conflict led to their separation.
• Comte is generally considered a more important figure in the founding of society.
• Saint-Simon influenced both sociological and Marxist theory.
• He sought to preserve the existing social order, unlike Bonald and de Maistre.
• Saint-Simon was a positivist, advocating for the application of scientific methods to the study of social phenomena.
• He recognized the need for socialist reforms and centralized economic planning.
• He acknowledged capitalists replacing feudal aristocrats, but regarded the working class succeeding capitalists as unimaginable.
• Certain ideas from Saint-Simon were found in the works of Conte.

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

• Comte was the first to coin the term "sociology".
• Comte was highly influential on early sociological theorists, including Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim.
• Compte believed that sociology should adopt a scientific approach.
• Comte's views are considered a reaction to the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, which he blamed for the revolution.
• Comte sought to counter the "negative and destructive philosophy" of the Enlightenment with his scientific approach "positivism".
• Comte was aligned with and influenced by French counter-revolutionary Catholics, particularly Bonald and de Maistre.
• Conte did not believe a return to the Middle Ages was possible because progress in science and industry had made it impossible.
• Conte developed a more complex and efficient theoretical to his predecessors, shaping early sociology.
• Conte created the term "social physics" to fight the negative and chaotic philosophies that had encompassed French society.
• Conte sought to align sociology with the exact sciences.
• He believed this new science should address both social stillness (existing social structures) and social dynamics (social change).
• He felt social dynamics was more important than social stillness.
• Conte's emphasis on change reveals his interest in social reform.
• Comte believed the natural evolution of society leads to an improved state.
• Reforms help this natural progress.
• Comte's law of three stages: theological, metaphysical, and positivist.
• Comte believed that the world goes through these three stages of thinking.
• The theological stage ended in 1300 AD, with the main system of thought based on belief in supernatural powers and religious forms.
• The metaphysical stage occurred approximately from 1300 to 1800 AD, characterized by abstract forces.
• In 1800, the positivist stage began, marked by belief in science. People sought to discover the laws governing those things.
• Comte focused on intellectual factors in his world theory and disorder in the existing social systems.
• He believed that only when positivism fully governed the world would social unrest cease.
• Conte was an elitist who was against social and political revolutions.
• He believed that the world needed more intellectual change.
• Conte's views included fundamental conservatism, reformism, scientism, and a theory of world evolution.
• Examples include Comte's focus on collective units, emphasis on both social structure and change, and emphasis on order.
• Conte also emphasizes the importance of agreement in society and the interconnected bonds between its elements.
• Comte valued sociological research and comparative historical analysis.
• Comte was elitist and believed that society should become a scientific force.

Comte's impact on the field of sociology

• Comte was a leader in the development of positivist sociology.
• In recent years many sociologists and scientific philosiphers questioned this.
• Empirical sociologists and social theorists continue to use it.
• Comte's positivism emphasized that the social world can be studied through abstract laws, tested through social data, and reveal natural relationships.
• Jonathan Turner is one of these theoristis.
• Modern thinking tends to question the rules that inform thought.
• A number of social scientist have drawn others to their cause.

Emile Durkeim (1858 - 1917)

• This movement had a negative influence on him.
• Like Comte he should be regarded as an inheritor of the conservative tradition.
• Made sociological accomplishments.
• His influence began a dominant role.
• Durkheim aopted a conservative political position.
• Durkheims work was influenced by social changes.
• Most of Durkeims work is devoted to examining social disorder.
• This social disorder is a necessary part of the new world.
• While Marx thought the issues were inherent, Durkheim did not.
• Interest in change of order.
• He defined the specific objectives of society.