Sociology

Sociology is the social science that studies the phenomena produced by collective social activity of human beings within the historical and cultural context in which they are immersed. In sociology, it used multiple interdisciplinary research techniques to analyze and interpret from different theoretical perspectives the causes, meanings and cultural influences that motivate the appearance of various trends in human behavior especially when in social life and within a habitat or "space-time" shared.

The famous sociologists in England

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

 He was born in England. His father was a school teacher, also he was very unconventional and therefore Spencer had an informal and undisciplined education.

Spencer trained as a civil engineer for railways and at the age of 20, he turned to journalism and political writing.

From 1848 to 1853, Spencer has worked as a writer and subeditor for "The Economist financial weekly". In his early writings, Spencer defended radical causes focuses on land nationalization and, the place and role of women in society.

Spencer wrote his first book in 1851 called "Social Statics: The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness". The term "social statics" that Spencer took from Auguste Comte, consisting on the conditions of social order. In his book, he revealed that humanity would become completely adapted to the requirements of living in society with the consequential withering away of the state.

In the year 1855, Spencer published his second book called "The Principles of Psychology", which it was much less successful than his first book. It was in this time that Spencer also began to have health problems. Between 1862 and 1893, he wrote and begin a project that consisted on the nine-volume "A System of Synthetic Philosophy". In this work, he gave a systematic explanation of his views in biology, sociology, ethics and politics and showed his idea that societies are organisms that progress through a process of evolution similar to that experienced by living species.

 Spencer was known for:

•      The development and application evolutionary theory to philosophy, psychology and the study of society.

•       He helped to develop the functionalist perspective, the principal theoretical framework in sociology.

•      His political thoughts as the defense of natural rights and for criticisms of utilitarian positivism.

Major Publications

•            Social Statics: The conditions essential to human happiness (1850)

•        Education (1854)

•          The principles of Psychology (1855)

•          The principles of sociology (1876-1896)

•          The data of ethics (1884)

•          The man versus the state (1884)

     Anthony Giddens (1938- )

Anthony Giddens was born in London. He did his Bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology at the University of Hull in 1959.

At the beginning of 1961, Giddens teach social psychology at the University of Leicester. Here, it was where he began to work on his own theories and then he moved to King’s College Cambridge where he became Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. In 1985, Giddens was a co-founded Polity Press and he was the Director of the London from 1998 to 2003.

His work covers a wide range of topics. He is recognized for his interdisciplinary approach consisting on sociology, anthropology, archeology, psychology, philosophy, history, linguistics, economics, social work, and political science. Also, he has brought many ideas and concepts to the field of sociology. The more important topics are the concepts of reflexivity, globalization, structuration theory, and the Third Way.

The first term of reflexivity speaks the idea that both individuals and society are defined not just by themselves but in relation to each other. Therefore, they must both continually redefine themselves in reaction to others and to new information.

The definition gaven by Giddens of globalization: "It is a process that is more than just economics. It is “the intensification of world-wide social relationships which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by distant events and, in turn, distant events are shaped by local happenings.”

The theory of structuration of Giddens explain that to understand society, one cannot look solely the actions of individuals or the social forces that maintain the society. For that, it is both that shape our social reality. He maintains that although people are not free to choose their own actions, and their knowledge is limited, they nonetheless are the agency that reproduces the social structure and lead to social change.

Finally, the Third Way is the philosophy political of Giddens tries to redefine social democracy for a post-Cold War and globalization era. Also, he tells that the political concepts of “left” and “right” are now breaking down as a result of many factors. In The Third Way, Giddens provides a framework within which the “third way” is justified and also a broad set of policy proposals aimed at the “progressive centre-left” in British politics.

Giddens was known for:

•    His theory of structuration that explain the relation between individuals and social systems.

•   His holistic view of modern societies .

•   Developed the Third Way that was a political philosophy which seeks to redefine social democracy for a post-Cold War and globalized era.

Major Publications:

•            The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies (1973)

•          New Rules of the Sociological Method (1976)

•           Studies in Social and Political Theory (1977)

•           Central Problems in Social Theory (1979)

•           The Constitution of Society (1984)

•           The Third Way (1998)

      Frank Webster (1950- )

He is a British sociologist and he comes from Durham (England) where he was raised and educated. He completed his studies at LSE and he has worked in several universities. He is currently Head of the Department of Sociology at City University London.

His work about the "information society" he examined six separable conceptions of the information society,  despite of all are suspect to some degree, even though the idea of an information society cannot be easily sustained.

His research has centered on information and communications trends, and has included conceptual analysis and critique, as well as studies of higher education, the effects of advanced technologies on libraries, urban change, and new media. He has recently worked on Information War and was involved in researching Internet Activism by examining the anti-war movement and its adoption of ICTs. This work is situated in a context of interest in democratization and information trends, an interest manifested especially in his teaching - www. Frank has begun work on another book, provisionally titled Democratization and Information.

Webster has published books on many aspects of contemporary social change. He has resisted the view that the Information society is radically new, insisting on the primacy of continuities and consolidations of established trend. He conceives today’s ‘informational capitalism’ as a development from corporate capitalism and, before that, laissez-faire capitalism, that advances principles of market society such as private ownership, competition, profitability, commodification, ability to pay, and the centrality of wage labor.

He wrote a Luddite analysis of Information Technology with Kevin Robins in the early 1980s that was one of the first book-length critiques of optimistic analyses of computer and telecommunications technologies.

Publications

·      

•           The New Photography: Responsibility in Visual Communication Calder (1980)

•          Information Technology: A Luddite Analysis (1986)

•          The Technical Fix: Computers, Industry and Education (1989)

•         Theories of the Information Society 1995 (2006)   

•        The Postmodern University? Contested Visions of Higher Education (1997)

 There are a video about Spencer´s Theory: