SOCI 301/321 Foundations of Social Thought Session 3 The Founders of Sociology: Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) Lecturer: Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, UG Contact Information: ddzorgbo@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 2016/2017 godsonug.wordpress.com/blog
Session Overview Introduction This session is sequel to the preceding one that dealt with Auguste Comte. It deals with the works and ideas of Herbert Spencer. Goals and Objectives By the end of this session you should be able to: Give a brief biographical background of Herbert Spencer Identify and understand the various concepts and ideas associated with Spencer DeterŵiŶe SpeŶĐer s ĐoŶtriďutioŶ to sođiology Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 2
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: Topic One: Biography of Spencer Topic Two : Major ideas, concepts and views of Spencer TopiĐ Three: SpeŶĐer s ĐoŶtriďutioŶ to sođiology Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 3
Reading List ALLAN K. (2005) EXPLORATIONS IN CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: SEEING THE SOCIAL WORLD, LONDON: PIN FORGE PRESS ASHLEY D. AND D. M. ORENSTEIN (2001) SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: THE CLASSICAL STATEMENTS, BOSTON: ALLYN AND BACON. DZORGBO, D-B. S. (2013) SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: CLASSICAL IDEAS AND THEIR APPLICATION IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT, ACCRA: WOELI PUBLISHING SERVICES DZORGBO D-B. S. (2009) SOCIOLOGY: FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL THOUGHT: LEGON-ACCRA: CENTER FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA. RITZER G. (20O8) SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY, BOSTON: MCGRAW HILL RITZER G. & DOUGLAS J. GOODMAN, (2004) CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY, BOSTON: MCGRAW HILL Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 4
Topic Two: Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) Herbert Spencer was born in Derby, England on April 12, 1820 He schooled in technical and utilitarian matters not in humanities and arts. He worked as a civil engineer for a railway company from 1837 to 1846 During this time, Spencer studied on his own and published scientific and political works. In 1848, Spencer was appointed the editor of The Economist and this job enabled him to build his intellectual capacity By 1850, he had completed his major work, Social Statics. But Spencer experienced intermittent insomnia and a series of nervous breakdown in the process of writing this book, a problem that afflicted him throughout his life Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo Slide 5
Topic Two: Herbert Spencer In 1853 Spencer inherited a family fortune that permitted him to live a gentleman scholarly life. Although Spencer never earned a university degree or occupied academic position, his scholarly productivity increased to the extent that it was impossible to be a scholar in England at the time without being familiar with SpeŶĐer s ǁ ork. SpeŶĐer ǁ as a great thinker. Like Comte before him, Spencer did not read the works of others, meaning he also practiced Đereďral hygieŷe. (1820-1903) Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo Slide 6
Herbert Spencer: Major Ideas Spencer like Comte was evolutionist. He believed that just as a living organism grows and develops, so is the evolution of society. Society evolves from a small relatively simple and homogenous state in which division of labour is little to more a complex and heterogeneous state in which the division of labour is advanced. He believed that society (i) evolves from one stage to the other from headless society to headed, compound, doubly compound, triply compound (modern societies) and (ii) also from militant and to industrial where there would be peace. Societal evolution entails competition coined the terŵ surǀiǀ al of the fittest heŷđe SoĐial DarǁiŶisŵ Competition in human affairs results in social progress and human perfection Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 7
Herbert Spencer: Major Ideas (ĐŶt d) Society is like living organism, it has parts (e.g. religion, the family, education, the state, and the economy) that are interrelated and interdependent and all function to maintain the society as an ongoing entity. This image of society is in line with a modern theoretical perspective in sociology known as structural functionalism. An advocate of non-intervention in society by governments or states because competition and social inequality are necessary for the progress of society. Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 8
Herbert Spencer: Society as Living He conceived society as a living organism. For example, the human organism has parts such as the heart, lung, mouth, stomach, legs, etc. that are interdependent and all play their roles to ensure the survival of the human being. Like the above, society also has parts (the social institutions) that are interdependent and function to ensure survival of society If the human being is a biological system, then society is a social system Organism Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo Slide 9
Society as System of Institutions FAMILY Religion society Education Health Polity Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo Slide 10
Society as System of Institutions ;ĐoŶt d The parts of the living organism are interrelated, interdependent and are all functioning to sustain the living organism The parts of society are the social institutions the family, politics, the economy, religion, education, health; they are also interdependent and functional (make contribution) to existence of the overall society. Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 11
Herďert SpeŶĐer ;ĐoŶt d:evolution, Competition and Progress Social evolution entails competition and results in progress Spencer applied Darwin's theory of Evolution and the idea of surǀiǀ al of the fittest thereďy iŵproǀiŷg sođiety Societies evolve from simple homogeneous state to complex heterogeneous state From Headless society, to headed, to compound, doubly compound and triply compound society From militant society (militant) to industrial society (peaceful) The natural and unguided evolution of society leads to the most fit surviving and the poor and the unfit being eliminated Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo Slide 12
Conclusion In this section you have learnt aďout Herďert SpeŶĐer s ;Britishďiography His contribution to sociology in terms of the ideas he developed for our understanding of the nature of society and its future direction Spencer like Comte shared evolutionary ideas about society, although his eǀ olutioŷary ideas differed froŵ that of Coŵte s laǁ of three stages Spencer shared a commitment to a science of society However, whereas Comte wanted social reforms through sociology, Spencer did not want reform through sociology but wanted social life to evolve freely not guided by any external force or governmental control Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo Slide 13