Classical sociology and the emergence of modern societies are both interlinked, sociology is defined as the attempt to understand how society works by studying the relationships between people (Collins Dictionary, 2000). Sociology and modernity run parallel to one another, sociology can be seen as a product of modernity. In my piece I want to examine pre-modern society and discuss some of the reasons why the study of this era is important for sociology. There is and was a wide range of approaches behind the evolving of social thinking, many disciplines are complex and difficult to study and that’s why the practice of sociology involves the ability to detach oneself from any stereotypical ideas. In this essay I want to discuss how modern societies have evolved from classical sociology in the 19th/ 20th century, as well as modernity and society – I want to focus upon feminism and classical sociology. Human history can easily be divided into pre modern, modern and post-modern times: there is no absolute beginning or end to each of the phases a such rather that they merge together, not all societies moved forward at the same time. That is another factor I want to discuss, how certain social factors evolved quicker than others in history. Industrialised countries are mainly viewed as post-modern societies now, however, a proportion of the third world remains modern or pre-modern (reference).
I firstly, want to touch upon the roots of change within sociology, including the industrial revolution.
The classical sociologists I want to focus upon when talking about their impact on modern societies is Marx, Weber and Durkheim, all from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. They all identify features of society that have an insight on people’s interaction and the structures (reference). I’m involving these scholars, as their work provides a clear descriptions of the modern period that developed and many ideas in which have applied to contemporary world. These approaches were most likely not considered universal at the time, however, these classical sociologists put no limits on their analysis, but wrote in universal terms, developing concepts that could be applied in any situation. Contemporary sociological approaches have brought opinions to universality of the classical approaches, while few would deny that these classical approaches must be studied, and that their approaches are often useful today, feminists, third world or post-colonial theorists with new approaches to sexuality. Post-modernists argue that the classical approaches are incomplete, misleading, or inadequate (reference). These latter writers come from many different traditions with some rejecting classical writers while others modifying classical approaches and using new insights to develop hybrid approaches to analysis of the social world. There are many criticisms of classical sociological approaches, post-modernists generally argue that there cannot be a universal social theory, but that social thought requires consideration of different situations. I want to touch upon classical sociology and feminism, feminists of sexuality argue that classical sociologists were male writers with a male centred and conventional analysis of women, family, and sexuality. When talking about classical sociology with the emergence of modern societies, we can see a shift in social issues such as race, sexuality, gender etc. In the time of Weber, Marx and Durkheim, the sociologists were white, straight men whom only had one perspective on the subject and that is from a male, white man side. One general line of criticism of feminists is that women are absent from the social analyses and social world of classical sociology. The language and analysis of classical sociologists is that of men, male activities and experiences, and the parts of society dominated by males. Marx, Weber, and Durkheim were typical of nineteenth century European writers who assumed that the social world was primarily that of male activities.