The idea of something changing naturally isn't a new idea, but one that Charles Darwin explained with his theory of evolution. Herbert Spencer, an English sociologist, took Darwin's theory and applied it to how societies change and evolve over time. Spencer took the theory of evolution one step beyond biology and applied it to say that societies were organisms that progress through changes similar to that of a living species. It was Spencer's philosophy that societies (like organisms) would begin simple and then progress to a more complex form.
Video on Herbert Spencer.
http://youtu.be/Cxfbq4evdTY
Herbert Spencer Primary Source: "Pervading all nature we may see at work a stern discipline, which is a little cruel that it may be very kind. That state of universal warfare maintained throughout the lower creation, to the great perplexity of many worthy people, is at bottom the most merciful provision which the circumstances admit of. The poverty of the incapable, the distresses that come upon the imprudent, the starvation of the idle, and those shoulderings aside of the weak by the strong, which leave so many "in shallows and in miseries," are the decrees of a large, farseeing benevolence. It seems hard that an unskilfulness which with all its efforts he cannot overcome, should entail hunger upon the artisan. It seems hard that a labourer incapacitated by sickness from competing with his stronger fellows, should have to bear the resulting privations. It seems hard that widows and orphans should be left to struggle for life or death. Nevertheless, when regarded not separately, but in connection with the interests of universal humanity, these harsh fatalities are seen to be full of the highest beneficence--the same beneficence which brings to early graves the children of diseased parents, and singles out the low-spirited, the intemperate, and the debilitated as the victims of an epidemic. " - Herbert Spencer, "Social Statics," in J. Salwyn Schapiro, ed., Liberalism: Its Meaning and History (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1958), 136-137.
Response: This source is from a major contribution to sociology from Herbert Spencer. This excerpt is from his piece "Social Statics". What Herbert Spencer is doing is basically explaining social Darwinism. Spencer is saying that the people who are poverty stricken, the people who do not possess any working skills, are so because they are weaker than the people they are competing for jobs with. He says that it is a necessary evil for the weaker to die, it is sad because it is death, but it needs to happen for mankind.
Response: This source is from a major contribution to sociology from Herbert Spencer. This excerpt is from his piece "Social Statics". What Herbert Spencer is doing is basically explaining social Darwinism. Spencer is saying that the people who are poverty stricken, the people who do not possess any working skills, are so because they are weaker than the people they are competing for jobs with. He says that it is a necessary evil for the weaker to die, it is sad because it is death, but it needs to happen for mankind.
Industrial Growth of late 19th century and its problems/successes compared to technological growth today in the 21st Century:
19th Century:
Successes:
Failures:
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/b/ecotech19l.cfm
21st Century:
Successes:
Failures:
19th Century:
Successes:
- Steamboats
- Railroads
- Telegraph
- Telephones
- Electric Lighting
- Workers Union
- Improvement in Education
- Women's Rights
Failures:
- Widespread Poverty
- Low Wages
- Monopolies
- Robber Barons
- Jim Crow Laws
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/b/ecotech19l.cfm
21st Century:
Successes:
- Longer Life
- Even Better Inventions
- Computers
- Portable Music Players
- Medicine
Failures:
- Drugs
- Nuclear Weapons
- Bioterrorism
- Advanced Weaponry in Warfare
- Longer Life ---> More Medical Coverage--->Debt
Contributions to Sociology:
1) Social Statics (1850)2) First Principles (1862).
3) The study of Sociology (1873)
4) The Principles of Sociology in three volumes (1876-96)
5) The Man versus the State (1884) Organic Analogy:
Spencer is popularly known for his treatment of evolution. The evolutionary doctrine was no doubt the foundation of Spencer's sociological theory. He, however, presented the organic analogy, a secondary doctrine which also played a vital role in his thought system. He identified society with a biological organism. But this comparison of the society with the biological organism was not originally propounded by Herbert Spencer. Several other philosophers had given the concept previously. He established the hypothesis that society is like a biological organism and then proceeded to defend it against all objectives with great logical force. Indeed, he regarded the recognition of the similarity between society and organism as the first step towards a general theory of evaluation. In his "Principles of Sociology Spencer observed some similarities between biological and social organism:-
Society is thus viewed as being essentially analogous to an organism, with its interdependent parts or organs making up the body of society.
Bibliography:
http://www.preservearticles.com/201104306125/what-are-the-major-contributions-of-herbert-spencer-to-sociology.htmlhttp://college.cengage.com/history/west/resources/students/primary/survival.htm
http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/Images/A_Court_for_King_Cholera.png
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/b/ecotech19l.cfm
http://www.answers.com/Q/Can_you_describe_human_successes_in_five_technologies_and_human_failures_in_five_different_technologies
http://www.preservearticles.com/201104306125/what-are-the-major-contributions-of-herbert-spencer-to-sociology.htmlhttp://college.cengage.com/history/west/resources/students/primary/survival.htm
http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/Images/A_Court_for_King_Cholera.png
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/b/ecotech19l.cfm
http://www.answers.com/Q/Can_you_describe_human_successes_in_five_technologies_and_human_failures_in_five_different_technologies