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19TH CENTURY SOCIAL SCIENCE (REFLECTIONS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (FRENCH…
19TH CENTURY SOCIAL SCIENCE
SOCIAL SCIENCE VS. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
19th Century Social Science gave new priority to the application of scientific methods to social phenomena
POLITICAL SCIENCE
19th C Social Science viewed political science as a potential remedy for social crisis (stability)
SS
sought to apply the methodology of sciences to the political field and was one of the first thinkers to speak of a 'political science' (Ionescu: 1976)
Le Politique
(1819): "The social crisis in which most advance people of today are now engaged will not be totally terminated until the time when politics will be treated, cultivated and taught in the same way as physica, chemistry and physiology are taught today"
This new political science, for
SS
would allow individuals to make sense of observed social phenomena and predict potential changes in them
SS
doesn't turn away from political field in general - he wants to find an organization of society - this necessarily includes political elements
*De la Réorganisation de la Société Européenne (1814): "until now the methods of the sciences of observation were not intriduced into the political question: everybody brought his or her own way of seeing, of reasoning [...] The time has now come where this infancy of science must stop [...] for it is from the obscurities of politics that the social trouble originates
For
SS
, there was a clear link between the political and the social - his conception of a political science was not a turn away from the political as a whole but an attempt to combine the two
While influenced by
C
and
SS
's 'science social,
M
also did not turn away from political realm as a whole
Collini
: "the terms of the questions which held his attention, and even the categories under which he arranged the evidence relevant to their solution, remained [...] obstinately political"
Collini
argues that one should be careful not to construct a too significant distinction between the political and the social on
M
- his focus was always fundamentally on public affairs
In his writings on
C
becomes apparent that
M
was far more concerned with his positivist theory and his work on progress of human intellect than the creation of a
political
science
C
and
SS
explore both the role of the social and the political in order to find solutions to social issues -
M
seems to be less interested in the way social phenomena can be linked to political questions
NOTION OF PROGRESS
POSITIVISM AND PROGRESS
C
adopted his notion of progress from various Enlightenment thinkers
C
's law of three stages: maintained that human intellectual development had moved historically from a theological state, through a transitional metaphysical state, to a modern positive stage
Law of three stages is based on idea that since the human mind progresses in stages, so too must societies
REFLECTIONS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
FRENCH REVOLUTION AND STABILITY
SS
thought the Jacobins missed the opportunity of the Revolution to reorganize society - a crucial task they failed to recognize was creating an organization of society that placed power into the hands of those involved in production
Welch: "For positivists, the Revolution was the climax of the transitional metaphysical age; it ushered in a new form of social organization not only founded on science, but eventually organized by a new spiritual consciousness of unity"
REASON VS. VIRTUE
Reason vs. Virtue debate big deal before and during the revolution
This debate is central to early social science thinkers - To what extent can we hope for a reasoned understanding for what underpins society? How far does virtuous thinking of patriotism etc. as championed by some in the FR clash with this
NATURAL SCIENCES
Can Social Science be modelled on natural science? Idea of science of society is often seen as a post-revolutionary response to the trauma - BUT actually predated this quite a bit
SS
and
Marx
both considered the FR to be the moment in history when 'industrial' society achieved it's own self sufficiency and stopped being dependent on state or government
They both criticized FR as having proclaimed emancipation of civil society only on the political plane and ignoring new social reality
SS
's doctrine of industrialism is exact antithesis of Jacobinism based on conception that the Jacobins missed the true revolution and succeeded only in replacing one class by another old system
SS
on the French Revolution: "When I examine the passion which caused the French Revolution and which class of society was most violently moved by it, I see that the passion was for equality and that it moved most deeply men of the lowest class, whose ignorance and self-interest compelled them to fall violently under it's sway" (Industry I, II)
MOTIVATIONS BEHIND 19TH C SOCIAL SCIENCE
SS
's search for the best organization for the future industrial society based on his contention that future societies, though free of economic constraints will need new political organizations within which they can function
CENTRAL THEME: SOCIAL TURMOIL AND CHANGE
C
and
SS
experienced the aftermath of the French Revolution and identified this as a significant turning point in history
D
wrote during the Third Republic in France, after it's defeat against Germany - time in which reestablishing stability in society was a key concern
For
SS
there needed to be a fundamental change from a 'politics of power' to a 'politics of abilities'
C
like
SS
viewed a reorganization of society as a key objective and grounded this process on a positive philosophy
Drawing on his Law of Three Stages and the subsequent 'revolution of human mind',
C
conceded that ideal of positive system might not be reached in practice - BUT viewed making social science positive as a crucial aspect of reorganizing society
Positive philosophy as "the only solid basis of the social reorganization that must terminate the crisis in which most civilized nations have found themselves for so long" (Comte)
Finding a 'Science of Mankind'
SS
wanted to form a 'science of mankind' - attempted to scientifically analyze the interrelations of the industrial system as a whole
C
was influenced by
SS
and also argued for the need for a basic and unifying social science - he thought that social phenomena were not included in any of main natural sciences and should therefore receive their own category
M
on
C
: He sought to "create the Science of Sociology, or, as he expresses it, to elevate the study of social phenomena to the positive state"
M
highlights scientific turn in
C
's work: what
C
"really meant by making a science positive, is [...] giving it it's final scientific constitution; in other words, discovering or proving [...] those of it's truths which are fit to form the connecting links among the rest"
Welch: "Although there was perhaps as little consensus then as now on either the meaning of 'social' or the methods of it's 'science(s), there was often an unspoken agreement about the relationship of social science to politics: la science sociale would provide the master plan for a new political order" (Welch 2011)
DIVISION OF LABOR
DIVISION OF LABOR AND STABILITY
Division of labor both a fundamental characteristic of industrial society and at the center of the debate around social stability
D
primarily interested in finluence of increasing specialization on social solidarity and norms in modern societies
For
C
, the division of
intellectual
labor was "one of the most important and characteristic attributes of the positive philosophy"
D
's theory of DoL sought to reestablish social and moral order within a society and was as such a fundamentally social issue
This goes back to Smith - Sieyes and Condorcet all interested in DoL as well
Concept of the basic division of labor between manual and non-manual work s basic to understanding of
SS
's philosophy
"The division of intellectual labor [...] is one of the most important and characteristic attributes of the positive philosophy" (Comte: 16)
This division "constitutes the true fundamental basis of the general organization of the scientific world" - but also inconvenient
Solving problem of excessive specialization doesn't include return to "ancient confusion of labors" but true remedy is in perfectin DoL itself
SECULARIZATION AND MODERNIZATION
SS
correctly foresaw the industrialization of the world and believed that science and technology would solve most of humanity's problems
SS
wanted an industrialized state directed by modern science, one in which society would be organized for productive labor by the most capable men
SS
on religion: religion should guide the community toward the aim of improving the conditions of poorest class as quickly as possible
INDUSTRIALIZATION
SS
writing in the early 19th C, concerned with the industrialization of the world ("Du systeme industriel, 1822 and Catechisme des industriels, 1823/4)
For
SS
the industrialization of society constituted a key issue that future societies would need to address --> significant part of his work dedicated to finding ideal organization of society - i.e. identifying an institutional framework in which social and political organizations could function
D
argued that "these new conditions of industrial life naturally require[d] a new organization" - "because these transformations [had] been accomplished with extreme rapidity the conflicting interests [had] not had time to strike an equilibrium"
Esp in
D
's context: industrialization decreased importance of religion and church