NORBERT ELIAS What is Sociology? Chapters One and Two

The Structure of the Book The book is made up of 6 chapters. Each having subsections except from chapter two. Chapter one is slit into 5 subsections. Chapter two reads as a whole without any subsections.

Chapter One: The Questions asked by Comte Comte was first to use the word “Sociology”. Philosophical Positivism is the gaining of knowledge by theories and empirical observations. Comte 3 problems; Develop theory of thought and science Determine the relationship between 3 important sciences Relative autonomy of Sociology

From Philosophical to a Sociological theory of knowledge The way we think is grounded in the thought processes of previous generations.

From non-scientific to scientific knowledge The mind uses 3 methods of thought, Theological Metaphysical Positive Pre-scientific knowledge to Scientific knowledge Aim of knowledge is to find out relationship between actual events

The scientific investigation of the sciences It’s assumed that a science is identified by it’s use of a particular method not by subject matter Human knowledge changes Value judgement All scientific forms arisen from pre-scientific forms

Sociology as a relatively autonomous science Comte wanted to establish sociology as a relatively autonomous science, Comte believed he needed to show how and why the interweaving forms integration,

The problem of scientific specialisation Now need an educated class of intellectuals,

Summary of Chapter One Sociology needs to be established as a independent science, Sociology in modern society should be scientific, Patterns of human action has become impersonal, Comte believes we need to view society as a whole through the process of pre-scientific to scientific,

Chapter Two The Sociologist as a destroyer of myths Science has become very specialised, we can now see the problems of this. The aim of science is to spread absolute truths, The cause of science has been advanced by small groups, Science task is to expose myths,

The Sociologist as a destroyer of myths continued Elias rejects the study of social origins and development of sciences as “merely historical”, Development of scientific knowledge is a new part of knowledge for people, Thoughts have developed through peoples own intentions, actions and purposes,

The Sociologist as a destroyer of myths continued Peoples ideas about impersonal connecting of events comes from tools of though and methods of investigation, Need to free ourselves from the idea that natural events have significance to them, Need to step away from pre-scientific ways of thinking to be able to take precautions,

The Sociologist as a destroyer of myths continued Philosophical theories of science believe that there is one scientific method, To understand the changes in human social life, we need to look at structural changes. Strong resistance has lead to institutional shifts in the distribution of power, This kind of change can be labelled by aspects of why things have changed, e.g. Industrialisation,

The Sociologist as a destroyer of myths continued We now have different social relationships in our lives, Due to specialised functions, we are dependent on each other, These social relationships form a chain of bonds, The bonds are increasing the development of human interdependence, Development of human society is beyond our control,

Summary of Chapter Two Elias maintained that sociologists should see themselves as “destroyers of myths”, As it would be more responsive to the social world we are analysing and be more accessible to human understanding and control, We can’t explain social events in pre-scientific terms due to the development of human interdependence, Human interweaving is growing in complexity,

Criticisms Elias writes in a manner which is slightly confusing due to the fact that over time certain words now have different meanings.

Bibliography Elias, N. (1970) “What is Sociology”, The Anchor Press Ltd.