Sociology–the scientific study of human social

behavior–is a relatively new discipline. The first social

survey–that is, the collection of responses from
individuals–can be traced back to the 11th century,
but sociology didn’t rise to the auspices of “science”
until the end of the 19th century. It flourished in the
20th century, and hundreds of sociologists have done
research and published articles, books, and studies
that have furthered the human race’s understanding
of our own social interactions, organizations, and
development–including issues of social class, culture,
religion, and gender.
Here are 10 influential
sociologists of the 20th
century, listed in birth
order:
1: Emile Durkheim
(1858-1917)
•The first professor of sociology in France
•is known as one of the three “fathers of
sociology,”
•he is credited with helping sociology be seen
as actual science–which we think makes him
pretty influential.
•He first made a splash with 1893’s “The
Division of Labor in Society,” which refuted
Karl Marx’s critique of industrialization.
•introduced in his 1895 publication,
“Suicide,” which pioneered the
separation of social science from
psychology (hence the acceptance of
sociology as “legitimate science”).
2: Max Weber
(1862-1920)
•He cited as the third founding architect of
sociology. Weber’s primary battle cry was
the role of religion–not economics, a theory
endorsed by Marx–as the catalyst of social
change.
•he’s famous for his theory of “Protestant
Ethic,” which states that the cultural
influences of the Protestant religion brought
about the rise of capitalism.
•founders of the liberal German Democratic
Party.
3: Charles Wright
Mills (1916-1962)
•famous for coining the phrase
“power elite”
•work focused on these alliances
between the elites as well as the
political engagement of intellectuals
in the post-World War II society.
4: Daniel Bell
(1919-2011)
•leader in the field of post-industrialism, a
concept that defines a society that has
developed to a point where the service
sector generates more wealth than the
manufacturing sector.
•He popularized the concept in his 1973
book, “The Coming of the Post-Industrial
Society.”
5: Erving Goffman
(1922-1982)
•He developed the theory of
dramaturgy
•He believed that we are all actors
playing our respective roles in
everyday life, as outlined in his
seminal 1959 book, “The
Presentation of Self in Everyday
Life.”
6: Michel Foucault
(1926-1984)
• Foucault is sometimes listed primarily as a philosopher,
rather than a sociologist.
• his contributions to the theory around the relationship of
power and knowledge place him squarely in the
“influential sociologists” category.
• He popularized the idea that institutions can use a
combination of power and knowledge as a form of social
control; for example, in the 18th century, unsavory
members of society–the poor, sick, homeless,
disagreeable–were described as “mad” and stigmatized.
• this way, the powerful succeeded in defining knowledge.
7: Jurgen Habermas
•focused his work on the areas of critical
theory and pragmatism
•His theory of communicative rationality
states that successful communication
inherently leads to human rationality.
•It follows that if we come together in the
public sphere and identify how people
understand or misunderstand each other,
we can reduce social conflict.
8: Pierre Bourdieu
(1930-2002)
•Established the “cultural deprivation
theory”
•-which states that people tend to
think higher class cultures are better
than lower class cultures.
•His most famous work is 1979’s
“Distinction: A Social Critique of the
Judgment of Taste.”
9: Anthony Giddens
(1938)
•a prominent thinker in the field of
sociology
•having published at least 34 books since
1971
•he suggests a Third Way that reconciles
the policies of the political left and the
political right in order to form a system of
ethical socialism–a balance of capitalism
and socialism.
10: Gary Alan Fine
(1950)
•He made a number of
contributions to the discipline in
the area of social culture.
•He’s published eight books in the
past 20 years, including 2012’s
“Tiny Publics: A Theory of Group
Culture and Action.”