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A Sociology Exhibit

Organizing Relationships

Civic Education : Sociological Foundatio... (by David Snedden)
Quaker Hill; A Sociological Study (by Wilson, Warren Hugh)
Society, Its Origin and Development (by Rowe, Henry Kalloch)
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonapar... (by Marx, Karl)
Sex: Avoided Subjects Discussed in Plain... (by Henry Stanton)
Confidences : Talks with a Young Girl Co... (by Edith Belle Lowry)
Five Lectures on Blindness (by Kate M. Foley)
Anthropology (by Marett, R. R. (Robert Ranulph))
Capital : A Critique of Political Econom... (by Marx, Karl)
The Fertility of the Unfit (by Chapple, W. A)
A Text-Book of Sociology (by James Quayle Dealey)
Criminal Sociology (by Ferri, Enrico)
The Principles of Sociology : Volume 1 (by Spencer, Herbert)
Social Physics: From the Positive Philos... (by Auguste Comte)
A Story of the Red Cross : Glimpses of F... (by Clara Barton)

Organizing Relationships: A Sociology Exhibit

Many disciplines beyond Sociology, such as Mathematics and Psychology and Economics, are utilized in the Social Sciences. In our Collections under these and other topics, contain hundreds of titles by writers and theorists who have dedicated to their lives to the study of human society. Featured books in the following collections include Herbert Spencer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Talcott Parsons and David Emile Durkheim.

Sociology of Past Power Structures

Throughout history, all sub-disciplines of Sociology, as well and religious and government groups have been studied and experimented with different methods of social organization of population. Sometimes, these attempts at social definitions and control have been tempered, but at other times, rigid – some men have use groups for their own gain. Ultimately, however, if social organization is to be implemented, it has to be understood.

From the beginning of time, both men and animals have used verbal and non-verbal cues and strategies to enforce hierarchy. With chimpanzees, it is the Alpha Male. With men: Domesday Books, mathematics and accounting, psychology and linguistics. The word “organization” is derived from the Greek word organon, which means "organ." Therefore, studies of how groups of people (with a common goal) structure themselves, is the study of mankind and its relationships as a collective.

The Domesday Book, created under the reign of William the Conqueror, has been studied to understand the role of documentation in asserting authority and also to facilitate taxation. According to Young Folks’ History of England, William the Conqueror was a Norman who conquered England. In 1086, he ordered the documentation of land, livestock and taxes under the administration of the previous rulers, to find out what would be transferred over to Norman rule. Whatever was recorded in the Domesday book could not be appealed. The data that William the Conqueror collected into the Domesday book revealed his tendency for control. In the book titled, William the Conqueror, it is said that “William would not set...over any part of his dominions before his time, and it was his policy to keep his children dependent on him. While he enriched his brothers, he did not give the smallest scrap of the spoils of England to his sons” (William the Conqueror, World Heritage Encyclopedia). Robert, his son, was angry about this and fought his father in a battle, but later asked for his pardon. Today, the Domesday Books is considered an artifact of sociological research. Domesday Studies, Being the Papers Read at the Meetings of the Domesday Commemoration 1886 examines how this document changed the course of history in the United Kingdom (Domesday Studies, Being the Papers Read at the Meetings of the Domesday Commemoration 1886, Edward P. Dove).

Debates in Defining Sociology

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet was a 19th-Century Belgian mathematician, statistician and sociologist who introduced statistical methods into the social sciences. He assigned variables to the complexity of social phenomena, in order to measure the statistical laws underlying crime, marriage or suicide rates. Other scientists thought his ideas were controversial because it contradicted freedom of choice (“Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet,” World Heritage Encyclopedia).

The author of Adolphe Quetelet, A Statistician discusses Auguste Comte as another researcher of social physics and sociology, but that Quetelet invented the method of investigation for “social physics” (Adolphe Quetelet as Statistician, Frank Hamilton Hawkins). So Comte reinvented the term sociologie (sociology) to differentiate it from Quetelet’s collection of statistics (“Adolphe Quetelet,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Comte believed that there was an order of nature, not of man, which could be scientifically understood by unifying history, psychology and economics. Social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism, or using a broader philosophy that methodologically orders scientific observations (Outlines of Sociology, Lester Frank Ward). In this book, Ward writes Comte’s use of the term “hierarchy” did not imply subordination. “There is genetic affiliation without subordination. The more complex and less exact sciences may be regarded as the children of the more simple and exact ones, but between parent and offspring there is no difference or rank.” Additionally, he wrote that Comte “laid the foundations for understanding the more complex sciences by acquainting himself with the simpler ones upon which the other sciences successively rest” (Outlines of Sociology, Lester Frank Ward). Other social scientists like Karl Marx also mixed scientific methods to measure social impacts of industrialization occurring in Europe, documented in his work Wage Labour and Capital ("Wage Labour and Capital," Karl Marx).

Studying Social Life

David Émile Durkheim was a 19th century French sociologist who believed that sociology should study phenomena attributed to society at large, rather than being limited to the specific actions of individuals. Barbara Anne Mendheim however, applied sociology differently in The Sociology of Gender in a Kindergarten-First Grade Classroom. She writes that people gain knowledge of the social world by identifying typicality and finding language to order their social experience. For example, girls understand that being a girl means being personally relevant and intimate with other people. Boys understand being a boy through being powerful and competent in the world (The Sociology of Gender in a Kindergarten-First Grade Classroom, Barbara Anne Mendheim). However, in Woman: Her Charm and Power, Robert Downes uses sociological methods to explore how women in Egyptian and Iranian society were given opportunity for education and in leadership. But in Roman culture, women’s roles were to birth children. Women’s positions in society are influenced by the dominant culture’s definition of their functions and role in society (Woman: Her Charm and Power, Robert Downes).

Sociology has also been used to study group relations. Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism discusses how entrepreneurs used religion to spread the system of capitalism. By tapping into religious belief systems, he proffered, people could work toward their profit making motive.

Works Cited

"August Compte." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

“David Émile Durkheim.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

"Domesday Book." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Dove, P. Edward. "Domesday Studies, Being the Papers Read at the Meetings of the Domesday Commemoration 1886." London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1886.

Downes, Robert. Woman: Her Charm and Power. London: The Epworth Press, 1900.

Hawkins, Frank Hamilton. Adolphe Quetelet as Statistician. New York: Columbia University Press, 1877.

“Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Marx, Karl. "Wage Labour and Capital." Neue Rheinische Zeitung, April 1849. Reproduced: World Public Library, 2002. Web.

Mendheim, Barbara Anne. The Sociology of Gender in a Kindergarten-First Grade Classroom. Diss. University of Florida, 1979.

“Norman People.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

"Sociology." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Ward, Lester Frank. Outlines of Sociology. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1921.

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Scribner, 1930

“William the Conqueror.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Yonge, Charlotte Mary. Young Folks’ History of England. Boston: Estes and Lauriet, 1879.

Sociology Collections

"Organizing Relationships: A Sociology Exhibit" demonstrates how sociological methods have been used to study the configuration of power, through documentation, analysis of order, and social effects. Sociology brings together different methods of thinking, to understand the complexity of society more accurately, and why we should always be vigilant of power.

Learn more about how the discipline of sociology is used, in these collections:

Top 100 books on Sociology

Civic Education : Sociological Foundatio... (by David Snedden)
Quaker Hill; A Sociological Study (by Wilson, Warren Hugh)
Society, Its Origin and Development (by Rowe, Henry Kalloch)
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonapar... (by Marx, Karl)
Sex: Avoided Subjects Discussed in Plain... (by Henry Stanton)
Confidences : Talks with a Young Girl Co... (by Edith Belle Lowry)
Five Lectures on Blindness (by Kate M. Foley)
Anthropology (by Marett, R. R. (Robert Ranulph))
Capital : A Critique of Political Econom... (by Marx, Karl)
The Fertility of the Unfit (by Chapple, W. A)
A Text-Book of Sociology (by James Quayle Dealey)
Criminal Sociology (by Ferri, Enrico)
The Principles of Sociology : Volume 1 (by Spencer, Herbert)
Social Physics: From the Positive Philos... (by Auguste Comte)
A Story of the Red Cross : Glimpses of F... (by Clara Barton)

Top 100 books on Psychology

Ten Days in a Madhouse (by Bly, Nellie)
Psychology and Religion West and East (by C. G. Jung)
The Origin and Nature of the Emotions (by Crile, George W.)
Dreams (by Henri Bergson)
Studies in Forensic Psychiatry (by Glueck, Bernard)
Criminal Psychology (by Gross, Hans)
The Achievements of Luther Trant (by Balmer, Edwin)
Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory (by Freud, Sigmund)
The Art of War (by Tzu, Sun)
Self Mastery through Conscious Autosugge... (by Coue, Emile)
Des Homicides Commis Par Les Aliénés (by Blanche, E. (Émile), B. 1820)
Sex and Society: Studies in the Social P... (by William Isaac Thomas)
The Science of Human Nature; A Psycholog... (by Pyle, William Henry)
Mind and Motion and Monism (by Romanes, George John)
Psychologie de L'Éducation (by Gustave Le Bon)

Top 100 books on Economics

The Servile State (by Belloc, Hilaire)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
Alfred Weber's Theory of the Location of... (by Weber, Alfred)
The Causes of Poverty (by Mccarthy, Callaghan)
The Rights of Property; A Refutation of ... (by Thiers, Louis Adolphe)
In Praise of Poverty
Conquest of bread, The (by Kropotkin, Peter)
The Theory of the Leisure Class (by Veblen, Thorstein)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Cecil Rhodes; The Man and His Work (by Le Sueur, Gordon)
The Conquest of Bread (by Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, Kniaz)
Women and Economics: A Study of the Econ... (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
Tableau Oeconomique (by François Quesnay)
On the Principles of Political Economy, ... (by David Ricardo)
Minorities Versus Majorities (by Goldman, Emma)

Top 100 books on Government

Vindication of the Rights of Woman (by Wollstonecraft, Mary)
Communist Manifesto (by Marx, Karl)
General History of Civiclization in Euro... (by M. Guizot)
Politics Aristotle (by Ross, W. D.)
On Liberty (by Winthrop, John)
The Historical, Political, And Diplomati... (by Niccolò Machiavelli)
The Letters of Junius
Two Treatises of Civil Government (by Locke, John)
Robert's Rules of Order Revised for Deli... (by Robert, Henry M. (Henry Martyn))
The Code of Hammurabi (by King, Leonard W.)
The Declaration of Arbroath
The Union of Utrecht (by Lucy Maynard Salmon)
Ethica (by Baruch Spinoza, Benedictus De Spinoza, Johannes Va...)
Introduction to the Principles of Morals... (by Bentham, Jeremy)
Virginia Declaration of Rights and Cardi... (by Mason, George)

Top 100 books on Law

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary : Comprisi... (by Shumaker, Walter A)
Human Rights (by Carter, Jimmy)
Marrow of Tradition, The (by Chesnutt, Charles Waddell)
The Critique of Practical Reason (by Kant, Immanuel)
Constitution and Laws of the Cherokee Na... (by Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma)
Americans in Eastern Asia; A Critical St... (by Dennett, Tyler)
Codex Hammurabi (by Hammurabi, King of Balonia)
Two Centuries' Growth of American Law, 1... (by Yale Law School)
Terrorism, The Future, And U.S. Foreign ... (by Lee, Rensselaer)
Utilitarianism (by Mill, John Stuart)
The Foreign Relation of China: A History... (by Pao, Ming-Chien)
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of... (by Department of National Security)
The Laws of Plato; (by Plato)
Roman Law in the Modern World (by Sherman, Charles Phineas)
The Art of War (by Tzu, Sun)

Top 100 books on Politics

Areopagitica (by John Milton)
Twentieth Century Political Thought (by Roucek, Joseph. S)
Meditations (by Aurelius, Marcus)
Conquest of bread, The (by Kropotkin, Peter)
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists (by Tressell, Robert)
Rights of Man, Score Aor Rom Volume Vol. II (by Paine, Thomas)
Areopagitica (by John Milton)
Politics (by Aristotle)
Walden & on the Duty of Civil Disobedien... (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Revolutionary Socialism, A Study in Soci... (by Corey, Lewis)
Leviathan (Books I and II) (by Hobbes, Thomas)
The Republic (by Plato)
Proposed Roads to Freedom : Socialism, A... (by Russell, Bertrand)
God and the State (by Bakunin, Michael)
The State and Revolution (by Lenin, V. I.)

Top 100 books on Anthropology

Story of Man: from the First Human to Pr... (by Coon, Carleton Stevens)
Man from the Farthest Past : Volume 7 (by Bishop, Carl Whiting)
Criminal Man, According to the Classific... (by Lombroso-Ferrero, Gina)
Anthropology as a Practical Science. Add... (by Temple, Richard Carnac, Sir)
The Golden Bough : A Study in Magic and ... (by Frazer, James George, Sir)
Modern Mythology (by Lang, Andrew)
The Study of Man: An Introduction (by Linton, Ralph)
Growing up in New Guinea; A Comparative ... (by Mead, Margaret)
American Anthropologist (by The American Anthropological Association)
Anthropology (by Marett, R. R. (Robert Ranulph))
American Anthropologist : Vol. 3 Volume Vol. 3 (by American Anthropological Association)
Games of the North American Indians (by Culin, Stewart)
The Journal of the Anthropological Insti... (by Royal Anthropological Institute)
American Anthropologist : Vol. 21 Volume Vol. 21 (by American Anthropological Association)
American Anthropologist (by American Anthropological Association)