Auguste Comte, a French sociologist who lived from 1798 to 1857, laid the foundation of sociology. His principles are based on the positivism philosophy, where knowledge is scientific and not theological. An example principle is secularization, which he identifies as the concept where religious interpretations become increasingly trivial because of modern science. This philosophy is… Read more

Sociology is the study of individuals in a society–a group who share a common culture and territory–and their behaviors influenced by it: subtopics include social classes, ethnic/culture, families, gender/sexual orientation, and religion. Sociology is a part of the social sciences, so sociologists use empirical evidence in a systematic way where observations are combined into theories… Read more