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A Sociology Exhibit

Organizing Relationships

Manifesto of the Communist Party (by Marx, Karl)
Almost a Woman (by Wood-Allen, Mary)
The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to th... (by George Henry Napheys)
Capital : A Critique of Political Econom... (by Marx, Karl)
Love-Marriage-Birth Control; Being a Spe... (by Dawson, Bertrand Dawson, Baron)
How to Be Happy Though Married. Being a ... (by Hardy, Edward John)
Plain Talks on Avoided Subjects (by Guernsey, Henry N. (Henry Newell))
The Laws of Imitation (by Tarde, Gabriel)
A History of Social Thought (by Emory Stephen Bogardus)
Pure Sociology : A Treatise on the Origi... (by Ward, Lester Frank)
Essays in Sociological Theory (by Parsons, Talcott)
Village Life in China; A Study in Sociol... (by Smith, Arthur Henderson)
Towards the Great Peace (by Cram, Ralph Adams)
The Sexual Question : A Scientific, Psyc... (by Auguste Forel)
An Account of the War Customs of the Osa... (by Dorsey, James Owen)

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

Manifesto of the Communist Party (by Marx, Karl)
Almost a Woman (by Wood-Allen, Mary)
The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to th... (by George Henry Napheys)
Capital : A Critique of Political Econom... (by Marx, Karl)
Love-Marriage-Birth Control; Being a Spe... (by Dawson, Bertrand Dawson, Baron)
How to Be Happy Though Married. Being a ... (by Hardy, Edward John)
Plain Talks on Avoided Subjects (by Guernsey, Henry N. (Henry Newell))
The Laws of Imitation (by Tarde, Gabriel)
A History of Social Thought (by Emory Stephen Bogardus)
Pure Sociology : A Treatise on the Origi... (by Ward, Lester Frank)
Essays in Sociological Theory (by Parsons, Talcott)
Village Life in China; A Study in Sociol... (by Smith, Arthur Henderson)
Towards the Great Peace (by Cram, Ralph Adams)
The Sexual Question : A Scientific, Psyc... (by Auguste Forel)
An Account of the War Customs of the Osa... (by Dorsey, James Owen)

Top 100 books on Psychology

Crime and Punishment (by Dostoevsky, Fyodor)
Freud and the Scientific Method (by Rosenfels, Paul)
The Story of the Mind (by James Mark Baldwin)
Applied Psychology : A Series of Twelve ... (by Warren Hilton)
Outwitting Our Nerves; A Primer of Psych... (by Jackson, Josephine A. (Josephine Agnes))
Dreams (by Henri Bergson)
The Achievements of Luther Trant (by Balmer, Edwin)
Behavior an Introduction to Comparative ... (by John B. Watson)
Beyond the Pleasure Principle (by Sigmund Freud)
Diary Written in the Provincial Lunatic ... (by Pengilly, Mary Huestis)
Fantasia of the Unconscious (by Lawrence, David Herbert)
Psychological Types or the Psychology of... (by C. G. Jung)
The Crowd : A Study of the Popular Mind (by Gustave Le Bon)
Initiative Psychic Energy (by Hilton, Warren)
The Beautiful : An Introduction to Psych... (by Lee, Vernon)

Top 100 books on Economics

The Development of Socialism from Utopia... (by Friedrich Engels)
Life of Adam Smith (by Rae, John)
The Trade Unions : An Appeal to the Work... (by Robert Somers)
The State and Revolution (by Lenin, V. I.)
Cecil Rhodes; The Man and His Work (by Le Sueur, Gordon)
The Prince (by Machiavelli, Niccolò)
The Way to Wealth; Or, Poor Richard Impr... (by Franklin, Benjamin)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
What Is Property (by Proudhon, Pierre Joseph)
The Rights of Property; A Refutation of ... (by Thiers, Louis Adolphe)
Mutual Aid (by Kropotkin, P.)
Prince, The (Version 2) (by Machiavelli, Niccolo)
Anthem (by Rand, Ayn)
The Iron Heel (by London, Jack)
Poverty and Its Vicious Circles (by Hurry, Jamieson Boyd)

Top 100 books on Government

A Treatise on Political Economy : Or the... (by Jean Baptiste Say)
The Elements of Law Natural and Politic (by Hobbes, Thomas)
On Liberty (by Winthrop, John)
Of the Law of Nature and Nations : Eight... (by Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr Von)
De Republica Anglorum; A Discourse on th... (by Smith, Thomas, Sir)
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (by Thoreau, Henry David)
General History of Civiclization in Euro... (by M. Guizot)
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (by Adam Ferguson)
Assize of Clarendon (by Henry, King, Ii)
A Discourse of Government with Relation ... (by Fletcher, Andrew)
Excerpts from Frame of Government of Pen... (by Penn, William)
Why wars come; or, Forms of government a... (by Niblack, Albert Parker)
The Charlotte Town Resolves (by Charlotte Town Committee)
The Petition of Right (by Relf, Frances Helen)
The General History of England, Both Ecc... (by Tyrrell, James)

Top 100 books on Law

The Critique of Practical Reason (by Kant, Immanuel)
The English Constitution (by Sir Frederick Pollock)
Bleak House (by Dickens, Charles)
Crime and Punishment (by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor)
Conflict of Laws; Or, Private Internatio... (by Minor, Raleigh C)
Sovereign Immunity : Hearing before the ... Volume Part: 1 (by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee On Indi...)
Lectures on Jurisprudence (by Robert Campbell)
Utilitarianism (by Mill, John Stuart)
Terrorism, The Future, And U.S. Foreign ... (by Lee, Rensselaer)
Confucianism (by Anonymous)
Extraterritorial Cases, Including the De... Volume Vol. 1 (by United States. Court for China)
Introduction to Roman Law (by Hadley, James)
The Summa Theologica Volume I (by Thomas Aquinas)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (by John Locke)
The spirit of the laws; Volume: 11 (by Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de)

Top 100 books on Politics

Wealth of Nations, Book 1, The (by Smith, Adam)
Politics (by Aristotle)
The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle (by Aristotle, Frank Hesketh Peters)
The Twelve Caesars (by Tranquillus, Gaius, Suetonius)
On the principles of political economy, ... (by David Ricardo)
Mutual Aid (by Kropotkin, P.)
The Souls of Black Folk (by Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt)
The Law (by Bastiat, Frédéric)
The Trial (by Kafka, Franz)
A Modest Proposal (by Swift, Jonathan)
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonapar... (by Marx, Karl)
Politics (by Aristotle)
The Trial (by Kafka, Franz)
Politics Aristotle (by Ross, W. D.)
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists (by Tressell, Robert)

Top 100 books on Anthropology

The Prehistoric World : Or, Vanished Rac... (by Allen, E. A.)
Curators, Collections, And Contexts : An... Volume Fieldiana, Anthropology, new series, no.36 (by Field Museum of Natural History)
The races of man, and their geographical... (by Peschel, Oscar)
American Anthropologist : Vol. 4 Volume Vol. 4 (by American Anthropological Association)
American Anthropologist : Vol. 06 Part 0... Volume Vol. 06 Part 04 (by American Anthropological Association)
Games of the North American Indians (by Culin, Stewart)
Social Anthropology (by Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evan)
The Living World : Containing Descriptio... Volume v 1 (by Arnold, Augustus C. L.)
American Anthropologist (by The American Anthropological Association)
Anthropology (by Marett, R. R. (Robert Ranulph))
The Dolmens of Ireland, Their Distributi... Volume 3 (by Borlase, William Copeland)
Introduction to Anthropology (by Waitz, Theodore)
American Anthropologist : Vol. 06 Part 0... Volume Vol. 06 Part 01-02 (by American Anthropological Association)
An Anthropologist at Work; Writings of R... (by Benedict, Ruth)
Animal Figures in the Maya Codices (by Tozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston))