 |
Back to the Future: The Origins and Return of Sociology as the Scientific Study of Societal Development
| |
| | Unformatted Document Text:
1
1
BACK TO THE FUTURE:
The Origins and Return of Sociology as the Scientific Study of Societal Development
Xavier Hansen
***ABSTRACT***
Central Hypothesis: The ongoing Cybernetic Revolution requires that sociology recast itself as the multi-disciplinary and extra-disciplinary applied scientific study of societal development, as it was at its origins.
***
The tremendous social impact of the Industrial Revolution spurred intellectual pioneers such as Malthus, Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, Dubois and Weber to conduct the earliest systematic studies of the processes of development of society. These early sociologists drew upon their active participation in various fields of academic and social activity to apprehend an era of unprecedented and revolutionary societal transformation. The maturation of the industrial order in the twentieth century slowly established a new structural continuity in modern society that allowed for the reemergence of a dominant scholarly trend in the social sciences. Reductionism, abstracted theorizing and narrow empiricism increasingly substituted for attempts to study the development of society as whole. Sociology turned inward, separated itself from the numerous disciplines that gave it birth and largely abandoned its original aim to understand society in its process of becoming. The recent mass implementation of computerized technology has ushered in a Cybernetic Revolution that will alter society more radically and at a faster rate than did the Industrial Revolution. Yet critical discussions of powerful new technologies such as cybernetics, genomics, and nanotechnology still mostly take place outside of sociology and even of traditional academia. Comparative studies of the exponential rate of social impact of technology during the Industrial Revolution and during the ongoing Cybernetic Revolution presage a new transitional era that requires of sociology to return to its roots, grounded in interdisciplinary and extra-disciplinary work, to confront new processes of societal development that will likely redefine humanity.
***
Keywords: Technology, Science, Society, Industrial Revolution, Cybernetics,
Computerization, Interdisciplinary, Origins of Sociology, Future
|
| |
| |
|
|
1
1
BACK TO THE FUTURE:
The Origins and Return of Sociology as the Scientific Study of Societal Development
Xavier Hansen
***ABSTRACT***
Central Hypothesis: The ongoing Cybernetic Revolution requires that sociology recast
itself as the multi-disciplinary and extra-disciplinary applied scientific study of societal
development, as it was at its origins.
***
The tremendous social impact of the Industrial Revolution spurred intellectual pioneers
such as Malthus, Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, Dubois and Weber to conduct the earliest
systematic studies of the processes of development of society. These early sociologists
drew upon their active participation in various fields of academic and social activity to
apprehend an era of unprecedented and revolutionary societal transformation.
The maturation of the industrial order in the twentieth century slowly established a new
structural continuity in modern society that allowed for the reemergence of a dominant
scholarly trend in the social sciences. Reductionism, abstracted theorizing and narrow
empiricism increasingly substituted for attempts to study the development of society as
whole. Sociology turned inward, separated itself from the numerous disciplines that gave it
birth and largely abandoned its original aim to understand society in its process of
becoming.
The recent mass implementation of computerized technology has ushered in a Cybernetic
Revolution that will alter society more radically and at a faster rate than did the Industrial
Revolution. Yet critical discussions of powerful new technologies such as cybernetics,
genomics, and nanotechnology still mostly take place outside of sociology and even of
traditional academia. Comparative studies of the exponential rate of social impact of
technology during the Industrial Revolution and during the ongoing Cybernetic Revolution
presage a new transitional era that requires of sociology to return to its roots, grounded in
interdisciplinary and extra-disciplinary work, to confront new processes of societal
development that will likely redefine humanity.
***
Keywords: Technology, Science, Society, Industrial Revolution, Cybernetics,
Computerization, Interdisciplinary, Origins of Sociology, Future
|
|
 Convention | | All Academic Convention is the premier solution for your association's abstract management solutions needs. | | Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. | | Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! | | Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! | | Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. | | Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! | | Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! | | Click here for more information. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Page 1 of 22 
