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A Sociology Exhibit

Organizing Relationships

The American Journal of Sociology (by University of Chicago)
What the Mother of a Deaf Child Ought to... (by Wright, John Dutton)
Almost a Woman (by Wood-Allen, Mary)
Socialism (Le Socialisme) (by Durkheim, Emile)
The Sexual Life of the Child (by Moll, Albert)
Democratic Ideals and Reality : A Study ... (by Halford John Mackinder)
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Li... (by Durkheim, Emile)
The Fertility of the Unfit (by Chapple, W. A)
The Laws of Imitation (by Tarde, Gabriel)
Quaker Hill; A Sociological Study (by Wilson, Warren Hugh)
Domesday Studies, Being the Papers Read ... Volume 2 (by Domesday Commemoration)
Taboo and genetics, a study of the biolo... (by Knight, Melvin Moses)
Eugenics Marriage and Birth Control Prac... (by William Josephus Robinson)
Criminal Sociology (by Ferri, Enrico)
Theories of society; foundations of mode... (by Parsons, Talcott)

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

The American Journal of Sociology (by University of Chicago)
What the Mother of a Deaf Child Ought to... (by Wright, John Dutton)
Almost a Woman (by Wood-Allen, Mary)
Socialism (Le Socialisme) (by Durkheim, Emile)
The Sexual Life of the Child (by Moll, Albert)
Democratic Ideals and Reality : A Study ... (by Halford John Mackinder)
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Li... (by Durkheim, Emile)
The Fertility of the Unfit (by Chapple, W. A)
The Laws of Imitation (by Tarde, Gabriel)
Quaker Hill; A Sociological Study (by Wilson, Warren Hugh)
Domesday Studies, Being the Papers Read ... Volume 2 (by Domesday Commemoration)
Taboo and genetics, a study of the biolo... (by Knight, Melvin Moses)
Eugenics Marriage and Birth Control Prac... (by William Josephus Robinson)
Criminal Sociology (by Ferri, Enrico)
Theories of society; foundations of mode... (by Parsons, Talcott)

Top 100 books on Psychology

Adolescence Its Psychology Volume-Ii (by G. Stanley Hall)
Pavlov and His School the Theory of Cond... (by Professor Y. P. Frolov)
Ten Days in a Madhouse (by Bly, Nellie)
Applied Psychology for Nurses (by Mary F. Porter)
Beyond the Pleasure Principle (by Sigmund Freud)
History of Psychology; A Sketch and an I... (by Baldwin, James Mark)
Psychologie de L'Éducation (by Gustave Le Bon)
The Story of the Mind (by James Mark Baldwin)
Mind and Motion and Monism (by Romanes, George John)
Supreme Personality (by Croft, Delmer Eugene)
The Psychology of Beauty (by Puffer, Ethel D.)
The Psychology of Nations, A Contributio... (by Partridge, G. E. (George Everett))
Talks to Teachers on Psychology, And to ... (by James, William)
The Photoplay; A Psychological Study (by Münsterberg, Hugo)
Diary Written in the Provincial Lunatic ... (by Pengilly, Mary Huestis)

Top 100 books on Economics

The Bolsheviki and World Peace (by Trotsky, Leon)
Oeconomicus (by Xenophon, of Athens)
An Essay on the Principle of Population (by Malthus, Thomas)
The Rights of Property; A Refutation of ... (by Thiers, Louis Adolphe)
Socialism, Utopian and Scientific (by Engels, Friedrich)
The People of the Abyss (by Jack London)
Democracy in America I (by Tocqueville, Alexis de)
The Poverty of Philosophy (by Marx, Karl)
Two Treatises of Government (by Locke, John)
Annie Besant : An Autobiography (by Annie Wood Besant)
Life of Adam Smith (by Rae, John)
The Acquisitive Society (by Tawney, Richard Henry)
Minorities Versus Majorities (by Goldman, Emma)
The Trade Unions : An Appeal to the Work... (by Robert Somers)
Two Treatises of Civil Government (by Locke, John)

Top 100 books on Government

A Discourse of Government with Relation ... (by Fletcher, Andrew)
Politics Aristotle (by Ross, W. D.)
The Elements of Law Natural and Politic (by Hobbes, Thomas)
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Communist Manifesto (by Marx, Karl)
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (by Adam Ferguson)
The Principles of Natural and Politic La... (by Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
On the Law of War and Peace (by Grotius, Hugo)
Virginia Declaration of Rights and Cardi... (by Mason, George)
Columbia Law Review (by Columbia University. School of Law)
The Historical, Political, And Diplomati... (by Niccolò Machiavelli)
Institutes of Natural Law : Being the Su... Volume Vol. 1 (by Rutherforth, T., Thomas)
Albany Plan of Union (by Franklin, Benjamin)
On Liberty (by Winthrop, John)

Top 100 books on Law

Constitution and Act of Incorporation of... (by Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition o...)
William Caxton (by Edward Gordon Duff)
The Art of War (by Tzu, Sun)
Documents on the League of Nations (by League of Nations. Covenant)
The Treaty Making Power of the United St... (by Butler, Charles Henry)
Politics (by Aristotle)
Bleak House (by Dickens, Charles)
Bleak House (by Dickens, Charles)
The Laws of Plato; (by Plato)
Immigration Laws and Regulations. August... (by United States. Laws, Statutes, Etc)
The Magna Carta (by Hutchinson, Joshua)
Treatise on Law Summa Theologica Questio... (by Thomas Aquinas)
Leviathan (Books I and II) (by Hobbes, Thomas)
The Art of War (by Tzu, Sun)
Utilitarianism (by Mill, John Stuart)

Top 100 books on Politics

The Writings of Thomas Paine Volume Iv (by Paine, Thomas)
Walden & on the Duty of Civil Disobedien... (by Thoreau, Henry David)
A Tale of Two Cities (by Dickens, Charles)
Das Kapital (by Karl Marx)
The Iron Heel (by London, Jack)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
Communist Manifesto, The (by Marx, Karl)
Declaration of Independence of the Unite... (by United States, Founding Fathers of the)
The Law (by Bastiat, Frédéric)
Democracy in America (by Alexis De Tocqueville)
The Federalist Papers (by Hamilton, Alexander)
The Declaration of Independence and Lett... (by Jefferson, Thomas)
Utopia (by More, Thomas, Sir, Saint, 1478-1535)
Utilitarianism (by Mill, J. S.)
Political Ideals (by Russell, Bertrand)

Top 100 books on Anthropology

The History of Mankind Volume: v.2 (by Ratzel, Friedrich, 1844-1904)
The Prehistoric World : Or, Vanished Rac... (by Allen, E. A.)
Chinook : An Illustrative Sketch (by Franz Boas)
Systematic Theology : Volume 2 (by Hodge, Charles)
The History of Mankind Volume: v.3 (by Ratzel, Friedrich, 1844-1904)
Pedagogical Anthropology (by Montessori, Maria)
Anthropology as a Practical Science. Add... (by Temple, Richard Carnac, Sir)
The races of man, and their geographical... (by Peschel, Oscar)
General Anthropology (by Boas, Franz)
The Living World : Containing Descriptio... Volume v 1 (by Arnold, Augustus C. L.)
Aboriginal American Weaving (by Kissell, Mary Lois)
An Anthropologist at Work; Writings of R... (by Benedict, Ruth)
Anthropology : Race, Language, Culture, ... (by Kroeber, Alfred Louis)
Man from the Farthest Past : Volume 7 (by Bishop, Carl Whiting)
Anthropology and Modern Life (by Boas, Franz)

Top 100 books on Mathematics

A Treatise on Probability (by Keynes, John Maynard)
The Alphabet of Economic Science (by Philip Henry Wicksteed)
The Aryabhatiya; With the Commentary Bha... (by Aryabhata)
Projective geometry (by Mathews, George Ballard)
An Introduction to Mathematics (by Whitehead, Alfred North)
Ptolemy's Cataloque of Stars; A Revision... (by Ptolemy)
Dialogues Concerninc Two New Sciences (by Galileo Galilei)
A Treatise of Celestial Mechanics : Pt. ... Volume Pt. 1-2 (by Laplace, Pierre Simon, Marquis De)
History of Modern Mathematics (by Smith, David Eugene)
Logic, Deductive and Inductive (by Carveth Read)
Vorlesungen über Zahlentheorie (by Lejeune-Dirichlet, Peter Gustav)
Symbolic Logic: Part I, Elementary (by Lewis Carroll)
Indian Mathematics (by Kaye, George Rus)
Traité des Substitutions et des Équation... (by Jordan, Camille)
Relativity : The Special and General The... (by Albert Einstein)

Top 100 books on Economics

The Bolsheviki and World Peace (by Trotsky, Leon)
Oeconomicus (by Xenophon, of Athens)
An Essay on the Principle of Population (by Malthus, Thomas)
The Rights of Property; A Refutation of ... (by Thiers, Louis Adolphe)
Socialism, Utopian and Scientific (by Engels, Friedrich)
The People of the Abyss (by Jack London)
Democracy in America I (by Tocqueville, Alexis de)
The Poverty of Philosophy (by Marx, Karl)
Two Treatises of Government (by Locke, John)
Annie Besant : An Autobiography (by Annie Wood Besant)
Life of Adam Smith (by Rae, John)
The Acquisitive Society (by Tawney, Richard Henry)
Minorities Versus Majorities (by Goldman, Emma)
The Trade Unions : An Appeal to the Work... (by Robert Somers)
Two Treatises of Civil Government (by Locke, John)