Contemporary Western Sociology

The twentieth century was the time of a particularly intensive development of sociological science. Modern Western sociology was formed in this period of time. It was in this period that many theories and directions appeared, national sociological societies and the International Sociological Association were created, applied methods of empirical research were being developed, which were being implemented within research centers.

Modern Western sociology originated in Europe, but already from the 20s of the XX century. Leading positions in sociology moved to the United States. In this country, sociological science developed as an applied science that was guided by the positivist idea of the accuracy and objectivity of scientific data. Thanks to American researchers, sociology from theoretical science has turned into practical.

In parallel with these trends, modern Western sociology developed in other countries in the form of fundamental academic sociology. This led to a conditional division of sociology into applied and theoretical.

Contemporary Western sociology As a discipline is divided into a sufficiently large number of diverse scientific areas and schools. It is difficult to classify them, because they differ in both the theoretical orientation, the time of origin, and the research methodology.

One of the most logical and common classifications is the following. Sociological directions are divided into two voluminous groups. The first includes "macrosociological" theories, the essence of which is the postulation of the primacy of society in relation to a single individual. The logic of the study of this group implies a movement toward a particular from the general, that is, to the concept of "personality" from the concept of "society" and "social system".

The beginning of these theories goes to the teachings of O. Comte, E. Durkheim, Spencer. The structural and functional analysis (led by T. Parsons), the theory of conflict (led by L. Kozer and R. Darendorf), structuralism (K. Levi-Strauss, M. Foucault), technological determinism Rostow, R. Dron, D. Bell, J. Galbraith), neo-evolutionism (J. Stewart, L. White, J. Murdoch), and others.

The second group includes "microsociological" theories, which focus on the first place - a person, an individual, a person. They seek to explain general sociological patterns, analyze the inner world of man, the features of this person's interaction with other people-participants in the society. The methodology of this group of scientists requires a movement from the private to the general, from man to the social system.

The beginning of the folding of these theories refers to the views of M. Weber, some representatives of psychosociology (G. Tard, L. Ward, V. Pareto). Western sociology of this direction is now represented by symbolic interactionism (A. Stressa, C. Culi, G. Blumer, A. Rose, J. Mead, H. Stone), phenomenological sociology (A. Schütz, T. Lukmann), exchange theory (J Homansa, P. Blau), ethnomethodology (G. Garfinkel, A. Sikurel), and others.

Theories that are attributed to a certain methodological group can quite significantly differ both in the sphere of interests and in the very interpretation of the phenomena under consideration.

Modern Western sociology dictionary provides an impressive list of schools and areas that are currently developing in Europe and America. Empirical and theoretical directions are developing intensively. Psychological sociology, which studies mass phenomena and processes, is very popular now. The French school is characterized by a high interest in the study of crowd psychology. In addition, the technological direction of sociology is also developing. Theories of the industrial, post-industrial and information society are being developed. The military-sociological trend is developing.