Sociology is a liberal movement.

[Jerry Biggers]

This discussion of whether sociology is by its subject matter, inherently collectivist, and therefore illegitimate, has been pretty well debunked here. But as a former graduate student in sociology (who deeply regrets not completing the doctorate,....arrrgh!), I have a few points I would like to add.

As Robert Campbell, pointed-out, one of the "founders" of sociology was Herbert Spencer who, in addition to being a staunch defender of laissez-faire, was a philosophical system-builder, who outlined the discipline in exhaustive detail in his two-volume, The Principles of Sociology, which in turn was a component of his multi-disciplinary, multi-volume "System of Synthetic Philosophy."

Incidentally, the "politically correct" -and now generally held- view dismissing Spencer as a "social darwinist," is a deliberate distortion of Spencer's philosophy. Unfortunately, this view gained wide acceptance with Richard Hofstadter's book, Social Darwinism in American Thought. The Ludwig von Mises Institute has some excellent essays comparing what Spencer really said to what Hofstadter, et al, claims he said. (e.g., "Herbert Spencer as an Anthropologist," by Robert L. Carneiro. The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. V, No.2, Spring, 1980. http://mises.org/journals/jls/5_2/5_2_2.pdf ). Another excellant essay on this issue is "Origins of the Myth of Social Darwinisn: The Ambiguous Legacy of Richard Hofstadter's Social Darwinism in American Thought," by Thomas Leonard. (2009) http://www.princeton.edu/~tleonard/papers/myth.pdf (forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization).

In addition, one of the "founders" of sociology as an academic discipline in America, was William Graham Sumner, who added his own theories to those generally compatible with Spencer's. If anything, Sumner was even more stauchly opposed to all forms of collectivism than was Spencer (see, for example, "William Graham Sumner: Critic of Progressive Liberalism," by Jonathan Marshall. http://mises.org/journals/jls/3_3/3_3_2.pdf )

There are other sociological theorists who have promulgated views that advance the role of the individual against the collective,(e.g., Gabriel Tarde, and in some respects, Vilfredo Pareto). This is not to say that many (most!) of the past and contemporary sociologists have not held and/or promulgated collectvist views. This, however, is also true for economists, psychologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and of course, philosophers.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Jerry Biggers