The Study of Sociology¶
Spencer, H. (1873). The Study of Sociology.
Cited by¶
1 citation across 1 artifact.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Great Man Theory
- Herbert Spencer's The Study of Sociology (1873) mounted the structural-sociological counter-argument — that "great men" are themselves products of their societies and cannot be understood as unmoved movers — and the subsequent century of academic historiography has largely moved toward structural, cultural, and social-history frameworks that decenter the great-man thesis, while popular and biographical writing retains it.
This sourceMounts the canonical structural-sociological refutation that "great men" are products of their societies, not unmoved movers ("his society... must have previously made him"); names the great-man theory an obstacle to sociology as a science.
Supported in partVerified against the work's full text
Spencer does argue great men are products of their society, but as an 1873 book it cannot supply the claim's century-long historiographical trend toward structural frameworks.
“Before he can re-make his society, his society must make him.”
- Herbert Spencer's The Study of Sociology (1873) mounted the structural-sociological counter-argument — that "great men" are themselves products of their societies and cannot be understood as unmoved movers — and the subsequent century of academic historiography has largely moved toward structural, cultural, and social-history frameworks that decenter the great-man thesis, while popular and biographical writing retains it.
Verification¶
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Registry ID ref:c1d2e468570d · see in the full table