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Timeline
This timeline has been compiled to assist you in three ways:
Rather than identify the births and deaths of particularly important sociologists, we have chosen instead to highlight works that represent significant contributions to sociological knowledge. The books chosen do not attempt to cover the whole of an individual's opus, but direct your attention to the specific works that we have found useful in our own exploration of sociology.
You will find in the timeline sociologists who do not appear in the main text, as well as those who do. This is because no one text can hope to encompass the vast richness of sociological writing or acknowledge every important advance in our understanding of society. So, the titles suggested are a flavour of what the great sociological writers can offer.
We have also identified important political and economic events in red so that you can begin to make sense of the history of our discipline and locate individuals within their epochs. In green are events specifically related to the discipline and some of its key figures. Inevitably, the events chosen tend to be those that we ourselves have found useful as markers. You should add any other important events to the timeline to make this your own.
Premodernity |
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1730 |
Vico: The New Science |
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1734 |
Montesquieu: Consideration of the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their decline |
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c 1750 |
Industrial Revolution begins to take off |
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1755 |
Rousseau A Discourse upon the Origin and Foundation of Inequality among Mankind |
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1789 |
French Revolution |
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1792 |
Wollstonecraft: Vindication of the Rights of Women |
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1807 |
Hegel: The Phenomenology of Mind |
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1813 |
Saint-Simon: Essay on the Science of Man |
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1822 |
Comte: Plan of the Scientific Operations Necessary for Reorganising Society |
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Modernity |
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1835 |
Quetelet: On Man and the Development of Human faculties: an essay on Social Physics |
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c 1830s
1842
1848 |
First railway boom in Great Britain
Comte: Positive Philosophy
Marx and Engels: Communist Manifesto |
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1850 |
Spencer: Social Statistics |
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1853 |
Gobineau: Essay on the Inequality of Human Races |
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1857-8 |
Marx Grundisse: Foundations of the critique of political economy |
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1861 |
American Civil War |
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1869 |
Galton: Hereditary Genius |
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1871
1874
1878 |
Le Play: Organization of the Family
Spencer:Principles of Sociology
Spencer’s Principles of Sociology translated into Japanese |
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1883 |
Sumner: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other |
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1886 |
Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour |
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1887 |
Tonnies: Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft |
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1891
1891-1903
1892 |
Simmel: On Social Differentiation
Charles Booth’s surveys, Life and Labour of the People of London published.
The foundation of the first department of sociology in the USA. |
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1893 |
Durkheim: On the Division of Labour in Society |
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1896
1898 |
Giddings: Principles of Sociology
In France, Emile Durkheim founds the Année Sociologique. |
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1899 |
Veblen: Theory of the Leisure Class |
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1901 |
First wireless message |
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1903 |
du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk |
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1904 |
Park: The Crowd and the Public |
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1906
1907 |
Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
L. T. Hobhouse elected to the first chair in sociology in Britain, at the University of London. |
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1908 |
First Ford Model T automobile |
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1909 |
Cooley: Social Organization |
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1911 |
Taylor : Principles of Scientific Management |
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1912 |
Sinking of the Titanic The South African Native National Congress is founded. Its successor body the African National Congress finally came to power in 1994 |
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1913 |
Mead: The Social Self |
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1914 |
First World War begins |
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1915 |
Michels: Political Parties |
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1917
1920 |
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
Max Weber:The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism |
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1921 |
Burgess: The Science of Sociology |
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1922 1924 |
Radcliffe-Brown: The Andaman Islanders Japanese Sociological Society founded |
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1925 |
Mannheim : The Problem of a Sociology of Knowledge |
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1928 |
Sorokin: Contemporary Sociological Theories |
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1929 |
Wall Street Crash |
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1931 |
Husserl: Ideas |
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1932 |
Malinowski: The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia |
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1934 |
Benedict: Patterns of Culture |
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1936 |
Wirth: Ideology and Utopia |
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1937 |
Parsons: Structure of Social Action |
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1939 |
Elias: The Civilising Process |
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1945 |
Second World War ends but the onset of the nuclear age when, in August, the USA explodes two atomic bombs in Japan. The UN established and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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1947 |
Rashevsky: The Mathematical Theory of Human Relations Cold War ‘officially’ begins. In Europe, the Iron Curtain divides communist Warsaw Pact countries from the Western NATO allies. |
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1948
1948-49 |
Partition of India and Pakistan
The USSR blockades West Berlin. |
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1949 |
Merton: Social Theory and Social Structure China goes communist under the leadership of Mao Zedong. The USSR explodes an atomic bomb. |
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1950
1950-53 |
Homans: The Human Group
The Korean War begins. The USA promises military protection for East Asia. |
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1951 |
Colour television introduced in the US |
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1953 |
Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations |
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1954 |
Coser: The Functions of Social Conflict Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA by African Americans. |
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1956 |
Dahrendorf: Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society The new genre of ‘rock music’ emerges. Elvis Presley achieved international fame with Heartbreak Hotel |
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1957 |
The USSR launches ‘sputnik’, the first human-piloted spacecraft. |
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1959 |
Mills: The Sociological Imagination Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas invited to Delhi University to establish and head the Department of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics. |
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1961 |
Lemert: Social Pathology |
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1962 |
Kuhn: Scientific Paradigms Cuban missile crisis |
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1963
1963-75 |
Becker: The Outsiders
American military involvement against North Vietnam’s largely peasant army. |
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1964 |
Blau: Exchange and Power in Social Life |
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1966 |
Cultural Revolution in China |
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1967 |
Schutz: The Phenomenology of the Social World |
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1968 |
Miliband: The State in Capitalist Society May ‘revolution’ by workers and students in France against the materialist pressures of capitalism. |
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1969 |
Goffman: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Moon landing by US team; the majesty of planet earth becomes fully apparent to everyone with media access. Birth of the Gay Rights Movement in the USA.
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1971
1972 |
Gouldner: The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology
Rapprochement between the USA and China following President Nixon’s visit |
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1973 |
Bell : The Coming of Post-Industrial Society Foucault: The Birth of the Clinic Rowbotham : Hidden from History |
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1974 |
Braverman: Labour and Monopoly Capital Wallerstein : Modern World System |
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1975 |
US leaves South Vietnam 1 st UN sponsored World Conference on women Mexico city |
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1976 |
Bowles and Gintis: Schooling in Capitalist America |
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1977 |
Lacan Ecrits: a selection |
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1978 |
Derrida: Writing and Difference |
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1979 |
Foucault: Discipline and Punish Margaret Thatcher elected Conservative Prime Minister in Great Britain The foundation of the Chinese Sociological Association after years when the Communist Party of China was suspicious of the discipline. |
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Post-modernity/Late Modernity rnity |
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1980 |
Williams: Problems in Materialism and Culture |
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1981 |
Oakley: Subject Women |
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1982 |
Rorty: The Consequences of Pragmatism Harvey : The Limits to Capital |
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1983 |
Smart Foucault: Marxism and Critique |
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1984 |
Bourdieu: Distinction |
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1985 |
Habermas: Modernity – an Incomplete Project 3 rd UN sponsored World Conference on Women, Nairobi |
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1986 |
Mann: The Sources of Social Power |
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1987 |
Stanworth: Reproductive technologies World Stock market crash |
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1988 |
Baudrillard: Selected Writings |
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1989 |
Callinicos: Against Postmodernism Enloe: Bananas, Beaches and Bases Fall of the Berlin Wall Cold war ends.
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1990 |
Giddens: The Consequences of Modernity Urry: The Tourist Gaze |
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1991
1992
1992-99
1993 |
Sreberny-Mahammadi: The Global and the Local in International Communications Bauman: Modernity and the Holocaust
Robertson : Golbalization: Social theory and Global Culture Hannerz: Cultural Complexity End of communism in Soviet Union and ancient Russian empire begins to dissolve into independent republics. First Gulf War to reverse Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and ‘safeguard’ world oil reserves.
In many regions, years of bloody civil wars, episodes of ethnic-cleansing, mass genocide and sometimes disintegration into warlordism eg Bosnia (1992–96), Kosovo (1999), Somalia (1993), Rwanda (1993–94), Democratic Republic of Congo (1999/2000), East Timor (1999).
Ritzer: The McDonaldization of Society |
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1994
1995-96 |
Segal: Straight Sex Nelson Mandela becomes President of South Africa The sociologist Fernando Henrique Cardoso elected in a landslide victory to presidency of Brazil.
Greenpeace’s Worldwide campaign |
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1995 |
Rojek: Decentring Leisure Sergio Zermenõ’s La Sociedad Derrotada is published in Mexico |
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1996 |
Goldthope: Class Analysis and the Reorientation of Class Theory Castells: The Rise of the Network Society Albrow: The Global Age |
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1997 |
Halsey: Education, Culture, Economy, Society |
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1998 |
Young: The Curriculum of the Future |
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1999 |
Beck: World Risk Society British sociologist Anthony Giddens, took ‘The Runaway World’ as the theme of his Reith lectures, the BBC’s prestigious annual series of lectures. |
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2000 |
Scot: Class and Stratification George Bush becomes US president |
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2001
2001-2
2003
2006 |
Walklate: Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice Bello : The Future in the Balance Attack on the Twin Towers, New York The year in which the number of current serving UK vice-chancellors comprised seven established sociologists.
US bombing campaign and then invasion of Afghanistan as part of a concerted strategy to eliminate global terrorism.
After much opposition within the UN, the EU and from worldwide anti-war movements, Coalition Forces invade Iraq ostensibly to rid the world of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
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