The history of sociology as a discipline is just one hundred seventy five years old. Understanding the history of a discipline helps us understand the discipline. Sociology compared to other sciences is new in its origin. It emerged as a response to the forces of change which took place during eighteen and nineteen centuries in Europe. Much of the early sociology was influences by the thinkers of the Enlightenment of the eighteen century. Earlier thinkers were influenced by the philosophy of the history i. e., society must have progressed through series of the stages from simple to complex. Hegel, Adam Smith, Ferguson etc. tried to develop specific theories in their own time. Rousseau's theory of social contract and ideology liberty, equality and fraternity left indelible impression on the European society. Biological theory of evolution of Darwin, Spencer etc ultimately influenced the social thinkers to analyse the states of social evolution. As a result sociology moved towards evolutionary approach seeking to identify and account for the principal stages in the social evolution. The work of Durkheim come under this category. Post industrial revolution survey of social conditions were conducted to understand poverty and its causes and other problems. Thinkers of this era like Marx, Weber etc. provided profound insight into the social milieu and gave impetus to the development of sociology.
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