German founder of modern communism, in England from 1849. With Engels, he wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848). He developed his theories of the class struggle and the economics of capitalism in Das Kapital (1867; 1885; 1895).
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, evolutionist, and political theorist, whose theories treated the universe and time in general with scientific minuteness and a synthesis of speculation and positivism.
Weber is considered to be a key founding figure in the history of sociology. Broadly trained in economics, history, law, and philosophy, Weber brought to his sociological work a complex and rich perspective on social life.
From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
A sociological perspective that focuses on the contributions any particular social unit makes towards the larger social system.
Social constructivism with respect to a given phenomenon is the view that the latter does not possess an independent existence but is “constructed”—that is, generated and maintained through collective human action, thought, discourse, or other social practices.
From Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences Structuralism is the approach which seeks to isolate, and decode, deep structures of meaning, organised through systems of signs inherent in human behaviour (language, ritual, dress and so on).
