What is the history of sociology in Europe?

Question

What is the history of sociology in Europe?

Answer 1

Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is regarded as having coined the term "sociology" in the 1830s.

Classical sociology developed in the years following, but wasn't really known as "sociology" at the time.  Weber (1864-1920) and Marx (1818-1883) introduced notions of structure and class as catalysts for human behaviour.  Tonnies (1855-1936) introduced the idea of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) helped establish sociology within academia as an accepted social science.  He was the first editor of the first journal of sociology.

The "Frankfurt School" of sociology, a group of neo-Marxist scholars such as Adorno, Hegel and Horkheimer developed Critical Theory in the 1930s; CT strives to achieve social change through sociology.

I would argue that Michel Foucault (1926-1984) and Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) represent current European sociological thinking.  The former was interested in the power dynamic that exists in all interactions, while the latter concerned himself with the replication of social norms and social stratification.