Models, metaphors, lamarckisms and the emergence of ‘scientific sociology’

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to answer the following question: ‘How and why were models, mechanisms, analogies, metaphors and assumptions that could be characterized as Lamarckian-Spencerian, neo-Lamarckian perceived to be especially congenial to an emerging sociology seeking to become a scientific discipline in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and even in the early twentieth century?’ In answering this question, I shall briefly address the following issues: determinism and plasticity, individuals and collectivities, heredity and inheritance, and deal primarily with Herbert Spencer and Émile Durkheim. This essay is dedicated to the memory of Silvan S. Schweber.