Internet Exercises

Exercise 1

Chapter 1 deals with the lives and works of Auguste Comte and Henri De Saint-Simon, whom the authors refer to as the “Prophets of Paris.” In his novel A Tale of Two Cities, English writer Charles Dickens dramatized some of the issues that concerned the early social theorists about the disordering effects of the French Revolution.

Go to http://www.mastertexts.com/Dickens_Charles/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities/Index.htm. After reading Chapters 1 and 23, answer the following questions:

1. What does the chateau symbolize?



2. Why do you think the common people resent the Monsignor?



3. How do you think an early sociological theorist with a conservative orientation might react to the burning of the chateau? What about a radical sociological thinker like Marx?

Exercise 2

Henri De Saint-Simon is regarded as a “utopian socialist.” Auguste Comte was one of Saint-Simon’s students and was influenced by his work.

Go to http://www.the-wood.org/socialism/utopian.htm. After reviewing the contents of this site and exploring the suggested links, answer the following questions:

1. How are the ideas of the utopian socialists linked to the revolutionary atmosphere in Europe during the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th centuries?



2. How do you think the utopian socialists influenced the discipline of sociology?



3. In Chapter 1 of your text, the authors observe that “the utopian prophets failed to change the world because they insufficiently understood it” (p. 25). What do they mean by this statement?