Finally, Karl Marx is the dominant figure considering the critical theorists. Critical theories are developed due to the fact that we do not have to sit around and accept the way society is. Secondly, societies will evolve into the state of metaphysical beliefs. At this point, the society has taken on a more philosophical belief system where natural forces control the world. Finally, Comte said that eventually there would be a state of positivism reached. This is his major contribution to the development of sociology. He stated that the social world would be understood through the study of sciences.
Comte divided his studies of sociology into two aspects, which were social statics and social dynamics. Where social statics is the theory of order based on the consensus and social dynamics is theory of social change, in which change is equated with progress. Comte said that there were three parts of social structure which are the individual, the family, and the society with the family being the smallest unit where you could still see the characteristics of the society. Ultimately, the society is more important than the individual.
Herbert Spencer was another major theorist that contributed greatly to the development of sociology. Spencer used the Darwinistic approach to society. He considered himself a social Darwinist and actually coined the termsurvival of the fittest?. The idea that the strongest societies would survive at both the individual level as well as the societal level was his main contribution (Turner). Just as Comte, Spencer also study theory in two divisions of statics and dynamics just in different venues. According to Spencer, social statics was the structures of society and what different functions each structure served. He compared societies to biological organisms. In relation to social dynamics, Spencer said that evolution is natural in a society. Societies will go from simple to complex, from less diverse to more diverse.