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Julian Samora was the first known Mexican-American to earn a doctorate in sociology. He conducted pioneering work in Mexican-American studies, focusing on civil rights, discrimination, poverty, public health, and the movement of people along the Mexican-American border. He founded the Mexican American Graduate Studies program and led the Mexican Border Studies Project at Notre Dame University.

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Mead taught at the University of Chicago and explored the development of the human sense of self. He believed that our sense of self develops as a result of our interactions with the world, revolving around language, symbols, and communication. Mead's work paved the way for the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism.

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Park worked for Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute and went on to teach race relations and human ecology at the University of Chicago. Park was interested in how populations grew and changed; he wanted to study the organization of different groups. He began his career as a journalist, so he was also interested in the social function of newspapers as a record of public events. Park believed sociologists served as a kind of "superreporter," keeping track of societal trends.

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Inspired by Du Bois, Booker T. Washington became an educator and founded the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 after his emancipation from slavery. Unlike Du Bois, Washington argued that African Americans should accept segregation for economic profit.

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Du Bois was an educator and social activist. He became the first African American to receive a doctorate degree from Harvard University. Du Bois devoted his life to attacking the racist policy of the assumption the African Americans were a lesser race. Du Bois studied African American communities in the United States. He also played a role in the Pan-African movement which concerned the rights of all African descendants.

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One of the best known female social reformers in the United States, Addams focused on the problems caused by the imbalance of power between social classes. Addams contributed to the women's suffrage and peace movements, as well. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, and she was the first sociologist to receive this award. Addams faced discrimination in her field because she was a woman. She was often labeled as a "social worker" instead of a sociologist.

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Max Weber wrote about the nature of power, religion, law, economics, rural and urban society, the nature of social classes, and the development of bureaucracy. His most famous work is The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber said that humans act on the basis of their own understanding of a situation, so sociologists must discover the personal meanings, values, beliefs, and attitudes that influence people. Weber believed that peoples' intentions can be best understood through the method of verstehen- or putting yourself in someone's place. Weber also identified rationalization as a key influence in the change between a preindustrial society and an industrial society. Rationalization is a mind-set that employs knowledge and reason.

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Émile Durkheim believed that society exists because of a broad agreement among members of that society. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, society was based on mechanical solidarity in which there was a widespread consensus of values and beliefs as well as conformity and family traditions. After industrialization, organic solidarity came about in which social interdependency is based on a web highly specialized roles that make the members of that society dependent on each other. Durkheim promoted science and observation,

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Karl Marx felt great concern for the poverty and inequality of the working class. Marx predicted that future socities would consist of two groups: the bourgeosie, who owneed the means of production (also referred to as capitalists) The proletariat worked fr the bourgeosie and are paid just enough to survive. Marx believed in a "class-conflict" between the bourgeosie and the proletariats in which the workers would overthrow the rich and create a classless communist society.

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Herbert Spencer compared society to the human body in order to explain social stability. A society is composed of parts that work together to promote well-being and survival. Spencer is most known for introducing the theory of "Social Darwinism" based on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Spencer believed that evolution and progress could occur within a society if the people did not intervene. Be this process, natural selection would preserve the fittest humans. Spencer denounced interference with poverty and belived that the Industrial Revolution symbolized a migration from a militaristic society to an industrial society.

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Harriet Martineau started as an author and worked her way to fame. She is most known for her translation of Comte's Positive Philosophy. She also made significant contributions to research methods, political economy, and feminist theory. Her extensive feminist works helped to inspire future feminist theorists.

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Known as the father of sociology, Auguste Comte believed in the improvement of society. He coined the term "sociology" as the study of social behavior. He used scientific observation in a method he called "positivism." Comte also studied social statics (social stability and order) and social dynamics (social change).