ABSTRACT
The history of sociology as a discipline and the history of the development of contemporary conceptualizations of human rights go hand in hand. Religious beliefs concerning the sacredness of the individual human being are central to any first-stage notion of human rights. The earlier religious insights about generic notions of human worth are important, the way in which rights today is part and parcel of the development of modern capitalism since the sixteenth century. Social theorists have dealt with a host of issues that have relevance to the study of human rights, especially when human rights are examined comparatively and historically. It is not just classical contributors to the discipline of sociology who have touched on the notion of human rights in various ways. Of all contemporary theorists, three stand out as especially important: Jurgen Habermas, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Dorothy Smith.
