ABSTRACT
The origins of developmental sociology mainly lie embedded in the thought of the French Enlightenment, for writers of those times were preoccupied with both social change and the possibility of discerning a lawful order governing it. Social change for Herbert Spencer was a superorganic process analogous to the organic process of evolution. Sociology was thus rooted in biology—an exaggeration of Comte's views. Spencer went to great lengths to adumbrate the similarities and account for apparent dissimilarities as may be seen in Part II of the Principles of Sociology. Thus in Principles of Sociology he gives two quite distinct evolutionary schemes, each having its own social morphology. In assessing his contribution to sociology two aspects of his thought stand out for consideration. However, only when the emphasis on biology diminished and individualistic philosophy declined was sociology able to develop further its own distinctive methods of thought.
