Herbert Spencer 
Principles of Sociology 
Vol. I–IV.

In ‘The Principles of Sociology’ Spencer rejected the sociology of Auguste Comte’s positivism and made some valuable contributions to early sociology, attempting to reformulate social science in terms of evolutionary biology. A ‘social organism’ evolved from the simpler state to the more complex according to the universal law of evolution. Spencer’s theories of laissez-faire, survival-of-the-fittest and minimal human interference in the processes of natural law had an enduring influence on thinkers and politicians such as Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and Margaret Thatcher.

About the author

Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) is one of the most discussed English thinkers of the Victorian era. As a polymath he wrote about many different subjects; some of his most important works are a series of volumes discussing ‘The Principles of Biology’, ‘The Principles of Sociology’, ‘The Principles of Ethics’ and ‘The the Principles of Psychology’.