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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Classical Sociological Theory
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theories of great scope and ambition that either were created during sociology’s classical age in Europe (roughly the early 1800’s through the early 1900’s) or had their roots in that period and culture.
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Sociology shaped by social forces
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1. Political revolutions – especially the French Revolutions
2. Industrial revolution/Rise of capitalism 3. Rise of socialism 4. Feminism – largely ignored – only now being recognized 5. Urbanization 6. Religious change – Comte, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Parsons |
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Sociology shaped by intellectual forces
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1. Enlightenment
2. Conservative Reactions to the enlightenment |
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the Enlightenment
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period of remarkable intellectual development and change in philosophical thought
a. number of long-standing ideas and beliefs – many relating to social life – were overthrown and replaced during this time b. early sociology developed as a reaction to the Enlightenment c. Enlightened thinkers influenced by 17th century philosophy and science – Descartes, Hobbes, Locke d. wanted to combine empirical research with reason e. belief: people could comprehend and control the universe by means of reason and empirical research f. were inclined to reject beliefs in traditional authority; based on emotion; seen to be false |
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Conservative reaction to the Enlightenment
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a. French Catholic counterrevolutionary philosophy – yearned for a return to the “peace and harmony” of the Middle Ages
b. God was the source of authority – reason was inferior to traditional beliefs c. God had created society and therefore no one should tamper with it d, regarded such phenomena as tradition, imagination, emotionalism and religion as useful and necessary components of social life e. emphasized social order – became one of the central themes of the work of several sociological theorists |
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The Development of French Sociology:
1. Alexis de Tocqueville – Democracy in America |
a. great supporter of freedom
b. critical of equality – sees as producing mediocrity (he was an aristocrat) c. most opposed to centralization in government d. linked equality to individualism (he invented term) which he feared would be less interested in the larger community e. critical of democracy because of its tendency to centralized government f. 3 issues central to his theory – prior inequality + power of aristocrats = kept gov’t in check g. centralization – invasion of gov’t into all aspects of life |
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The Development of French Sociology:
2. Claude Henri Saint-Simon |
– mentor to Auguste Comte; mixture of conservative and Marxian philosophy
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The Development of French Sociology:
3. Auguste Comte (father of sociology) |
a. first to use term “sociology”
b. study of sociology should be scientific c. broke away from counterrevolutionary conservatives – did not think it possible to return to the middle ages as they did d. developed more sophisticated theory – called it “social physics” – modeled after the hard sciences e. developed the “Law of the three stages” 1. theological stage – prior to 1300 – social/physical world Produced by God 2. metaphysical stage – between 1300 and 1800 – belief that abstract forces such as nature explain virtually everything 3. positivistic stage – belief in science to explain everything f. focused on intellectual factors g. though lacked a solid academic base, he did lay the basis for a significant stream of sociological theory |
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The Development of French Sociology:
4. Emile Durkheim |
– developed an academic base for sociology
a. dominant force in the development of sociology and sociological theory b. worldview – France of the 19th century – industrial strikes,disruption of the ruling class, church –state discord, rise of political anti-semitism c. social facts – forces and structures that are external to and coercive of the individual – the nature of and changes in social facts led to differences in suicide rates d. 2 types of social facts – material (bureaucracy and law) and non-material (culture, social institutions) “Rules of the Sociological Method” e. “The Division of Labor in Society” – society held together bya strong collective conscience – social cohesion which produces solidarity in society – mechanical and organic f. “Elementary Forms of Religious Life” – the source of religion was society; society comes to define certain things as religious (sacred) and others as profane; primitive kind of religion believed in totemism – plants and animals deified totemism seen as a specific type of non-material social fact,a form of collective conscience |
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Development of German Sociology
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fragmented; split between Marx who remained on the edge of sociology and Weber and Simmel; Weber was believed to be debating Marx’s ghost
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Development of German Sociology
1. Karl Marx |
-was part of a group called young Hegelians Followers of the philosopher Hegel (dialectic; idealism)
a. focused on dialectic but rejected idealism (ideas) in lieu of materialism proposed by Feuerbach another young Hegelian b. fused the two into dialectic materialism c. his materialism and his focus on the economy led him the works of Adam Smith and David Ricardo (basic premise – labor was the source of all wealth); had a horror ofcapitalism d. Marx: labor theory of value – the profit of the capitalist was based on the exploitation of the laborer e. never saw himself as a sociologist; was seen as an economist by society f. was not upset by the disorder of society as the French were; he was concerned by the oppressiveness of the capitalist system |
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Development of German Sociology
1. Karl Marx (cont) |
g. Marx’s theory simplified: the basic nature of human being they were productive – in order to survive, they needed to work in and with nature; capitalism is a structure that erects barriers between individual and the production process
h. this produces alienation – the breakdown of the natural interconnection among people and between people and what they produce i. major interest: to bring about the demise of capitalism. |
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Development of German Sociology
2. Max Weber: |
-his theory “ a long and intense debate w/the ghost of Marx
a. saw Marx as an economic determinist who offered single-cause theories of social life b. devoted much of his attention to ideas and their effect on the economy c. concerned w/the impact of religious ideas on the economy; in his famous book, “the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of capitalism” he was concerned w/Protestantism, mainly as a system of ideas and its impact on another system – capitalism d. “rounded-out” Marx’s theory of stratification: focused on social class the economic dimension e. Weber – included prestige and power alongside the economy |
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Development of German Sociology
2. Max Weber (cont) |
f. Weber’s theory – basically a theory of the process of rationalization; saw bureaucratization as the classic example of rationalization – illustrated today in the fast food restaurant
g. differentiated among 3 types of authority – traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal h. influenced by not only Marx but also Kant and Nietzsche i. Nietzsche – emphasized “hero”; Weber – need for individualsto stand up to the impact of bureaucracies and other structures of society j. Marx vs. Weber = different philosophical roots k. Weber less radical than Marx; presented his worldview in words acceptable to the German public |
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Origins of British Sociology
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viewed as a science; based on political economy, ameliorism and social evolution:
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Origins of British Sociology
a. political economy |
– theory of industrial and capitalist society traceable in part to the work of Adam Smith; British sociology not critical like Marx – accepted Smith’s idea that there was an “invisible hand” that shaped the market for labor and goods as a positive force; tended to focus on
individuals who made up the structures of society |
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Origins of British Sociology
b. ameliorism |
the desire to solve social problems by reforming individuals; problems in society came from individuals – tendency to look for a simple cause of all social ills and the one that seemed to fit the bill was alcoholism
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Origins of British Sociology
c. social evolution |
influenced by Comte
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Origins of British Sociology
1. Herbert Spencer |
: early years = liberal; later years = more conservative
a. accepted a laissez faire doctrine of government – felt that the state should not intervene in individual affairs in a passive way – laid the ground work for his “survival of the fittest” belief b. his belief: people who “fit” would survive and proliferate whereas the “unfit” eventually would die out – counter to the philosophy of ameliorism c. was against government intervention to help the “unfit” |
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Early American Sociological Theory:
Inception : |
anywhere between 1858 and 1892 – Albion Small – University of Chicago (Chicago School)
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Early American Sociological Theory:
Politics: |
- early American sociologists described as political liberals
1. it operated w/belief in the freedom and welfare of the individual –at this point influenced more by Spencer’s orientation than Comte’s more collective position 2. many sociologists associated w/this orientation adopted an evolutionary view of social progress – were split over how this should come about a. government should bring aid to social reform b. government should remain aloof ala laissez faire to allow the various components of society to sole their own problems 3. liberalism very much like conservatism – belief in social progress in either of the systems and belief in the importance of the individual lead to support of the system as a whole – overall belief – the system works or can be reformed |
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The Chicago School
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– 1892, Albion Small – Early School
a. W.I.Thomas (Dorothy Swayne Thomas) “Definition of the Situation” – If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences” emphasis on the importance of what people think and how this affects what they do; also The Polish Peasant – macro study of institutions – different type Of research b. Robert Park – participant observation (Ernest Burgess) |
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The Chicago School
(CONT) |
c. Charles Horton Cooley – the Looking Glass Self and Primary and Secondary Groups
d. George Herbert Mead – founder of Symbolic Interactionism influenced by Skinner’s Behaviorism but included the interpretation = not SR but SIR (Sociological Social Psychology |
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Women and Early Sociology
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-largely ignored and stolen from: Jane Addams – Hull House and Nobel Peace Prize
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W.E.B. Du Bois
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1st black man to get PhD. Harvard; taught sociology at Atlanta University – one of the founders of NAACP; problem of the 20th century – color line; veil between blacks and whites; double consciousness; race idea – “the central thought of all history”
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Sociological Theory from mid 20th century
1. Structural functionalism |
Developed by talcott parsons; conservative perspective in sociology = status quo; functional/dysfunctional; change evolves; supported the U.S. during the 30’s, 40’s 50’s.
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Sociological Theory from mid 20th century
2. Radical Sociology |
“The Bad Boy of Sociology”C. Wright Mills – The Sociological Imagination – basically a criticism of SF; The Power Elite and White Collar
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Sociological Theory from mid 20th century
3. Conflict Theory |
precursor to union of Marxism and Sociological theory ; seen as an alternate to SF; unlike SF, advocated rapid social change; tied to Marx – history is made up of societies in conflict
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Sociological Theory from mid 20th century
4. Exchange Theory |
George Homans influenced by B.F. Skinner (SR): the heart of sociology lies in the study of individual behavior and interaction; in reinforcement patterns – the history of rewards and costs, that lead people to do what they do; people continue to do what they find to be rewarding and/or costly in the past; to understand behavior, must understand an individual’s history of rewards and costs
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Sociological Theory from mid 20th century
5. Dramaturgical Analysis |
Erving Goffman – thought to be the last major associated w/the original Chicago School: saw much in common w/theatrical performances and the kind of “acts” we put on in our day-to-day action and interactions; interaction is seen as very fragile, maintained by social performances
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Development of Sociologies of Everyday Life:
a. Phenomenology |
– Alfred Schutz – phenomenology; focuses on an aspect of the social world called life-world or the world of everyday life; concerned with the dialectical relationship between the way people construct social reality and the obdurate social and cultural reality that they inherit from those who preceded them
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Development of Sociologies of Everyday Life:
b. Ethnomethodology: |
Student of Schutz (New School)Harol Garfinkle: the study of the “body of common-sense knowledge and the range of procedures and considerations (methods) by which the ordinary members of society make sense of, find their way about in and act on the
circumstances in which they found themselves; devotes a lot of attention to the detailedstudy of conversations; how much we take for granted |
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The Challenge of Feminist theory:
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- emerged anew in the 1960’s
1. general climate of critical thinking that characterized that period 2. the anger of women activists who flocked to the anti-war, civil rights and student movements only to encounter the sexist attitudes of the liberal and radical men in those movements 3. women’s experience of prejudice and discrimination as they moved in ever larger numbers into wage work and higher education 4. comment on the era; feminism emphasized in the sociological community – emphasis on discrimination against men as well as women |
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Structuralism and Post-structuralism
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focus on the unseen structure behind the obvious structures – Marx’s view of Capitalism – the behind the scenes of exploitation of workers
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Macro/micro integration; Agency-Structure Integration
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= Theoretical Synthesis (combining SF and SI)
1. very widespread and not restricted to isolated attempts at synthesis 2. the goal is generally a relatively narrow synthesis of theoretical ideas and not the development of a grand theory |
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Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity: two schools of thought:
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1. we continue to live in a society that still can best be describes as modern and about which we can theorize in much the same way that social thinkers have long contemplated society on the other side is a group of thinkers who contend that society has changed so dramatically that we now live in a qualitatively different postmodern society to be thought about in new and different ways
2. modernity is a continuity of Marx, Durkheim and Weber |
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Multicultural social theory
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feminist precursor; series of diverse forms
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***** Theory
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– not lesbian/gay – involves a range of intellectual ideas rooted in the contention that identities are not fixed and stable and do not determine who we are; both more than and less than a theory of queers
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Critical theories of race and racism – CTRR
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: from the field of law; a general conclusion: that race matters not only to the legal system but throughout the structures and institutions f society; colorblindness is a smokescreen that allows white Americans to continue to perpetuate racial discrimination; race is global
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Postmodern and Post-Postmodern Social Theories
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1. previous theories – focus on production; today – focus on consumption
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Globalization
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3 main headings – economic, political and cultural – latter most important – attracted most attention – 3 broad approaches
a. cultural differentiation–there are deep and largely impervious differences among cultures b. cultural convergence – there is an increasing homogeneity among cultures c. cultural hybridization – the global and the local penetrate to create unique indigenous realities that can been seen as globalization |
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Practice theory
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based on human conduct especially the impact of taken-for-granted of everyday interaction – similar to Ethnomethodology
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