Lecture 2: Social Theory

Flashcards about Social Theory and Theorists

What is a social theory?

A systematic explanation of social processes and their interrelationships.

What changes accompanied the shift from traditional to modern industrial societies in Europe?

The decline of traditional agrarian economies, mass migration to cities, and the development of industrial capitalism.

Who is Auguste Comte?

He gave sociology its name and described it as ‘social physics’.

How did Comte envision sociology?

Comte envisioned it as a science that would allow social reformers and governments to predict and control human behavior.

What did Karl Marx hold regarding society?

That the structure of every society is determined by the balance of economic power between social classes.

According to Marx, what two classes will the advance of capitalism reduce society to?

Capitalist (bourgeoisie) and worker (proletariat).

What did Emile Durkheim argue about the transition from traditional to modern societies?

He argued that the transition from traditional to modern societies involved a shift from mechanical to organic solidarities.

What are mechanical societies?

Emphasis is on sameness, innovation is discouraged, and action is directed by custom, belief, and tradition.

What are organic societies?

Social unity is achieved through difference and society is held together through interdependencies among diverse social groups.

What did Max Weber regard modernity as?

He regarded the master narrative of modernity as one of rationalization.

According to Weber, what is bureaucracy?

Efficient, impersonal, governed by rules and statuses, and centralized.

What is the color line according to W.E.B. Du Bois?

Racial and ethnic divisions that cut across other identities and prevent people who otherwise have much in common from acting collectively.

The sociological theory pioneered by Comte and Durkheim.

Classical Functionalism

According to classical functionalism, like living organisms, what are societies made of?

Societies are made up of interdependent parts that need to work in harmony for the society to be healthy.

What is the Davis and Moore's theory of social stratification?

Economic inequality created by capitalism is functional for society because it encourages competition.

What do conflict theories have in common?

Emphasis on the role of coercion and power in producing social order.

What is the first question a conflict theorist might ask when approaching a social arrangement?

Whose interests does it serve?

According to conflict theories, whose interests do social arrangements usually serve?

Social arrangements usually serve the interests of the ruling groups in a society.

What do symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology center?

They center social interaction and individual agency.

According to Mead, what does is allows us to do?

Language allows us to communicate with others, which is how we become self-conscious beings aware of our own individuality.

What did Blumer argue about most interactions?

That most interactions revolve around individuals reaching a common understanding through language and other symbolic systems.

What does ethnomethodology focus on?

Focuses on the shared social actions and expectations people use to create a mutually intelligible social world.

How did Garfinkel find that he could access the invisible rules people follow in their interactions?

By intentionally violating social expectations.

What is the emphasis of feminist theory?

Emphasis on women’s ways knowing and experiencing the world, which have historically been devalued by patriarchy.

What do postmodern theories share?

Share is a rejection of modernism, and particularly the Enlightenment idea of universal reason.

What are theories?

Theories are ways of seeing social reality that emphasize some aspects over others.