Chapter 3: Classical Theories II

association

the relationships or interaction among people (Simmel).

forms of interaction

patterns imposed on the bewildering array of events, actions, and interactions in the social world both by people in their everyday lives and by social theorists (Simmel).

types of interactants

patterns imposed on a wide range of actors by both laypeople and social scientists to combine the actors into limited numbers of categories (Simmel).

secrecy

the condition in which one person has the intention of hiding something while the other is seeking to reveal that which is being hidden (Simmel).

lie

a form of interaction in which a person intentionally hides the truth from others (Simmel).

reify

to endow social structures, which are created by people, with separate and real existence.

dyad

a two-person group (Simmel)

• no meaning beyond its meaning to those involved

• no independent group structure

• high individuality, no collective threat to the individual

triad

a three-person group (Simmel)

• independent group structure emerges

• collective threat to individuality exists

• new social roles

  • third person can be mediator, arbitrator, exploiter of disputes

  • competition for favor of the third

• system of authority, stratification system

stranger

one of Simmel’s social types defined by distance: one who is neither too close to the group nor too far from it.

objective culture

the objects that people produce (art, science, philosophy) that become part of culture (Simmel).

individual culture

the capacity of the individual to produce, absorb, and control the elements of objective culture (Simmel).

tragedy of culture

a concept that stems from the fact that over time objective culture grows exponentially, whereas individual culture and the ability to produce it grow only marginally. our meager individual capacities cannot keep pace with our cultural products, so we are doomed to have a decreasing understanding of the world we have created and to be increasingly controlled by that world (Simmel).

division of labor & tragedy of culture

• increased division of labor = increased ability to produce complex components of objective world

• individual loses sense of total culture and loses ability to control it

(Simmel)

business

a pecuniary approach to monetary processes in which the dominant interests are acquisition, money, and profitability rather than production and the interests of the larger community (Veblen).

industry

the understanding and productive use, primarily by the working classes, of a variety of mechanized processes on a large scale (Veblen).

conspicuous consumption

the consumption of a variety of goods not for subsistence but for the higher status particular goods confer on those who consume them; such consumption creates the basis for invidious distinctions among people (Veblen).

conspicuous leisure

the consumption of leisure, or the nonproductive use of time, in such a way as to create invidious distinctions between people and elevate the social status of those able to waste their time in this way (Veblen).

act

the basic concept in Mead’s theory involving an impulse, perception of stimuli, taking action involving the object perceived, and using the object to satisfy the initial impulse.

impulse

first stage of the act in which the actor reacts to some external stimulus and feels the need to do something about it (Mead).

perception

second stage of the act in which the actor consciously searches for and reacts to stimuli that relate to the impulse and ways of dealing with it (Mead).

manipulation

third stage of the act in which the actor manipulates the object once it has been perceived (Mead).

consummation

final stage in the act in which the actor takes action and satisfies the original impulse (Mead).

gestures

movements by one party that serve as stimuli to another party (Mead).

conversation of gestures

an interaction in which gestures by one party elicit mindless responding gestures from the other part (Mead).

significant gestures

gestures that require thought before the responses are made; only humans are capable of doing so (Mead).

significant symbols

symbols that arouse in the person expressing them the same kind of response they are designed to elicit from those to whom they are addressed (Mead).

mind

the conversations that people have with themselves using language; inextricable from the self (Mead).

self

the ability to take oneself as an object; inextricable from the mind (Mead).

reflexivity

the ability to put ourselves in others’ places - think as they think, act as they act (Mead).

play stage

the first stage of the genesis of the self in which the child plays at being someone else (Mead).

game stage

the second stage in the genesis of the self in which, instead of taking the role of a discrete other, the child takes the role of everyone involved in the game. each of these others plays a specific role in the overall game (Mead).

generalized other

the attitude of the entire community or of any collectivity in which the actor is involved (Mead).

definition of the situation

the idea that if a person defines a situation as real, then that definition is real in its consequences (W.I. Thomas & Dorothy S. Thomas).

I

the immediate response of the self to others; the incalculable, unpredictable, and create aspect of the self (Mead).

1. key source of novelty

2. where most important values lie

3. constitutes realization of the self, something we all seek

4. developed as part of a long-term evolutionary process from primitive societies (dominated by me) to contemporary society (I plays greater role)

me

the individual’s adoption and perception of the generalized other; the conformist aspect of the self (Mead).

color line

the division of Black society and white society into two different and unequal worlds (DuBois).

racialism

an approach to race widespread in the 19th century that held that there are distinct races with unique defining features.

unlike racism, does not necessarily assume that some races are superior/inferior to others.

romanticism

an intellectual, artistic, and literary movement that affected European societies in the 19th century.

rejected Enlightenment values of objectivity and rationality; humans are deep-feeling, emotional beings who express the self in culture and language.

the veil

a metaphor for the separation between Blacks and whites.

thin, porous material through which each race can see the other, yet still separates the races. sometimes opaque and impossible to lift.

description:

• shuts Black people out from the rest of the world and within which they live

• Black people are born with

• falls between Blacks and whites

• affects the way Black and white people see each other

• hangs between Blacks and opportunity

• negatively affects both Blacks and whites

• might someday be lifted

(DuBois)

double-consciousness

the feeling that a Black person has of being split in two, of having two forms of self-consciousness (DuBois).

position gives insight into society but produces confusion and tension.