Classical Theories of Soc 475

Midterm 1

Aristocracy

Fixed hierarchy (born into ranks), social classes, inequality

Democracy

Equality (everyone starts the same), “equality of condition,” freedom opportunities, contemporary model

Centralization

Power concentration to a single leader

Governmental Centralization

Power over general nation (laws, politics, wars)

Administrative Centralization

Power over local areas (everyday issues, roads, schools)

Feudalism

Land in exchange for services and loyalty (lord & serf), medieval Europe

Equality of Condition

No hierarchy ranks or fixed privileges, people are equal, economic/social mobility possible

Tyranny of the Majority

Majority opinions can overpower the rights/views of individuals/minorities, with nothing to keep the majority in check

“Habits of the Heart”

Moral/emotional feelings, instincts, and relations to others in public life → make up the customs and character of society (i.e. obligation to lookout for neighborhoods)

Individualism

People in democratic societies shy away from public life and revert to private/close circles

Democratic (Tutelary) Despotism

A gentle, paternalistic government that takes care of everything for equal citizens, leaving them comfortable but unable to govern themselves

Alienation

Humans are dominated by products of their labor/life activity, which confront them as external/hostile forces. (economic = most fundamental)

Class

Determined by one’s relationship to the means of production

Bourgeoisie

Capitalist class, owns the means of production & profit from employees (wage laborers)

Proletariat

Working class (≠peasants), don’t own the means of production, must sell their products to make necessary money, exploited

Commodity

Something produced for the purpose of selling it

Exchange Value

Worth of a commodity in exchange for another commodity/money

Forces of Production

Means of production + labor, everything used to produce a good

Materialist Theory

How a society produces material needs forms the politics, laws, culture, religion and ideas of that society

Means of Production

Tools and materials needed for economic production

Mode of Production

Method in which economic production is carried out (both forces & relations of producers)

Political Emancipation

Freedom achieved through the state: formal rights, legal equality. Formal freedom within social order.

Human Emancipation

Full freedom of people from alienation/class domination through societal transformation. Transformation of the present social order.

Primitive (original) Accumulation

Violent process (colonization) separating people from the means of production and concentrated capital, making capitalism possible through separation of the bourgeoisie and proletariat

Relations of Production

Relationship btw people: who makes the goods & who owns the machinery and controls the means of production. Material relations formed among people in the process of production (wage labor).

Surplus Value

All value made from labor over and above what is needed to maintain/sustain/reproduce the worker

Use Value

Concreate, qualitative value of a thing for meeting human need/want