Classical Theorists

Karl Marx - Capitalism

Economic system based on private ownership of the means of production

Karl Marx - Bourgeois

Capitalists who own the means of production

Karl Marx - Proletariat

Must sell their labour to gain wealth

Karl Marx - Alienation

When workers are arranged to focus on a small specific task to stop them from being able to think, create, and connect

Karl Marx - Name 4 types of Alienation

1. From the product

2. From production

3. From other works

4. From your own soul → experience of being human

Karl Marx - False consciousness

Lies to mislead or distract the worker in order to keep exploiting them

Karl Marx - Class consciousness

Once the working class realize the exploitation and alienation they would rise up to tear down the system

Karl Marx - Globalization

Vast interconnection of people, media, and culture on a global scale

Karl Marx - How do capitalists use globalization to further their ideals

1. Hire labour from foreign countries to cheapen production costs

2. Change foreign culture and media to assimilate them by creating a false need of a capitalists lifestyle

Georg Simmel - Forms

How social structure dictates the way people of different positions interact

Ex) Boss and employee

Georg Simmel - Types

How features of one’s social identity dictates the way people of different positions interact

Ex) Boss and undocumented employee

Max Weber - Overview

How religion and economy interact to further capitalists’ false narratives and means of distraction

he hates bureaucracy

Max Weber - Protestant work ethic

To be pious one must work hard and live simply (capitalist mindset)

Max Weber - Iron cage

Emphasis on efficiency and rationality in capitalist social structures to restrain freedom and creativity

rationality → Capitalist society benefits everyone

Pressure to meet demands suffocate individuals

Lous Wirth - Majority group

Group that holds the dominant position due to more wealth, status, or power

Lous Wirth - Minority group

Excluded from dominant positions due to lack of wealth, status, and power

Émile Durkheim - Overview

Social structures impose norms that were a positive force because without people would submit to their sin and passion

Social rules exist to maintain order

Émile Durkheim - Functionalism

All aspects of society are necessary for the survival of that society including deviance

Émile Durkheim - Deviance’s importance

Clarifies social norms and increase conformity

Strengthens social bonds since condemnation fosters unity

Promotes social change

Émile Durkheim - Social facts

Norms that regulate behaviour that come externally to the individual

Material social facts → Institutionalized or laws in a society

Non-material facts → Unwritten codes of conduct

Émile Durkheim - Collective conscience

Society’s shared beliefs that unify individuals → living homogeneously

Émile Durkheim - Suicide

Suicide was a social phenomenon that reflects underlying social currents not an individual act

Anomie → Feeling the loss of an individual’s purpose

Émile Durkheim - Mechanical solidarity

Solidarity of people with similar experiences by sharing a collective conscience

Émile Durkheim - Organic solidarity

Solidarity based on individual’s dependency on another’s services

Decline in collective conscience

Thorstein Veblen - Conspicuous leisure

Activities that show status through excess time

Thorstein Veblen - Conspicuous consumption

How people show status through expensive goods

Easier to fake

WEB - Colour line

Forced separation and exclusion of people which takes on three forms

Physical → visual differences

Political → legal restrictions

Psychological → how attitudes and behaviours perpetuate racism

WEB - Double consciousness

Dual self-perception of viewing oneself through the lens of a bigoted society

Ex) Cannot be “Black” and “American” at the same time