Modernization Key Terms Week 2-3

society

community/nation/grouping of people w common traditions, institutions, collective activities and interests

• example: nomadic peoples —> grazing animals, throwing arms and fire hardened spears, cooking with fire, gender specialization like hunting and gathering for men and women became liberated for childbearing … but not yet civilization

• how people function within a civilization

socialization

an individual learns how society works in correlation with social norms

social norms

normal behaviors expected from a society’s members. conforming to these norms grants acceptance within a society

culture

institutions of a society - changes in values, ideas, patterns of social interaction, material culture, and economic processes.

the systematic body of learned behavior which is transmitted from parents to children

• how people are socialized and learn to act within their culture

anomie

individuals have a hard time understanding changing roles and social norms

modernization

process of institutional and individual change that produced revolutionary alterations in social structures and human consciousness. transformation of a society from rural and agrarian conditions to urban and industrial modes of living.

• marx, durkheim, weber believe that modernization can make individuals feel helpless in the midst of large social forces over which they had little control

• eight identifiable elements: rationalism, specialization of labor, political centralization, bureaucracy, urbanization, faustian ethos, secularism, individualism

sociological imagination

ability to understand how one’s personal experiences are connected to larger social forces and historical patterns within society

• relationship between history and your own life experiences

class struggle

conflict between social classes, either economic or political

social contract

people live in a society in accordance w an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior

positivism

approach that relies on scientific evidence to reveal the true nature of how a society works

maslow’s hierarchy of needs

bottom to top: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, self actualization

uruk

in 2900 bce, had a population of 50k to 80k

around 3200 BC, largest settlement in southern mesopotamia

ziggurat - rectangular stepped tower sometimes surmounted by a temple

stele

large stone or wooden shaft that commemorates important event or person

Hammurabi

ruler of Babylon from 1792-1750 BCE. wrote hammurabi’s code in mid 1700s BCE which formally codified specific crimes and punishments

Tigris

river that borders mesopotamia and source of irrigation, power, and travel

Euphrates

longest river in southwest asia, people of mesopotamia relied on these rivers for drinking water, agricultural irrigation, major transportation routes

Fertile Crescent

the crescent shaped region in western asia —> tigris and euphrates river

civilization

stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced

complex human society that may have certain characteristics of cultural and technological development

• agriculture —> organized society

• technological developments

• urban areas

• economic surplus —> division/specialization of labor

• social hierarchy + stratification

• incipient economy

• bureaucracy to manage the above, writing and law

Geroulanos

author of “The Invention of Prehistory” essentially about how our view of history is skewed by racism and the idea of social Darwinism

• traces long history of europeans depicting indigenous and colonize people as “savages” thereby rationalizing every violent measure used against them

notions of pre-history

events that occurred before the existence of writen records in a given culture or society

• invention of pre-history ca. 1750 when enlightenment imperatives meant that religious tales of creation would no longer do.

conflict theory

change is seen as the result of class conflict

empiricism

systematic analysis of past experience

collective conscious

shared sense of values often expressed as ethical and religious beliefs

cultural diffusion

voluntary process where practices, customs, and other cultural elements adopted from another society

adopting parts of other cultures

acculturation

involuntary, coerced, unwelcome cultural changes that people are forced to make (often from intensive, first hand contact between societies)

major culture changes that people are forced to make as a consequence between intensive first hand contact between societies

market economy

innovation is necessary for survival. supply and demand heavy over tradition/management of central authority

mechanical solidarity

held together a pre-modern society by similarities

social solidarity

collective consensus and punishments for violations of that consensus (often severe)

organic solidarity

solidarity arising from the division of labor (Durkheim)

aristocracy

“rule by the best”,, small or privileged class

autocracy

single individual ex. king or tyrant, held all formal power

bureaucracy

non-elected officials who implement policies, employed the first real writing system and standard weights and measures

citizens

legal recognized national of a location ex. 40k collective native adult male Athenians qualified as citizens compared to women, children, foreigners, slaves

client states

country that is controlled by a more powerful country in terms of economics, poltiics, and military

democracy

people/citizens hold the power to choose their leaders and make decisions about governing

division of labor

separating tasks in a system to increase efficiency

economic surplus

every member of a community had to devote most of their labor to procuring food (supply outweighs demand)

empire

extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority

money economy

widely recognized form of currency

oligarchy

“rule by few”

republic

social mobility

movement from one level of the social hierarchy to another

theology

unified religious beliefs or principles (study of god, divine, nature of reality)

social stratification

division of society into different and unequal layers

social mobility

movement from one level of the social hierarchy to another

rationalism

relying on reason instead of tradition or religion as a guiding principle

republic

thing of the people

political centralization

concentration of political power and authority in a central governing body

urbanization

increase in proportion of people living in towns and cities

faustian ethos

sacrifice moral or spiritual values for material gain, knowledge, or power

secularism

worldview or political principle that separates religion from other realms of human existence

individualism

idea that a person should act on their own uniqueness and fulfill their personal desires