Exam 1 terms + defs. ch 2

Social Theory

A set of interrelated ideas that allow for the systemization of knowledge of the social world, the explanation of that world, and predictions about the future of that world.

Sociological Cannon

The theories, ideas, and texts that, at least in the past, have been considered the most important in the field of sociology. Critics have argued that the canon is not a neutral construction; rather, it is affected by political factors

Grand theory

A vast, highly ambitious effort to tell the story of a great stretch of human history and/or a large portion of the social world

Theories of everyday life

Theories that focus on such everyday and seemingly mundane activities as individual thought and action, the interaction of two or more people, and the small groups that emerge from such interaction.

Mechanical Solidarity

• Durkheim

• the idea that the primitive society is held together by the fact that there is little division of labor and, as a result, virtually everyone does essentially the same thing.

Organic solidarity

• Durkheim

• the idea that because of the substantial division of labor in modern society, solidarity comes from differences; that is, individuals need the contributions of an increasing number of people in order to function and survive.

dynamic density

durkheim

• the number of people in a society and their frequency of interaction.

• an increase in ______ ______ leads to the transfroamtion from mechanical to organic solidarity

Collective Consciousness

Durkheim

• the ideas shared by the members of a collectivity such as a group, tribe, or society

Repressive law

Durkheim

• characteristic of mechanical solidarity, a form of law in which offenders are likely to be severely punished for any action that is seen by the tightly integrated community as an offense against the powerful collective conseiousness

restitutive law

durkheim

• characteristic of organic solidarity and its weakened collective consciousness, a form of law in which offenders are likely to be asked to comply with the law or repay(make _____ to) those who have been harmed by their actions

Social facts

durkheim

• the subject matter of sociology

• are to be treated as things that are external to, and coercive over, individuals, and are to be studied empirically

Material social facts

Durkheim

• social facts that take a material form in the external social world (ex. architecture)

nonmaterial social facts

durkheim

• social facts that are external and coercive, but do not take a material form (ex. norms and values)

anomie

durkheim

• a sense, associated with organic solidarity, of not knowing what one is expected to do, of being adrift in society without any clear and secure moorings

anomic sucide

durkheim

• a type of suicide that occurs when people do not know what is expected of them, where regulation is low, and they are largely free to run wild.

• this mad pursuit is likely to prove unsatisfying and, as a result, a higher percentage of people are apt to commit this type of suicide

Egotistic suicide

durkheim

• a type of suicide that occurs when people are not well integrated into the collectivity and are largely on their own

• they feel a sense of futility, meaninglessness ad more of them feel that they are morally free to kill themselves

altruistic suicide

durkheim

• a type of suicide that occurs when people are too well integrated into the collectivity

• they are likely to kill themselves in greater numbers because the group leads them, or even forces them to do so

fatalistic suicide

durkheim

• a type of suicide that occurs in situations of excessive regulation(ex.slavery), where people are often so distressed and depressed by their lack of freedom that they take their own lives for frequently that otherwise

alienation

Marx

• the breakdown and separation from the natural interconnection between people and their product they produce, the fellow workers with whom they produce those things, and what they are potentially capable of becoming

captitalism

marx

• an economic system composed mainly of capitalists and the proletariat, in which one class(capitaists) exploit the other(proletariat)

means of production

marx

• those things that are needed for production to take place

  • including tools, machinery, raw materials, and factories

capitalists

marx

• those who own the means of production under capitalism and are therefore in a position to exploit the workers

proletariat

marx

• those who, because they do not own the means of production, must sell their labor time to the capitalists in order to get access to those means

subsistence wage

marx

• the wage paid by the capitalists to the proletariat that is just enough for the worker to survive and have a family and children, so that when the worker falters, he can be replaced by one of his children

labor theory of value

marx

• theory that all value comes from labor and is therefore traceable, in capitalism, to the proletariat

surplus value

marx

• the difference between the value of a product when it is some and the value of the elements(including labor) consumed in its production

explotation

marx

• the nature of the relationship between capitalists and workers in capitalism, where the capitalists get the lions share of the rewards and the proletariat get only enough to subsist, even though, based on the labor theory of value, the situation should be reversed

false consciousness

marx

• the inaccurate sense of themselves that both proletariat and capitalists have under capitalism regarding their relationship to each other and the way in which capitalism operates

class conscieousness

marx

• the ability of a class, in particular the proletariat, to overcome false consciousness and attain an accurate understanding of the capitalist system

• awareness that deprivation is caused by structural issues and not individuals

• group identity emerges from awareness

Praxis

marx

• concrete action, particularly that taken by the proletariat in order to overcome capitalism

communism

marx

• a social system that permits, for the first time, the expression of full human potential

behavior

weber

• things that people do that require little or no thought

action

weber

• things that people do that are the result of a conscious process

behaviorism

weber

• the study, largely associated with psychology, of behavior

affectual action

weber

• non-rational action that is the result of emotion

traditional action

weber

• action taken on the basis of the way things have been done habitually for customarily

value-rational action

weber

• action that occurs when an actors choice of the means to an end is based on the actors belief in some larger set of values

• the action chosen may not be optimal, but it is rational from the point of view of the value system in which the actor finds themselves

means-end rational action

weber

• action that involves the the pursuit of ends that the actor has chosen for themselves

• that choice is affected by the actors view of the environment in which they find themselves, including the behavior of the people and the objects in it

practical rationality

weber

• the type of rationality that people use on a day-to-day basis in dealing with whatever difficulties exist and finding the most expedient way of attaining the goal of getting from one point to another

theoretical rationality

weber

• the type of rationality that involves an effort to master reality cognitively through the development of increasingly abstract concepts

• the goal is to attain a rational understanding of the world rather that to take a rational action within it

substantive rationality

weber

• a type of rationality in which the choice of the most expedient action is guided by larger values rather than by daily experiences and practical thinking

formal rationality

weber

• a type of rationality in which the choice of the most expedient action is based on rules, regulations and laws that apply to everyone

• this form of rationality is distinctive to the modern west

protestant ethic

weber

• a belief system, associated with the protestant sect of Calvinism, that emphasized hard work and asceticism, the denial of personal pleasure

• the development of capitalism depended on the presence of this ethic

Verstehen

weber

• a methodological technique involving an effort to understand the thought processes of the actor, the actor’s meanings and motives, and how these factors led to the action(or interaction) under study

spirit of capitalism

weber

• an idea system that led to the capitalist economic system

• West- people motivated to be economically successful by an unethical system that emphasizes ceaseless pursuit of economic success

• components: rational and systematic seeking of profits, frugality, punctuality, fairness, and the earning of money as a legitimate end in itself.

traditional authority

weber

• authority based on followers belief that certain people(people from particular families, tribes or special lineage) have exercised sovereignty since time immemorial

• the leaders claim, and the followers believe in, the sanctity of age-old rules and powers

charismatic authority

weber

• authority legitimated by followers belief in the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of the charismatic leader

charisma

weber

• extraordinary qualities attributed to an individual by other people

• a person need not actually have such qualities in order to be defined as charismatic

routinism of charisma

weber

• efforts disciplines of a charismatic leader to recast the extraordinary land revolutionary characteristics of the leader so that the regime is better able to handle mundane matters

• the followers also do this to prepare for the day when the charismatic leader passes from the scene, so that they can remain in power

ideal type

weber

• a one-sided, exaggerated, concpet usually in an exaggeration of the rationality of a given phenomenon, used to analyze the social world in all of its historical and contemporary variation

• the _____ ____ is a measuring rod to be used in the comparison of various specific examples of social phenomenon ether cross-culturally or over time

bureaucracy

weber

• a series of official functions become officers in which the behavior or those who occupy those offices is bound by rules

• each office has a specified sphere of competence

• each office has obligations to preform specific functions & the authority and means to do so

• hierarchical system of organization

• technical training to meet the requirements to perform their duties effectively.

• given things to carry out their jobs effectively

• the position is apart of an organization

• much of what goes on is in writing

rational-legal authority

weber

• a type of authority in which the legitimacy of leaders is derived from codified rules and regulations; leaders hold their positions as a result of those rules