development of social theory

exam 1

What three historical factors contributed to the emergence of sociological theory?

the renaissance, the age of science and the reorganization of society

contributions made by auguste comte

father of sociology, positivism, law of human progress (law of three stages), social statistics/dynamics, hierarchy sciences, methodology of sociological inquiry

what is comte’s law of three stages (human progess)

three stages of progressive human mental development 

1. the theological stage (bible)

2. the metaphysical stage (renaissance) 

3. the positivistic stage (rationality) 

what is comte’s social statics and dynamics 

statics: structure/order (institutions/organizations)

dynamics: change/evolution (society develop/transform over time) 

comte’s social inquiry

observation

experimentation

comparison

historical analysis

what was comte’s vision of society

body social

spencer’s organismic analogy

compares society to a living organism, various social institutions and organizations serve essential roles in maintaining social order and stability

ex. government - brain, family - heart, economics - stomach

spencer’s visions of society as “super-organic”

three stages

early society is small simple

overtime they get larger, more complex, and specialized (states, institutions)

more interdependent among social units with increasing division of labor and structural differentiation tied together in an integrated whole

what three sources of intellectual traditions that inspired karl marx to construct his theory?

german idealism

french socialism

british political economy

marx historical materialism

primary needs - quest for sufficiency in eating and drinking, habitation, and clothing

secondary needs- when primary are met

materialism views production and reproduction as a fundamental social process of change

marx dialectic materialism 

dialectic- a struggle between opposing ideas 

competing material interests of opposing social classes create tension toward some form of revolution in turn produces the change of social systems 

marx labor theory of value and surplus value

where does profit come from if everything gets exchanged for its true value

when there is extra work there is surplus value from the exploitation of labor

marx alienation

workers become cogs in the machine selling their own labor as a commodity and are stripped of any meaningful relations with the goods they produced. they are thus alienated from the process of production and that of distribution and alienated from himself and from fellow workers 

marx false consciousness 

working class people are living in false consciousness where they did not see capitalists as their enemy

weber’s three types of authority/domination

traditional authority- sanctity of age-old rules and powers (often religious sanctified)

charismatic authority- any person with an extraordinary character, often endowed with divine powers 

rational-legal-authority- belief in the state’s constitution or law 

weber’s theory of rationalization/bureaucracy

bureaucracy has come into being as a result of modern trends of rationalization which make modern large scale enterprises become operational

weber’s cultural perspective on social change 

unlike marx economic force, weber sees cultural dimension as the driving force of social change

marx one dimensional perspective

marx class theory ; mode of production production force vs relations

weber’s three dimensional perspective

class (wealth) - an economic dimension

status (prestige) - a cultural dimension 

party (power) - a political dimension 

simmel’s sociation / web of group affiliation 

society consists of an intricate web of multiple relations between individuals who are in constant interaction with one another ; not like comte and spencers organic body ideal 

web of group affiliation - the state, the clan, the family, the city, or the trade union- only crystallization of such interactions 

simmel’s formal (pure) sociology

forms and content in social life; forms refer to the structures or recurring patterns of social interactions while content refers to the specific goals, interests, or emotions involved in a particular social interaction 

simmel'‘s view of money as a social form

money as a unit of social exchange constitutes a form of interaction

used as a social tool to manipulate the environment in order to obtain goals 

depersonalize or objectify social 

durkhiem’s mechanical solidarity

relatively undifferentiated social structure, with little division of labor. a traditional society is held together by a sense of oneness (military)

durkhiem’s organic solidarity

highly differentiated social structure with greater and refined division of labor. a modern society is held together by the interdependence of need for survival by engaging in different yet interrelated tasks in society (modern city or country)

durkhiem’s egoistic suicide

cause by weak conformity to community

durkhiem’s altruistic suicide

caused by strong conformity to community

durkhiem’s anomic suicide

caused by under-regulation by community

durkhiem’s fatalistic suicide

caused by overregulation by community

durkhiem’s punitive law

repressive; focuses on punishing the offender to preserve collective order

durkhiem’s restitutive law

restorative; seeks to repair the damage and restore social relationships rather than inflict suffering 

cooley’s looking glass self

self is constricted from the view of other people (judgement)

self is seen as the basis for social control (a sense of shame and joy) 

mead’s mind

mind- mental capacity of using significant sybmols, and interpreting symbols or gestures,a type of behavior response that emerges out of interaction with others in a social context 

mead’s three stages of self-development 

play

game

generalized order

mead’s two phases of the self

i is spontaneous inner creative and subjective and me is organized attitudes of others and border community; taking the role of others 

mead’s self

the self- self emerges out of capacity of using symbols and taking roles of others. i is spontaneous inner creative and subjective and me is organized attitudes of others and border community; taking the role of others 

mead’s society

society- built upon role taking and assuming the generalized other 

mead’s vision of society from that of structural functionalism 

constructed through symbolic interaction of consistency of individuals

weber’s verstehen

german word for interpretative meaning understanding or insight

weber’s ideal type

an approach to construct a concept that allows sociologists to generalize and simplify data by ignoring minor differences in order to accentuate major similarities.