SOC100 - Chapter 2: Sociological Theory

What is a theory?

A set of testable ideas designed to explain something observed about our social world (ex. individuals, groups, organizations, cultures, nations, global trends)

What makes sociological theory different from everyday theories from everyday observations?

Sociological theory develops an explanation for a broad set of systematically-gathered observations that extends beyond individual experience to many individuals, groups, societies, organizations, and cultures.

What is microsociology?

Focuses mainly on individuals or small groups

What is macrosociology?

Focuses mainly on large-scale patterns, including society as a whole

What is a canon?

A collection of works that are considered the most important and genuine, particularly in relation to the classical theorists of sociology

Who are 3 classical theorists that are commonly attributed to sociological canon?

Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber

Which sociologists are often excluded from sociological canon?

Marginalized voices such as women and racialized minorities

Who are 2 early women sociologists who are often excluded from sociological canon?

Harriet Martineau & Marianne Weber

Who was Harriet Martineau?

Published important works and engaged in theory-building research, including authoring a book about methods to study the social world as one of the first sociologists

Who was Marianne Weber?

Leader of feminist organizations, published, granted an honorary dictate, and central to having Max Weber’s works published after his death

Why were women sociologists often excluded from sociologist canon?

Excluded from centers of knowledge production like universities & move toward scientific objectivity following early founders disfavoured the advocacy-oriented approach of early women founders

Who are 2 sociologists of racialized minorities who are often excluded from sociological canon?

W.E.B. Du Bois & Anna Julia Cooper

Who was W.E.B. Du Bois?

First Black person to earn PhD from Harvard, among first writers to articulate impact of race on Black Americans especially in relation to historical slavery, generated important concepts related to inequality, founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Who was Anna Julia Cooper?

Black American women born during slavery and passed away during the Civil Rights Movement whose writing was among the first to highlight the intersections that shape people’s lives (ex. social class, gender, race) and wrote extensively on racial inequality and empowerment through education

What were the 3 most significant forces in the development of sociology?

Growth of science (Enlightenment), Industrial Revolution, rise of the individual (philosophers, French & American Revolutions)

What was the Enlightenment?

Beginning in the 17th century in Europe, philosophers like Immanuel Kant started to put greater emphasis on individual reason, rationality, and skepticism which led to the decline of religious authority

Why is the Enlightenment also sometimes referred to as the Scientific Revolution?

Characterized by efforts to link observable phenomena to scientific theory and evidence while moving away from supernatural explanations of the natural world

What did the scientific model arising from the Enlightenment emphasize?

Objectivity, observation, measurement, testing, and hypotheses rather than speculation

Who coined the word “sociology”?

French philosopher Auguste Comte to refer to the scientific study of society

What did Comte emphasize about sociology?

The scientific method, believing that examining the social world objectivity and scientifically would place sociology in a category similar to the natural sciences

What is positivism, which Comte and Spencer emphasized?

An approach to studying our social world according to the principles of the natural sciences

Why did Spencer advocate or positivism?

Society is subject to the laws of evolution and sociologists can help track these changes

What was the Industrial Revolution?

A rapid economic and social transformation beginning in the late 18th & 19th centuries rooted in the introduction of power-driven machinery, leading to the creation of factory production

What was the major defining feature of the Industrial Revolution?

A move away from a society dominated by agriculture to a society dominated by industry and manufacturing

What were the implications of transitioning from agriculture to industry during the Industrial Revolution?

Overcrowded cities marked by poverty and crime, private sphere of home and public sphere of work became distinct, loss of sense of community, nature of work shifted from land to factory, crafting goods for others to consume rather than for personal consumption

Why was the Industrial Revolution an important social force to the development of sociology?

Early sociologists wrote about the changes that industrialization brought to families, cities, communities, and work from different perspectives

How did early conflict theorists like Karl Marx approach studying the Industrial Revolution?

Argued that industrial capitalism generated profits for a small number of wealthy people from the labour of an exploited working class, who did not own the means of production (ex. land, machinery)

What is capitalism?

An economic system featuring private or corporate ownership of the means of production

How did early feminist theorists approach studying the Industrial Revolution?

Focused on creating more rights for (male) labourers and for women through the eradication of patriarchy, which underpinned very limited rights for women

What is patriarchy?

The system of male domination over women

What did John Locke argue about the rights of individuals and the importance of representative government?

Humans were born as “blank slates” and influenced by their environment, which challenged the notion that the Church and monarchy were the ultimate divine authority and influence shaping people’s lives

How did Locke’s notion of the blank slate create the opportunity to think about the interaction between individuals and their social setting?

People started to believe that they could influence their social context, and not that it was imposed upon them by structures of authority and forces beyond their control

What 2 historical events characterized the rise of the individual?

French Revolution (1789-1799) & American Revolution (1765-1783)

What did the French Revolution result in?

Overthrow of the monarchy and establishment of a new republic

What did the American Revolution result in?

Independence of America from the British Empire and established a democratic republic

How did the French Revolution & American Revolution contribute to the rise of the individual and sociology?

Shifts in structures of authority and government demonstrated that individuals can alter social structure and change the course of history

What are 5 foundational theoretical perspectives in sociology?

Conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, feminist theory, postmodernism

What is conflict theory?

Macrosociological approach to explain social inequalities and their causes by emphasizing the role of power relations and conflicts of interest (“who gets what, and why?”)

What is the origin of conflict theory?

Marx’s work on the impact of industrial capitalism on social class and inequality

How does Marx explain the relationship between social inequality and economic systems?

The aim of industry to maximize profits exacerbates the distance between social and economic classes, creating a structure of relationships based on how some own the means of production while others work for wages to make a living

What are “means of production” according to Marx?

The tools, land, equipment, capital, and labour necessary to create goods and services

Who are the bourgeoisie?

Those who own the means of production, whose income is derived from the profits made through the labour of the proletariat

Who are the proletariat?

Those whose subsistence depends on the wages they earn from selling their labour, as they do not own the means of production

How does contemporary conflict theory explain social inequalities?

Competition over scarce resources creates conditions where some have the power to control how resources are distributed and have an interest in retaining control of them, preventing others from gaining them

What are resources according to conflict theory?

Economic resources (ex. ownership of the means of production) & political resources (ex. status and authority)

How can individuals in positions of political power contribute to social inequality?

Policy-making & access to quality education

How does Marx explain how the status quo of exploitation is maintained?

The use of ideology, where the values of the ruling class control how the working class understands its position in society, leading the working class to accept inequality (ex. wholehearted belief in “hustle” culture)

What is the ideology that perpetuates exploitation?

The proletariat continue to accept disadvantaged positions and compete in the market, working harder to try to succeed, which ultimately serves to make the bourgeoisie more profit

What is ideology?

A set of ideals and beliefs about society that shapes policies and actions

What is a false consciousness?

A set of beliefs that are in conflict with the best interests of one’s social class

What is class consciousness?

Self-awareness and understanding that members of a social class have about their social position

Why did Marx call the proletariat’s class consciousness a class-in-itself?

Workers were not aware of their collective power as a class, preventing them from understanding how collectively opposing bourgeois ideology could improve their conditions

How can the proletariat become a class-for-itself instead of a class-in-itself?

Recognizing commonality as a class and identifying the injustice of capitalist exploitation, breaking free from false consciousness to seize the source of exploitation (means of production)

What is social change according to conflict theory?

Consequence of unequal social groups clashing for resources and power, inevitable and continuing as inequality continues to exist

How does conflict theory approach science?

Science is largely controlled by those who have greater economic, social, and political power and who can use it as a tool to strengthen their interests (ex. Sugar Research Foundation funding studies denouncing fat and downplaying dangers of sugar to gain more profit)

What is structural functionalism?

Macrosociological approach to study patterns of behaviour in society and how people organize and work together to maintain order and stability in complex social systems

What is the timeline for structural functionalism?

Began in the late 1800s and dominated sociological thoughts in 1930s-1960s

How do structural functionalists see society as a system?

Interconnected social structures that maintain the societal system by providing rules and guidelines for how people behave (ex. cultural institutions like marriage, family, education)

Why do structural functionalists see the family as a key component for society?

Offers a stable home environment that enables parents to contribute to the economy and raise children in a way that they will understand how to contribute to society in the future

What are 3 central themes in structural functionalism?

Social stability, shared values, functions & dysfunctions

How did Durkheim view social stability through structural functionalism?

Society is a complex system with many social structures that have to function separately and together in order for the social system to work smoothly

How did Durkheim interpret the increasing complexity of society?

More complex society produces greater interdependence among people for stability (ex. most Canadians rely on others for food production and access)

What are Parsons’ 3 main aspects of institutions that allow for social stability?

Socialization, opportunity for success, social cohesion

What is socialization provided by institutions?

How we learn norms and values of our society, happens most especially as children but also occurs throughout our life through families, schools, culture, and religious institutions

What are norms?

Generally accepted standards for behaviour

What are values?

Generally accepted ideas about what is good, right, important, and desirable

What is opportunity for success provided by institutions?

Help people realize and take pride in their goals and accomplishments through their education / economic pursuits, strengthening social solidarity so people tend to maintain roles they mind fulfilling

What is social cohesion provided by institutions?

Common moral values that people hold

What is social solidarity (shared values) according to Durkheim?

The degree of a group’s cohesion based on shared values, beliefs, and interactions

How did Durkheim’s study of suicide demonstrate the importance of social solidary?

Social factors like solidarity contribute to individual suicide rates, rather than just individual pathology

What is anomie?

A negative individual state produced by absent or poorly-defined norms in society (ex. recent shifts in gender dorms, creating confusion about how one “should” act)

What value did Parsons attribute to shared values?

Moral values act as control measures to adapt potentially disruptive and dysfunctional elements toward creating a better working system

What is function according to structural functionalism?

Social structures institutions, and shared values all fulfill a function in maintaining stability and order in social systems

What are dysfunctions?

Elements of social structures that create instability and disequilibrium in our social system (ex. crime)

How did structural functionalists explain social change?

A complex system like society requires harmony between institution and avoids continued dysfunction by changing some values in order to maintain social order (ex. expanding the institution of marriage to include non-heterosexual partnerships)

What are manifest functions?

Visible and intended purposes of social structures (ex. education provides students with knowledge to become contributing members of society)

What are latent functions?

Invisible and unintended purposes of social structures (ex. education keeps children busy and supervised during the day so parents can work)

What are the limitations of structural functionalism?

Does not fully account for social change since social change is not about reaching an equilibrium or establishing a new status quo (instead it consists of wholesale changes to social order) + does not adequately focus on structural inequalities that cause conflict in society

How does structural functionalism approach science?

Manifest function of science includes breakthroughs in medicine and technology that can lead to an improved life (ex. military drones) whereas latent function can include misuse (ex. economic market for hackers & cyber-security specialists in hacking drones)

What is symbolic interactionism?

Microsociological approach to study the everyday experiences and perspectives of individuals

What fundamental question does symbolic interactionism study?

How does the meaning we attach to the world around us explain how we interpret and interact with other people?

What is a symbol?

Objects and gestures that carry meaning to those within a shared culture

What is the self?

An individual identity consisting of our thoughts and attitudes about who we are

What is identity / social identity?

Individual or group characteristics that signify to the self and others who we are, including gender, ethnicity, and social class

What is verstehen according to Weber?

An approach used to understand the meaning of phenomenon and experiences from the perspective of participants in social life, translates from German to “human understanding”

What does verstehen emphasize?

The social sciences require an interpretive understanding of people and imagines the lives of others when analyzing social events and patterns of behaviour

What are 3 core tenets of symbolic interactionism?

Development of the self, meaning-making through interactions with others, relationship between self-presentation and interaction

What is the development of the self?

The development of the individual is a social progress, a product of interactions with people, their environment, and the meaning we create through those interactions

What is Mead’s concept of the “I”?

The subjective part of the self that actively interprets and judges the world present from birth, capable of disagreeing with symbols by responding to the attitudes with others

What is Mead’s concept of the “Me”?

The objective part of the self we learn from others (ex. gendered sense of self)

What is the generalized other?

The internalized expectations, rules, and attitudes of our broader society through which we use to interpret and attach meaning to the actions of ourselves and other people (ex. internalizing ideas about what it means to be a friend)

What is the first principle of meaning-making through interaction with others?

People act according to the meaning we assign to things

What is the second principle of meaning-making through interaction with others?

Meanings are based on the history of our interactions with people, are the sum of all our experiences, and can differ from person to person to give us different perspectives on the same thing

What is the third principle of meaning-making through interaction with others?

Meanings are modified and changed through our interactions with and interpretations of other people and the meanings they attach to things

What is the relationship between self-presentation and interaction?

How we communicate meaning and understand the self through our interpretations of the people we interact with

What is a dramaturgical analysis?

An approach to the study of social interaction as a theatrical production involving stages, scenes, and performers

How does social interaction play out like a drama according to dramaturgical analysis

We present ourselves according to the time, place, and audience with the goal of the self-presentation for the audience to view us the way we want to be viewed

What are the different stages of self-presentation according to dramaturgical analysis?

Front stage & back stage

What is the front stage of dramaturgical analysis?

The performance where we are expected to present ourselves in ways appropriate to the purpose and setting, putting on a role and performing in front of an audience (public)

What is the back stage of dramaturgical analysis?

The performer rehearses and prepares for the performance on the front stage, where we can act ourselves without fear of being judged (private)