Key Concepts in Sociology: Revolutions, Social Facts, and Theories Flashcards | Quizlet

French Revolution (1789-1799)

A political upheaval that shattered traditional monarchies and feudal structures, causing massive social chaos, and a fundamental questioning of how society is held together.

Industrial Revolution and Rise of Capitalism

Shifting away from agrarian to factory-based economies changed economics. Led to intense urbanization (cities), extreme inequality based on private property, and a new division of labor.

Scientific Revolution

The massive success of the natural sciences trained people to look for empiricalobservable laws rather than looking to religion.

Posivitism

Pioneered by early thinkers like Auguste Comteit is the methodological approach that sociology models after the natural sciences ("scientific thinkers") to discover objective laws governing society. It is made up of two parts:

Empiricism

The assumption is that we receive pure, objective information from the external world independently of the observer through our senses. Critics argue that all experience is socially constructed and mediated through language.

Determinism

The commitment by scientists to find universal, quantifiable, cause-and-effect laws that describe fixed relationships so that social patterns can be understood and predicted.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement and new cultural attitude that emphasized human reason, individual freedom, and the growth of civil society. It heavily promoted science while turning away from religion to explain the world.

Historical Materialism

Inspired by Hegel's dialectic (Thesis -> antithesis -> synthesis), but with a modern twist. Marx argued that material conditions and the economy drive historical change. Social change occurs because each mode of production contains internal conflicts, leading to systemic shifts through history (Slavery-> Feudalism->Industrialism->Capitalism).

Proletariat

working class

Alienated Labor

For Marx, meaningful work (objectification) is the core of human nature (species-being) meaning work should be a creative form of self-actualization rather than survival in 4 specific ways.

Alienation from product

The worker doesn't have full knowledge about what they are producing. They don't own the product and have no control over the production process.

Alienation from others

workers compete rather than cooperate

Emancipation and Revolution

Marx argued that human emancipation requires workers to develop class consciousness and revolution from the proletariat.

collective conscience

the shared morals and beliefs that are common to a group and which foster social solidarity

Social facts

the laws,morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life

Mechanical and Organic solidarity

Mechanical Solidarity arises when individuals feel bonded by their similarity (shared values & bonds)

Organic Solidarity

Organic Solidarity arises when individuals are bonded through their division of labor

Collective Consciousness is made up of

Volume, Determinatenes, Integrity, Content

Anomie/anomic suicide

Lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group. Absence of social norms

The Protestant Ethic and the Emergence of Capitalism

Weber argued that religious doctrine can actively shape material conditions. He theorized that the rise of Western capitalism was heavily fueled by Calvinist asceticism and the doctrine of predestination

The ideal type as a method:

Weber developed the ideal type not as a moral ideal or a description of perfection, but as a conceptual map or analytical construct used by sociologists to capture the essential, common features of a social phenomenon. By creating these pure models (such as an "ideal type" of a university or a bureaucracy), researchers can compare them against real-world institutions to systematically analyze patterns and deviations.

Elements of Bureaucracy and the Iron cage of Rationality

Weber argued that modernizing societies experience a powerful shift toward increasing rationalization, leading to the rise of bureaucracy—characterized by a strict division of labor, hierarchical top-down authority, written rules and records, accredited technical training, emotion-neutral management, and organizational career ladders. While efficient, Weber feared this relentless drive toward technical efficiency would result in "disenchantment" and trap individuals in an iron cage of rationality, where people become spiritually constrained and dominated by impersonal rules and non-human technologies.

charismatic authority

Power legitimized by extraordinary personal abilities that inspire devotion and obedience

Traditional Authority

Power due to customs, traditions

rational-legal authority

Legal rules and regulations are stipulated in a document. How the United States government operates

Theory of stratification

-Weber argued that power can take a variety of forms. A person's power can be shown in the social order through their status, in the economic order through their class, and in the political order through their party. Thus, class, status and party are each aspects of the distribution of power within a community.

Significant Symbols

A gesture emitted by an organism is interpreted by the receiving organism as intended by the sender.

Genesis of the self

Process by which children develop the "self". Ongoing interactions and role-making.

Play Stage (Mead)

When a child imitates, where they learn to recognize an other able to distinguish between self and other

Game Stage (Mead)

understand multiple roles, have a theory of social behavior-knowing how others are likely to react to different situations

generalized other

integrated conception of the norms, values, and beliefs of one's community or society

Industrial Revolution

The macro-level structural shift from rural to urban centers. It introduced widespread commercial markets, class-based inequalities between factory owners and workers, and profound social dislocation that forced early theorists to ask whether these changes were for the better or not.

Bourgeoise

Factory owners

Surplus Value

In Marxist theory, the value of a worker's labor power left over when an employer has repaid the cost of hiring the worker.

Alienation from work process

Work is reduced to boring, forced means for survival rather than a creative outlet.

Alienation from species-being

Extreme specialization strips away human creativity, separating us from what makes us uniquely human.

Durkheim's Theory

In his landmark study of suicide, Durkheim applied this context to demonstrate that suicide is not an isolated psychological act, but a social fact driven by varying levels of social integration and moral regulation

Egoistic suicide

suicide that occurs when one is not well integrated into a social group

altruistic suicide

type of suicide that occurs where ties to the group or community are considered more important than individual identity

fatalistic suicide

type of suicide that occurs when people see no possible way to improve their oppressive circumstances

Proletariat

Factory workers