SocSc Module 2

Political emancipation

Inspired American (1776) and French (1789) Revolutions, leading to the rise of democratic institutions.

Slavery abolition

Thinkers like John Locke and Rousseau argued that liberty was a natural right, influencing the abolitionist movement.

Women’s rights

Mary Wollstonecraft and other Enlightenment feminists advocated for gender equality, laying the groundwork for later feminist movements.

Economic freedom

Adam Smith’s economic liberalism promoted free markets, influencing modern capitalism.

Enlightenment ideas

provided a philosophical foundation for later struggles for human rights, self-governance, and social justice.

Positivism

Auguste Comte  philosophy that promotes the scientific study of society through observation, classification, and empirical data. It assumes that social phenomena follow patterns and laws, similar to natural sciences

Reason

stressed the primacy of reason and rationality as ways of organizing knowledge

Empiricism

idea that all thought and knowledge about the natural and social world is based upon empirical facts

Science

The notion that scientific knowledge, based upon the experimental method as developed in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century

Universalism

The concept that reason and science could be applied to any and every situation, and that their principles were the same in every situation.

Progress

the idea that natural and social condition of human beings could be improved, by application of science and reason

Individualism

The concept that the individual is the starting point for all knowledge and action

Toleration

All human beings are essentially the same, despite their religious or moral convictions, and that the beliefs of other races or civilizations are not inherently inferior to those of European Christianity

Freedom

an opposition to feudal and traditional constraints on beliefs, trade, communication, social interaction, sexuality, and ownership of property

Uniformity of Human Nature

the belief that the principal characteristic of human nature were always and everywhere the same

Secularism

an ethic most frequently seen in the form of virulent anti-clericalism

• opposition to traditional religious authority

Democratic Institutions

Most modern nations are governed by principles of separation of powers (Montesquieu) and constitutional rights (Locke, Rousseau).

Human Rights & Social Justice

Movements advocating for equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and racial justice are rooted in Enlightenment values of universal human dignity.

Scientific and Technological Progress

The dominance of the scientific method in medicine, technology, and economics reflects Enlightenment rationalism.

Education & Secularism

Public education systems and the separation of church and state reflect Enlightenment critiques of traditional authority

Assumptions of Karl Marx

• Social and political relationships characterizing society can be understood by analyzing the importance of material needs on human experience

• Society is characterized by social conflicts  conflict between those who have control of the means of production and those with no access to these resources

• Social change is premised on the transformation of society as a whole, based on such conflict  revolutionary and not evolutionary

Dialectics

way of thinking that stressed importance of processes, relations, dynamics, conflicts and contradictions

Economic relations

relationship of conflict since control of the means of production is a zero-sum game

• If one had it, the other don’t

• Struggle exist in all stages of history

False consciousness

working class (proletariat) is misled into accepting the capitalist system as just and natural, even though it oppresses them

• Capitalism uses ideology (e.g., religion, media, education) to shape people's perceptions, making them believe that the existing social order benefits everyone rather than just the ruling class (bourgeoisie)

• suggests people are unaware of their oppression due to ideological manipulation

Hegemony

ruling class maintains power not just through coercion (force) but through cultural and ideological leadership

• Suggests they participate in their own subjugation by internalizing dominant values

• suggests they are aware but accept the system as "common sense" due to cultural reinforcement

Base

economic structure  determines the material conditions of life and influences all other aspects of society

Means of production

The means of producing goods (e.g., land, factories, tools, technology).

Relations of production

The social relationships between different classes (e.g., capitalists vs. workers in capitalism, lords vs. peasants in feudalism)

Superstructure

non-economic institutions and ideologies that arise from the base

Political systems

government, legal institutions, laws

Cultural institutions

religion, media, education, family, art

Elitists government

governed by oligarchs

Division of labor

two ways to ensure high surplus value

• Absolute surplus value

• Relative surplus value

Absolute surplus value

extend length of work hours to increase productivity

1. workers not paid justifiably

2. Surplus goes to company

Relative surplus value

enable them to produce more for the same amount of time by altering their work organization and applying advanced technology or both —> efficient division of labor

• surplus goes tot overs of productions even more

Alien

external, when they produce —> their essence is being externalized by them

Alienation from the product of labor

Workers do not own or control what they produce

• Labor creates goods that belong to someone else, typically the capitalist

• technological developments and organizational innovations  became possible to divide production process into segments (i.e. division of labor)

• No one can claim ownership of finished product

• Money economy enabled people to equate gods and services merely with its symbol namely, the monetary instruments

• What is being realized: the product

Alienation from the process of labor

The work itself is not fulfilling or meaningful

• Becomes a means to survive rather than a creative expression of human potential o He does not affirm himself but denies himself

• Does not freely develop his physical and mental energy

• Factors of production: raw materials, labor, time management, structuring of work organization

• Factory workers can't make chismis —> no freedom kinda

Alienations from Species-Being

compel some members of society to work without having to interact with nature, which is their source of raw materials

• Humans have the capacity for creativity and self-expression —> capitalism reduces labor to a mere survival mechanism, stripping away what makes labor uniquely human

• Means to an end

• Don’t see ourselves as part of nature —> we need to produce

  • Other species in nature can survive without producing

Alienation from fellow humans

Capitalism fosters competition rather than cooperation

• Creating divisions between workers and between workers and capitalists

Workplace

specialization coupled with pressure to produce more limit people’s interactions with other people (work division of labor)

• Competition

• Hussle culture

• Feeling guilty when you take a break

Economics

chance of using goods and services in the market (market position) based on relative control of goods, skills and income  social class

• Class different from status: one’s access to market

• Property class: own property

• Commercial class: has the skills to have advantage in market  skill based

• Social class: can pass on wealth  intergenerational mobility based

Status/prestige

affiliation to exclusive social associations

• Membership to exclusive social associations

• More on consumption

• Celebrity o Hard to penetrate

Power

derived from access to machineries of state such as political parties

• Government officials

• Big firms

• Beauty and charisma as source of power  marry into political dynasty

Ideal types

conceptual tools to approximate social phenomena

Instrumental rational

see the means as most efficient way to achieve the end

• E.g. bureaucracy

• Most disenfranchising type —> modern formations cage people

Value rational

values/biases are the ones predisposing your end

Affective

emotions always prevail

Traditional

customs, norms, shaping social action

Predestination

notion of those who are saved and not saved, which no one but God knows

• Feeling of inner isolation and loneliness

Worldly ascetism

hard work as sign of faith

• Have faith and engage in intense worldly activity devoid of irrational emotions, superstitions and pleasures of the flesh  planning of one’s life in accordance with what they think God’ will is for them (i.e., calling as grace)

Wealth

sign of God’s favor

• Success in the accumulation of wealth and possession viewed as a sign that God is pleased and serves as an assurance of being saved

• Reinvest into work

Traditional authority

based on long-standing customs and traditions (e.g., monarchy)

Legal-rational authority

based on laws, rules, and bureaucratic structures (e.g., modern governments).

Charismatic authority

based on the extraordinary personal qualities of a leader, who is seen as divinely inspired or uniquely capable (e.g., religious prophets, revolutionary leaders)

Functionalist

components of whole strive to achieve common goals

Social facts

ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside the individual and exert a coercive force upon them

• structures

• symbols

Structures

groups and organizations

Symbols

norms, values and beliefs that help them organize their activities

Collective conscience

“moral facts” which regulates their perceptions and behaviors. This promotes social cohesion or social solidarity (i.e., basis for being and staying)

• Core of solidarity

Mechanical Solidarity

found in traditional, preindustrial societies where individuals share similar work, values, and lifestyles

Organic Solidarity

found in modern, industrial societies where labor is highly specialized

Anomie

state of normlessness, where social rules and values become unclear or break down, leading to instability and confusion in society

• Happens when rapid social change or crises disrupt the normal structure of society