Sociology 101

Weber:

Protestant asceticism and the spirit of capitalism (i.e., ethical foundations of the capitalist spirit)

  • Luther: Develops “The Calling” to labor as the only way to please God - destigmatizing “lowly” lines of work as equal value to “important jobs.” [Pg. 28] 

  • Calvin: Taught predestination - leading to wealth accumulation as a sign of being within the grace of God (elected) [Pg. 78]. Gaining capital for the sake of gaining capital.

  • Baxter - provided the moral and ethical justification to working diligently for capital gains. Warned against laziness from becoming wealthy.

  • Protestantism: provided the moral and ethical justification to working diligently for capital gains.

  • Spirit of Capitalism: making money with the end goal of making money and for itself (culture attitude separate from religion) → calvinism

  • People have this calling from god (martin luther) within a religious sect → money and capitalism 

    • Evolving in social sphere where it becomes socially justified

  • Meet expectation to give back to community and work hard and it gives us more reason to do it because it makes us feel good (moral itch) 

  • Calling to earn cash by any means (little justification, just God’s calling)→ protestant asceticism give back to community and invest so it’s more palatable on a social level and add morality into society

  • Baxter still wants you to work really hard despite wealth level

  • Luther, calvin, baxter, franklin

Durkheim:

Social facts (i.e., characteristics and examples of)

  • Social facts “blanket over” a general given society, but exists in reality independent of individuals.

  • A social fact is an external factor exerted on an individual; they are constraining, coercing individuals to go towards a certain direction in their actions and thinking.

    • Push people to act a certain way (coercive) 

    • Certain language or dialects is constraining because you have to talk a certain way in order to get people to understand you 

  • Morals, laws, norms, and language are all examples of social facts.

  • Exists independent of individuals

Social solidarity (i.e., two types of social solidarity)

  • Social Solidarity: how cohesive and united a society is.

    • Varies in intensity (strong (pre-modern) & weak (modern) intensity) & has two types.

    • Law as a symbol/indicator of social life in society.

  • Mechanical Solidarity: based on similarities. → beliefs, values

    • Trait of Traditional/Pre-modern Societies

    • Collective Conscience: the source of social solidarity in mechanical solidarity - the beliefs and values shared among the society.

      • Drinking

      • Moral hazards

      • Tells you how you should think or act

    • Repressive Law: Treats crime as an offence to the collective; punishment is designed to 

      • Due to the high social integration - Altruistic suicide is more likely to occur

      • Gets from collective conscience 

      • So if you go against it, you are going against the groups which they put limits that push you back into the original belief (taking away stuff)

  • Organic Solidarity (organs working together, together but meeting one need): based on economic interdependence. (religion and differences dont really matter)

    • Trait of Modern Societies

    • People have specialized skills and rely on one another. Secularization deteriorates a common consciousness.

    • Restitutive Law: Meant to rebalance the social equilibrium - punishment is meant to restore relationships/conditions to how they were prior to an offense.

      • Interconnected on thin social lines

      • Trying to restore social equilibrium to what it was before 

      • Restoring the damage being done

  • Due to the high individualism - egoisitic suicide is more likely to occur.

  • Due to the frequent social changes - anomic suicide is more likely to occur

Suicide (i.e., three types of suicide)

  • Permanence: ‘Stable’ rate of suicide for social groups/collectives.

    • There is never 0 suicides in a society

  • Variation: Differences in suicide rates between groups (Protestants/Catholics ; Dodgers/Angels fans).

  • Anomie: a state of normlessness caused by disruptions, in which society fails to properly regulate norms/expectations. People feel unfulfilled.

  • 3 Types of Suicide: 

    • Anomic Suicide (modern): Occurs when an individual is not sufficiently regulated into society.

      • Lack of regulation and expectations leads to a sense of unfulfillment

    • Egoistic Suicide (modern):  Occurs when an individual is not properly integrated into society.

      • Someone doesnt belong to a group

    • Altrusitic Suicide (pre-modern): Occurs when an individual is overly integrated (valuing group identity/beliefs) over their own will to live.

      • Over integrated into a group

      • Value group’s well-being than over one’s well-being

Freud: 

Eros and Thanatos (i.e., two instinctual drives)

  • Two parts of our brains that drive us to function differently

  • Eros: (Libido → sex drive): instinct that serves as the driving force for life preserving (reproduction & social relations). 

    • Self preservation

    • Creates community by making people and creating relationships with those people

    • Art, beauty, and standards are all connected from that one section of your brain

  • Two types of love:

    • Sensual love: creates more people - leading to more people to have a relationship (family).

    • Aim-inhibited love: love without the expectation of returns (fostering relationships).

      • Children 

  • Thanatos: (The Death Instinct): natural inclination to aggression and destruction, pushing towards social degradation.

    • Habits that expose our wants to destroy things 

    • Id (subconscience)

      • Tell you want you want now

    • Ego

      • How we actually act in reality with the combination of the two 

      • What we are showing to the world 

    • Superego (somewhat subconscious but we are aware of it)

      • Conscience 

    • Cultural superego

      • Born out of superego/conscience/moral standards of a society without it being written down

      • If you violate it, you feel guilty and might become rejected as a reality 

      • Being able to read the room on what you should or should not do 

      • The more you adopt, the more anxious you get because you have to think before you do 

        • Always calculating trying to make everyone happy 

      • Being asked to do something, you can’t achieve, leading to discontent 

    • When we are rejected by our peers, it hurts the most

      • To avoid it, we pick up certain things which is taxing 

      • The cultural superego isn’t bad, but it can bring on frustration and anxiety 

  • Oceanic feeling

    • We need something bigger than ourselves 

    • Infantile helplessness

      • Superego develops when needs are not being met by parents

      • There is no one person that is happy with all of these 

      • Pleasure principle is seeking out as much pleasure with as little pain as possible 

      • The three sources of suffering that hinder the experience of happiness are the human body, the world, and social relations with others. The human body is vulnerable and can cause us pain as we are mortal and human bodies are fragile. Our bodies age over time, we get sick, and we all eventually die at some point in time. There is also the natural world in which uncontrollable events like disasters or accidents can cause suffering and distress for individuals. Nature is a necessity and cannot be controlled in any case. Within human relationships, there are going to be complexities and challenges that can lead to emotional distress or hold someone back from achieving that feeling of happiness. This can range from interactions such as competition or interpersonal conflicts.