Social theory: Classical and contemporary, a critical perspective

Chapter 3: Durkheim on society and social order

• Human nature

  • for Durkheim, the individual had to be controlled and guided to conform to the existing system

    • whereas for Marx and Engels, the point was to change the existing exploitative system

  • “our first duty is to make a moral code for ourselves” because it constitutes the very foundation of social solidarity

  • “moral discipline is a code of rules that lays down for the individual what he should do so as not to damage collective interests and so as not to disorganize the society of which he forms a part”

  • “the interests of the individual are not those of the group he belongs to and indeed there is often a real antagonism between the one and the other”

  • to promote and advance the larger (social) interests of the group and to limit excessive self-interest, the individual must be guided by a “moral code” that implants such values throughout society.

    • To be effective, the adoption of a “moral discipline” must take place during early childhood socialization

    • moral discipline becomes a mechanism of social control that fulfills the need for integration, conformity, and, in the final analysis, harmony between the individual and society, which in turn helps preserve order in society as a whole

  • long-term consequence of alienation from unchecked individualistic egoism is “excessive individualism”, often leading to egoistic suicide

  • Durkheim’s concept of the individual and their societal role is based on the notion of conformity

    • only through conformity will both the society and the individual be able to survive

• Society and social order

  • Durkheim’s concept of society is deterministic

    • he views society as an entity independent of the individuals that constitute the social collectivity

  • the organic analogy

    • there are a large number of parallels between the functioning of a human organism, with its brain, central nervous system, cells, muscles, and heart and that of a society, with its ideas, classes, division of labor, and culture

  • society is superior to and determines the behavior of the individuals that make up the social whole

    • the individual must subordinate himself to the larger community if society is to function properly

  • The primary function of religion, according to Durkheim, is to contribute toward the integration of society to encourage a deep sense of moral conformity

  • to maintain harmony between individuals and between them and their society, a strong sense of social solidarity is needed

    • mechanical solidarity

      • based on “states of conscience which are common to all the members of the same society.” Thus, it is rooted in likenesses and collective sentiments.

      • “at the moment this solidarity exercises its force, our personality vanishes, as our definition permits us to say, for we are no longer ourselves, but the collective life.”

        • how can this conflict be resolved? organic solidarity

    • organic solidarity

      • social cohesion based upon the dependence individuals have on each other in more advanced societies

  • the division of labor brings about 2 important developments

    • it enhances one’s individuality through detachment from the ‘common conscience’

    • it assures a higher level of social solidarity as a result of the assignment of specific functions to individual members of society

Chapter 15: First part on Parsons

• Parsonian functionalism is seen as a theory that has served as an ideology to rationalize and legitimize the prevailing system of mid-twentieth-century U.S. capitalism

• Human nature

  • pattern variables

    • the basic alternatives that, in certain combinations, orient the individual actor to his or her culture and social system

    • affectivity versus affective neutrality

    • self-orientation versus collectivity orientation

    • universalism versus particularism

    • achievement versus ascription

    • specificity versus diffuseness

  • internalization of value-orientation patterns by individuals keeps society going

  • the individual is built on the notion of conformity

  • (functionalist view)— individuals acquire a sense of satisfaction when their behavior fulfills the expectations of the social group or society to which they belong and which sets the standards for individual behavior in varied social settings

    • as a result, the fulfillment of these goals becomes a motivational objective of individuals so that their resultant behavior is oriented toward the attainment of these goals

• Society and the social system

  • modern functionalists see society as a system of interdependent parts that are integrated through institutionalized norms and patterns of behavior, which parsons believes assures the maintenance of the social system

    • they’re concerned with the relationship of equilibrating forces between the various parts of the system

• Power, politics, and the state

  • “Power,” writes Parsons, “is a generalized facility or resource in the society”:

    It has to be divided or allocated, but it also has to be produced and it has collective as well as distributive functions

  • the state maintains an autonomous role for itself as the sole public authority and at the same time assures the equal distribution of power across competing political groups in society

Classical Sociological theory and Foundations of American Sociology

Chapter 14: Biography of Durkheim (pp. 103-107)

• After going to college, Durkheim broke with religion altogether. Nevertheless, he always remained part of the Jewish community. His father was a rabbi

• 10 things we know about Durkheim:

  • 1. He was an outstanding student.
    2. He was very close to his family and community. He worried about his family’s finances when his father
    became ill while he was in college.
    3. He was a good debater.
    4. He was very well-known by all kinds of intelligent people, especially in circles of philosophy and
    psychology.
    5. He strongly supported the republican cause (against resumption of the monarchy) and admired the
    reforms of the Third Republic.
    6. He was a very good administrator and organizer and provided assistance to friends and supporters.
    7. He was a mesmerizing lecturer and was even accused of having too much control over the minds of his
    young students.
    8. He often worked too hard, sometimes even into illness.
    9. He stood up for the underdog.
    10. He was devoted to the science of sociology.

Chapter 15: Rules of Method (pp. 108-113)

• (durkheim’s book)

  • he sets out to establish sociology as a research discipline

• rules of sociological method part 1

  • social facts

    • the actions, the thoughts and the beliefs which uniquely exist outside each individual’s own consciousness

    • What makes something a social fact is the collective aspect of the beliefs, tendencies and practices of a group

    • social facts are more than the actions of just individuals

    • Everything we do and are that is not biologically determined can be considered a social fact

    • A social fact is every way of being and acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising an external constraint on the individual; in other words, it is that which is general in the whole society, independent from individual manifestations.

• part 2- rules for the observation of social facts

  • social facts are things, they are our data

    • they are their own reality, not simply concepts in our minds

  • how do we treat social things as things?

    • 1. systematically rid yourself of all preconceived ideas

      • sociologists have to be objective

    • 2. operationalize your data in advance and them examine all cases that fit your definition

    • 3. consider social facts from a point distinct from their individual manifestations

  • how do we recognize sick societies?

    • 1. find a widespread social fact

    • 2. trace back the conditions of the past which gave birth to the social fact

    • 3. investigate whether the environmental context has shifted

    • if the conditions that gave rise to it are still the same, we can consider it normal

    • if not, it may be maladapted to the present circumstances and in need of change

Chapter 16: Division of Labor (pp. 114- 121)

• (durkheim’s first major work)

• book one: the function of the division of labor

  • chapter 1: the method for determining this function

    • the function of the division of labor is not to produce civilization

  • chapter 2: mechanical solidarity through likeness

    • essential characteristics of crime

      • 1. a crime offends sentiments found among all normal individuals in any given society

      • 2. those sentiments are strong

      • 3. those sentiments are defined. a crime is thus an act which offends strong and defined states of the collective conscience

    • characteristics of punishment

      • a passionate reaction, of graduated intensity

      • this passion reaction comes from society

      • this reaction is enforced through the intermediary of a constituted body

    • definition of crime

      • every strongly offended sentiment mechanically determines a passionate reaction (which helps to maintain the sentiment)

      • the collective character of these sentiments explains the social character of the reaction (why it’s useful for it to be social)

      • the intensity and defined nature of these sentiments explain the formation of the organization which enforces this reaction

  • chapter 3: organic solidarity due to the division of labor

    • restitutive sanction: individuals who have been treated wrongly by others can receive compensation

    • Positive or cooperative relations come from the division of labor, which are governed by a defined legal system and set of rules which we can call cooperative law

    • two kinds of positive solidarity:

      • mechanical solidarity: comes from similarity

        • the social integration of members of a society who have common values and beliefs

        • “collective conscience”

      • organic solidarity: comes from the division of labor

        • social cohesion based upon the dependence individuals have on each other in more advanced societies

        • interdependence that arises from specialization of work

  • chapter 4: further proof of the preceding

    • more repressive law than cooperative law when there is more social similarity and less division of labor and we ought to see more cooperative law than repressive law when there is a greater division of labor and less social similarity

    • The more primitive societies are, the more resemblance there is among individuals, both physically and mentally. The division of labor, originally non-existent, begins to develop

  • chapter 5: progressive preponderance of organic solidarity

    • preponderance- superiority in power

    • mechanical solidarity relies on 3 conditions:

      • 1. the relative extent of the collective conscience and of the individual conscience

      • 2. intensity of the states of the collective conscience

      • 3. the degree of determination/distinction of the states composing the collective conscience

    • mechanical solidarity binds people less strongly over time and slackens as we progress socially

  • chapter 6: progressive preponderance continued

    • segmental types correspond to mechanical solidarity

    • organized types correspond to organic solidarity

  • chapter 7: organic solidarity and contractual solidarity

    • social harmony depends upon cooperation and the division of labor in industrial societies

    • contractual relations multiply greatly in advanced societies

  • book 1 summary

    • social life comes from a double source, the similarity of consciences and the division of social labor

    • the individual is socialized from the similarity of consciences because they become part of the same collective group as that they resemble

    • they’re socialized by the division of social labor because they depend on others to the same extent they depend on the individual

Chapter 20:  Le Suicide (pp. 138-146)

• mortality rate of suicide

  • total number of voluntary deaths in the population of every age and sex

• social rate of suicide

  • causes that work on the group rather than the isolated individual

• aim of sociological study of suicide:

  • 1. the phenomenon we’re trying to explain must result from extra-social causes or social ones

  • 2. we determine the nature of the social causes, the way they produce their effects, and the relationship with the individual states that accompany the different kinds of suicide

  • 3. we can state of what consists the social element of suicide and how it’s connected to other social facts and the means by which it’s possible to act upon it

• suicide varies with the degree of integration of the social groups to which the individual belongs to

• egoistic suicide

  • the individual affirms himself more than the social self and depends on himself more

  • excessive individualism

  • no longer see any sense in living

• altruistic suicide

  • suicide occurs as a matter of strong social obligation

  • the fact of dying seems to be situated beyond life itself

• anomic suicide

  • anomie- the state of unregulation

  • anomic suicide depends not on the way in which people are attached to society but on the way in which it controls them or fails to do so

  • happens from their activity being disrupted and from their suffering as a result

Chapter 22: Elementary Forms of Religious Life (pp. 153-156)

• sociological study of religion

  • religious systems are found in societies whose social organization is simple

• we can understand religions today only by following how religions developed over time

Functionalism basics reading

• organismic analogy for functionalism

  • Societies are analogous to living organisms (for example, a human being). Each part of the human body is linked, in some way, to all other parts

  • ‘organs’ = social institutions

    • focus of analysis is on the relationship between various institutions in society (macro analysis)

• all parts of society have

  • a purpose/function

  • certain needs

• parsons: each institution in society faces certain problems that have to be solved if it is to both exist and function properly. These are functional imperatives (structural commands that an institution has to meet in order to continue existing)

  • The problems are:

    • goal attainment

      • the need to set goals for human behavior and the means of how to achieve them

    • adaptation

      • procuring the means to achieve valued goals

    • integration

      • people have to be made to feel like they belong as a part of an institution

      • the ability of an institution to integrate people successfully is vital for its continuation, internal harmony, etc

    • latency (pattern maintenance)

      • development of social control mechanisms that serve to manage tensions, motivate people, resolve interpersonal conflicts

• functional interdependence

  • the purpose of each institution can only be properly understood by examining the relationships it has to all other institutions in a society

• society is seen as a form of living organism that exists independently of individuals

  • society exists in the structure of people’s social relationships rather than inside the mind of individuals

• people experience society in terms of structural pressures and constraints on their behavior

• social order is based upon and maintained by a value consensus (basic agreement about values)

• durkheim emphasizes 2 concepts:

  • social solidarity

    • the feeling that we belong to a common society based on common culture, socialization, etc.

  • collective conscience

    • the external expression of the collective will of people living in a society

    • “will” of society

    • the social forces that help bind people together

• it’s possible to study the social world:

  • objectively

    • without reference to the sociologist’s personal values

  • scientifically

    • in terms of social facts rather than opinions

• functionalist sociology tends to advocate the concept of value-freedom (keeping the researcher’s biases out of it) in relation to the study of social life

Class readings

Functionalism in the 1900s

• grew in the 1930s, heyday was the 1950s, fell out of favor in the 1960s

• 1800s vs 1900s functionalism

  • similarly, maintained an emphasis on society and its importance

• 20th century social change

  • functionalism was a proponent of conformity to social norms

    • if people don’t conform to social norms, it can jeopardize the functioning of society

    • functionalism was still averse to social change

  • race and gender inequality were significant issues in the mid 1900s, as well as war

  • the 1960s in the US were marked by social protest and dissent as people sought change

    • functionalism seemed out of touch given its view that ‘all was well’

Durkheim and early functionalism

• functionalist paradigm

  • views that a society is a specific structure that is characterized with an orderly set of social structures

• organic analogy

  • society is akin to a biological organism

  • societies have various parts (ideas, classes, cultures, etc.) that work together like the parts of a body to form a whole society

• functionalism focuses on the macro level— emphasis on society

Durkheim and religion

• durkheim viewed the conception of God to be similar to how he viewed society: a revered higher power that has the ability to influence our behavior

• his definition of religion:

  • a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things and their interaction with profane things which unite into one single moral community called a church

  • the sacred

    • refers to anything viewed as special, virtuous, or powerful

  • the profane

    • constitutes anything outside the sacred

  • not the same as ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to him

  • church

    • a society of united members, large social group

  • totem

    • often a representation of the sacred

    • can be religious or non-religious (e.g. the star of David, or a country’s flag)

    • because durkheim draws a connection between religious and nonreligious contexts for totems, he argues that totems are really expressions of both”

      • a. the sacred, or God

      • b. a clan, or society

• God and society

  • he argues that God and society are essentially the same

    • both viewed as powerful

    • people are dependent upon both

    • both are respected

    • they both bring out emotions in people

    • people conform to both the perceived will of God and the perceived will of society

  • he concludes that people created the idea of God/religion and that it’s a mere representation of society

Durkheim and suicide

• he argues that suicide is negatively correlated with the degree of integration of

  • religious society

  • domestic society

  • political society

  • Durkheim contended that suicide varies inversely with the degree of integration of the social groups of which an individual forms a part

• egoistic suicide

  • stemming from a lack of integration in society

• anomic suicide

  • stemming from excessive pursuit of material rewards

  • his solution is they should turn to a moral power superior to the individual, like society or God

Durkheim and social class

• he argues that societies decide on the functional value of certain jobs and set up the rewards accordingly

  • he says the system is set up to enforce social boundaries/classes

  • ‘market-based’ argument

Durkheim’s rules of sociological method

• a social fact is every way of acting, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint

  • external constraint— things like laws or moral codes

• a social fact is every way of acting which is general throughout a given society

  • these ‘general things’ are like ‘social currents’, or fads/fashions

• a social fact exists in its own right independent of its individual manifestations

  • social facts can be studied independently

Durkheim and solidarity

• he argued strongly for preventing societal breakdown

  • he was suspicious of drastic efforts to change society after the failed french revolution

• he contended that humans need to establish a moral code and conform to it

• social solidarity

  • a sense of social consciousness

• mechanical solidarity

  • similar roles would create a sense of community, or solidarity

  • sharing of resources which further strengthened solidarity

  • with the rise of industrialism and increasing division of labor, this changed to organic solidarity

• organic solidarity

  • the differences in roles creates dependency which may result in solidarity

    • it can also create alienation (the opposite of solidarity)

  • durkheim hoped that organic solidarity would be enough to prevent societal breakdown