EVERYTHING SOCY!
Classical perspectives
Functionalis
Conflict theory
Symbolic interactionism
Interventions
Gender as an organizing principle of social life (feminism)
Anti-racist perspectives
Critical race theory
Intersectionality
Decolonial perspectives
anti -orientalist perspectives, anti-imperialist perspectives
Sociology
The systematic study of social behaviour and phenomena in human societies
A social science
The body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation
Study of social features of humans
Generally accepted sociological perspectives
Functionalism (marco)
Society is made up of several interdependent parts, which function exactly as they should to maintain social order
Conflict theory (macro)
Society is made up of unequal groups where the privileged exploit the underprivileged.
The struggle for resources, statues and power creates conflict which leads to social change
Symbolic Interactionism (mirco)
Society is made up of everyday social interactions
These interactions shape people, identities and shared meanings of the world
Forefathers of sociology
Auguste Comte
“Founder” of sociology
Coined the word sociology
Emile Durkheim
Known as forefather of functionalism
Recognized as institutionalising sociology as a discipline (establishing sociology as a formal academic field of study)
Karl Marx
Forefather of conflict theory
Max Weber
“Interpretive sociology”
Dabbled in many sociology perspectives
Often seemed as using comparative historical sociology
The trinity
Durkheim
Marx
Weber
Trinity on “modernity”
Durkheim
“Modernity is a result of a specialised division of labour”
Marx
“Modernity results from class conflict”
Weber
“Results from protestant ethic”
Aldon Morris - “trinity”
Racist
Assumed white supremacy
Did not analyse lower class
No intersectional thinking
No transnational perspectives
DuBois
“Modernity as materialising through racial domination”
Without addressing suppressed aspects of modernity, understanding of modernity is not complete”
Modernity must be analysed through
Histories, and interactions of white supremacy
Colonialism, slavery and empires
Resititsance
Durkheim and functionalism
Emile Durkheim
Forefather of functionalism
Durkheim’s Major Works
The division of Labour in Society “gave birth to functionalist perspective”
The rules of sociological method
Suicide
Argued there are three life sciences with three different objects of analysis:
Sociology - look at social facts
Social facts
Are socially determined ways that we act, think and feel
Must be considered “things” (are objective and observable)
Are external to and precede individuals
Are coercive (they execute power over us)
Are collective (collective “habits”)
Examples; customs, values, population, density, housing/drug crisis
How to observe social facts
Empiricism over theorization
Empiricism is knowledge needs to be observed so you need to see the thing you are writing about, you can know things you can’t see
Suspend dogmas & values
General belief that is embedded in bias (eg. religious dogma) - observe what they are for what they are - can go off beliefs of yours or others, have to analyse on your own what you observe
Discard perceptions
Get opinions or public perceptions, past experiences
Durkheim on casualty
SOCIAL SCIENCE EXPLAINS CAUSAL MECHANISMS
CORRELATION DOESN'T IMPLY CAUSATION
Casual logic
A relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other
Causation - one variable can be the cause the other variable can be the effect
Few things are casual - smoking and lung cancer are casual but there are other variables that can cause
The idea that one condition and one causes and the other is the effect causal
Casual logic
(x independent variable)
(y dependant variable)
(x cause, y effect)
Example; hours of studying and grades
Data will let us observe there is a positive linear relationship between hours studied and grades (grades dependant on hours)
Suicide: an example
Is suicide an individual or social phenomenon?
Durkheims Analysis of suicide
Cause by social forces
Comparative
Empirical
Historical
Sucidie (y) is dependent on the degree of social integration (x)
Suicide (y) is dependant on the degree of social regulation (x)
Therefore, social regulation decreases suicide, the more socially integrated you are, the less likely you are to commit (part of religious group, the community, ect.)
Durkheim is interested in the question of social cohesion
Central argument
The function of the division of labour is to increaser social solidarity
Social solidarity
Functionalism is interested in the question of social cohesion and what brings society together
Mechanical solidarity - (everyone pretty much does the same thing, similarity with each family unit)
A society of sameness; “a homogenous mass” (pg. 141)
Solidarity is “derived of resemblance” (pg.142)
Minimal division of labour: no structure or organisation
Society is “inorganic”, like a machine
Kept together through resemblance
(Everyone is responsible for their own food, clothes, fixing their own consumption)
Organic solidarity
“A system of different organs, each of which has a special role, and which are themselves formed of differentiated parts.” p. 143
Highly organised, complex of division of labour
Solidarity is derived from a conscience collective that results on mutual interdependence
Durkheim's most functionalist idea
(Simile of organs, people are doing different things, getting food from others, going to doctor, each specialisation of labour represent a different organ)
Primary function of everything in society which creates social order
Gemeinschaft
A close-knit c community in which strong personal bonds unite members
Gesellschaft
A community that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group of consensus on values
“The oculist does not compete with the physiatrist, the shoemaker with the hatter, the mason with the cabinet maker, the physicist with the chemist ect. since they perform different services that can perform together” (pg. 154)
Functionalism
Emphasises that society parts are necessarily structured to maintain its stability
Society is viewed as vast and network of connected parts, each of which helps to maintain the system as a whole
Functional vs Dysfunctional
Manifest functions - consequences that are intended and commonly recognized (teaching what is taught)
Latent functions: consequences that are unintended and often hidden (learning time management, meeting new friend and social skills)
How functionalists view crime
Functional
Violence and breaking law most functionalist would say it is functional point of society because it leads to makes examples of people and makes shared beliefs it is wrong which increases social coercion
Sunshine sociology
Dysfunctional
Bad for society
FINAL CHART
Functionalism
Durkheim
Society is
Balanced; interdependence creates social order
Everything functions as it should
Solutions
Socialisation
Strong institutions
More collectivity
Analysis Level
Macro
Criticism
Sunshine sociology
Marx Major Works
On the Jewish Question
We must emancipate ourselves before others
The economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844
Economic categories to a philosophical interpretation of someone position in nature
Theses on Fauerbach
How he studied society in a scientific and historic matter
German ideology - groups compete for limited resources and control
Materialist
Foundation of conflict theory
Accumulation alienates humans from nature
Structured to care about the highest class
The communist manifesto
About capability of a human to engage in revolt people
Outline of class
One of his stortest works
Creating one class would end struggles
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
Class struggles and economic factors shape history
Grundrisse
Capitalism evolves and impacts society
Das Kapital
Most impressive
Motivating force of capitalism in the exploration of labour
How capitalist system works
Young Hefelains
Group of thinkers
Radical left; anti-government, anti-religion
Based thought loosely on works for Hegel
Foundational to Marx as a thinking
Would be no Marx without them
The German Ideology
Explains Marx’s Materialist Conception of History
Examining history
Macro theory was popular
2 arguments; how we produce things determine conditions
Struggle between classes moves history forward
In order to understand conflict theory we need to understand
Between idealism
Reality is not separate from our understanding of it
Consciousness perceives materialist your ideas come before material
Materialism
Idea consciousness is born out of interact with nature to develop ideas
Marx is in between these ideas
Way we interact with nature and each other can change the interact
Saying young hegelians to invested in idealism
Does account material conditions of humans
People interact with material to make history
Life is not determined by consciousness
Not saying ideas don't matter but that we should start from materialism
Is at the root of conflict theory
Struggle between classes is what
Mode of Production = Forces of Production + relations of production
Division of labour, the way we divide labour and hierarchies
Main difference
Way you produce a good or service is the force of production ([physical aspects)
The way you have a boss or revolt against is the relations of production (social relationships)
Mode of production in every society
how we produce are history specific
born out of material life as it relates to how we produce things
Tribalism
First mode of production first stage of history
Very little divisions of labour, just gender within the family
Ancient communal
More division not just by gender but age, slavery cerates more
Formation of city states
Smalls reas over lage lands
Feudalism
Surfdome (systems lords better to serfs which gave place to live) replaces slavery
Freedom gives them motivation less division
Capitalism
Comes from increased industrialization
Increased profits and exploitation of wage labour
Lots of division of labour
Socialism
People will produce and consume only on what they need
No exploitation
Can't change it
Analyse and predict future events
Communism
Social class and class struggle wouldn't exist
Class struggle - mechanism that moves history forward
Created by division of labour
Creates conflict because lower class and exploited by upper classes
lower revolt and take over which drives history forward
Class conflict prepels history forward
Dominant classes - ideas are universal ideas - in between idealism and materialism
State & social institutions; superstructure
Classes; base of all society, determine social institutions
Conflict theory
Society is made up of unequal groups where the most privilege exploit the underprivileged
The struggle for resources, status and power creates conflict which leads to social change
Relevance of Marx today
Wrong about crisis of capitalism
Wrong about deterministic path of history
Wrong of class as the primary form of inequality
Wrong about class as the primary form of inequality
Right about the persistence of inequality
Right about agency resistance and social change
Chart
Conflict theory
Key theorist
Marks, weber
Society is
Imbalanced
Struggle for power and resource distribution
Social change is inevitable
Solutions
Less competition
Equal resource distribution
Social change inevitable
Analysis level
Macro
Criticism
Denies cooperation
Does Not explain cohesion
Symbolic Interactionism
The self
A distinct identity that sets us apart from others
Interaction (key component)
Self changes
Continues to develop throughout or ur live as a result of interactions with each other
Freud
Self is a social product and aspects of one's personality are influenced by other people (especially one’s parents)
Natural instincts are at odds with societal constraints
Self has several components at competes with one another
We are divided within ourselves
Competing aspects of the self
Piaget’s cognitive theory of development
Four stages in development of children’s thought process
Sensorimotor (0-2)
They build senses to make discoveries
Preporperational (2-7)
Beginning with words and symbol
Concrete operational (7-12)
Logical thinking
No abstract thought
Formal operational (12+)
Adolescents capable of thinking of complex things, values in logical way
Social interactions is how we move from one to the next for cognitive development
Cooley’s looking glass-self
We learn who we are by interacting with others
The self is the product of our social interactions with other people
For cooley the process of self-identity has 3 phases
Imagine how others see us - how we present ourselves to others
Imagining how others evaluate us - what do they think when they see us
Define yourself as a result of these impressions
Mead:
Core components of self
The I (acting self that acts) - parts that walks, talks, smiles
The me (socialised self that plans actions and judges performances after the actions) - (based on standards we’ve learned from others - how others expect us to behave)
An example; talking - talking - yelling or whispering is me
Significant others
Individuals who are most important in the development of self
Important to our development of self
Family, friends, siblings
The generalised other - attitudes, viewpoints and expectations of society that are taken into account in altering behaviour
People have on the idea of what society expects of them
Egf manners - understand rule of society
Mead 3 state of self-development
Preparatory stage (0-3)
children intimate symbols and words basis of human interaction, gestures objects words
Play stage (3-5)
Pretend to be other people
Understand relationships revolve roles
Game stages 6-9
Thinking about roles and tasks in simultaneous setting
People have multiple roles (mom is more teacher, wife, sibling)
Most obvious if you watch children playing sports
Erving goffman
Influenced Symbolic interactionism
Dramaturgical approach
Analysis of human beings as actors on stage
Main arguments
Front stage (in social interaction) - presenting idealised version of us, social scripts, reinforced gender norms,
Back stage (when we aren't interacting - our “true selves”)
Impression management on front and back - Alter behaviours to promote ideal versions of themselves
Social scripts normal codes of behaviour
Face work - wear masks to maintain image and avoid embarrassment
Important implications
We can study interaction by observing
Study society at the micro levels makes important explanations
Social interaction leads to social norms
Social interaction maintains inequality
Macrosociology
Concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations
Ex. Durkheim
Microsociology
Small groups and the analysis of everyday experiences and interactions Gotham and Blumer
To study go in deep spending times to understand from different perspectives
Symbolic interactionism Blumer
3. Principles
Humans beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things
Meanings come from social interactions
Meanings are handled and modified through an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with things they encounter
The empirical social world = the world of everyday social experience
Symbolic interactionism is too narrowly focused on meaning and interpretation
Neglects important analyses of social world like structure and culture
Exmaple; drugs and sex work
Social structure - positions they occupy and relationships elements thats structured like roles, networks, outside of individuals will
Agency
Freedom of each person to act or choose each one has a will
They debate rather they are on structures for the agency of people to agency allow the individual to choose
Symbolic interactionist perspective
Generalises about everyday forms of social interaction to understand society as a whole
Suggested identity is shaped by social interactions
Social construction theory
Suggests reality is socially constructed by individuals who interpret the social world around them
Society there is a social creation rather than an objective given
Looks at role of the media, research institutes and governments in the social construct of phenomena
Labelling theory
Social condition is seen as problematic because they labelled as that
Resolving social problems somethings involves changing the meaning and definitions that are attribute to people and the situations
Stigma
Labe used to devalue members of certain social groups
Deviance
Behaviour that violates started of expectations of a group society (all deviant from time to time)
Chart
Interactionism
Key Theorist
Blumer
Mead
Coley
Goffman
Society is
A network
Social interactions create social order
Solutions
Reduce labelling and stigma
Analysis level
Micro
Critics
No focus on structure
Doesn’t link macro to micro
Weberian Sociology - Bureaucracy
Major works
Writing was mostly in essay form - then condensed
Protestant ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Understanding interpretive sociology protestant ethic his spirit of capitalism
Economy and society
Most important for arguing he could be considered a conflict theorist
About dominance and power
Nature of social action
Types of Legitimate Domination
Classes, status groups and parties
Politics as a vacation & science as a vocation
Given as lectures at the end of his life
Weber's definition of sociology
Science concerning itself with
Interpretative undertaking of social action
Exercise empathy for purpose of understanding
Causal explanation of its course and consequences
Schools of thought
Positivism
Macro lens & observe objectively
Social facts
Research - Truth
Quantitative methods
Interpretivism
Analyze society through empathic understanding of people's subjective experiences
Unique encounters with society (multiple social realities)
Research - Interpretive understanding
Qualitative methods
Truth changes us to us to understand how it changes
Ideal type
Methodological ideal type (model)
Creates perfect version of given phenomenon
Acknowledges there is variation in real phenomena
Created the perfect model of the phenomenon and measures it against
Ex. democracy (what characteristics would an idea democracy)
Create criteria - then compare to your own country
Burcacy
Organization that uses rules and hierarchy of authority to be efficient
Capitalist organizations are highly rational and reach maximum efficiency when they become bureaucratic
Protestant ethic & the spirit of Capitalism - most famous theory
Main argument - emergence of capitalism can be linked to the protestant ethics (calvinist)
People were motivated by values and traditions
Believed there was something irrational but capitalism
Features of the spirit of capitalism
Dedicated themselves to acquiring wealth beyond their needs (hoarding money)
Avoiding spending (frugal)
Internal relationship between the spirit of capitalism & Calvinism - Elective affinity”
Calvinism
Being lazy = sin
Restrict consumption
Be frugal
Not a causal relationship but correlation
Religion influenced capitalism more then economic
Genesis of Capitalist spirit - order
Calvinism lead to
Loneliness lead to
Asceticism (no spending lots of saving) lead to
Accumulated capital lead to
Spirit on capitalism lead to
Modern economic order
Argued capitalism is routed in calvinism but the religious part eventually disappears
Domination = power + legitimacy
Power means forcing someone to do something against their own will power over
Domination is probability a command will be obeyed - acting through commands, disregarding personal beliefs
Reading explains the domination is stable if there is a legitimate belief - this impacts how the people will obey, and what authority is used
Economy and society
Four types of social actions
People are government by 3 types of authority
The types of domination define history
Struggle for power is not only class based
Types of social action - people are conscious of what they do
Instrumental rational action (calculate means and ends of something)
Value rational - justify the means (job need money)
Affectual - (lead by emotions)
Traditional - act out of tradition
Any of these are rational and make sense
Type of authority
Traditional authority - (religious leader / king)
Legal rational - (boss, manager)
Charismatic - make people obey them because they have charisma
Important notes
Weber sees history as dependant on power
Power struggle is multidimensional;
Conflict theory
Society made of unequal groups (privilege exploits underprivileged)
Struggle for resources, status and power makes conflict leading to social change
Standpoint theory
Advocates that marginalised people have a privileged standpoint
If you in a marginalised position you know more of your lived experiences
“Feminist theory has its origins and base in a political movement, it is defined by an overriding political commitment”
Political sociologist refrain from bringing politics when trying to make knowledge of the social world, feminist theory says that knowledge production should come from politics
Ways of gender roles in society and deconstruct gender
Feminist waves
Liberal
Earned the right to vote
Radical
“Bra burning” symbol of patriarchy
Intersectional / postmodern
Women of colour putting interventions
Lots of feminist theories are politically charged
Conflict theory - distribution of power
Who benefits from women's inequality
Privileged export the underprivileged (women)
Functionalism - what is the functional purpose of gender in society
Everyone plays a role and we all depend on each other
How individuals make up societies structures
Symbolic Interactionism - ‘day to day’ interactions in social world
How is gender socially constructed?
Interactions we have make up a person and society
Reasons that sociology has been resistant to feminist theory:
Channagles traditional sociology thinking (exposes it being written by men for men)
Unfamiliar (often personal)
Not grounded in major sociological thinking
‘Questionable’ as a theory
Joan Alway - feminist theories
Distinct feminist method? - most agree no but there is feminist methodologies
Shulamit Reinharz - 10 notes of feminist research
(perspective, ongoing, guided by feminist theory, create social change ect.)
Devault - 3 goals of feminist theory
Bring women in, find science that minimal harms women and support research
Sandra Harding - strong objectivity
The idea that women subjectives standpoints strengthen objectivity - if you want to study women you have to actually talk to them
Critical Race Theory
DuBois
Just as important as trinity but ignored due to race (some influence from marx’s work)
Researched black neighbourhood and interested in communism
His work
Suppression of Africam slave trade
SOULS OF BLACK FOLK - black peoples experiences after civil war
Black reconstruction in America - black people during the civil war
The Souls of Black Folk
Emphasises marginalised standpoints (black peoples struggles after slavery)
Describes “whiteness”
Highlights agency, resistance and collective consciousness
Highlighting the ways in which social structures—like institutions, policies, and cultural norms—systematically disadvantage certain groups while privileging others.
Methodological intervention / approach - how researchers choose to collect their data
Important themes in DuBois work
The colour line - problem with 20th century
Racial segregation after slavery
Modernity has been racialized
Veil and double consciousness
Veil
Segregation of black people always hidden by society
White people see blacks through the veil and now for who they really are (barrier that separates)
“Bias” lens - don’t see them for who they are but have stereotype, prejudice views
Double consciousness
Black people need to see themselves but also need to be aware of how white people perceive them
Pan-Africanism
“All africans around the world have a shared identity”
Patriarchal Hill Collins
Leading intersectionality theorist and know for development of black feminist thought (her article - big for development of methodological intervention and contribute to intersectionality)
The outsider within
Similar to DuBois double consciousness but specific to black women scolars
Within and outside of their perspectives - people come to you because academic but also have ability to see things other colleagues cant because they havent had the marginalised experience
Black feminist thought - “cross disciplinary of ideas by black women that clarify their standpoint of and for them”
Refers to black women uniques standpoint but relates them to everyone
3 themes that make BFT
Importance of black womans definition and valuation
Nature of oppression
Importance of black women’s culture
Sociological significance of BFT
Outsider within allows them to
Stop only male insider views
Make correct facts about black women's lives
Make it a big theme
Outsider within - methodological position that is occupied by other marginalised groups
An example of "The Outsider Within" is a Black woman working in a predominantly white academic institution. While she is a member of the academic community, her unique experiences of race and gender give her a critical perspective on issues of diversity, inclusion, and systemic bias that others in the institution may not fully understand.
Critical Race Theory
Drew on legal cases to show racism in US
Useful for sociologist to understand the ongoing and maintained racism in society
4 tenets key for CRT adaptation
Racism is permanent in American society
Racial realism; Those who struggle shouldn't be surprised when seeing racism
Is working through intersecting systems of domination
Intersectionality; Operates through intersecting systems of domination (can’t understand racism without links to sexism, classism)
Its formed through white supremacy
Calls out white supremacy as a political system and in law
Its storytelling, lived experience and resistance is needed
Resistance: emphasis
Critical race theory
Racism as permanent feature of american society
Not an anomaly in society but is a commo, everyday experience for people of colour
Racism working through intersecting structures of dominations
Can't understand racism without its link classism heterosexism, ableism, classism
Racisms formation through with supremacy
Focus on maintenance of white supremacy through law and as a political system
Narrative, storytelling, lived experience
Feminist Theory Methods
Standpoint theory
Advocates that marginalised people have a epistemologically privileged standpoints
Standpoint theory challenges the idea that knowledge is objective and universal
Values knowledge from marginalised groups as being crucial for understanding the full scope of social issues
Pushes us to understand power dynamite / challenging dominant narratives
Positivism
Knowledge can only be derived from observable, empirical data and facts
Rooted in the belief that reality can be objectively
Focus on the quantifiable data, potentially ignored the lived experiences of marginalised group
Overlook systemic inequalities that aren’t easily measurable
Intersectionality
One of the most important tools to address inequality
Uses power relations and interlocking systems of oppression
Combahee River
Black lesbian organization which used the general principles before the term intersectionality was created
Left skewed from mainstream white feminist organizations
Active around abortion rights & domestic violence
Kimberle Crenshaw
Coined the term intersectionality
Legal scholar
Critical Race Theorist
Feminist theorist
Argued that understanding black women discrimination is only based on a single problem like race, glass and gender but not multiple together
Like roads, if 1 is racism and 2 is sexism, where they intersect the law wouldn't know which way to direct the wrongdoing (was it sexism or racism?)
Legal frameworks on one singular axis rather than the intersection of multiple (even more like classism & homophobia)
Black women's oppression is unique (basically double discrimination)
Universalization of women's experiences
White feminist analyze womens discrimination experience without looking at race
Crenshaw extents it to feminist theory
Most feminist theory fails to consider race
Ex sexual assault, this or that but not both
Structural Intersectionality
Looks at laws, policies and resources create different and uniquely challenging experiences for women of color
Political Intersectionality
Examines ways both feminist and anti-racist politics contribute to oppression of women of color
Black women left at a political disadvantage
Neither want to address sexual assault on WOC
Crenshaw says it leaves black women at a political disadvantage
White feminist thinks sexual assault is going to get brought down to a problem only minority experiences so they don’t want to give it to much power
Representational Intersectionality
Identifies how cultural representation of black women doesn't account for their simultaneous experiences of both racism and sexism (songs, movies & pop culture)
Anti-essentialism
Rejects the category that women fall into one category
Rejects color blind racism
Should not be essentalised as one experience, white feminist say women face same kind of oppression but crenshaw says different people in different social positions have unique because of racism and sexism
Need to promote
Crenshaw's analysis
Focuses on black women's experience of oppression as being unique
Rejects universalisation of experiences (“all women face sexism in the same way is wrong”)
Promotes anti-essentialism
An analytical tool refers to a framework or method that researchers use to examine social phenomena, relationships, and structures. These tools help sociologists make sense of complex social dynamics and draw conclusions based on empirical evidence (comparing, quantitative data, qualitative)
Intersectionality as an analytical tool
Lets us analyze and understand systems of oppression
Emphasizes interlocking systems
Centralizes lived experiences
6 core ideas of Intersectionality Frameworks
Inequality
Relationality
Power - how social categories get meaning from these power relations
Social context
Completity
Social justice
Social context - through history different parts of the world could be seen differently
Domains of power
Interpersonal (different social divisions)
Disciplinary (people put in different paths)
Cultural (mass media culture justifies inequality)
Structural (legal policies + economic structures)
Allows for complexity - need to take away collins
SOCY 122 - Decolonial, anti-orientalist and anti-imperialist perspectives
Linda smith
Researcher and educator
Professor at University in New Zealand
Book; decolonizing methodologies (foundational to qualitative research)
Her book argues
Western knowledge is produced through a “cultural archive” which has relied on colonialism and imperialism
(What we know is directly dependant on colonialism)
Cultural archive: storehouse of histories, ideas, texts and image which are preserved and represented back to the west
Relies on rules which enabled knowledge to be recognized
Colonialism
The physical practice of acquiring or occupying land in another country (physically settling there)
Imperialism
Policy of extending a country's power and influence on another country (militaries, policies theory)
Western knowledge production has material consequences for indigenous people (research=-trauma)
Positivism
An approach which suggests that phenomena can be objectively and that research should not be subjective
Beliefs only events can be experienced directly should be studies
Smith says research for indigenous people should be antiposivist
3 examples western knowledge
Race and gender
Individual and society
Time and space
Race and Gender
Racialized discourse and practices were justified through ideas about human reason, morality and science
Ideas about gender - desired qualities of women as mothers, daughters and wives - were produced by greek texts and paintings
Descriptions of indigenous women by european settlers still have marginalized effects
Individual and society
Social scientific assumption that social relationships are causal and observable have harmed Indigenous people - true social structure
Philosophical notions of the individual mind/body are purely western
Rousseau's notion of the human nature has led to colonist practice
Time and space
Indigenous languages don’t make distinctions between time and space
Western knowledge about time and space positions them as distinct, relational and measurable
Western knowledge production has created colonial practices in efforts to measure time and space
Renaming land
Performing stories about indigenous lives
Appropriating indigenous space then “re-gifting” as preservation
3 concepts around which a specific colonial vocabulary is built
The line
Maps
Charts
Roads
Boundaries
The center
Systems of power
Prissions
Church
Parliament
The empty
Empty land
Unoccupied
Uncharted
Burial grounds
Any of the words in the 3 chart have violent history but are seen as scientific
Anne McClintok
Writes on colonialism imperialism and how they are shaped by the intersections of race, gender and sexuality
Panoptical Time
Image of global history consumed at a glance from a point for privilege
Birds eye view that history erases peoples experiences and looks at history in a linear way
Anachronistic space
Space which prehistoric, atavist and irrational inherently out of place in the historical time of modernity
two concepts are used to divide the world into modern and architect
When they go places they think of backwards they use as justification to build empires in places that are “backwards”
as imperialist logic as you move forward you're moving into the global north or west
if you go to global east you are going backwards
“If you aren’t up to speed, we will build an empire on your land and call it progress”
Global north and global west (north america + europe goes to africa)
Other points
Colonist ideas and practices rested on interplay between race, gender and class (lots of feminist theories, racialized notions)
Colonialist ideas and practices were exported back to europe
Colonialism and imperialism are about fear and anxiety (fear of losing power, violence and control are really about anxiety, control and empowerment)
Edward Said
Palestine author
Prof at columbia
Cultural critic, famous for “Orientalism”
Orientalism
The orient is countries of the east (asia), Occident west (europe and america)
A way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in the European western experience”
Global east v global west
Relationship between orient and occident
Relationship of power
global east v global
project or orientalism is more about west than east itself - it was about structural power in the east, European power over the “orient”
Orientalism is not
A political subject matter that is reflected by culture scholarship or institutions
Large and diffuse collection of texts about the orient
Orientalism is
Distribution of awareness into aesthetic, scholarly, economical, sociological and historical tests
Not only the geographical distinction but a whole series of interests
Main points
Western knowledge production is based on a history of imperialism and colonialism
“Producing knowledge” has harmed marginalized indigenous populations
We should think critically about taken for granted concepts like time and space
Power, violence and control are ultimately about fear, anxiety and entitlement
Midterm review - brief outline
Sociology
Systematic study of social behavior and phenomena in human societies (rather than science)
Mills - sociological imagination
Awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society
Ability to view our society as an outsider might, rather than relying on individual perspective which is shaped by our cultural bias
Durkheim
Function of division of labour is to increase social solidarity
Functionalism
Emphasizes that societies parts and necessary to maintain stability
Society as viewed as vast network of connected parts, each of which helps to maintain the system as a whole
Mechanical & organic solidarity
Marx
Class struggle moves history forward
Classes are the basis of all of society - the state and social institutions are superstructures
Class was the base of society
Iron claws nothing you can do to change development
Weber
History dependant on power
Argues power struggles is multidimensional
Macrosociology
Large-scale phenomena or entire civilization
Microsociology
Stressed study of small groups and analysis of our everyday experiences and interactions
Aldon Morris
Trinity was racist, used white subjectivity, didn’t analyze other experience, didn't use intersectional frameworks and ignored patterns of domination, no transnational perspectives
Symbolic interactionism
Goffman
Mead
Cooley
Reasons sociology has been resistant to feminist theory - alway
Challenge it poses to sociology
Unfamiliar nature of its voice
Questionable status as a theory
Alway
Gender not only challenges sociological thought but also displaces sociological founding problematic
Gender perspective as the organizing principle of the social life
Both macro and micro perspective (feminist)
Standpoint theory
Marginalized people have an epistemological privilege standpoint
Better equip to produce knowledge
Important tools drawn from anti-racist perspectives
(all standpoint)
The colour line (dubois) - racialized, everything impacted by the colour line
The veil and double consciousness (dubois) - veil segregation of black people who are hidden by society - 2 con unique identities of how white people say the behind the veil
Black feminist thought (collins) - black women scholars inside and outside of academia, can produce knowledge from their standpoint that is produced by them for them
The outsider within (collins)
Drew on legal cases but now goes far beyond
4 tenets key for sociological adaptation of critical race theory - semster, piece
Permanent feature of american society
Intersecting structures of domination
Formation through white supremacy (hiring)
Narrative storytelling, lived experience
Intersectionality as analytical tool
Allows to analyze systems of oppression
Emphasizes systems are interlocking
Centralizes live experiences
Crenshaw coined - but black women have been doing for a very long time (comabie women collective)
Decolonial, anti-imperialist and anti-orientalist perspectives - smith, mcclintock
Western knowledge production is based on a history of imperialism and colonialism
“Producing knowledge” (including sociological knowledge) has harmed marginalized and especially Indigenous populations
We should think critically about taken for granted concepts like time and space
Orientalism has been used as a tool to divide the world into two unequal halves (either progressive or backwards - to justify expansion)
Unequal Oxidant and orient - edward sayeed - assumes orient is always what the oxidant is not (need for saving)
Power, violence and control are ultimately about anxiety, fear and entitlement
Week 1:
Asa Presidential address
Alan morris
Dubois theories on the trinity
The promise - the sociological imagination
Enables individuals to understand personal experiences with broad contexts of historical and societal forces
Common intellectual framework
Week 2:
Division of labour
Mechanical - organic solidarity
The german ideology (Marx)
Materialism v idealism (philosophies over material conditions)
Roles of production
Class struggle
Week 3
Symbolic interactionism video
Nothing important
Types of legit domination
Traditional, legal rational, charismatic
Week 4
Sharlene Biber
Feminist research
Diverse perspectives, mixed methods. Commitment to justice and sensitivity to diversity
Men can identify as remisdet but need to contribute to broader dialogue
Violence against women - need big approach for gender based violence
Mixed methods approach - qualitative and quantitative v
Cultural sensitivity
Sandra Harding
Standpoint theory
Collective knowledge, critics objectivity
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Trouble with gender - Alway
iscusses the neglect of feminist theory within the discipline of sociological theory. It highlights the tensions and challenges that feminist theory poses to traditional sociological perspectives, particularly in relation to the central analytical category of gender. The document also emphasizes the potential contributions of feminist theoretical work to the sociological enterprise, including its focus on power, resistance, and oppression, as well as its efforts to shift from "either/or" to "both/and" thinking. Additionally, it addresses the resistance and neglect of feminist theory within sociology, despite its potential compatibility with the discipline's orientation toward solving social problems and improving social life.
Patricia hill collins - the outsider within
Patricia Hill Collins discusses the unique standpoint of Black women in producing Black feminist thought. It highlights three key themes in Black feminist thought the importance of Black women's self-definition and self-valuation, the interlocking nature of oppression based on race, gender, and class, and the significance of Afro-American women's culture. The document emphasizes the sociological significance of these themes and how Black women's outsider within status generates a distinctive standpoint on existing sociological paradigms. It also explores the implications of these themes for sociologists and the potential usefulness of identifying and using one's own standpoint in research.
New directions in critical race theory - criticism, goulash, moore & bell, silva
Racism as a permanent feature - racism reproduced by mechanism
Intersection structures of domination - racism operates alongside forms of oppression like class and gender
White supremacy - foundational role of white supremacy in shaping societal structures
Narrative storytelling - getting research in experiences of marginalised communities
Integrated souls of black folks - DuBois
The document "Of the Meaning of Progress.pdf" discusses the experiences of a teacher in Tennessee and the challenges faced by African American families in the post-Civil War era. It highlights the struggles of families, the importance of education, and the impact of progress on their lives. The text also delves into the concept of the "Talented Tenth," emphasizing the need for exceptional individuals to lead and uplift the African American community. Additionally, it touches on the role of education in shaping the future of the community and the significance of work and life skills. The document provides a thought-provoking insight into the complexities of progress and its impact on marginalized communities.
Week 5
Mapping margins: crenshaw
Structural intersectionality of black women regarding domestic violence and sexual assault
Critiques both black feminist and anti-racist movements for not full addressing the black women's needs
Racial bias in historical law cases hip-hop group 2 live cases to show double standard in legal persecutions
Week 6
Research through imperial eyes