SS Midterm Study

Anomie:

·       breakdown of social norms, values, and expectations within a society.

·        Rapidly changing norms, modernity, unsureness.

Weber:

·      shared traditions and culture give a sense of belonging.

·      Modernization makes people feel helpless because they have no control.

·      New power and authority in modern life transforms values and outlooks.

·      Loss of mystery of religion due to science.

Durkheim:

·      Progress can be good and bad.

·      Collective conscience, people get their values from community beliefs.

·      Social change changes the collective conscience leading to anomie because people don’t know what their values are.

Marx:

·      Social consciousness is solely tied to economic position

Sociological Imagination:

·      relationship between history and own life experiences.

·      How was life been changed by historical/societal forces.

·      How are individuals affected by society?

Urbanization:

·      people moving from rural areas to urban, like towns and cities.

o   Economic opportunities, higher standard of living in towns/cities.

Industrialization:

·      moving from agricultural to manufacturing

Modernization:

·      rationalism,

·      specialization of labor,

·      political centralization,

·      bureaucracy,

·      urbanization,

·      Faustian ethos,

·      secularism,

·      individualism.

Hierarchy of needs:

·      basic needs are at the bottom, like food water warmth and rest,

·      at the top is self fulfillment needs like creative activities.

·      At different times in history, different people are at different stages on the hierarchy.

Primary source:

·      firsthand account.

o   Example, a letter

Secondary source:

·      analyzing and interpreting info from primary source.

o   Example, a science textbook interprets primary research to teach it.

Tertiary source:

·      info from primary + secondary.

o    Example, an encyclopedia.

Nomadic people in west:

·      began in Africa, moved around,

·      started to cook with fire,

·      hunt with spears,

·      collect animals.

·      Early gender rules: Women didn’t hunt or gather because of childbearing

Nomadic people in east:

·      native Americans around Massachusetts

Civilization:

·      complex society with cultural and technological development

Agrarianism:

·      dependence on agriculture, river cultures.

o   Mesopotamia was sheltered by Tigris and Euphrates rivers, led to flourish of life

Uruk:

·      first city

Ziggurat:

·      religious center,

·      center of the town,

·      place for people to congregate

Mesopotamia:

·      language created

Hammurabi’s code:

·      first set of written rules for a culture.

·       Eye for an eye if proven guilty.

·      Early law system, very violent punishments

Polytheism:

·      many gods. (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Ancient Rome)

Monotheism:

·      one god (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

·      happened in Christian Rome, Holy Roman Empire.

Judaism:

·      emphasizes ethics over gods.

·      Rules to live your life by, instead of being dictated by fear.

Social stratification:

·      division of society into different unequal layers.

o   Example, Egypt. The pharaoh, nobles, soldiers, merchants, slaves. Distribution of power.

City-states (polis):

·      Greece was split into several separate city-states which shared language and religion but ruled differently.

·      Most were agricultural

Athens:

·      Was a city-state

·      birthplace of democracy,

·      Socrates Plato Aristotle. Arts, learning, philosophy.

·      High on hierarchy of needs for many.

·      Trade economy.

·      Women had less power

Autocracy:

·      single individual (king, dictator, tyrant) holds all power

Aristocracy:

·      power is held by many nobility (high ranking citizens) (rich)

Oligarchy:

·      Few elites appoint and elect officials.

o    Ex, Sparta

Democracy:

·      in Athens, 40,000 adult males had legally recognized status and could make change

Sparta:

·      Warrior society,

·      agricultural economy/conquering with military,

·      powerful army.

·      More gender equality.

Alexander the great:

·      took over Greece, Persia, Egypt, India.

·       Huge kingdom. “Hellenistic”

·      When he died kingdom fell apart, too big.

·      However Greek culture and language was brought everywhere.

Silk road:

·       appeared through Alexander territory and connected west to east

Rome:

·       148 BC is now the power over old Hellenistic land

·       Syncretism: merging of different religions culture, schools of thought. Happened when Hellenistic kingdom combined so many cultures.

·       conquers Egypt: 31 BCE

·       Roman Republic: elected office, representative government.

o   People elect leaders to voice concerns for them.

·      Complex bureaucracy: people work for Government, citizens aren’t as involved.

o    You need govt. to reach higher states of Maslow hierarchy.

·      Client states:

o    appeared independent but were actually under influence of Rome.

o    Leaders were client kings, apparently independent but controlled by roman leaders.

·      Positives of Rome

o   Pax Romana: no war no fighting, people could live

o   Conquered Egypt?

·      Roman laws: violent, but not as extreme as Hammurabi’s code

·      Culturally diverse:

o   many different lands had been conquered, so many different beliefs.

o    People worshipped other gods and were not punished for it.

·      Siege of Jerusalem: 63 BCE.

o   Jews were banished from Rome.

o   Jerusalem was destroyed.

·      Conquest of Britain 43 ac

Jesus:

·      born in Bethlehem.

·      Jesus was a jew,

·      had followers that believed in his preachings, but was crucified and killed by Romans.

·      Followers continued on and turned into Christian religion.

Early catholic church:

·      64 BC: Nero (emperor) prosecuted believers

·      100-300 Christianity survived as a faith

·      313 Emperor Constantine legalizes Christianity

·      395: becomes official religion of Rome

How Christianity Spread

·      Good works of Jesus, promise of afterlife, guidelines for life (BEATITUDES)

·      Missionary work of apostles, took advantage of Roman roads

·      Church organization set up buildings throughout empire, clear set of guidelines, priesthood class

Constantine

·      Decriminalized Christianity in 313

Theodosius made Christianity official religion in 380

What led to downturn of Rome?:

·      Problems in Rome:

o   enslavement,

o   inequality,

o   client states took away from roman economy,

o   bread and circus (distract people from problems),

o   power mongering (people killed others for power, etc.)

·      People are moving,

·      Catholics and Jews are leaving because they’re being prosecuted for religion, this is most important thing for these people.

·      Unifying culture is lost, replaced by unifying culture of church.

410: sack of Rome.

·      Christians were blamed for impiety

o    lack of respect for the gods

476: ancient roman empire ends

·      State power declines, spiritual power (Christianity) increases

Continuity of Rome:

·      center of Roman empire moves to Constantinople (state power)

Pope stays in Rome (church power)

No roman ruler form 476-800: jostling of power

·      Christianity grows to fill void

Saint Augustine City of God

·      Defends Christianity from claims that they caused downfall of Rome.

·      City of God = those who seek truth and salvation in God

·      City of Man = those who are driven by earthy desires/self-interest

·      True security is only found in City of God

o   Not Christians fault, Rome was doomed because it belongs to city of man

Unity begins in Europe with Clovis: First Frankish (French) dynasty

·      Clovis aligns himself with Christianity, allies with pope, gets baptized

o   More power

Muhammad and Islam

·      Control territory in north Africa, what we now know as middle east

Charlemagne

·      Father of Europe

·      Held power in church and state

·      Feudalism begins,

o   Great chaos/migration is over

·      HRE begins,

o   Pope crowned him holy roman emperor

·      Synthesized roman/German/Christian traditions

o   Extremely harsh about Christianity

§  Beheaded tribal leaders

§  Killed anyone who wouldn’t be baptized

Pope urban

·      Worried about Byzantine power

·      Brought about the first crusade

o   Aggression against Muslims

o   Reinforced papal authority

o   Shifted focus away from internal conflicts to outward conflict

Lay Investiture controversy

·      HRE Henry IV is making people priests, bishops, etc. when he is not supposed to have Church power

·      Pope excommunicates him

·      HRE comes crawling back, apologizing

·      Shows Pope really has the power

·      Dictatus Papae

Dictatus Papae

·      Emphasizes power of pope

·      “all princes shall kiss the feet of the pope alone”/”that it is permitted to him to depose emperors”

o   Even kings and emperors submit to pope

·      “the roman church has never erred; nor will it err to all eternity”

o   The church is NEVER wrong

Feudalism

·      Obedience, social stratification

·      Basically no movement up or down

·      Those who have power stay in power

Manorialism

·      Power was in land ownership

·      Manor – large estate owned by a lord

o   Worked by serfs

o   Everything necessary for life was produced in manor

o   No payment – peasants are given protection and housing in exchange for labor

Vassal

·      Pledged loyalty to a lord in exchange for land (called a fief)

·      Upper class nobility, right below lord

Divine right: Kings power comes from God

High Medieval Society

·      Christianity is shared across West, gives power, shapes daily life

·      National divisions more pronounced, countries start to form, language developing

·      Urbanization, cities and towns grow

·      Stability from catholic church

·      Population and economic growth

·      Scholasticism

o   Applying region and logic to faith and the world

o   Founded universities

o   Primary method of teaching

o   Simplest answer = best answer

o   Religious people have power, so they are the ones who have the ability to theorize

§  High on hierarchy of needs

Plague

·      Bocaccio’s Decameron

o   Horrors of the plague

o   Society broke down

o   Human-centered view instead of religious centered view

o   Mocks the church

§  Makes fun of corrupt priest

§  Growing anti clergy sentiment

100 years war/Plague = low hierarchy of needs

Peasant revolt

·      Mad about tax for voting

·      Average person is speaking up for themselves

Avignon papacy

·      Roman pope is abused by HRE, French pope is chosen, Pope refuses to move back to rome

·      Weakened reputation of papacy as universal authority

·      Confuses people on where the power is, who they should trust

The renaissance

·      Originated in Italian city states like Siena and Florence

·      Rethinking of society after shocks and how bad middle ages were

o   People wanted change

·      Art flourishes

Medieval Italian cities

·      Where renaissance begins

·      Trade hub

·      Link to classical past, roman empire

Life in renaissance

·      High on hierarchy of needs

·      Urbanization

Renaissance humanism

·      First naked statue since antiquity

·      Applying classical thinking to every discipline

·      Questioning institution of church, but not the faith itself

Humanists

·      Dante

o   Wrote Divine Comedy

§  Impacts visions of God, Satan, more

·      Petrarch

o   Looked through ancient texts and translated them to see what he could learn

·      Pico Della Mirandola

o   Oration on the dignity of man

§  Man has choice

·      Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael

o   Some of the greatest artists of all time

Da Vinci

·      Vitruvian man

o   Symmetry, beauty of god

·      Engineer, scientist, theologist, artist

o   Multi disciplinary

Galileo

·      Heliocentrism, brave new ideas

·      Breaking boundaries with science

Civic humanism

·      Drawing back to ancient Rome and Greece

o   Republican

o   City pride, support of elites

De Medici family

·      Patrons of art, architecture, science from Florence

·      Medici bank

o   Many branches across Europe           

§  Lots of power, influence spread, name it put out

§  Money flows back to Florence

·      Insert themselves into bible as three wise men

·      Kicked out of power in 1494

Borgia family

·      Machiavelli’s the prince

·      Pope alexander VI

o   Head of Borgia family

§  He shouldn’t even be a father as a pope

o   Bribed his way into position

o   Fathered many children with mistresses

§  Lots of nepotism

Cesar Borgia

·      Gains power because of fathers influence

·      Turned into military leader, tries to start kingdom

How to govern: St Augustine City of God vs. Machiavelli the prince

·      Peace morality                                     power, manipulating, anything for control

·      Christianity integral                              War is good and necessary

·      City of god over city of man

Northern renaissance 1450-1600

·      Took longer to spread

·      Monarchs fought for territorial power

·      Religious reformers questioned church

·      Scholars wanted greater understanding of world

·      Dutch were at forefront

o   Hapsburg family

·      Printing press, educated bourgeoisie

Netherlands

·      Center of trade

Christian Humanism (north)

·      Catholic church challenged by martin Luther

o   They do not like the pope

o   Focus on bible instead of church/pope

o    

Readings:

Geroulanos Chap 1:

·      human origins are kind of racist, people compare indigenous people to early humans and call them savage,

o    thus rationalizing violent behavior against them and colonization.

·      Humans relate with early humans when they are portrayed as smart and strong, but then speak about how far we’ve come when early humans are shown as violent or weak.

Sociological imagination:

·      relationship between history and own life experiences.

·      How was life been changed by historical/societal forces.

·      How are individuals affected by society?

Gilgamesh:

·      Gods decide to destroy humanity because humans are noisy.

·      Shows supreme power of gods and weakness of humanity.

·      However the gods have some pity for humans and let one survive.

·      Reflects ideology about religion of time.

Genesis creation:

·      god created the planet in 6 days,

·      made man and then made woman from the rib of man,

·      rested on 7^th day (holy day)

Genesis flood:

·      humanity became corrupt,

·      god sent a flood,

·      commanded Noah who was good to build an ark to survive flood.

·      More direct reasoning

Hammurabi’s code:

·      first set of written rules for a culture.

·       Eye for an eye if proven guilty.

·      Early law system, very violent punishments

Reforms of solon:

·      democracy had to be suspended to improve democracy.

·      Debt was cancelled,

·      elites power was taken away, more social mobility.

·      Paved way for democracy by allowing lower class to be involved in politics.

Squant: big giant native American hates his wife. Gender dynamics, women did not have power.

Bagley: History of Native American tribes and artifacts near Boston

Geroulanos Chap 4:

·      Eras of human history

·      Racist – used to say indigenous people are still in the early eras so it’s ok to be violent towards them

New Testament Matthew: (Beatitudes)

·      Laid out general rules of how to live life as Christian

·      Blessed are the meek, blessed are the core, etc.

·      Core beliefs

·      Church strays from this

Saint Augustine City of God

·      Defends Christianity from claims that they caused downfall of Rome.

·      City of God = those who seek truth and salvation in God

·      City of Man = those who are driven by earthy desires/self-interest

·      True security is only found in City of God

o   Not Christians fault, Rome was doomed because it belongs to city of man

Dictatus Papae

·      Emphasizes power of pope

·      “all princes shall kiss the feet of the pope alone”/”that it is permitted to him to depose emperors”

o   Even kings and emperors submit to pope

·      “the roman church has never erred; nor will it err to all eternity”

o   The church is NEVER wrong

Bocaccio:

·      Huge decrease of population, quick deaths

·      Change in methods of grieving

·      Change in societal dynamics – those with money fled and spent it all because they were going to die anyway

o   Broke people just kind of died

·      Economy suffered immensely

o   Everyone died – left jobs open

·      Property was left behind for poor people to claim

·      People tried to use religion but priests were dying, there was no order

o   Shook faith in church

·      Made fun of and criticized church

Robin Hood

·      Humanism

o   Focus on human rights

o   Not just living for heaven, but enjoying life now

·      Life becoming more centralized – cities

·      RH is very religious

o   Goes to church twice a days

o   Sticking to beatitudes

§  Not catholic church

o   He is rebelling against church institution, yet he is still faithful

§  Not mutually exclusive