Chapter 2- Textbook Flashcards
What is a theory?
a statement that tries to explain how certain facts or variables are related in order to predict future events
What did Thomas Hobbes suggest?
That people are responsible for creating the social world around them and that society could thus be changed through conscious reflection.
Who was one of the first theorists to view people as responsible and accountable for the society they created?
Hobbes
What is Hobbes well known for?
His analysis of how humans exited before the emergence of formal social structures (ex. government), a condition he referred to as the natural states.
What is the natural state?
Hobbe’s conception of the human condition before the emergence of formal social structures
-it was brutal (direct competition and constant state of fear)
Hobbes believed that people are motivated by___and the pursuit of___.
- self-interset
- power
What did Hobbes believe about the collective?
Since people are naturally rational, in order to gain peace and protection, they will enter into a collective agreement and give up some of their individual freedom and autonomy to an absolute authority. The collective has the right to revolt against it should it fail to fulfill its obligations.
What is Hobbe’s legacy with regards to the development of sociological theory?
His assertion that individuals are the basic building blocks of society. Since human beings are “active, assertive, and dynamic being[s]”, the appropriate role for government is to preserve the individual’s ability to achieve self-interests while protecting everyone from others’ natural, self-serving inclinations.
What did John Locke argue?
That God was responsible for the emergence of society and government.
Who said that people are born tabula rasa “blank slate”?
Locke
What does tabula rasa suggest?
That there can be no knowledge independent of experience
How did Locke view the emergence of the state?
As being more about preserving an individual’s right to maintain property than about protecting individuals from warring against each other. The government itself has no rights but only obligations to the members of society
What is Locke’s contribution to social theory?
His advocacy of individual freedom and autonomy, which ultimately built the foundation upon which democracy and the US Constitution were established.
What did Locke and Hobbes agree on?
The ideas of democratic leadership and the rights of the masses to assert their power over corruption
What did Charles de Montesquieu suggest about society?
That people had never existed outside, or without, society. Instead of humans defining and creating society, he proposed that humans were defined and created by society.
What did Montesquieu practice and how?
the sociological imagination by writing a book where he wrote letters from the perspective of someone outside his own culture
What did Montesquieu believe that analyzing a society’s laws would lead to?
Enables one to see what that society deems to be important.
What do the laws define according to Montesquieu?
the spirit of the people
What are Montesquieu’s ideal types?
Classic or pure forms of a given social phenomenon.
What are Montesquieu’s three types of governments?
1) Republic (which had two forms: democracy and aristocracy) (the spirit behind the Republic was virtue)
2) Monarchy (the spirit behind the Monarchy was honour)
3) Despotism (the spirit behind Despotism was fear)
What did Montesquieu believe that the true nature or spirit of a society is?
Not what it is, but instead what it wants to become
What is Montesquieu’s contribution to sociological theory?
Is appreciation for cultural diversity and his comparative methodology, which allowed social scientists to analyze various social phenomena cross-nationally
What are Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s two most famous insights?
state of nature and the social contract
What is Rousseau’s state of nature?
A state in which people were precocial: natural state was a primitive condition before laws or mortality. People existed in a symbiotic and idyllic relationship based on equality
What did Rousseau believe a perfect society would mirror?
Our natural state. When our social arrangements were inconsistent with these natural rules, we suffered social problems
How did Rousseau suggest people could achieve their potential?
only through society
What was the inspiration for moving beyond the natural state and toward collective arrangements acc. to Rousseau?
population pressures.
Why did Rousseau believe that people needed to be protected from each other?
as we moved into collective arrangements, certain individuals prospered. People needed to be protected from each other and needed to secure their private property (inequality)
What is Rousseau’s social contract?
The rise of government was really the manifestation of the social contract. We give up something to get something in return. People needed to be protected from each other. People entered into the social contract as free and equal individuals.
What is Rousseau’s contribution to social theory?
His analysis of the social contract and his belief in the autonomy of the individual.
What was the Enlightenment?
Intellectual movement that began around 1650 and ended with the French Revolution
Who were the main group of Enlightenment intellectuals?
French Philosophes
Who were the Philosophes?
French philosophers during the Enlightenment period who advocated critical thinking and practical knowledge. Tough any attempt to limit free thinking and expression.
What was people’s thinking like before the Enlightenment?
Directed by God, the Church, and the aristocracy.
What did Enlightenment thinking promote?
Promoted human agency and thus was a clear continuation of the writing of Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.
What led to the Americana and French Revolution?
The ability of the masses to take control of their lives and challenge their oppressors
What was sociology born from?
the conservative reaction to the ideas of Enlightenment thinking
What did conservatives promote?
A return to earlier times
What did conservatives believe?
That society is not the product of individuals but, rather, and entity in itself, independent and separate from the individuals who make it up
What are the 10 propositions of conservative reaction thinking?
1) Society exists on its own and is independent of individuals
2) Society is the most important unit of social analysis, and it produces the individual
3) Individuals are not the base unit of social interest; society consists of components such as roles, relationships, structures, and institutions, and individuals are simply those who fill these positions
4) The smallest unit of social analysis is the family
5) the parts of society are interrelated and interdependent
6) Change is a threat
7) Social institutions are beneficial both to individuals and to society as a whole
8) Modern social changes create fear and anxiety and need to be diminished
9) Traditional elements of social life are important to society and offer a stabilizing influence
10) A return to social hierarchies because they promote a system of differential status and reward which reinforces the principle that healthy competition between individuals is a good thing
Is the conservative reaction theory more associated with macrosociology or microsociology?
macrosociology
Is Enlightenment thinking more consistent with microsociology or macrosociology?
microsociology
Which is inductive and which is deductive: macrosociology and microsociology?
Inductive: microsociology
Deductive: macrosociology
How does macrosociology see behaviour and what is it associated with?
As predictable, and is associated with European classical social theory
How does microsociology see behaviour and what is it associated with?
Sees behaviour as creative, and is characteristically North American and contemporary
How do functionalists view the social world?
As a dynamic system of interrelated and interdependent parts. Social structures exist to help people fulfill their wants and desires. Functionalists view human society as being similar to an organism. Like the human body, society is made up of interrelated and interdepend parts that each has a structure and perform a function for the whole. The system’s natural state is one of equilibrium.
What is the organic analogy?
The belief that society is like an organism with interdependent and interrelated parts
What must be a reality for the social system to be considered healthy from a functionalist perspective?
All individuals who are part of that social system must feel valued and content. The society must meet the needs of the majority; when it does not the system is sick and must make adjustments to return to a state of equilibrium and harmony. Short-term periods of strife and conflict can occur, but over time these events will be addressed by the system and it will return to a state of homeostasis
What can functionalism be linked to?
the conservative reaction movement
What is Hebert Spencer best known for?
Coining the term survival of the fittest and for his application of thepriniples of biological evolution to human societies, referred to as social Darwinism.
What did Spencer believe about overpopulation?
That it would become more of a problem over time and that people would be forced to compete over increasingly scarce resources.
What is survival of the fittest?
Spencer’s interpretation of biological principles to justify why only the strong should survive.
What is natural selection?
The biologically based principle that environmental pressures allow certain beneficial traits to be passed on to future generations.
What is evolution?
The biological process by which genetic mutation are selected for and against, through environmental pressures.
What is social Darwinism?
Spencer’s assertion that societies evolve according to the same principles as do biological organisms.
How does Spencer employ a functionalist approach?
by suggesting that societies evolve because there is a reason for the changes.
What is a laissez-faire belli?
A point of view that opposed regulation of or interference with natural processes.
Who would argue that even seemingly small personal choices have large social origins?
Emile Durkheim
What does Durkheim believe individual behaviours are inspired by?
collective social forces
According to Durkheim, culture and society exist__of the individual, are___of the individual, and__the individual.
- outside
- independent
- outlive
What did Durkheim refer to the external collective force as?
the collective conscience
What is collective conscience?
Durkheim’s concept highlighting the totality of beliefs and sentiments that are common to the average person in a society.
What is a reflection of a shared experience by individuals than it is a “thing” that can be measured or directly studied.
the collective conscience
What are social facts?
General social features that exist on they own and are independent of individual manifestations. For example, laws, beliefs, customs, and morals.