Exam 1 Flashcards
(40 cards)
What are the 3 factors contributing to the emergence of sociological theory?
Economic: industrial revolution
Political: French revolution
Intellectual: search for humanism & science over church
Comte’s Law of three stages
There are 3 stages of human mental development:
-theological stage (fictitious or supernatural)
-metaphysical stage (abstract or speculation)
-positivistic stage (scientific or empirical)
Comte’s hierarchy of the sciences
Math, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, sociology (MAPCBS)
Comte’s social statics and dynamics
statics (order)
dynamics (change)
Comte’s body social
society is a biological organism held together by adaptation and growth
Comte’s theories (4)
law of 3 stages, hierarchy of the sciences, social statics and dynamics, and body social
What type of sociologist is Comte?
Functionalist
Spencer’s organismic analogy
Society goes through stages of growth, differentiation (division of labor), integration (labor depends on one another), and adaptation just like an organism
the body has different parts that work together just as an organism.
Spencer’s theory of super-organic dynamics
Super-organisms can grow and develop. An increase in size means an increase in complexity. Parts of the whole are inter-dependent, and a change in one affects other parts
Spencer’s stages of societal evolution
-Simple, without a head. no real government
-simple with a head, formal government
-compound
-double compound
-trebly compound
goes from simple to complex
According to spencer, what are the 3 basic functional subsystems of a super-organic system?
-Operative/sustaining system: groups that produce goods (family/economic)
-Regulatory system: groups that maintain political order (gov’t, military)
-Distributive system: Linking the system with transportation (roads, railway, communication)
What kind of sociologist is Spencer?
Structural functionalist
Spencer’s theories
super-organic body, stages of societal evolution
3 intellectuals that inspired Marx
Hegel- German Idealism
Saint Simon- French socialism
British political economy- adam smith
Marx’s historical materialism
When primary needs are met, secondary needs come up. Materialism views production and reproduction as fundamental for social change
Marx’s dialectic materialism
competing material interests create tension toward some form of revolution, which creates social change
Marx’s labor theory of value and surplus value
Surplus of profit only comes from the exploitation of labor
Marx’s theory of alienation
workers create products, but they don’t know where they go. This makes them alienated from the means of production. Alienation is dehumanization
Marx’s theory of false consciousness
working class people don’t see capitalists as their enemy. they are influenced by the bourgeoisie, which prevents them from seeing the true nature of their exploitation
What kind of sociologist is Marx?
A conflict theorist
Marx’s theories
Historical and dialectic materialism, surplus value, alienation, false consciousness
Idealism vs materialism
Comte viewed evolution of mankind as the evolution of ideas, whereas marx viewed it as the evolution of material advance in the mode of production
Functionalism vs conflict theory
Spencer: value-consensus and conflict is a pathological state
Marx: power-coercion and conflict is ubiquitous and a driving force of social change
Weber’s theory of verstehen
an approach used to determine subjective meanings people attach to their actions as these meanings are related to intentions, values, and beliefs that underlie behavior.
