Foundations of Sociological Thought (lecture 2-4) Flashcards
Theory
conceptual explanation of empirical data; identifies underlying principle that governs real outcomes
(essentially tells us what to look for when we are looking for data)
Great Chains of Being
mediaeval theory: everything that exists could be ranked
• rocks and stones (bottom)–>plants—>animals—->humans—->god
• social inequality= justified by god (and god’s order)
State of Nature Arguments
- thought-experiment of what human society would be like without any gov
- suggests there are no natural hierarchies—> inequality is created (unnatural, and shouldn’t be taken for granted)
Karl Marx
- founder of critical theory
- goal to explain inequality and exploitation WITHIN a social system
- the social system is bad because it leads to social instability (btwn classes) not bc it’s unfair
Critical Theory
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assumes society contains unjust inequalities (imbalance) between groups engaged in constant struggle for power and control
(reasoning for inequality in terms of social structure or group strategies)
• aim to change society to reduce inequality and domination
Conflict Theory
type of critical theory–> analyzes ad explains social conflicts (there MUST be groups struggling for position against one another)
• defines certain opposed groups, why they come into conflict and who wins
• power relations between social groups
Marx’s conflict theory
•structural explanation
- proletariat (workers) don’t have resources to make their own living, bourgeoisie (owners/boss) have these resources
- bc workers don’t have the resources, they must obey the person who pays them
Class (Marx)
- position is determined by whether you own the MEANS OF PRODUCTION required to live
- is people own most of the means of production, everyone else must work for them
Power (Max Weber)
• control of sources of power
any social resource that allows you to get what you want regardless of the opposition of others
3 areas of conflict and struggle for position (defined by Weber)
- Class- defined by raw wealth
- Status- defined by honour or social esteem (struggle for the respect of others that allows for certain privileges)
- Political Power- control of political or other resources for achieving you will, regardless of opposition of others
Power Elite (Oligarchy) (C. Wright Mills)
small, relatively homogenous dominant social groups that controls the important positions (levers of power); often hides its influence and restricts who can join
(ie: like a country club)
Vertical Mosaic (John Porter)
describes the power hierarchy in Canada; vertical hierarchy of racial or ethnic groups
• Canadians aren’t relatively equal as previously thought, but families of British origin continue to control most power
Ascribed Status
status or social rank based on unchangeable or inborn characteristics (ie: race, gender)
Achieved Status
status or social rank that you have ‘earned’ by your actions; in theory, anyone could gain or lose this rank or position
Closure (theory)
Frank Parkin
strategy used by dominant groups to prevent access to rewards by others (ie: ‘only white protestant males can join this private club’)
• protects monopolies or power and social connections (maintain position with restrictions)
Ideological Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)
ability of ruling class to set values, norms and cultural standards for their society • comes from control of intellectuals, who help shape minds of dominated classes
Symbolic Insteractionism
explains society by the meanings that individuals in society attach to their actions, and the way interactions between individuals are governed by these meanings
• why are they doing what they are doing?
Social Actions (Weber)
action oriented towards shared meanings and actions of others
4 ways to understand the driving force behind social action (Weber)
*most actions will include more than one of these orientation
- 1&2 involve explicit explanation by their action (effectiveness or belief)
- 3&4 don’t involve much thought or reasoning by the individual
1) Instrumental rationality: individual calculates how to achieve a goal most efficiently (max. efficiency)
2) Value rationality: actions is determined by BELIEF in a moral or other value, regardless of practicality (doing what YOU think is good)
3) Affectual behaviour: action is determined by EMOTIONAL responses (instinctual)
4) Traditional behaviour: action is performed our of HABIT bc that’s what I/we have always done (learnt)
Methodological Individualism
explaining broad features of society by FIRST understanding what INDIVIDUALS do, and seeing how millions of such actions produce social consequences
Iron Cage (Weber)
individual motivations have been transformed into an objective social system
• sum total of many actions creates the social world as a whole
Symbolic Interactionism (Herbert Blumer)
theoretical paradigm focused on microsociological interactions between individuals
• symbolic meanings we attach to objects in the world and our actions
Dramaturgical Method (Erving Goffman)
understanding individuals as ‘actors’ portraying specific ‘roles’ in interactions
• individuality is expressed in terms of certain pre-existing social roles (expected to behave in certain ways and to meet these expectations)
Normal
general set of characteristics that society treats as the ‘default’ or things we are all presumably aspiring to be
• by acting ‘normally’ we can ensure a successful social interaction
Stigma (Goffman)
social disapproval of features that deviate from the ‘norm’
• goffman suggests that even those who are stigmatized will accept the stand of stigma
- present themselves through socially-define symbols
- more the try to conform, the stronger such symbols are
Stereotype Threat
internalization of socially prevalent negative stereotypes about one’s ethnic/racial/ gender group
• produces anxiety and self-doubt at the fear of ‘confirming’ those stereotypes
Relativism (moral)
there is no single absolute morality or truth bc it varies from society to society, therefore, it’s always RELATIVE to particular social and historical circumstances
Social Constructionism (Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann)
• type of symbolic interactionism
interprets society as the product of numerous regularized interactions of individuals
• ways people interact to create shared social reality
• bc of HABITUAL standards, we are able to interact bc of shared expectations about one’s behaviour
Situation
well-defined, regular interaction between people with unspoken expectations/rules about how each behaves
• constant interactions generate expectations about the other’s behaviour
Symbolic Universe (Berger and Luckmann)
- total, internally-consistent set of values and beliefs that members of a society draw on
- explains and justifies order and habits of that society (how individuals ‘explain’ society to selves)
Structuration (Anthony Giddens)
production and reproduction of social structures by individual acts
• social structures may limit individuals but they are NOT fixed and unchanging, they are constantly evolving bc they are reproduced by individual actions
Lifeworld (Jurgen Habermas)
complete set of shared assumptions, values, morals, languages etc.. we all draw on when trying to come to agreement with others (btwn 2 ppl or more)
• ‘deliberate consensus’
System
impersonal social mechanisms that DON”T rely on meaningful symbolic interaction (eg: money, power)
• necessary as society becomes more complex; speeds up social interaction by ‘automating’ it
Collective Consciousness (Durkheim)
the shared ‘taken for granted’ moral beliefs or values that almost all members of a society agree on without really questioning them
(ex: how we dress, what we should eat, how we treat others)
• offences against collective consciousness makes us feel as if something sacred is attacked (horror)
Sui Generis (Durkheim)
‘of its own kind’ (distinct, unique)
• we can’t explain it in terms of something else
Social Fact
- both a fact that is true about society as a WHOLE but not about individual (ex: suicide rates)
- and things treated as ‘real’ in society by its member (ex: morality, religion)
Positivism (August Comte)
assumption that only observable, measurable and empirically-verifiable facts count as knowledge
• rejection of metaphysical or ethical speculation
Function
role in maintaining society as a whole that is played by any one particular part of it
• each social institution or form of social organization has a function
Structural Functionalism
analyzes society as a complete system, in which every structure serves a function that keeps the whole together
AGIL(e) (Talcott Parsons)
• describes the basic kinds of function any society must meet in order to continue existing
A-daptation: can society adapt to its material environment? ensure everyday subsistence for its members?
G-oal attainment: is society able to identify goals for the future and figure out how to achieve them?
I-ntegration: does society successfully integrate all its members into a coherent, relatively-similar whole?
L-atency: can society sustain certain patterns of values over time? (ie: watching or playing hockey)
Totemism (Durkheim)
type of religion focused around the veneration of SACRED TOTEMS or symbols (eg: images of sacred animal)
• represents sacredness of society as a whole
• Robert Bellah says Durkheim is right about totems but in today’s society, it’s replaced by things like sports jerseys
Solidarity (Durkheim)
•durkheim identifies two primary ways society can reinforce solidarity: organic and mechanical
social force that holds all members of society together, keeping us united with one another and distinct from other societies (keeps all individual parts together)
Mechanical Solidarity
- solidarity by SIMILARITIES- held together by things we have in common
- reinforced by PUNISHMENT for crimes- historically, things like dressing differently or being different etc.. were harshly punished
Organic Solidarity
- solidarity by DIFFERENCES- held together by the fact we rely on other people for things we lack
- reinforced by DIVISION of labour- we all specialize in different jobs so we can’t leave society and go off on our own
What are the different forms of suicide? (Durkheim)
1) Egoistic: LACK of social integration; caused by being too isolated and not sufficiently bonded to society (the way they commit is MELANCHOLY- quiet death)
2) Altruistic: EXCESS fo social integration; caused by not being sufficiently individual
3) Anomic: LACK of social regulation of our impulses and desires; caused by dramatic change in circumstances that we’re not adjusted to (the way they commit is ANGRY- murder-suicide)
4) Fatalistic: EXCESS of social regulation of our impulses and desires; caused when we have no hope of a change in our situation
Anomie
sense of lacking social regulation or structure, leaving us adrift in a world without meaning
social regulation of our impulses and desires
• Durkheim suggests that this is prevalent in the modern world
Socialisation
social process by which individuals are ‘trained’ to be members of society- taught common values, ways of behaving etc..- so they fit in
3 Foundations of Sociological Thought
1) Critical Theory (based on conflict): social structures are created to dominate the weak (society is unfair)
• macrosociology: power in whole of society
2) Symbolic Interactionism (based on habituation): social structures constructed by habits of individuals (meaning?)
• microsociology: (product of) analyses individual actions
3) Structural Functionalism (based on the group as a whole): social structure serve function for the whole (society is doing well!)
• macrosociology: examines society as a coherent whole
