Lecture 2

Question 1

prominent figures, main questions, and perspectives

Answer 1

Question 2

founding fathers of sociology and social change

Answer 2

• Marx: through economic conflicts produce inequalities, and therefore social change occurs
• Durkheim: social changes result in several underlying connections between people (coexistence and solidarity)
• Weber: social changes resulting from the process of rationalization (way of thinking)

Question 3

capitalism vs socialism/communism

Answer 3

Question 4

capitalism

Answer 4

the capitalist system aims to make as much profit and market forces as possible
- social distributions are socially significant differences between people

Question 5

social stratification

Answer 5

when people are categorized and belong to a certain hierarchy

Question 6

4 principles of social stratification

Answer 6

• social stratification is not a reflection of individual differences but a property of society
• social stratification transcends generations
• social stratification is universal but can vary
• social stratification beyond inequality is also about beliefs

Question 7

socialism/communism

Answer 7

in socialism, all members of society are considered equal
- there is public property with collective goals and a planned economy
- less economically efficient, but there is less economic inequality
- the conclusion is that the situation is equally bad for everyone

Question 8

Das Kapital

Answer 8

Karl Marx’s main work

Question 9

ideas of Marx and Engels

Answer 9

• the conflict between classes is central: this is the conflict between the workers and the upper class
• history defines class struggle: this struggle has to do with scarcity; if there is scarcity in a certain area, then the price of this goes up
• the class struggle determined the further course of history

Question 10

caste system

Answer 10

a caste system is a social stratification based on descent
- a person born into a position will never have improvement or deterioration of his position
- a closed system: there is little change in social positions

Question 11

social mobility

Answer 11

experienced when there is a change in position within social stratification

Question 12

intergenerational mobility

Answer 12

when someone rises to a higher position

Question 13

meritocracy

Answer 13

a social stratification based solely on personal merit

Question 14

social class

Answer 14

a form of social stratification based on the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and presige
- carries the role of the caste system in industrial areas

Question 15

status consistency

Answer 15

when a person’s social position remains consistent despite social inequality

Question 16

the class system of the Middle Ages

Answer 16

• first class consisted of the clergy: interpreted the word of God and gained much influence
• second classs was the nobility: owned a lot of land and had no profession
• third class was the common people: the vast majority of the population, and worked on the land owned by the nobility

Question 17

structural social mobility

Answer 17

a shift in the social positions of many people, one that can be attributed to social changes rather than individual efforts

Question 18

Plato vs Marx on ideology

Answer 18

• Plato: every culture sees some form of inequality as just
• Marx: criticized capitalism for maintaining wealth among the elite through laws that protect property ownership, ensuring that money stays within families

Question 19

historical evolution of ideology

Answer 19

• agrarian societies: caste-based systems ensured that people accepted their social position as a moral duty
• industrial capitalism: shifted toward meritocracy, where wealth and power were seen as rewards for individual effort (led to less sympathy for the poor)

Question 20

stratification is functional

Answer 20

• according to David Moore, it has beneficial effects on the functioning of society (by rewarding higher status, people are more motivated to be more productive)
• this can be linked to meritocracy, where social stratification is based on personal effort and achievement
• it is important to note that this is a conservative position and cannot explain why stratification is done in so many different ways

Question 21

Marxist and neo-Marxist ideas on stratification and conflict

Answer 21

• according to these ideas, stratification creates very large benefits for certain groups of people at the expense of others
• according to Marx, there are 2 main social classes: those who own, and those who work for others

Question 22

Max Weber; class, status, and power

Answer 22

• like Marx, Weber believed that social inequality created social conflict
• but he identified stratification as 3 dimensions: economic inequality was seen as a continuum from poor to rich, status is also a continuum and is a form of social prestige, power is the third important dimension of social hierarchy

Question 23

the Communist Manifesto

Answer 23

boils down to the need for workers to take the law into their hands
- workers have nothing to lose but their chains, so they have the world to win

Question 24

classical historical materialism

Answer 24

in capitalist societies, workers’ wages fall and capitalists’ profits rise as capitalists threaten to replace labor with machines
- violent resistance to this coercion occurs when workers realize they are being exploited

Question 25

centralization hypothesis

Answer 25

in capitalist societies, the growing amount of capital is increasingly concentrated among fewer capital owners because the big business owners drive the small owners out of the market through price gouging

Question 26

capitalism hypothesis

Answer 26

revolves around how capitalism, inequality, and coercion interact to create a kind of hierarchy in society

Question 27

Engels' confirmations of his expectations about capitalism

Answer 27

- government documents, own observation UK - more business accidents that ocurred - more prevention of child labor in consequence

Question 28

Marx's confirmations of his expectations about capitalism

Answer 28

- UK government statistics - an increase in the number of poor people between 1855 and 1865 - poor nutrition - more profit per taxpayer

Question 29

socialist revolution hypothesis

Answer 29

capitalism through coercion leads to inequality; when this inequality becomes too great, it creates resistance, and capitalism comes to an end - never happened

Question 30

embourgeoisement thesis

Answer 30

the emergence of the middle class - Marx assumed a working class and an owner class, in which the working class would get bigger and bigger, and the owner class would get smaller - yet a middle class has emerged that also has some possessions - if one owns property, he has things to lose, which makes one not want change

Question 31

alienation

Answer 31

- Marx saw workers being alienated because people no longer saw what they were making, there was no social contact due to loud factory noise - alienates people from themselves to be creative beings

Question 32

commodity fetishism

Answer 32

people no longer know where the products they buy come from - in both the spheres of production and consumption, capitalism leads to alienation

Question 33

reification

Answer 33

- Marx on alienation and commodity development fetishism - reification is seeing it as an objectively existing thing that is fluid and has changing social relations - capitalist economy: either a 'thing' with a mind of its own or a fluid and changing social relationship - goal of Marxism: break through reification: identify and encourage social change

Question 34

core of historical materialism

Answer 34

- regardless of a society's mode of production there is always inequality in society - this inequality is always based on some form of coercion - coercion can lead to a form of struggle - in some cases, that struggle causes the coercive measures to stop - under specific circumstances, this can lead to equality

Question 35

Class an sich

Answer 35

the state class: one accepts how society is as it is - workers do not question the status quo

Question 36

Class für sich

Answer 36

the mentality class: the workers become aware of their position - this make them aware of how society is formed and also allows them to engage in discussion

Question 37

class consciousness

Answer 37

arises when workers realize that they belong to their own social class because they have common interests based on their shared economic position - only when this is realized can revolution occur

Question 38

false class consciousness

Answer 38

people are not aware that they have shared economic interests and can't therefore stand up for them together

Question 39

sociology according to Marx

Answer 39

- it is an analysis of class and economic conflict - there is a class conflict between the capitalists and the proletariat due to scarce resources - class consciousness: the idea that people are capable of making the world the way they want it to be, provided one is conscious of being capable of doing so - more and more workers coming toghether in urban factories caused awareness to rise (the workers started uniting collectively in unions)