STUDY UNIT 9:Industrial capitalism and social change Flashcards
define social change
“variations over time in the relationships
among individuals, groups, cultures, and societies”. Generally, the definitions
use terms such as “alterations”, “variations” and “modifications” implying a time
dimension to social change and they specify that the units of analysis can be
at the level of small-scale social interaction such as individuals and groups
to larger social structures such as whole societies or nation-states within a
world system of nation-states.
what choices do sociologists use when determining causes of social change
methodological individualism
the first choices that theorists make in constructing a theory about
social change is whether to regard social change as a consequence of factors
internal or external to a social system.
sociological realism
The second choice
concerns whether change should be seen as something inevitable or having
being contingent on certain factors.
A third choice is between focusing on the meaning that individual actors
attach to the actions, or, to explain individuals as products of the society,
culture, social class, or social era that has shaped them
distinguish between methodological individualism and sociological realism
Methodological individualism is most often related
to idealist approaches which focus on the meaning, ideas, values and beliefs
which people attach to their social interaction. On the other hand, sociological
realism is related to materialist views about social life which try to make sense
of the conflicts and cooperative social arrangements that emerge when people
produce those things which are essential for the continuation of human life.
comment on the emergence and disappearance of different societies
Industrial capitalism
is often seen as synonymous with modernity and, in contrast thereto, other
types of society are regarded as pre-modern.
The earliest type of pre-modern society is the hunter-gatherer type.
Archaeological evidence dates the proliferation of such societies back to
approximately 50 000 years before the Christian Era (BCE) to 10 000 BCE
before other types of society emerged.It is often a nomadic lifestyle with
bands roaming and gathering sufficient food for their basic survival. The division
of labour usually acquits hunting roles to males and food preparation and
child-rearing roles to women. Most hunter-gatherer societies are characterised
as egalitarian with the band members exercising considerable control over
the leader Contemporary researchers acknowledge the
diversity of hunter-gatherer types but agree that three factors distinguish them.
First, they live a subsistence life, second, their social organisation entails
a simple division of labour, and third, they have a cosmology or worldview
different from that offered by modern rational science
comment on pastoral societies
Pastoral and settled agrarian societies are generally dated to have emerged
between 20 000 to 12 000 years before the Christian Era (BCE). Pastoral
societies keep animals such as sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, camels and llamas
for meat and milk as well as for carrying loads. Agrarian societies are settled
in a particular place and engage in planting and harvesting crops. Often
societies practise a mixture of the two livelihoods of pastoralism and cultivation
of crops. As settled societies, though not living in towns, they tend to have
large numbers of members running up to the thousands. Inequalities are much
sharper in pastoral societies compared to hunter-gatherer societies, usually
due to individuals owning large numbers of animals or controlling comparatively
more fertile patches of land. Social hierarchies are sharper too with authority
systems where chiefs and kings head society.
explain what a traditional civilation is
“traditional civilisations” (see Giddens
& Sutton 2017:116–117) emerged from around 6 000 BCE. They were centred
around cities – cities such as Rome, Jerusalem and Cairo are examples.
Significant levels of inequalities in wealth and power was noticeable with
kings and emperors ruling these civilisations. The term “civilisation” is used to
denote that they had advanced systems of writing, science was practised and
the arts such as painting, sculpturing, music and theatre thrived. Significant
amounts of trading occur with external pastoral and agrarian societies as well
as with other cities
explore the european society of industrial economy
types of society associated with European modernity from around 1600
are characterised by industrial economies, factory systems and technologies
that facilitate mass production. Industrialisation was the central force behind
the emergence of modern society. Industrialisation is sometimes regarded
as synonymous with modern technology that enables the production of
commodities in large quantities and of superior quality compared to handmanufactured
products. These economies are noted for their capitalist social
relations entailing private ownership of businesses set up for profit-making
activities and which hire people who depend on wages in order to make a living.
The emergence of this modern society was accompanied by the emergence
of centralised states shaped by the ideologies of republicanism, democracy,
individual rights and liberalism, and which monopolised the legitimate use
of force through the control they exercised over the army and police
state the contrasts between modern and traditional societies
Traditional society is made up of
isolated villages with a low level of development of the division of labour. By this
he means that tasks are simple, lacking complexity and are interchangeable
among the members of a village. A common god and religious system is the
source of society’s members shared values and its system of harsh laws to enforce group cohesion, as well as a sense of identity with a collective.
In contrast to traditional society, modern society is largely urban based
with a complex division of labour and specialisation of skills ‒ it therefore
causes interdependence among people and the specialised units which
make up the social whole. This modern society is characterised by diversity
and individualism. Its legal system is about restoring the losses suffered by
individuals and less harsh compared to that of traditional society. The cohesion
of modern society rests upon specialisation of people and interdependence
among units with different functions
state the 3 levels of industrialisation
First world societies include the
first industrialisers in central and western Europe such as England, France,
Germany, Italy, then the United States of America and Japan, as well as the
social democratic welfare states of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
All of these are multi-party democracies, have market-based economies, are
highly industrialised, the largest proportion of the population is urbanised, a
large proportion of the work force has received education to advanced levels,
have high skill levels, enjoy good wages, and have high measures of quality
of life. The transport network and power supply systems of their economies
are very sophisticated
Second World group are historically linked to the post
World War II era of rivalry between the capitalist West and the former Soviet
Union with its alliance of pro-communism Soviet bloc countries in Eastern
Europe. They were almost all one-party states, were significantly industrialised,
had well-developed transport networks and power supply systems, highly
urbanised, and enjoyed good standards of living. The ideological divide of
capitalism vs communism, where the state played a major role in directing
and coordinating economic activity, was the main marker distinguishing the
First and Second World types of societies
Third World countries were
spread across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The latter have a
common history of being colonised by the Europeans since the rise of modern
industrial capitalism. Third World societies were diverse in terms of dominant
ideology and form of state – some embraced the institutions of multiparty
democracy and free markets while others embraced one-party rule and state
dominance over economic activity. Due to the exploitative domination of the
colonial territories by the First World, the Third World is characterised by low
levels of industrialisation, poor transport networks and power supply systems.
Large proportions of their respective populations live in the rural areas, the
largest part of the workforce is engaged in low-skills type of employment,
and wages and standard of living measures are well below that of First and
Second World societies.
fourth world has come into use to refer to countries
that remain chronically underdeveloped and with widespread poverty.
what is meant by the material forces of production
the combination of the level of
development of knowledge, skills, technology comprising machines and tools,
the natural resources they have access to and control, in order to make a living
(Gurley in Edwards et al 1978:43). These productive abilities are referred to as
“the material forces of production”
explain the superstructure of society
When the productive forces and social relations are put
together, they constitute what Marx and Engels called the “economic structure
of society”. This material base of society shapes the nature of its religious
ideas, political systems, legal systems and broader worldviews that hold society
together. All of the latter ideas systems and institutions which hold together and
regulate social relations are referred to as the “superstructure” of a society
discuss how different modes of production came about in society
The earliest forms they identify are hunter-gatherer types of society
where the simplest of productive technologies such as bows, arrows, spears
and knives, are to be found and are vital to the reproduction of human life
Private
property becomes institutionalised at a stage of settled human societies where
the human’s productive abilities have developed farming technology (hoes and
ploughs) and also have domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep, horses
and donkeys, and people acquire control over pieces of land for the private
cultivation of crops. With these settled agrarian and pastoral societies more
complex types of social relations as well as more complex superstructural
idea systems and institutions emerge.
what is the importance of work within society
Work is about transforming nature, using
different sets and levels of development of human skills and technology, to
produce goods that sustain human life. These goods, called “commodities”,
are exchanged or traded in market relationships between buyers and sellers.
In capitalism, the ability to perform some type of work, called “labour power”,
is also treated as a commodity that is bought and sold like other commodities
