Theoretical Foundations Flashcards
When coming up with a theory what gets theorized the mechanism of the phenomenon or the observation that was made
The mechanism
What gets theorized is usually not was just observed but may have led to those observations
The circumstances that may have led to such observations
For example Ann swindler theorized the emergence of a new culture during unsettled times, a mechanism used to explain what led to the observation of the French Revolution
What is society basic structure
How do society develop and change
What is the relationship to social institution
How does culture reproduce and create society
The role of an individual in creating and reproducing society,
These are all considered what kinds of theory
Theoretical questions that explain the foundations of sociology
Why was Marx considered an interdisciplinary thinker?
Because he began theorizing and writing on sociology before its institutionalization
He wrote economic concepts, that collected information from history and philosophical backgrounds to understand society
What was Karl Marks theory Called
Historical materialism
Ideology, structure and agency have all considered to be what collectively introduced to understand society
But what are some concerns about these concepts created to understand society
Categories
These categories are not 100% sufficient enough to capture the complexity of society, but they are helpful in understanding society
In the relationship between ideology, agency and structure all interwoven together to understand society, what does Marx illustrate when understanding historical materialism as being the prime determinant to understand society
Structure
The fundamental nature of society is best understood through the structure
Ideology and agency are less influential when trying to understand social reality
So historical materialism is to be understood through structure existence not from agency or culture
Men make their own history
But they do not make it just as they please, they do not make it under circumstances of their own chosen but by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past ‘
The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living
Who made this statement and what does it mean?
First line- men make their own history is agency
A point that Marx made about understanding how man experiences the society and the choices they make to lead them to be who or whatever they are
Second & third statement- goes further to explain even though we are free to make our own choices but they are highly influenced by the structure in place
Essentially structure defines who we are, no individual is their true self without the historical significance of structure allowing you to exist that way. Although agency exist but to understand the complexity of society is to focus on the structure
According to Marx if the core of human experience is not the virtue of being a human or our personal choices, then what gives meaning to being a humans and how does that differ us from animals
The collective production of our means of subsistence relates to why we are humans
What does that mean?
We are humans not because we think we are but because of what we do
What distinguishes us from animals is the need to transform nature to consume it
For example, a lion kills a deer and feeds on it immediately, we kill an animal and transform it into something edible. The act of doing this is the very nature of being human, having to DO, transform something into a different form before we can use it
Additionally, COLLECTIVE, we all work together, labour is divided in such a way that a human often requires another person to achieve this ability to DO things to achieve other things.
We are all working together by doing different things to sustain our existence as humans which justifies why we are humans.
For example, i buy stuff from a grocery story, which contains goods made by other humans, with money produced by other other humans, that i earned through working for other humans. We are all doing things to produce what we need to sustain and provide our needs.
Material condition and mode of production were also two concepts Mark introduced in his theory of historical materialism, what do they mean?
Material condition is the economic system we are embedded in, how this conditions, determine our behavior and the path our life would take
Our mode of production organizes the collective production of our means of subsistence
So the economic system determines the duties we take on in the society, we all work together affecting each others responsibilities through division of labour. But the type of responsibilities we take on is determined by the mode of production
How does swidler understanding of the French Revolution differ from how Marx’s view
Swindler theorized that a result of unsettled times and threat to maintenance of structure, the culture comes in to play to create an alternative and new understanding of the experience of agency
But Marx would disagree with Swidler stating that to understand the French Revolution would necessitate going back to the previous social economic implications that are affecting the experience of the people now
How does the mode of production organize people to create and maintain the means of subsistence together during the feudal economy according to Marx
The understanding of the mode of production allows us to understand the society
The mode of production or economic system ( material condition) that existed during was the feudal economy
How does this help in understanding the mode of production and how that collectively organizes people into different categories that gives meaning to the existence of being a human?
During the feudal period the means of production was the technologies, hoes, looms, tools, plow, irrigation system. Technology used to achieve the means of subsistence
Those tools on their own have no use, they are essentially uses less things created, their use is defined by the humans, the relation of humans to the means of production
The peasants and common people making use ofg those tools allowed the ability to produce the means of subsistence
But who determined who would use those tools to make what was needed, the aristocrats. The economy at the time was delineated in such a way that to ensure that the means of production was created, we had to assign classes to people that would work on the farm or others that wont
This illustrates how agency is not a defining feature to understand the society, to understand the society required understanding the economic structure (material condition) that enforced that the core of human existence was not the right to be a human but the responsibilities you had been given, gave meaning to your existence
The systems that allows the society to achieve the collective production of the means of subsistence is
Mode of production
How does the mode of production relate to the means and relations of production
Understanding the core of humanity predates, understanding the stricture that lead to relation of people into groups that allowed the use of the means of production to achieve their needs
What are the relations of production n
What are the means of production
According to Marx during the French Revolution what caused the peasants to forceful contend with their roles and the difficulty of mainitiing those responsibilities
The structure of capitalism, if i decide to plant these crops they should be too my own profit if i decide eat them out sell them to get more profit they are mine not something for someone else
What were the relations of production that Marx introduced in the capitalist economy
The proletariat/ working class
Bourgeois/owning class
Under a capitalist economy how does the means of production and relations to production differ from the feudal economy
Under a capitalist economy the means of production is much more complex that having humans do the job waste time, efficiency and productivity
So rather machines, and tools like the internet are better measure of production
The bourgeois in a capitalist economy own the means of production, he’s own ability to meet with his own needs is to purchase and own the means of production
While the proletariat/ working class do not own the mean of production but they make use of the means of production that belongs to the burgenois to achieve their own means of subsistence
The means of production by them selves have no use, or meaning but when the owners of them allow the proletariat to make use of them, it allows the capitalist economy to be maintained
The capitalism ( the economic structure that determines the mode of production) is what determines the relationship between the relations of productions and means of production
What were the categories Marx proposed as the capitalist mode of production
Means of production
Relations of production (owning and working class)
Who was the owning and working class during the feudal period
Aristocrat and common people
What the Marx mean by the means and relations (that is the modes of production) exist in dialect to one another
They are in constant tension with each other
Any change to the means of production would likewise have an impact in the relations of production
They are connected that a change in one would produce a reciprocal change in the other
What was Marx’s theory of material condition and how does that correlate with the means and relations of production
Historical materialism
To understand the structure, we have to consider the relations and means of production and their impact historically that impacted the way the structure is now
The tension that exist between the means and relations, have led to historical changes in the structure—> historical materialism
When talking about cellphones how does that illustrate the categories of historical materialism according to Marx
Cell phone is a means of production, used for communication purposes
The boss (owning class) and the working class (employee) have used the cell phone in such a way that it defines the economic dynamic and historically change in communication from one year to another year
How are the relations of production also in conflict with each other
The working class and the owning class are in contention with each other constantly
The owning class, hopes to accumulate more wealth and capital by pushing the working class to the the most
While the working class are pushing back with the hope of increase in salary, better amenities and better working environment.
They is a constant tension between the two relations
How does the cell phone use today defer from the cell phone use before and how does that illustrate the relationship between the working class and the owning class
Before the advent of cell phones, the relationship between the working class and owning class required for example, waiting at home by a landline to reach your employee or connecting between both lost as each other went home until the next day of work,
With the advent of cellphones now the cellphone allows employees to be readily accessible to their boss. So even if someone is out scheduled to work or an emergency comes up you can be easily reached
How did the mechanism/processes of cellphone lead to a dialectical relationship between the means and relations of production
Cellphone invented—> cellphone increases the freedom to access employee and employer—> more working class obtain cellphones—> technology of cellphone becomes popular
—> this overall leads to a change in the worker/ boss relationship
Initially the invention of cellphones increased communicability in the advent of an emergency or workers were not forced to stay at home waiting on the landline in case of an emergency, allowed for freedom
This caused more people to buy phones further reconfiguring the worker boss relationship
Because as cellphones became increasingly popular, the owning class has more opportunity to take advantage of the working class since they are always so accessible. For example your boss calling you on your day off to help out at the office
How does cell phones illustrate the dialectical tension between the mode of production and relations of production
As the means (cell phone), becomes more ubiquitous and used
The Relations are getting more chances to communicate, that is the working class and owning class have in more tension, the employee and boss can communicate with each other after work hours, during vacations because of the ease of communicate but bridging the gap of privacy causing tension between both classes
Tension between the relations of production occurring because of the advent of the cello phone (Means of production)
How does the tension between the mode of production result in social change
and how did tension result in the change from one mode of production to another?
Tension within the mode of production results in shift from pre modernity to modernity. Changes within the means of production results in changes in the economic structure/ Material condition
While a social change from one modeof production occurs due to the constant clash between them would result in a build up that eventually leads to an earthquake for example the French Revolution
What is the impact of dialectical tension that results in social a change
Historical change within the mode of production
Historical change from one mode of production to another
According to material culture what was the impact of cell phone on the economic structyre
The use of cellphones/ choice to purchase by humans did not lead to a change in the process of the cellphone
But the introduction of the means, cellphone and it’s relationship to the relations of production resulted in the change of economic structure
What were the criticism of Marx’s theory according to Weber?
The neglect of culture and individuals in the society in impacting the structure. Mark does not talk about the subjective reality of individuals. He did not regard the individuals choice and influences necessary to understand tje society
The lack of recognition of Marx that his observations of categories and processes are not an objective view of realty they are just models proposed by Marx himself. The working and owning class are categories that Marx came up with to explain or illustrate his observations