Week 2 - Mills

Question 1

4 Elements of the Industrial Revolution that contributed to the Rise of Classical Sociology:

Answer 1

1. Individualism
2. Rise of Modern States
3. Development of Large-Scale Markets, Capitalism, and Modern Industry
4. European Exploration of the Rest of the World and the Trade, War and Colonization that followed

Question 2

How did Individualism contribute to the Rise of Classical Sociology?

Answer 2

• for the first time, scientists saw the individual as an important level of analysis
• individuals and society are co-constitutive; they can’t exist without one another, we need to look at both to have a full understanding of society), the reality of the individual depends on the reality of the social structure
• ex. our desires, goals and needs are determined by the society therefore there is no such thing as an individual, only the conditions our society put on us

Question 3

How did the Rise of Modern States contribute to the rise of classical sociology?

Answer 3

-legitimized the government as a ruling body and created ‘civil society’; a formal grouping of communities as one nation state, under the government who rules over all things related to the ‘country

Question 4

How did the Development of Large-Scale Markets, Capitalism, and Modern Industry contribute to the rise of classical sociology?

Answer 4

-economic changes lead to massive social changes in the way people relate, ex. urbanization, division of labour less fulfilling for the individual, lack of ownership

Question 5

How did European Exploration of the Rest of the World and the Trade, War and Colonization that followed contribute to the rise of classical sociology?

Answer 5

-the imposition of economic and cultural social structures by the Global North on the Global South was problematic in many ways

Question 6

What is a positive consequence of the rise of individualism?

Answer 6

• an emphasis on personal choice and responsibility

- individuals can maximize their potential while still respecting communities/families

Question 7

What was Martha Nussbaum’s critique of Rousseau’s Social Contract? What approach did she present to fix the problems?

Answer 7

• social contract was inspired by feudalism (inheritance ruled over your social standing)
• social contract is based on ideals such as non-reliance on others, members as who don’t work as lacking worth, all parties are roughly equal in physical and mental power
• those ideal doesn’t include people with disabilities, children and the elderly, this theory also came before women’s liberation
• she proposed a capabilities approach to justice; all human beings have an inherent dignity, deserve minimum based on that dignity, people should form societies based on love vs fear and mutual advantage (Social Contract)

Question 8

What is Mills theory on the individual and society and how the sociologist should approach the study of both?

Answer 8

• ‘Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both’
• the role of the sociological imagination is to understand this and move about through different levels of analysis in a seamless, self-aware method

Question 9

Explain the difference between troubles and issues. What is the significance of that difference?

Answer 9

• Troubles; individual problems
• Issues; social problems
• The malaise of today results from an inability to connect troubles to issues, ex. 2008 financial crisis