theory.txt

PROCESS OF INVENTING AND SYSTEMATICALLY TESTING THEORIES

THE SCIENCE OF SOCIAL LIFE AND SOCIAL FORCES

THE PRESSURES AND EXPECTATIONS GENERATED BY OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS

A STATEMENT OR SET OF STATEMENTS LINKING CONCEPTS USUALLY IN CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS,

A DEFINITION THAT SINGLES OUT SOME ASPECT OF SOCIAL REALITY THAT SOCIOLOGISTS BELIEVE WILL BE SIGNIFICANT TO THEIR THEORIES

THE ABILITY TO SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PUBLIC ISSUES AND PERSONAL PROBLEMS. AND TO UNDERSTAND THE LARGER HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT AND HOW IT EFFECTS OUR OWN LIVES. IT ENABLES US TO CONSIDER HOW SOCIAL ISSUES, FORCES, OR FACTS AFFECT OUR PERSONAL LIVES AND TO SEE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOW WE CAN IMPACT THE SOCIAL WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE.

LANGUAGE IS HOW WE COMMUNICATE AND EXPRESS OUR IDEAS.

WE SHOULD NOT ASSUME THAT THE VOICES OF THE ORDINARY AND OPPRESSED ARE INSIGNIFICANT OR INARTICULATE. PERSONS IN PRIVILEGE SELDOM HEAR WHAT THE OPPRESSED SAY BUT THE WEAK OFTEN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON BETTER THAN THOSE IN POWER. LANGUAGE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT WEAPON OF THE WEAK.

ASPIRE TO DEVELOP SWEEPING, OVERARCHING THEORIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION

SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE IS VALUABLE BECAUSE OF ITS POTENTIAL TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE. AIM IS TO BRING ATTENTION TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND TO GUIDE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTION TO SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS

the way that sociology has traditionally been thought, traces its history to the greeks, romans, classical era...then middle ages...so little mobility and education not a lot of thought... in the enlightenment sociology became a study

1760s-1780s move from rural/agricultural to urban

A PERIOD OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE IN PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. MAN'S EMERGENCE FROM HIS SELF-IMPOSED IMMATURITY. ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS SOUGHT TO COMBINE REASON WITH EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE MODEL OF NEWTONIAN SCIENCE.

• Human consciousness advances over time
• Two ideas in opposition with each other but when synthesized we get a new idea.

• thesis-antithesis=Synthesis
• His idea of how knowledge progresses over time.
• For every idea (thesis) there is an opposite idea(antithesis) and from that there is a synthesis.

(Comte)THE APPLICATION OF THE METHODS OF SCIENCE TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIETY

(Comte)THE VIEW THAT THE 5 SENSES ARE THE ONLY LEGITIMATE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE, PRESUMES THAT THEIR EXISTS A "TRUTH" OR "REALITY" WHICH CAN BE DISCOVERED IF ONE JUST USES THE RIGHT METHODS. THE "RIGHT" METHODS ARE THOSE WHICH MINIMIZE THE SOURCES OF ERROR AND CAN BE VERIFIED "SCIENTIFICALLY" (THROUGH EMPIRICAL METHODS AND REPLICATION.)

(Marx) We are material people we need things like food, water, shelter to survive.

(Marx) Workers are reduced to their economic value as "Commodities."Driving force: Profitwe are reduced to the value of our labor. as humans we are worth more than that. Humans were losing their human essence.

(Marx)the idea that the oppressed/proletariat we make it real that they really don't have any human competence besides what their doing. can be applied to Marx's idea of commodities.

(Marx)Markets (supply and demand) determine not only the value of goods and services but the value of labor.

• (Marx)Systems that people create take over their lives and people lose track of their creativity.
• -Even the capitalists are not free
• -he thought that under capitalism people would become alienated by something he called their species being

• (Marx)class dynamics shape the organization of socio-economic life
• -Thus, his theory was a class-based theory of society
• -The propertied class has the power to control the distribution of wealth in society
• -have the economic, political, and cultural power to promote own self-interest.

• (Marx)1. Technological innovation
• 2. Massive increase in productivity and production
• 3. Expansiveness: creates a world system.

• (Marx) 1. Pauperization- In a capitalist society people will be valued by their labor and there are some things that need to be done but don't have a lot of value.
• 2. Proletarianism
• 3. Class simplification: the proletariat and the grand bourgeoisie
• 4. Crises of overproduction (depressions)
• 5. Eventual loss of legitimacy- people would realize that people shouldn't be valued on what they could produce.

• -Marx criticized capitalism from a future oriented perspective...
• -Marx thought that capitalism had fully developed itself and that society was ready to enter a new mode of production: communism.

"Ideas alone are not enough to create change-" Marx -ideas may shape our actions but our social interests determine which ideas we adopt.

The laboring class

He saw the proletariat as the vehicle to transform Europe and humanity.

• -stages in the development of families during the transition from primitive to civilized societies- (Engels)
• 1. Complete sexual promiscuity
• 2. incest between parents and children prohibited
• 2. incest prohibition extended to siblings
• 4. "Pairing Marriage" (monogamy)

• -why did the transition from matrilineal to patriarchal societies occur (Engels)
• patrilineal descent led to monogamy.
• -So that fathers could pass their property to their sons. to make sure his sons were his sons he engaged in monogamy.

Abolish private property. he believed that if their were no private property there'd be nothing for men to pass on to their sons there'd be no inequality of the sexes.

• 1) Establish sociology as a rigorous science of society independent from other social sciences like psychology
• 2) Employ science in explicating/explaining new bases for social solidarity made necessary by industrialization (of his time)

(Durkheim) Where everyone in society has their needs met by individuals (a baker, a cobbler, a milk man.) Primitive Societies

(Durkheim)Where our needs are met by one place that encompasses all...(PUBLIX) Modern Societies

(Durkheim) values, beliefs, and general norms

• (Durkheim) most famous work- pursues the study of social solidarity
• -he wanted to prove this was a social phenomena with social causes
• -2 independent variables explain acts of suicide : Integration and regulation

(Durkheim)ties or connections to social groups and their goals

(Durkheim)by the collective conscience (values, beliefs, and general norms) of social groupings.

(Durkheim) modern societies, don't feel like you belong. peoples relationships with groups is weakened. excessive individualism, people chose to take their life because they don't feel like they belong. Low integration (ex: teens "i don't belong." My boyfriend broke up with me "now i'm along" Single men-being a lone wolf)

• (Durkheim) high integration, primitive society. Someone feels so integrated into the group and they feel like the good of the group is more important than their own needs. (ex military hero willing to risk life for good of nation)
• anomic suicide-
• (Durkheim) modern society, low regulation, people feel like there aren't many rules and clarity on what they're supposed to do and how they are supposed to fit in to society. They don't know what their role is so they take their life. or their one role that they understood has come to an end and they don't know how to function without that role. (ex. if someone loses their job and then they kill themselves. Or after divorce when people's roles change.)

(Durkheim)regulation, primitive societies, mechanical solidarity, lots of strict rules, people might feel like society is oppressive. They feel like they'd rather die than continue living in an oppressive society (Gattaca, 1984, someone who chooses to hang themselves in prison than to continue living under the strict rules of prison. Catholic boarding schools.)

• -Why was the subject of suicide a useful way to highlight the importance of sociology? -
• (Durkheim) wanted to prove this was a social phenomena with social causes

• sacred and profane- society is the source of all religion
• -aspects of social reality that are defined as sacred-
• that is set apart and deemed holy or forbidden- form the essence of religion.
• -the rest are defined as profane- the everyday, the commonplace, the utilitarian, the mundane aspects of life.
• the sacred brings out a attitude of reverence, respect, mystery, awe, and honor.

Knowledge is shaped by the social world

scientific sociology should be used to guide social reform.

Durkheim sought to develop a "positive science" of society where the goal was to learn about the "laws" of the social world.

DuBois, Gilman, and Cooper all had a moral vision of sociological theory which may be part of what has kept them out of the sociological cannon; also Kristen mentioned in class that it could be due to the fact that they were not your typically weathy white male sociologist.

• (Weber) Modern life was characterized by increasing rationalization and disenchantment
• 2. traditional rationality
• 3. theoretical rationality

(Weber) actions based on basic values and emotions

(Weber) Actions based on calculation and the conscious intellectual weighing of means and ends in making decisions

(Weber) standardized and uniform services and ways of doing things. fast food restaurant (anything u order is the same at any McDonalds.

(Weber) objective should be quantifiable (ie # of objects or size) rather than subjective (i.e. taste)

(Weber) the optimal method for accomplishing a task (requires the least amount of time/resources)

• (Weber) a modern organizational form with machinelike efficiency
• 11. componets of a bureaucracy:
• -consists of: written rules and procedures ( and following these rules even when they cease to make sense)
• -clear and detailed division of labor
• -hierarchy of area specific authority
• -authority is based on a formal or legal-rational position rather than a traditional or charismatic one.

• l3. 1egal-rational authority
• -Iron cage of rationality

• -Economic class, social status, political party
• -economic class: prestige or social honor as attributed by a community; it is personal
• -social status: groups normally compose communities with specific lifestyles
• -political parties: groups that represent one's political interests

• according to Weber?
• Weber argued that the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism were closely linked to one another and strengthened each other. Protestant ethic attitude discouraged members from wasting their time in fun or rest.

According to Weber's verstehen approach, the goal of sociology should be to understand people, because human beings are not inanimate objects.

Websters view of religion: Hard work and worldly success served as potential signs that God smiled in favor on the person, and thereby lessened the anxiety of not knowing if one was saved or damned....religion underlied the formation of capitalism

• - The sexuo-economic reation refers to the relation found only in humans where one sex (the female) is economically dependant on the other (the male). This can be attributed to the divison of household labor- due to the labor of women in the house men are enabled to work more and therefore make more money.
• -On average today, women do twice as many hours of house work than men, totaling an entire month more of full-time work weeks per year.
• What is the second shift?
• -The second shift refers to the household labor done along with working throughout the day. This term is rightly labeled although the the economic value of the domestic industry is unappreciated and unaccounted for. While many women do household labor free of charge the average worth of a homemaker is $122,732.

• "sense of always looking at one�s self through the eyes of others". Having your own perception of yourself simultaneously having a perception of other's perceptions of yourself.
• 6. What are the 5 leading ideas of modern Europe?
• continuity of organization; authority of government; justice between men; individual freedom and systematic knowledge

• - Dubois� term for THE problem of the 20th century
• - meaning the social, political, economic, and intellectual division between whites and blacks would hinder the development of an inclusive American culture and society.
• *NOTE: DuBois live in a time of "separate but equal" he thought "not so equal"

• Cooper believed that black women were triply oppressed: blacks and women to white Americans, as women to black men, and as individuals of particular class backgrounds to and for themselves.
• *NOTE: This is now known as standpoint theory

involves the individual who considers ends, and on some systematic basis decide what is the best means or course of action to pursue in order to achieve these ends. This form of rationality can be considered to be pragmatic in that it provides individuals with a way of pursuing practical ends.

• -a system of oppression and privilege patterned by history, ideology, material resources, manners, and passion
• -moral progress depends on the only person able to understand the deep connections of race and gender in America - the black woman

Abstract concepts form an essential part of logical reasoning or or theoretical models. These attempt to describe, explain, or understand the world in terms of models that are constructed from observation and reasoning. These forms of rationality need not be associated with social action but are more a part of logical structures and theory.

Individuals might consider a range of possible values or actions, and attempting to make them consistent. Weber termed this substantive rationality and considered it problematic in modern society in that rationalization of social life makes it difficult for people to pursue particular values. For example, pursuit of family or religious values may be difficult in modern society, given economic pressures and dominance of bureaucratic organizations