Proto-sociology & Marx
What is a structuralist? -- society is composed of structures that directly affect the lives and behavior of individuals.
Born in Ann Arbor, grew up on State St., undergraduate UofM, PhD UofM, prof at UofM...
Historical context: The failure of this in the late 19th century south, and the re-emergence of discriminatory laws called this -- name & describe
Failure of Reconstruction
Early federal attempts to enforce racial equality in the South are abandoned
15th amendment overturned; 14th reinterpreted
“Jim Crow” discriminatory laws emerge through the region
Economic: expansion of commerce and markets; industrialization
Social: urbanization, decline of local communities
Political: rise of bureaucratic nation states, decline in power of Church, feminism
What are ideas (Hegel), material/structural conflict (Marx), either/both (Weber)
What is a functionalist? the structures of society are “functional”: they help give society cohesion, like parts of a living organism.
The NAACP because he was disillusioned about the power of academia to effect meaningful change, so wanted to become more of an activist
1.History progresses (future-oriented, focus on stages)
2. Change is driven by conflicts related to “production” (i.e., economic or material conflict) versus Hegel’s conflict of ideas.
Weber's three types of conflict (name & briefly describe)
What are Class: ownership of goods or opportunity to make money; upper class, the white-collar workers, the petite bourgeoisie, and the manual working class.
Status: a group whose members share a characteristic or lifestyle that is honored or dishonored in society
Party: A self-selected group that seeks to influence a particular social issue or action.
What are social facts? -- factors external to the individual that exert an influence on the individual. (Examples: religious beliefs, currency used to undertake transactions, and factors such as "the practices followed in my profession").
Primary groups: members share close, personal, enduring relationships. These groups are marked by members' concern for one another, in shared activities and culture. Generally unchosen
Secondary groups: People in a secondary group interact on a less personal level than in a g. Since secondary groups are established to perform functions, people’s roles are more interchangeable. A secondary group is one you have chosen to be a part of.
Garvey: Back-to-Africa black nationalist, Founder of United Negro Improvement Association & African Communities League, Wanted those of African ancestry to redeem Africa and for European colonial powers to leave it.
Washington: Mainstream African American spokesperson; sometimes labeled an accommodated; helped raise funds for black educational institutions
What are commodification: created things --> things created to be sold
alienation: estrangement of the self from the meaning of existence--especially the meaning people used to find in work (e.g. by becoming a cog in a machine)
commodification of labor: people's work & effort becoming a thing to be bought and sold like any other commodity
What is: a class will only take action under certain cultural conditions and if the class members recognize their economic situation and its consequences.
Crime offers society the opportunity to reinforce its norms by punishing the deviant.
Or change its norms, and not punish the deviant.
“The Looking Glass Self”
1.Idea of other’s perception 2.Idea of other’s judgment 3.Self feeling
Strong empirical work to demonstrate that the problem of black people did not stem from their own actions or inabilites, but from the difficulties they faced as former slaves in a world of white supremacy.
base: means of production & relations of production (the 'really important' stuff according to Marx)--'deep' structure
superstructure: culture, ideas, etc. (the stuff we think is really important but actually arises from the economic base)
What is rationality/rationalization: Capitalism causes us to focus on trying to attain the highest level of efficiency in everything.
What are mechanical solidarity: In traditional societies, integration or cohesion is/was based on the homogeneity of social groups and their values.
& organic solidarity: In modern societies, we are hetergeneous and contribute to solidarity/cohesion by playing a specialized role. Our values have to be negotiated.
1.The social development of self: self arises in the child’s social experience, using language & symbols
2.The Self as Object: reflexive self; similar to Cooley's looking glass self. I can consider myself: look at myself as though I am an object. What I see when I view myself is adopted from the way others see me.
3.The “I” and the “Me”: “I“ is the creative, impulsive part of Self that changes the world around.“Me“ is the judgmental, controlling part of self that has been imprinted by the world around.“I“ acts, “Me“ constrains.
Color line – socially constructed black/white division that is collective/individual, historical/existential, conscious/irrational
Veil – a sense of being shut out from other race’s experience (Al Young: whites can’t see black experience, not the other way around.
Double Consciousness – sense of being perceived as an outsider by others that prevents formation of a unified self