August Comte
What school of though is associated with Comte and define it?
Positivism
Search for invariant laws that come from observation of the social world and / or from theorizing about that world. So called, social physics.
His main works:
The Division of Labor in Society (1893)
The Rules of Sociological Method (1895)
Suicide (1897)
He founded the journal “Année Sociologique” in 1898
Pacifism and Patriotism (1908)
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)
Moral Education (1925)
Professional Ethics and Civic Morals (1950)
What kind of solidarity do we mostly have today?
Organic solidarity
What school of sociological though is Weber associated with and explain it.
Paradigm of social action; Interpreting based on meaning. Hermeneutics ➡ looks at social actions, what makes someone tick over time
American pragmatism positions
a) nominalist position (John Dewey and William James + Thomas Theorem)
b) realist position (how society controls an individual's processes)
What are mores according to Alexis de Tocqueville?
habits of the heart and mind; the entire moral and intellectual state of the people. This includes customs, traditions and opinions.
What are social facts?
Social Structures, norms & values that are external to the individual.
They can be studied like things, they are coercive of the individual and are explainable by other facts.
What is the difference in Intensity of collective conscience in Primitive and Modern societies?
Intensity in primitive society ➡ Highly believed and absence of doubts or criticisms
Intensity in modern society ➡ Not as strong (varies)
How does Weber observe social behavior and explain?
Through idealtypes ➡ oversimplified phenomenons in a caricature-like analytical construct
Difference between "Me", "I" and generalized other
Me (object) ➡ conventional, habitual individual
socialized aspect of the self
internalized social attitudes
I (subject) ➡ the creative, unhinged aspect of an individual
Impulsive aspect of the self
Generalized other (societal norms) ➡ society as a whole, one's understanding what the me should preform stems from the generalized other
Thomas theorem
if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences
Name at least 3 non-material facts:
social currents, morality, collective conscience, collective representations
Define and list differences between Fatalistic and Egoistic suicide
Fatalistic (eg. slaves) ➡ High regulation
Egoistic (eg. chuds, no sense of belonging) ➡ Low integration
Weber's theory of understanding, what is it called and what does it encapsulate?
Verstehen; methodology of interpretive understanding. Weber looks for a poly causal explanation (looks for multiple reasons, not just one)
3 Main influences of Mead:
Interpretive methodology (Weber's Verstehen)
(Social) Behaviorism (Defined by Mead as the study of individual via his behavior)
American Pragmatism
a) nominalist position
b) realist position
Name at least 2 of the 4 main observations that Alexis de Tocqueville made in the US (regarding the democratic mores).
1) US loves equality > liberty (so nobody gets ahead of another ➡ their neighbor can't be ahead of them)
2) Their individualism and lack of community
3) Use of associations in civil life (if they want to build a hospital, a committee is established to achieve that goal - due to the setup of the government)
4) materialism, a.k.a. excessive love of prosperity (since no traditional hierarchy established, materialism is the only distinguishing factor)
Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracy in America (1835-40)
Vol. I, 1835: analysis of the political structure of the United States
Vol. II, 1840 (more sociological): a new social theory of political man
Comparison of democracy (equality, individualism, governmental centralization) and aristocracy.
The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856)
1) The Theological Stage
This stage is divided in:
a. fetischistic,
b. polytheistic,
c. monotheistic stage
2) The Metaphysical Stage
3) The Positivist Stage
How does Durkheim see deviance?
Constructive to society, upholds norms and order and sometimes leads to social change.
The key functions of deviance involve:
(a) clarifying and reinforcing societal norms,
(b) strengthening social cohesion among those who respond to deviant behavior,
(c) and occasionally acting as a catalyst for a positive social change.
List and describe (categorize) the 4 basic idealtypes of social action
Rational:
i) Means-end (instrumental-rational) ➡ direct gain or advantage for the actor
ii) Value rational ➡ relates to the individual's values (dying in war for their country)
Non-rational:
iii) Affectual ➡ action done out of fear (or as a reaction to fear)
iv) Traditional ➡ "because we've done it like that for decades now"
Non-rational actions are motivated by emotion
Explain Goffman's dramaturgical approach:
The self "is a dramatic effect arising […] from a scene that is presented."
The management of impressions:
-Front stage (what we show to the world)
-Back stage (what we suppress from the front stage, less formal, actors don't expect people from the front stage to appear in the backstage, so-called "the real me")
-Outside (a residual domain outside of the 2)
fRE℮STYLE! Link ontology and epistemology with one of the sociologists we have covered in this term!
Eg. Hollistic ontological approach to studying religions by Durkheim and what his epistemological approach was.
4 dimensions of collective conscience:
volume (who is a part of it)
intensity (deepness of belief)
rigidity (how clearly defined)
content (the form)
Explain how Durkheim came to the conclusion that Societies worship themselves as religion:
He studied Australian Aborigines
people worship totems ➡ sacred animals / plants (only allowed to eat them during rituals) ➡ during these religious events, people felt power from the other people believing in it ∴ society worships itself ∵ the power of the religion comes from within the society
The 3 idealtypes of domination and what social action(s) are associated with it:
i) traditional ➡ Traditional social action
ii) charismatic ➡ Affectual social action (a leader is charismatic because its supporters believe that the leader is charismatic) and people attribute what they want behind that charm (Obama '08)
iii) rational-legal ➡ rational social actions (Means-end and Traditional); It allows for social change and offices gain hierarchy with rules and functions but it becomes an iron cage because method replaces vision.
Frame analysis + what other sociologist does Goffman get close to in this publication?
Deviation from the nominalist position: "Defining situations as real certainly has consequences, but these may contribute very marginally to the events in progress.”
A sort of schemata of interpretation, allows an individual to better understand the situation
Without frames, our world would be little more than a number of chaotic individual and unrelated events and facts.
Gets close to Durkheim by applying the Durkheimian idea that rules are constraints governing behavior
Explain the statement extrapolated from Alexis de Tocqueville stating the USA is becoming a shepherd state.
Equality allows for centralization and are directly proportionate to each other. People surrender to bureaucratic clerks which inhibit action and bend the will of men ∴ restrains and kindles a shepherd state.