Durkheim
What did Durkheim want out of his work, and why?
(what was his purpose in doing his work/theorizing)
He wanted social order/organization, given that he was writing during French Revolution and witnessed so much chaos.
What are the 3 types of authority?
charismatic authority (authority based on charisma)
traditional authority (ex. monarchs)
rational legal authority
What is the reserved army of labor?
A term Marx uses to refer to people who are unemployed. Employers can hire from reserved army of labor → more people are then willing to take less pay to ensure a job.
Under capitalism, what do workers have?
Nothing but their labor power.
What are Compte's 3 Stages of societal evolution? And what are the corresponding authorities?
Theological - authority = God/church
Metaphysical - authority = philosophers
Positive stage - authority = scientists
What did Durkheim think of division of labor?
Durkheim: division of labor unites different people, everyone united in making, then differences (brought about from moving out of small towns) do not matter → social order will then be smooth answering his issue with chaos
What does it mean to say bureaucracy creates a disenchanted society?
- Removes sense of wonder, mystery, spirituality, as everything is based on rules and rationality
- Loss of individuality (Procedure over individual needs)
- Reduced autonomy (and creativity)
- “Iron Cage” of rationality
What is a prerequisite of capital?
Division of Labor
Exploitation of Labor
Commodification of everything (including labor)
More jobs than workers available.
What 2 components were responsible for rise of capitalism?
Enclosure movements and the rise of technology
How did Comte introduce legitimacy to Sociology?
Wanted sociology to be a discipline based on scientific evidence and logic - introduced concept of social physics
What is organic solidarity and its 3 components?
organic solidarity
Why did Weber liked bureaucracy?
based on rational-legal authority, it went away from nepotism, irrationality, etc
Why are workers incapable of leaving the capitalist class?
The worker's sole source of livelihood comes from the sale of their labor power, if they stopped, they would renounce their existence.
What is usually considered the main goal of capitalism?
(but within capital there is the notion of power, laborers have no power over the work they do)
What is power? What is authority?
Power = the ability to make someone engage in an act in spite of their resistance.
Authority = legitimized power (we gave consent for ____ to exercise power ie. president)
What is mechanical solidarity and its 3 components?
mechanical solidarity
Why did Weber grow to dislike bureaucracy?
Weber saw how bureaucracy created another type of social control, and it seemed harder to overcome because it’s based on rational-legal. Regulation with power dispersed everywhere.
What did Marx think of division of labor? (what would it cause)
When you divide up work, work becomes easier, when work becomes easier, more people can do it, if more people can do the work, there’s more competition, if there’s more competition for simple work, wages go down.
In capitalism, how have workers and their labor been commodified?
Through subsistent wages, the requirement of wages to survive, workers selling their labor (and themselves), workers accepting low pay, workers selling part of their lives.
Who are the bourgeoisie and who are the proletariat? What parts of capitalism or the means of production do they control?
Bourgeoisie: capitalists who own the means of production
Proletariat: workers who own nothing but their labors power
B: control everything, own everything, create nothing
P: Control nothing, own nothing, create everything
What is Durkheim's organismic analogy? What are the social implications of his analogy?
Durkheim provided an organismic analogy, saw society as a giant living organism. This logic suggests that if there is a natural hierarchy in our bodies, then there is also a natural hierarchy in society. Without saying it, this creates a natural common sensical understanding of a pre-established hierarchy of power, importance, and authority. If it is natural for someone to be inferior, it is not discriminatory to be above them.
What is a big issue with bureaucracy?
Weber ends up calling bureaucracy an iron cage from which is hard for us to break through, that is because bureaucracy itself could reflect the ideals of injustice, and unless we have guide rails, bureaucracy itself can be an oppressive tool.
Disenchantment
Why does Marx say there is no such thing as scarcity, or that scarcity does not matter?
there is no such thing as scarcity because scarcity is only meaningful in respect of function and since human beings are creative, things may run out but they are never scarce (we'd come up with solutions to replace)
What is accumulated labor, and how does it function under capitalism?
Accumulated labor is surplus Capital that has been produced by the proletariat through direct living labor (what workers do, in terms of labor). Under capitalism, even though workers have accumulated months of capital, they receive only subsistence level wages and must return to work the following day. Capitalists, receive the accumulated labor and no longer need to work (workers are working for them).
According to Newman Ch 10, what are the 4 historical types of social stratification?
Slavery, Caste, Estate, and Social Class