Transcript Essentials of Sociology Fourth Edition Chapter One

Chapter 1:
Sociology and
the Real World
(Part II)
Overview



Historical Background
What is Theory?
Theoretical Perspectives
• MACRO
• Europe
• MICRO
• United States
• New Approaches

Tensions Within Sociology
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The Blind Men and the Elephant
By John Godfrey Saxe
(1816-1887)
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
Historical Factors in the
Development of Sociology
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Historical Factors

The emergence of
social sciences
• Borrowing from
natural sciences
• Applying scientific
method to study
social world
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Historical Factors

The Industrial Revolution
• Invention:
• Steam engine
• Europe (19th Century)
• Spread to U.S.
• Social Change
• Radical, rapid transformation of society
and everyday life
• New, widespread social problems
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Historical Factors

The French and
American Revolutions
• Political change
• Overthrow monarchies
• New democracies
• Social change
• Rights
• Freedoms
Historical Factors

Increased travel
• Exposure to other
societies
• Compare and
contrast
• social systems
• cultural practices
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Historical Factors

Innovations in
communications
• Rapid spread of
information
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In-Class Exercise
Re-imagining the
Industrial Revolution
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Theory
(Approach, perspective, school of thought)

What is Theory?
• Framework for
understanding
• Abstract proposition:
• explains social world
• makes predictions
about future

Good theories are:
• Broad, enduring
• Subject to testing
• prove, disprove or
modify
• Can adapt to social
change
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The Roots of Sociology

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

Applied scientific method
• Positivism
• Knowledge gained
directly (through senses)

Coined the term
“Sociology”
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The Roots of Sociology

Herbert Spencer
(1820-1903)

Interest in evolution
• Societies are like
organisms
• Evolve by adapting to
changing environment
• “Social Darwinism”

Coined the phrase:
“Survival of the Fittest”
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Sociological Theory

3 “Grand” Theories
• MACRO (Europe 19th Century)
• Functionalism
• Conflict Theory
• MICRO (U.S. 20th Century)
• Interactionism

Other Theories
• Sigmund Freud (Ch. 4)
• Max Weber (Ch. 5)
• Postmodernism (Ch. 13)
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FUNCTIONALISM
(Structural Functionalism)

Understanding rapid social change
• Could society survive?

Society is like an organism
• A system of interrelated parts = structure
• Each part helps meet needs of members
– Social institutions

Focus on stability, cohesion and order
• Social bonds in all societies
• Mechanical solidarity
– Shared traditions and beliefs
• Organic solidarity (in modern society)
– Division of labor and interdependence
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
“The Elementary Forms of Religious Life”
• Solidarity in secular society
• Division of sacred and profane
• Collective effervescence
– Shared rituals
• Collective conscience
– Shared beliefs and values

Robert Merton
• Manifest and latent functions
• Intended and unintended consequences
• Dysfunctions may arise
• Not all are unhealthy
• Can lead to social change
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CONFLICT THEORY
(Marxism)

Founded by Karl Marx
• Marxism is NOT Communism

Looked at growth of Capitalism
• Profit-driven private industry

Social inequality
• Concern for the poor, working class masses

Marx’s vision:
• A classless utopia
“From each according to his abilities,
To each according to his needs”
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CONFLICT THEORY
(Marxism)

Different groups
compete over “scarce”
resources

• Domination, exploitation
results in either:
• Tension between
“haves” and “havenots”

• “False consciousness”
(acceptance of the dominant
ideology)
• Resentment, resistance and
rebellion
Class conflict
• The Bourgeoisie

• The ruling class (owners
of the “means of
production”)
• The Proletariat
• The working class
The powerful protect their
own interests
Struggle leads to social
change
• “Revolutionary” class
consciousness
• Overthrow the status quo
FUNCTIONALISM
Emile Durkheim 1858–1917
CONFLICT THEORY
Karl Marx 1818–1883
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
George Herbert Mead
Herbert Blumer
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
(Interactionism)

American branch of sociology
• Early 20th Century
• University of Chicago
• “Chicago School” used the city as a social
laboratory
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Interactionism


Face-to-face
 Looks at how
interaction and
people:
everyday life
• create and interpret
social reality
Focus on symbols
• meaningful
representations
• signs, gestures,
language
• act toward each
other based on their
interpretations
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Tenets:
We act toward things based on
their meaning
 Meanings are not inherent; rather
they are derived through interaction
 Meanings can change or be
modified

Illustration: “The Slap”
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Tensions in Early Sociology

Eurocentrism, sexism and racism

Accomplishments (praxis)
Jane Addams
1860–1935
W.E.B. DuBois
1868–1963
New Theoretical Approaches
What is the future of sociology?
POSTMODERNISM
Derrida, Foucault, Baurdrillard
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Postmodernism

New perspective for era (21st century)
• Post-atomic
• Information Revolution (Digital Age)
• Characteristics of eras
• Modernism
– Reason, science, rationality, linear, universal
• Postmodernism
– Relative, fragmented, fluid, multidimensional,
temporary
• The “simulacra” (simulation or fake)
• Virtual reality as good as (or better than) the
real
– Las Vegas theme hotels
– Video: Holographic pop star (Japan)
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