Emile Durkheim
Social Fact
Social Fact
ways of FAT external to the individual, endowed with a power of coercion
characteristic-of-social-fact
Link to original
eg. moral obligation, religious ritual, laws, language, customs
Durkheim’s methodological contribution
- treat SF as things: objectively, as facts in nature
- rules for observation
- eliminate preconceptions
- define concepts precisely
- study SF independent of individual cases
- rules for explanation
- causal
- functional
Separated sociology from abstract philosophy.
Criticism
- over objectivity
- Max Weber: Verstehen (interpretative understanding)
- Reductionism
- ambiguity
- mental processes, collective representations are also SF
Robert Merton
Reference Group Theory
Reference group
group to which an individual refers while evaluating achievements, role performance, aspirations, and ambitions
types: +ve & -ve
- +ve RG values & norms are admired, emulated
- -ve RG values & norms are rejected, disapproved, leading to counter norm formation
Functions of RG
- standard for self evaluation
- anticipatory socialization
- social mobility, cohesion (in open soc)
- construction of individual identity
Dysfunctions of RG
- “Marginal Men” (RKM): closed societies, restricted mobility - emulation of higher status groups isolate individual from both - their own group & aspired group
- eg. Dalits in traditional hindu soc emulating upper caste practices w/o full acceptance
- Conflict & tension if aspirations remain unfulfilled
- social conflict
- negative reference groups
- eg. Youth adopting norms of extreminst group
Contribution to functional analysis
- RG can both integrate or disintegrate - balanced functions & dysfunctions
- new dimensions to analysis by studying latent consequences of reference group behavious
- functional flexibility - what appears irrational can have latent functions eg. resisting domination, expressing aspirations
RKM broadened functionalism, by showing same phenomenon could generate both integrative & disruptive consequences.
Latent / Manifest functions
- Manifest: intended & recognized consequences of social actions or institutions
- Latent: unintended & unrecognized consequences that still contribute to system adaptation
Importance of latent functions
- look deeper than participants self understanding
- Peter Berger: sociology’s debunking role
- distinction from unanticipated consequences
Contribution to functional analysis
- irrational becomes meaningful
- eg. Hopi Rain ceremony reinforce solidarity
- new areas of enquiry
- explore practices ignored by common sense
- eg. commercial films
- Expansion of sociological knowledge
- Thorstein Veblen: Theory of Leisure Class (conspicuous consumption serves not only utility but status affirmation too)
- Critical depth: debunking role
- strengthen sociology’s identity as critical / analytical discipline
Criticism
- lack of clear methodology for identifying latent fn
- ambiguity with unanticipated consequences
- overemphasis on positive functions
- marxist: focus on latent functions obscure how social practices reproduce inequality, domination
Karl Marx
Class in itself / class for itself
Class in itself: social group whose members share same relationship to MoP eg working class.
Class for itself: develops class consciousness - an awareness of its exploitation and shared interests, uniting for collective struggle against ruling class.
How is this transformation accelerated
- inherent instability of capi: contradiction b/w bourgeoisie & proletariat based on exploitation
- contradiction b/w social production & private ownership: workers recognize shared circumstances
What hastens this transition
- homogenization of labour - unified proletariat
- relative paupeization
- proletarianization of petty bourgeoisie
Questioning
- V. Lenin: workers develop only trade union consciousness, not revolutionary awareness
- J. Westergaard: despite class inequality, class consciousness weak due to fragmented political mobilization
- Post modernist - Pakulski & Walters in The Death of Class: class based divisions losing centrality amidst new cleavages
Alienation
4 types
From:
- product
- process
- self
- others
Modern relevance
- decline in extreme working conditions
- human rights, labour rights eg. ILO
- human relations approaches (elton mayo)
- persistence of alienation in other forms
- Herbert Marcuse: One Dimensional Man
- alienation in consumption, trapped by false needs, consumer culture
- CW Mills- white collar alienation
- sell skills in personality market
- new forms of estrangement
- Melvin Seeman: subjective dimensions: powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation, self estrangement
- Robert Blauner: (Alienation and Freedom) - automation could reduce alienation by giving worker more control and integration
- Harry Braverman (Labour and Monopoly Capital) opposed Blauner
- automation & Fordist techniques intensify alienation by deskilling workers
Critical
- Overgeneralization
- Alasdair Clayre: Marx lumped diverse occupations and leisure activities into one simple model
- neglect of consumption offering creativity & identity eg. music
- Althusser: alienation assumes vague & idealied notion of true humann essence, which is more normative than scientific
- alienation difficult to quantify
- gets equated with Anomie (Durkheim) or Disenchantment (Weber)
Weber
PESC 1905
PE as ideal type
- Predestination: belief in “the elect” created anxiety, resolved thru worldly success
- This worldly asceticism: work as a calling, frugality, discipline, rejection of idle leisure
- Economic ethic: hard work, saving, reinvestment
- Calling: work seen as divine
Critique of Weber’s application
- R.H. Tawney: weber’s evidence was narrow, selective. Rational money making preceded Calvinist ethics, eg. Italian city states.
- Calvisim strong in Scotland, Switzerland, yet capi developed there much later
- Milton Singer: found functional equivalent of PE in india (caste trads)
- Werner Sombart: calvinism condemned greed, profit pursuit
- overlooked reforms within Catholicism post reformation
- Alternate theory: calvinist focused on business not from religious zeal, but due to exclusion from public offices
- Weber never claimed PE to cause capitalism, but put it only as a factor
Good bits
- broke away from economic determinism
- gave multidimensional model
- Anthony Giddens: Weber’s analysis highlights role of meaning and motivation in social action
- counterintuitive theory: explains how ascetic religious values (not material greed) birthed capitalism
- theoretically fertile, inspiring study of development in non western societies eg. Bellah’s work on Japanese ethics
GH Mead
Mind, Self & Society 1934
Self as a social product, emerging through communication and role taking.
I
- spontaneous, creative, unpredictable
- source of novelty, freedom, individuality
- dynamic element, resisting complete social conformity
Me
- internalized norms, expectations of society
- reflects organized attitude of others - the social self
- ensures predictability, discipline, stability in social behaviour
Interaction
- I indicates action, Me evaluates it from social perspective
- interaction maintains balance b/w innovation and conformity
- allows both social order & individual creativity
- primitive societies: Me
- modern societies: I
Critique
- neglect of biological & power factors in personality formation
- Dennis Wrong: overly socialized view, ignoring conflict & resistance
- Parsons: Mead unederplays institutional constraints & macro structures
Talcott Parsons
Pattern Variables
Set of concepts, which reflect the “properties of all action systems”.
In performance of roles, individuals face dilemma, which occur due to improper internalization of values, related to role expectation.
Variables:
- Affectivity vs affective neutrality
- whether situation should be evaluated emotionally or with restraint
- Self orientation vs collective orientation
- prioritize individual interest or collective goals
- Universalism vs particularism
- Ascription vs achievement
- Specificity vs Diffuseness