Introduction of the people versus perspective approach

First, a little session of sociological thinking and value free science.

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QUESTION: What is a value free statement?

Example 1

"The medical service of abortion should be legal and readily available"

Example 2

In historic times or other cultures where abortion is illegal

• abortions get still performed
• abortions bear a higher health risk for women
• societies were suppressive (as documented)

In example 1 we tell people what to do

=> tasks for politicians?

In example 2 we inform people and let it up to their own evaluation what they should do.

=> task for sociology

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There are two Approaches to introduce Sociology:

The People Approach and the Perspective Approach

The People Approach

Marx    ===> Conflict Theory

Weber    ===> Conflict Theory

     ----->  Stressing culture and meaning, he paves the ground for Symbolic Interactionism

Durkheim    ===> Functionalism

1. Karl Marx (1818-1883) In our class on stratification we will visit Marx again in more detail. BBC London's rating of the top 10 thinkers of the last 1000 years: 1. Karl Marx 2. Albert Einstein 3. Sir Isaac Newton 4. Charles Darwin 5. Thomas Aquinas 6. Stephen Hawking 7. Immanuel Kant 8. Rene Descartes 9. James Clerk Maxwell 10. Friedrich Nietzche

Time Frame:

• Early industrial capitalism in France and Great Britain
• French Revolution 1789-1799
• 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
• 1848 The Austrian revolution begins in Vienna; chancellor Metternich resigns.
• 1848 The Revolutions of 1848 break out in Europe.

Two faces of Marx

Sociologist

• Economist: Capital (Das Kapital)
  
• Theorist: In his perspective of Historical Materialism he states that the economy determines social structure.

More specific: historical social, cultural, and political phenomena are determined by the mode of production.

As a economist and theorist Marx uses the conflict perspective.

Political Scientist and Activist

• The Communist Manifesto

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Key Terms for Understanding Marx's concept of Conflict

Surplus value (Profit): True value - cost of subsistence

Cost of subsistence is the time a worker needs to work to produce a true value that is enough for him to survive

True value: value that is achieved on the market

All conflict is about the distribution of the surplus value

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Communist Principles:

1.   no private property

2.   no social classes:

3.   no division of labor: 

We probably never had a truly communist society

Scientific Socialism synonymous to Marxism

Marx was correct with his assumption that Capitalism in its pure form will be challenged.

1. Historically, we were very close to a worldwide communism.

2.   Every capitalistic system in existence had to adopt some socialist ideas to avoid killing the people who are exploited.

3. Owning stock in the company, we are working for employees have some ownership of the means of production.

Marx and Weber

"Economic, cultural, and political change go together in coherent patterns. Marx and Weber agreed on this point.

They disagreed profoundly on why economic, cultural and political changes go together.

For Marx... they are linked because economic and technological change determines political and cultural changes.

For Weber... they are linked because culture shapes economic and political life".(Inglehart 1997 pp. 14-15)

Economic change

Technical change

Cultural change

Political change

Marx

Economic & Technical => Cultural & Political

Weber

Economic & Technical <= Cultural & Political

2. Max Weber (1864-1920) Max Weber stressed the meaningful, purposive nature of human action. Weber asked himself: why is capitalism so successful. Why did it spread all over the world. He looks for cultural explanations responsible for the rise of capitalism. Weber focuses on the Protestant ethic as influential in the generation and spread of industrial capitalism. How did Calvinism and Protestantism create capitalism?

Big Question in Sociology: What is social order?   How do we explain social order and cohesion?

EXPLAIN Cohesion

QUESTION:

Why do we have a society?

• a tribe

• a village

• a nation

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How do we keep society together, how do we create cohesion?

A. Compulsion Approach

power and domination

=> Marx and Weber

B. Utilitarian Approach

š  Enlightenment

C. Cultural Approach

C                  value consensus: shared norms, values, and cultural beliefs create cohesion

3. Durkheim (1858-1917) Sociology is the study of social facts borrowed the idea of Comte who used the term "social physics". Division of labor leads to cohesion. Division of labor gradually replaces religion as a basis of social cohesion. This process of change gives rise to social difficulties that result in anomie (a feeling of aimlessness or despair). You might check the Durkheim Archive: http://durkheim.itgo.com/main.html

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Study of suicide

Social factors have a strong influence on suicidal behavior.

Egoistic: in individualistic cultures

Anomic: in states of normlessness (e.g. Anomie) or norm conflict.

Altruistic: for the good of the group.

Fatalistic: due to excessive social regulations.

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II. The Perspective Approach

1. Power and Conflict: Marx, Weber, Habermas, Foucault, Domhoff

2. Functionalism: Comte, Durkheim, Parsons, Merton, and Gans

3. Symbolic Interactionism: Mead, Heise, Stryker

1. Power and Conflict: Marx, Weber, Habermas, Foucault, Domhoff

When two people want one thing there will be conflict. The one who wins the conflict has the power.

2. Functionalism: Comte, Durkheim, Parsons, Merton, and Gans

Evolution is the survival of the fittest. Applied to social sciences this means that only things that contribute to an existing society will survive. This contribution is called a function.

Question: What is the function of a university?

Question: What is the function of poverty?

3. Symbolic Interactionism: Mead, Heise, Stryker

• People act on the basis of their meaning.
• Meaning emerges in the interaction with others.
• Meaning is not fixed and stable, but is modified by interpretation
  
  
  Constructionism: "What is perceived as real is real in its consequences"

              <=> constructivism: early 20^th century movement in sculpture architecture and painting.

1. Conflict perspective

Marx, Weber, Habermas, Foucault, Domhoff

The basic idea is that people are using their power to gain benefits.

Power definition:

" 'Power' [is] the chance of a man, or a number of men to realize their own will in social action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action" (Weber cited in Wrong)

• Indicators of power: who used his or her social control to gain benefits.
  
  

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Today, we all want to be rich and/or famous, and we are fighting for it.

“THE RICHEST 1 (ONE) PERCENT of Americans own more wealth than:  

1)   ALL of the wealth of ALL of the MIDDLE class

COMBINED WITH

2)   ALL of the wealth of ALL of the LOWER class

AND ADDED TO

3) ALL of the wealth of the bottom HALF of the UPPER class”

1996 Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko, Thomas J. Stanley Ph. D, William D. Danko Ph.D „The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy”

Example: Domhoff: Who rules America now 1983 and Who Rules America? Power and Politics 2001

A.) What do people want?

• money
• power for the sake of power
  

B. Who gets it?

• the upper class
  

C. How do they win?

• they conserve their power as a social class by
• education
• networking
• strategic investment
  
  

Example: Karl Marx

A.) What do people want

• surplus value
  

B.) Who governs?

• the bourgeoisie
  

C. ) How do they win?

• by owning the means of production

2. Functionalism

Comte, Durkheim, Parsons, Merton, and Gans

Durkheim coined the term organic solidarity

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Organic Solidarity: social cohesion that results from the various parts of society functioning as an integrated whole.

Functionalism in a Nutshell

Basic Idea: how does a social phenomenon contribute to the survival of the society as a whole. (Darwinism)

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Merton:

• Functions are observed consequences of a social phenomenon that contribute to the adaptation of a given social system.
  

Dysfunctions are those consequences that lessen the adaptation.

Functional Alternatives achieve the same positive functions.

• if they avoid dysfunctions, they are more likely to evolve
• if they are not able to avoid dysfunctions they are less likely to evolve

Example: The functions of a sanitary department

• function: spare society infections, pestilence, or simply inconvenience.
• Question: functional alternative to a sanitary department
• Question: would be burning ones trash a functional alternative or a dysfunction?
  

Manifest Functions are known and intended by the actors.

Latent Functions are consequences that actors do not intend or know

Example: Manifest and latent functions of the rain dance performed by Hopi Indians.

Question: Other examples

Law enforcement:

• manifest function: keep law and order
• latent function:
• produce cohesion: Durkheim's Idea
• potential criminals now bully people who are declared being criminals
• create employment
• manifest function = function ?
  

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Problems with Functionalism:

• It protects the status quo.
  
• Functionalism assumes a homogeneity of interests.
  
• Functional arguments are generally used in a highly abstract macro perspective that does not deal with daily decisions of the individual.
  
• Functionalist explanations are circular.
  

Critique of circularity:

The cause is explained by its effect

Reason is found in its consequences

Original question: why does a society have a sanitary department

Functionalist answer: because it must have led to it's survival

Good Thing: Reasoning about functional alternatives and their alternative problems.

Combination of Functionalism with Conflict Theory

Herbert Gans asks more specific: Functional for whom?

How does it contribute to the well being of social groups or classes.

Differentiating between social classes and groups, Gans integrates the conflict perspective into the functional perspective.

Herbert Gans: The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All

Functions of Poverty

The Poor do the dirty work. They

• create jobs like pawnbrokers
• buy goods no one else wants
• can be identified and punished as alleged or real deviants
• keep wages low
• pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes
• and often receive less services
  
  

FIND EXAMPLES

Functional Alternatives

• automate dirty work
• decent wages
• redistribution of income

Functionalist question: What serves better the survival of society? The indicated function or their alternatives?

Conflict Question: why aren't the alternatives implemented

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3. Symbolic Interactionism

Mead, Heise Stryker

Three basic premises of Symbolic Interactionism:

A. Meaning: People act on the basis of their meaning.

B. Interaction: Meaning emerges in the interaction with others.

C. Interpretation: Meaning is not fixed and stable, but is modified by interpretation

A. Meaning:

Symbolic: In interaction we use language and facial or bodily expressions as symbols to express meaning.

Can you think about bodily expression that is used in an interaction and symbolizes a negative, negative meaning?

Example: Show the middle finger.

• This symbol is a clear insult.
• What does it mean in language terms?
• There is no direct language translation for this meaning. There can be a number of words that describe this symbol. However, they will have one thing in common: They refer to something that has a negative (E), potent (P) and expressive (A) meaning.

B. Learn Meaning through Interaction

We agreed on the meaning of this [show finger] symbol.

Well, how do you know?

C. Interpretation:

Meaning is not fixed and stable, but is modified by interpretation.

(Re-) Interpretation of Symbols

Self Meaning, or Identity

A very important form of meaning: Self meanings or identities.

We do not make up an identity, but learn about ourselves in interaction with others.

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Role identities are beliefs about ourselves in relation to

a) social categories (race, gender, age)

b) group membership (fraternity)

c) social roles (son, student, professor)

Measurements in Symbolic Interactionism (not in the book)

How to measure Identities?

    Evaluation: good, nice - bad, awful

    Potency: big, powerful - little, powerless

    Activity: fast, young, noisy - slow, old, quiet

These measures of affective meaning are referred to as EPA profiles.

Rational Choice

Weber divided the actions of humans into four categories.

Behavior is oriented towards:

1. Higher values (e.g. politics, ideologies)

2. Habit

3. Affect (Emotions) (e.g. falling in love)

4. Self-interest (e.g. money making)

·     instrumental actions

·     rational actions

Research of Rational Choice asked under what conditions is human behavior a rational response to opportunities and constrains.

Exchange theory (Homans)

Sees individuals as always seeking to maximize rewards from their interactions with others

Game Theory (Neumann & Morgenstern)

Mathematical accounts of decision –making behavior of two or more persons in situations where

a)   each has an limited choice of strategies

b)  the interests of each may be partly or wholly in conflict

c)   we can attach numerical values on the utility of outcomes

Postmodernism (Jean Baudrillard)

“Electronic communication and the mass media have reversed the Marxist theorem that economic forces shape society. Instead, social life is influenced above all by signs and images”(Giddens 2005:21)

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