Lecture 2 Overview of Sociological Theories 02 28 2014 Founding Theories August Comte 1798 1857 and Harriet Martineau translator o Social physics social laws social determinants o Positivism everything is discoverable Created sociology however beforehand people regarded society as a result of religion or biology Comte explained society according to social rules and physic This is related to natural sciences because it is objective and it contains the scientific method Classical Theories Karl Marx o Historical development capitalism is a social system that goes through distinct stages of development feudal capitalism egalitarianism or communism o History is driven by class conflict capitalists and workers capitalists trying to exploit the workers as much as possible and the workers trying to overthrow capitalists to create an alternative society Capitalists vs workers Socialism Max Weber o Verstehen understanding or insight People s ideas shape their actions Less interested in the economy but by understanding people s ideas of the world and how it shapes their actions Subjectivity it s not value free human beings are not completely objective o The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism Protestants have a notion of predestination in their theology You are confirmed to be an elect that you are allowed in heaven if you make and save money Emile Durkheim George Simmel o Anomie Alienation normlessness or isolation We are motivated by meanings and norms we get from society being connected and attached to particular groups Actions are driven by a condition of normlessness and meaninglessness For example suicide is most likely driven by feelings of alienation from a social group less suicide during war because of the feeling of nationalism during difficult times o Small group interactions and social forms small groups interactions shape everything the way in which people are organized matters Dyads vs Triads identities of people involved in groups changes when there are three or more people For example sexual relationships Jerry Seinfeld I m not an orgy guy Social dynamics change dramatically when you add one person to a dyad Lecture 2 Overview of Sociological Theories 02 28 2014 Dyads are the foundation of all other relationships Small groups are informal and large groups are formal and it requires hierarchy American Sociology The Chicago School W E B DuBois o Charles Cooley and the theory of The Looking Glass Self we get our sense of self in our identity through interactions with other people We imagine how others see us and you come to see yourself as others see you like that of a mirror self Self awareness and self is solidified if people regard you in that particular way There is no real of true self it only emerges through social interactions and adopting the position of the other o Double consciousness Cooley s theory needed to be modified because the Looking Glass Self is not the same for everyone For example if you were an African American in the early 20th century you are looked down upon because on one hand you have a consciousness of being a human being and on the other you are conscious of the negative perspective of outside society Two warring ideals in one body struggling to reconcile the two selves to be both at the same time Can be applied to other marginalized groups homosexuality or sexism Modern Sociological Theory Functionalism society is a system that explains things in the world in terms of how they function Functional society refers to the purpose of different institutions and what they give to society For example thief getting beheaded in public functions to solidify king s power and deter other people from stealing Moreover poverty there are positive functions 1 to keep wages low supply labors to be high 2 gives do gooders something to do o Student group functions to help familiarize students to college College universities act as institutions that Manifest to produce workers Latent matchmaker o Organisism every organ has a function to create a working body For example government brain media nervous system etc o Talcott Parsons everything in society has a function Especially the sex role theory in a traditional family Conflict Theory Marx society as a bunch of warring functions and people competing with each other Poverty is a competition among the social groups wherein higher class is winning o Student groups compete with one another for members funds etc Opposes and criticize functionalism Lecture 2 Overview of Sociological Theories 02 28 2014 Feminist Theory specifically see society as gender conflicts gender roles and gender structures o Student group may be dominated by men reinforcing patriarchy o Wage gap 77 cents to a dollar difference between women and men Symbolic Interactionism focuses on smaller face to face interactions meanings and impact of interactions Touches on American sociology o Student group determines how people relate to one another during meetings and how sense of self is reinforces identity QUIZ 1 Functionalism parties serve the purpose of allowing students to blow off steam and meet new people 2 Conflict Theory parties are places where people compete for attention 3 Feminist Theory parties are places where women fetch the men drinks Sociology and other disciplines Different from History History tends to talk about very unique events whereas sociology is much more interested in commonalities and patterns Sociology is more nomothetic looks for patters or general laws and comparative finding variance to explain outcomes o E g How Hitler came to power vs why people follow authoritarian leaders Different from Psychology Sociology interested in supra individual levels of analysis groups societies nations etc while psychology is more interested in individual level analysis o E g How did one person get depressed vs why there are different rates of depression among different groups Different from Biology sociobiological explanation usually refers to evolution However real sociologists think about the determinants of the result o E g Biologists would look for chemicals in the brain for depression vs explains the variation of chemicals between nations