Download social world

A tradition of skepticism…
RESPONDING TO CHAOS: A
BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY
In early history, people focused
their efforts on gaining an
understanding of the physical
world.
Inquiries into the physical world
 Ptolemy, 2nd century BCE
 Copernicus, 1500s CE
 Galileo, 1600s
 Newton, 1600s
 His laws explained the
movement of everything
visible in the universe
 But the church maintained
that it was God who
controlled the social world
But then people started to
speculate that maybe the
mysteries of the social world
could also be examined in a
scientific way!
First attempt: Auguste Comte,
1798-1857
 1842- coined the term
sociology
 Argued people no
longer understood the
way things ought to be
 Believed human greed
and selfishness
resulted in social chaos
 Humans suffered from
“intellectual anarchy”
First attempt: Auguste Comte,
1798-1857
 Believed social chaos
would be overcome
when people accepted
that knowledge should
be based on scientific
principles.
 Sociologists would use
the scientific method
and advise people
about how to live.
Origins of Modern Sociology:
France’s Emile Durkheim
 Even a society filled
with selfish people
would together
because we need each
other to survive.
 “Collective conscience”
 Worked for pre-modern
societies
 Modern society was
different
Origins of Modern Sociology:
France’s Emile Durkheim, 18581917
 In pre-modern society, people had been held
together because of their likeness, but in
modern society, held together by differences.
Origins of Modern Sociology:
France’s Emile Durkheim
 Paradox:
 In modern society we
want to be free but have
no choice but to keep
social ties
 Society’s structure forces
us to interact
Origins of Modern Sociology:
France’s Emile Durkheim
 Must focus on the
nature of society itself!
 Social phenomena do
exist!
 Social patterns do exist!
 Social facts do exist!
 Thus, his definition of
sociology: the scientific
study of social facts.
 Durkheim’s definition
of “social facts”manners of acting,
thinking, and feeling,
external to the
individual, which are
invested with a
coercive power by
virtue which they
exercise control over
him.
“social facts”- manners of acting, thinking, and
feeling, external to the individual, which are
invested with a coercive power by virtue which
they exercise control over him.
Test this definition!
Partner up and discuss:
Are norms truly social facts? Test this for
yourself. Does the rule or norm that one must
wear clothing to class qualify as a social fact
according to Durkheim’s definition? Explain why
or why not.
Origins of Modern Sociology:
Germany
 Ferdinand Tonnies,
1855-1936
 Agreed with Durkheim
but with a twist: he
wanted to understand
how social relationships
between people differed
in pre-modern and
modern societies
Tonnies concluded there are two
categories of social relationships:
“Gemeinschaft”
 Communal relationships
 Social relationships that
people enter into as ends in
and of themselves
 For emotional reasons
 He thought pre-modern
society was more like this.
“Gesellschaft”
 Goal-driven relationships
 Social relationships that
people enter into as means
to specific ends
 For the purpose of
achieving a goal
 He thought modern society
was more like this.
Thus, the type of the relationship
determines the rules of the relationship!
Test these definitions!
Partner up and discuss: Which of
the following types of
relationships are most likely to be
gemeinschaft? What about
gesellschaft?
a. Friend-friend
b. Wife-husband
c. Doctor-patient
d. Retailer- customer
e. Minister- parishioner
f. Parent-child
g. Worker-boss
Challenge question:
Generally, the banker-client relationship in modern society is
gesellschaft. Yet, from watching television advertisements for
banks, one might conclude that the banker-client relationship is
supposed to be gemeinschaft. For example, many banks seem to
make a big deal of claiming to be “friendly bankers” or “good
neighbors.”
Why would banks promote their services as gemeinschaft
rather than gesellschaft?
What, if any, danger is there in thinking of your relationship
with your banker as gemeinschaft when it is really gesellschaft?
Origins of Modern Sociology:
Germany
 Max Weber, 1864-1920
 Liked Tonnies ideas
about motives
 “Rational behavior:”
seeing each other as
means to an end;
rational as “calculating”
Individual think time:
 Think about two things you do for what
Weber would call rational reasons? In what
respect are your motives rational?
 Consider the flip side. Think about two things
you do for what Weber might consider nonrational reasons? In what respect are your
motives non-rational?
Weber observed that people choose
efficient, rational behaviors in
modern society.
 Also observed that
“society” looks down
upon those who simply
do things for enjoyment
(non-rational).
 Weber wanted to know
why society seemed to
drive us toward
“rational” behaviors
Origins of Modern Sociology:
Germany
 Karl Marx
 Did not see himself as a
sociologist!
 But, sociologists rank
him as completely
influential
 Economics mattered
 Class distinctions mattered
 Economics was the driving
force behind social
decisions
 Hence, a sociologist!
Origins of Modern Sociology:
England
 Herbert Spencer, 1820-
1903
 Believed societies
evolved
 His work published six
years BEFORE Darwin’s
 “Social Darwinism”
 Survival of the fittest
 Can be deadly premise
 His bottom line: the
competition to survive
will be won by “the
best”
Sociology in the United States
 US role in the field
came later than Europe
 1st course at Yale
 1st sociology dept. at
University of Chicago,
1892
 American Sociological
Association, 1905
Sociology in the United States
 Different approach
 Not focused on theories
 Focused on solving
specific social problems
 Jane Addams
 Social welfare reform (Hull
House)
 W.E.B. DuBois
 Racial inequalities & ethnic
differences
 Wrote to expose injustices
in order to remedy them
The Place of Sociology in Modern
Society
 Evolved to prominence
by the end of the 19th
century
 Social world viewed as
worthy of study
 By using scientific tools
we could make sense
of the social world.
 Skepticism continues
today…