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This Week
• The three “perspectives” of Sociology
• Alienation as an example of theory
Theory
The Framework of Sociology
Sociological Theory
Origins of Sociology
Henri Saint-Simon
August Comte
Emile Durkheim
Functionalist Perspective
Political Economy
Max Weber
Karl Marx
Interactionist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Sociological Theory
Oversimplified
Origins of Sociology
Henri Saint-Simon
August Comte
Emile Durkheim
Functionalist Perspective
Structural Functionalism
Political Economy
Max Weber
Karl Marx
Interactionist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Idealism
Materialism
Sociological
Perspectives
• The “story” of Sociology tends to be placed in boxes.
• While sociologists are associated with certain
perspectives, they are more complex that your text
suggests.
• To make it easy to understand, Sociology is divided
into “perspectives.”
Sociological
Perspectives
• Conflict
– Society changes as a result of struggles of various groups
against each other.
• Interactionist
– The world is socially constructed - meaning that we interpret
the world around us and act based on those interpretations.
• Functionalist
– The elements of society are understood by their role
(function) in maintaining society.
Karl Marx
• Lived from 1818 to
1883
• Political Economist
• Studied Philosophy
• Associated with the
Conflict Perspective
Marx and Political
Economy
• Marx criticized political economy of his
time.
• Political Economists Like David Ricardo
and Adam Smith ignored the detrimental
impact of capitalism on workers.
Classes
• Classes arise out of the ability of one group to
take what some else produces.
– Slave owners take the slaves’ labor and what they produce.
– Feudal lords take what peasants produce.
– Workers under capitalism receive wages instead of what
they produce.
Two Classes
• Capitalists and Workers are bound
together by their relationship.
– Capitalists want more production from the
workers.
– Workers want more wages for the work
they do.
Conflict Perspective
• Marx argued that the purpose of studying society is to
better understand it and change it for the better.
• The Conflict Perspective follows this tradition by
studying conflicts and inequalities between groups.
– Ethnic Conflict
– Gender Inequality
• The Conflict Perspective also suggests changes.
– Informs public policy decisions.
– Studies and participates in social movements.
Max Weber
• Lived from 1864 to
1920
• Historical
Sociologist
• Critical of Marxists
• Associated with
Interactionist
Perspective
Critical of Marxists
• Weber criticized the simplistic view of
Marxists during his time.
– However, Weber, as well as so-called
Marxists oversimplified Marx.
– Weber actually followed Marx’s historical
sociology approach.
Sociology as Science
• Weber opposed Marx’s view that
Sociology should actively promote
change.
• Weber felt Sociology should have “value
neutrality” and be an objective science.
Verstehen
• Weber also argued that Sociologists should
attempt to study their subjects deeply.
• Research should attempt to find the multiple
causes of a social issue.
• Sociology is different from “natural” sciences
in that it is “interpretive.”
Interactionist Perspective
• The focus on interpretation in the concept of
Verstehen is the link between Weber and the
Interactionist Perspective.
• The Interactionist Perspective attempts to understand
the meanings people associate with their social
actions and the social institutions around them.
– How do people define themselves?
• Ethnicity
• Gender
Emile Durkheim
• Lived from 1858 to
1917
• Wanted to make
Sociology a science.
• Concerned with what
held society together
• Associated with the
Functionalist
Perspective
Social Facts
• Durkheim argued that Sociologists should
study “social facts” instead of philosophy and
moral arguments.
• Social facts are material and non-material
things created by people.
– Material social facts are laws, art, technology, etc.
– Non-material social facts are values, morality, etc.
Integration into Society
• Social institutions help integrate people
into society.
• Some institutions are better than others.
– Durkheim used the example of religion to
explain Suicide.
• Catholics committed suicide less than
Protestants because the Protestants had
greater freedom in their religion.
Functionalist Perspective
• Durkheim’s analysis of the role of institutions to
integrate people into society demonstrated the
“function” of social institutions.
• People who follow the Functionalist Perspective
attempt to demonstrate how different social
institutions provide a function for society.
– Law enforcement and courts plays the function of controlling
unwanted behavior.
– Religion performs the function of a sense of community.
– Education socializes students to be good workers.
Sociological
Perspectives
• Conflict (Marx)
– Society changes as a result of struggles of various groups
against each other.
• Interactionist (Weber)
– The world is socially constructed - meaning that we interpret
the world around us and act based on those interpretations.
• Functionalist (Durkheim)
– The elements of society are understood by their role
(function) in maintaining society.
Your Job
• What do you like about your job?
– What do think are the positive elements of
a good job?
• What do you hate about your job?
– What are the worst things about a bad job?
Alienation
• According to Karl Marx, there are 4
forms of alienation.
– Product
– Process
– Species Being
– Others
Alienation from Product
• Estrangement from the things we make
– The things we make do not belong to us.
– As the worker produces, they are debilitated.
• Estrangement from nature
– Workers do not engage environment directly.
– Products take on a life of their own.
Alienation from Process
• The mental aspect is stripped from labor.
– People do not have control over their work.
• People do not meet their needs directly.
– Work is a means to earn wages.
– Wages are used to buy the things we need.
Alienation from Others
• Relations between people become relations
between people and objects.
– No longer meet our needs through people we
know.
• People treat each other as workers, not as
fellow people.
Alienation from Species
Being
• What it means to be a social being is
lost in wage work.
– The ability to be creative in what we make
is stripped away.
– The social nature of making things is taken
away since we usually do not know who
ends up with the things we make.