SOC 101 Final

The Protestant Ethic by Weber

As a moral justification for the accumulation of private wealth

The Division of Labor (Durkheim)

Degree of specialization/differentiation throughout society, not just in the economy.

Doctrine of "Predestination" (Weber)

God's chosen or elect; the uncertainty of not knowing who is saved impels followers to look for signs of grace (i.e., wealth)

Durkheim on Two requirements of religion

(1) the separation of the sacred and profane (2) The development and renewal of religious community ("church") through periodic ceremonies that arouse "collective effervescence" (a collective sense of excitement or ecstasy that carries individuals out of the profane world into the sacred world). >>>This intense mood usually renews faith in traditional religious beliefs, but in rare instances it can transform beliefs and arouse new ideas of the sacred

Types of Stratification/Hierarchy: Weber's three-dimensional model of stratification (as opposed to Marx's one-dimensional approach)

(1)Class: people belong to the same class when they share the same economic life chances, or opportunities and income, and when they have a common relation to the labor market, whether they buy or sell labor. Weber's usage of the concept of class is much broader than Marx's because it is not restricted to ownership or non-ownership to the means of production, and includes income, occupation, and education as important indicators of "class situation." Marx held that property ownership was the one and only index of class. (2) Status: includes every aspect of life that is determined by the, positive or negative, social allocation of honor, or prestige. This honor may be bestowed according to any quality prized by a group, or to property ownership. Again, while one's class situation does not always warrant status distinctions, it usually does with remarkable consistency. The crucial requirement of status groups is not wealth, but life-style, including similar tastes, interests, and customs. Weber summed up the difference between classes and status groups as thus: classes are stratified according to their relations to the production of goods, whereas status groups are stratified according to their consumption of goods, as reflected in their life-styles. Status is the basis of most of group life in society; people are most likely to organize into group along status line; class is a very weak basis for organization. (3) Party: parties are the organized representatives of class or status-based groups. But unlike classes which aspire to wealth, and status groups which aspire to prestige, political parties aspire to power. Weber's conception of party includes our contemporary notion of political party, but is broader, and encompasses any group which strives for a goal in a planned and organized manner.

What is a social fact? Why do they matter? What are some examples of social facts that you can think of? (Durkheim)

(a) A social fact is a force that has an impact on the behavior of individuals (p.43). They matter because they serve as a form of constraint, ensuring that people are behaving in an orderly manner that benefits society as a whole. Social facts pave the path for individuals to function well, which will then benefit society later when they interact with others. Social facts can include established beliefs and practices such as education, legal and moral regulations, religious faiths, financial systems (p. 44). (b) Cultural norms and values, transcends the individual, norms tell us how to behave appropriately. They are capable of restraining/contraining individual behavior. >>> Example: You do not walk out naked every morning

What is the relationship, if any, between structures/agency and social facts? (Durkheim)

(a) Social Fact: " Since the examples that we have just cited (legal and moral regulations, religious faiths, financial systems, etc.) all consist of established beliefs and practices, one might be led to believe that social facts exist only where there is some social organization. But there are other facts without such crystal- lized form which have the same objectivity and the same ascendency over the individual. These are called "social currents." (pg. 44) Much of the social facts we find are in structures. (b) Think of social currents as social trends that influence changes in the institution. (c) Agency is free will and an individual's choice; pg. 45- Child Rearing Durkheim does not factor free will/ agency/ individualism as a big factor

Is possible for mechanical solidarity to occur in modern society? Why or why not? (Durkheim)

(a) Yes. It is still possible for mechanical solidarity to exist in modern society, but not common. For example, we see (b) According to Durkheim, a traditional society is associated with mechanical solidarity and a modern society is associated with organic solidarity. Because these relationships are not exclusive, more specifically, solidarity in traditional society is more mechanical than organic and in modern society is more organic than mechanical. The characteristic of a society's solidarity is not discrete but on a spectrum, so in a modern society, components of a mechanical solidarity can exist. (c) Mechanical- societies are homogeneous and individuals are similar (d) Organic- social differentiation and individual freedom increase. Increased division of labor

Types of Authority (Weber)

(a) charismatic - social order based on an individual's ability to use emotion to foster loyalty. (b) traditional - social order based on the respect for and commitment to past social relations (go with what you know and what is familiar) (c) rational-legal/bureaucratic - social order based on the respect for rules and procedures, not people. Under the rule of law, individuals are treated equally without bias. Access to wealth, status, and power is based on rules that reward individuals on merit or competency that can be precisely measured. Behavior becomes increasingly bound by rules and procedures (red-tape), which makes life more predictable and less spontaneous.

Types of Suicide by Durkheim

(a) egoistic - detachment from society deprives individuals of meaning: varies by religious affiliation, education attainment, and marital status/children (b) altruistic - self sacrifice for the group; excessive commitment to social groups and loss of individual identity (c) anomic - loosening of social control deprives individuals of guidance and self-discipline: economic sources: boom or bust; and conjugal or loosening of marital restraints

How are the spirit of capitalism and Puritan worldly asceticism the same? In what way does the spirit of capitalism differ from Puritan worldly asceticism?

- A similarity would be the ethos of work. You work hard in a Puritan society to get to heaven and do the work of God. In a capitalist society, you work hard to have money. - The difference between the two is religion. You work hard in both models, but the end goal is different; in Puritan worldly asceticism, you work hard to go to heaven and in capitalism, you work hard for money.

According to Weber, what is a "status group"? How does property relate to status group? How do status groups relate to the social order?

- A status group is a phenomena of the distribution of power within a community. It is composed of people whose fate is not determined by using goods or services for themselves on the market; rather, it is a group of people who can be differentiated on the basis of non-economic qualities. >>> Both propertied and propertyless people can belong to the same status group. - Property is not always recognized as a status qualification, but in the long run it is one. The richest man is very often the leader. - Status groups are created and supported by social structure. They would not be possible without it. Social groups then influence the social order of the society. - Old money, new money - you can be high class and low status

What is Durkheim referring to when he talks about anomie and anomic suicide?

- Anomie - a breakdown of social bonds between a person and his/her community; the disjuncture between the cultural emphasis of goals and the means to achieve them -Periods of anomie cause deregulation of desires and suffering; as an expression of suffering, societies and groups experience an increase in suicide. - - Anomie is the condition of social deregulation, and anomic suicide is the resulting type of self-inflicted death. >>> Repeated alienation. - Society provides little moral guidance - Durkheim explains suicide as a social phenomenon as opposed to an individual problem

How does Weber define "classes"? How does property relate to class? How do communal and societal action relate to class? -P 40

- Class is expressed as a group of people found in the same economic situation >>> When a number of people share a causal component of their life chances, these chances arise from similar economic interests, and these economic interests are shaped by economic order - Property and lack of property are considered to be the "basic categories of all class situations" - P.40 >>> Property derives power in trade. The acquisition of goods is monopolized by property owners trade with those with goods and thus trade within themselves. Propertyless workers are limited to what their labor or product or their labor can purchase and thus divides them from acquiring power through owning property. - Communal and societal action relate to class in that they both have a correlation to "class situation" P. 41 - Class (economic) economy creates class Status (social) >>> Class and status and distinct from each other >>> You can get a lot of money but you are still in low status - Party/power (political)

How does Weber define "power" and "economic power"? How does he distinguish between the two?

- Defines economic power is a derivative of power stating that it is "the consequence of power existing on other grounds". - Economic power is by no means a recognized basis of social honor - Power is not the only basis of social honor - Social honor can be the basis of economic power - Legal order can enhance power or honor - Power is not just about money

What are the characteristics of mechanical solidarity?(Durkheim) pp. 39-40

- Elements of traditional society, i.e. feudal, pre-modern, traditional - Binds the individual directly to society without any intermediary. - Society is a more or less organized totality of beliefs and sentiments common to all the members of the group. - Mechanical solidarity can only be strong if the ideas and tendencies common to all the members of a society are greater in number and intensity than those which pertain to each member of the society personally. - Fewer the personalities, the greater the society - Individual does not appear. Individuality is possessed by the society. Personal rights are not distinguished from real rights.

What are Durkheim's views on religion and its purpose in society.

- Religion plays an important function in society because it unifies groups and acts as a source of solidarity within societies. - Religion creates collective social norms and morals that all members of a society follow which acts as a form of social control. Religion creates a sense of purpose for people and reinforces principles and norms that maintain order, organization, and social cohesion. - Individuals who are more religious are also "less likely to commit suicide than non-religious people because they are integrated into the religious community with a sense of purpose and meaning" (Jepson's notes). - As you become more scientific and individualistic, you become less religious and lose that collectiveness. - Religion is a collective conscience Sacred, beliefs and practices and a moral community

Organic Solidarity (Durkheim)

- Social ties based on differentiation of tasks; - social differences increase but people become more interdependent because of their mutually reciprocal self interests - high degree of specialization (i.e., a society of "experts"). - People relate to each other on the basis of self-interest; human relations become less emotional and values become relative. - ----- Characteristic of large, complex, modern, secular, urban communities.

Why does Durkheim claim that "...nearly all great social institutions have been born in religion"?

- Society cannot make an influence unless it is a society in action - This action that leads people to collective ideas and sentiments are dominate in religious life - Religion is one institution that came first and it gave rise to other institutions. >>> Ideas of marriage tend to come from religion

According to Weber, what constitutes the ethos of capitalism?

- The ethos of capitalism consists of being able to obtain renewable profit. -Philosophy of avarice fits into this because in the article it mentions how: one must fulfill one's calling, which leads to making money, don't enjoy it (don't consume), and reinvest it to make more profit. By restricting consumption and encouraging acquisition of wealth we can see the presence of greed (aka the philosophy of avarice).

What does Weber mean by the term iron cage? How does this relate to capitalism? Explain in your own words and select a passage that demonstrates this point.

- The iron cage contains a set of laws that limits the freedom of people. - It is influenced by the economy - The concept of the iron cage was used by Weber to describe how religious ideas were used for the development of economic spirit or the ethos of the economic system. Under the teachings of Calvinism and Puritanism, we are taught that wasting time is one of the most deadly sins and that we are morally condemned to dedicate hours and hours to labor "for the glory of god" (520). - It is like a hamster wheel, you can't get out of it. - Capitalist society and materials influence society.

Totemism (Durkheim)

- The worship of plants and animals which serve as "collective representations" (symbols) of the social life of clans. - The profane beast only becomes sanctified as a totem after it is invested or endowed with sacred meanings; meanings that the clan reveres and that define what it means to be a member. - Totemism is, therefore, the first and simplest expression of humans separating the sacred from the profane. The entire social order of the clan is symbolized or idealized by this totem.

How does Weber define "parties," and how do they relate to class and status groups?

- Weber defines parties as organizations of power. Parties are influential and present in class and status groups because power influences socially, economically and politically. They use their powers to maintain power and the status that they themselves define. Their actions can represent interests determined through class and status situations. >>> Party is political, there are class elements within the party → ie. associate republicans as wealthy

What are the characteristics of organic solidarity? (Durkheim)

- a division of labor, "Occupations are infinitely separated and specialized, not only inside the factories, but each product is itself a specialty dependent upon others" (38) - There is a steady shift toward the improvement of machines or industrialization as well as concentrations of power and capital - With extreme division of labor, people will come to terms with the infinite diversity that exists in society and realize that they depend on each other for a functional society - It is also explained that laws, administrative, and governmental action are impactful when it comes to governing more complex and diverse societies - The government is compared to the nervous system of the body, meaning that it regulates other institutions. - "Under organic solidarity, we don't have to like each other to live together; we just have to need each other. " - Industrial: large, complex, diverse societies in which the members perform highly specialized tasks, thus more interdependent

Why does Durkheim use Religion on anomic suicide?

- in general, religious people are less likely to commit suicide than non-religious people because they are integrated into the religious community with a sense of purpose and meaning - Protestants are more at risk because they are less integrated into the religious community (fewer rituals and ceremonies, and no Priesthood to attach them to faith) -amount of integration varies - according to the faith one follows

The sweep of "rationalization"

- rationalization as the dominant feature (modus operandi) of history, but unlike Marx, Durkheim, Spencer, or Comte, this historical tendency is not necessarily progressive or benevolent. - The relentless sweep of rational legal bureaucratic authority can be dehumanizing and alienating. Weber replaces Marx's capitalist with the bureaucrat/administrator/manager as the dominant oppressor. - Moreover, unlike Marx, Weber envisions no way out of this "iron cage" of bureaucracy that increasingly imprisons humanity. Weber paints a dark portrait of the future, which he characterized as the "disenchantment" of life. Socialism does triumph, but a bureaucratic socialism devoid of freedom and democracy, and run by petty bureaucrats and technocrats ("experts") with small obedient minds. - Life becomes bland, routine, and impersonal; sentiment, emotion, morality, creativity, and spontaneity are sacrificed at the altar of efficiency;

Durkheim on Religion

- religion as the worship of society, and as the primary source of social integration; - religions and religious doctrines serve as models ("idealizations") of a group's social relations.

Durkheim on Suicide

- sociological issue, as opposed to a psychological problem. - Suicide has the characteristics of a "social fact." - Suicidal "social currents" are external to and constraining on the individual. - Defined as a social pathology resulting from the weakening or failure of the integrative and regulatory functions of society (i.e., lack of attachment to society and lack of control by society)

Prohibition on consumption (Weber)

- wealth is accumulated for the greater glorification of God; indulging in wealth and the goods it can purchase is vanity and self-glorification before God. - This prohibition unleashes enormous economic growth, since the profits are invested back into the firm; the capitalist "investment cycle" is born.

The effects of urban life on the personality (Simmel)

1. Urban living promotes the "money culture," and the money culture promotes the "calculating character." 2. The "blase" attitude is a necessary adaptation to urban life a) dualism of city life: it both over-stimulates and desensitizes people. 3. Urbanism also fosters intellectual detachment, as well as tolerance and acceptance of difference. City dwellers are less passionate and sentimental about their group ties; like Durkheim proposed, moral (mechanical) solidarity gives way to self interest

The "Tragedy" of Culture (Simmel)

Objective culture stifles subjective culture; the individual's creative capacity is limited and overwhelmed by society

Why does Durkheim use occupation on anomic suicide?

Occupation (lecture) - higher anomie among the poor in the societies where class divisions are greatest and are visible to one another = USA - poor are able to see what everyone else above them has via TV and advertisements but are able to lower their standards so they don't suffer as much anomie - rich suffer from anomie because they have no limits - no one above them >>> they keep purchasing but can never buy enough to make them happy >>> they become lost in their endless insatiable desires.

Mechanical Solidarity (Durkheim)

Social ties based on similarities, on a homogenous community, on shared tasks, values, customs, beliefs; low degree of specialization. Characteristic of small, simple, rural, religious, pre-industrial communities.

Subjective or Individual Culture (creative capacity of the individual - the "soul") vs. Objective Culture. "Reification" of individual culture (George Simmel)

Subjective culture is separated from the individual and becomes a fixed and permanent object of society - similar to Durkheim's "social facts" and "collective representations."

Inner-worldly asceticism (Weber)

a. a devotion to building God's kingdom on earth through daily labor; a practical expression of faith through a lifetime of ceaseless and efficient labor. Because one is laboring for God, waste and inefficiency are sinful; maximization of productivity, cost-cutting, and rational accounting methods (that account for every penny spent and earned) become spiritual endeavors

Collective conscience (Durkheim)

beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of society." a. "repressive" v. "restitutive" law indicates the power and the scope of the collective conscience in society

Other-worldly asceticism (Weber)

characteristic of eastern religions and not conducive to the rise of capitalism.

Why does Durkheim use marriage/divorce on anomic suicide?

married people are less likely to commit suicide because marriage attaches you to another person and puts limits and control on life and gives you more purpose in life, other people in their life to worry about and to think about

Money and its effects on social relationships (Simmel)

money is the great "leveler," reducing all values to monetary value or dollars and cents. The distinct, particular, and unique are homogenized by money; the sacred become the profane, and people only see each other as a means to end, as instruments of self-interest.

Spirituality through transcendental meditation/prayer (Weber)

removing oneself from mundane earthly life to get closer to God. The cloistered monk is thus closest to God. Economic activity and labor are not sanctified; viewed merely as necessary to sustain the body, but are inconsequential to the soul.

Moral justification of for economic inequality through protestantism (Weber)

the haves and have-nots on earth represent the those who are saved and not saved; the social order reflects the heavenly order.