Soc Theory Exam 2
Weber's definition of power
"the chance of a man or of a number of men to realize their own will in a social action even against the resistance of others . . ."
Du Bois's Double Consciousness
"this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder"
How did Weber differ from Marx?
1. social life did not evolve according to some necessary law (Marx said things would happen in a particular way & develop class consciousness, Weber said maybe) 2. development of societies not explained on basis of a single casual mechanism (Weber said it's not capitalism/class struggle, it was also rationalization) 3. rationalization and increasing dominance of bureaucracies threatened to destroy creativity and individuality (Marx said alienation)
Weber's The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism
A religious belief system paradoxically fueled creation of a secular world: "material goods have gained an increasing and finally an inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous period in history" - Weber: extraordinary methodical attitude of Protestant asceticism integral to the rise of Western capitalism
Weber's The Bureaucratic Machine Characteristics
- Essential to modern life - hierarchy of authority - written rules - officials full-time & salaried - separation between organization & life outside - no members own the resources
Goffman's Face Work - Line
- In social encounters, the pattern of verbal and nonverbal acts by which we express our view of the situation - you maintain face when the line presents an image that is internally consistent, supported by the judgements and evidence conveyed by others - Out of face when participating in a contact with others without having a ready line of the kind of participants are expected to have
Weber's types of social action
- Instrumental-rational action - value-rational action - affective action - traditional action - seeking to understand the states of mind or motivations that guide individuals' behavior - multiple can be applied to
How did Simmel view urban life and its consequences for inhabitants? How do we adapt? (The Metropolis and Mental Life)
- Intensity of stimuli created by the urban environment -> Consequences for psychology of city dwellers. - Metropolitan life: people bombarded, leads to intellectualized approach to life (compared to small town life: slower; emotional bonds)
Mead's pragmatism
- Meaning of objects or social interaction is rooted in action, in everyday practical conduct, not in an element intrinsic to the object or event in question. - Changes depending on interaction and context. ex: chair can be used for sitting or as a table
John Calvin & Richard Baxter
- Meaning of the calling transformed, interpreted as God's commandment to work for divine glory. - Success & profit taken as divinely granted proof of one's state of grace. - Wealth confirmation of salvation only if no idleness or enjoyment of luxuries. - Profit when economic pursuits carried out with methodical & rational planning. - Ascetic restrictions on consumption combined with compulsion to increase wealth. - Ethical imperative to save & invest wealth -spiritual foundation for spread of capitalism. Need capital to show that you work hard & materially successful, but don't spend money on yourself -> heaven
Georg Simmel - Individual in Modern Society
- Modern, urban societies allow individuals to cultivate unique talents & interests, but also lead to a "tragic"leveling of the human spirit. - modern individual has separate relationships that tie to work, family, community, creative pursuits or hobbies, and to religious & ethnic identity. - Simmel speaks of the tragedy where "objective culture"—the products of human creativity—comes to dominate individual will or "subjective culture."
What are the types of rationality, as described by Ritzer? (Kivisto) *not on final exam*
- Practical rationality: people's mundane, day-to-day activities and reflects their worldly interest (action) - Theoretical rationality: logical deduction, attribution of causality, and the arrangement of symbolic meaning (cognitive) - Substantive rationality: cluster of values that guide people in their daily lives, especially in their choice of means to ends - Formal rationality: rational calculation of means to ends based on universally applied rules, regulations, and laws
Martin Luther
- Protestant Reformers insisted each individual must strive to realize a moral & righteous life & constantly devote to the glorification of God (individualism) - each individual has a calling ("life-task") - idea rooted in religious quest for salvation
Asceticism & Austerity
- the idea that through renouncing worldly pleasures it's possible to achieve a higher spiritual or intellectual state - self-denial, refraining from world pleasures
Mead's Self - "Me"
- the objective - created, sustained, modified, and stable - indirect - "organized set of attitudes of others which one himself assumes." - The individual self is a social product rooted in our perceptions of how others interpret our behaviors
Mead's Self - "I"
- the subject - unconsciousness?? - creative aspect of one's self; sparks personal & cultural innovation - I" reacts to the "me;" "the response of the [individual] to the attitudes of the others."
Mead's significant symbols
- words & gestures that have the same meaning for all involved in a social act. - used to ensure proper interpretation of your actions
George Ritzer's "The McDonaldization of Society" *not on final exam*
Principles of rationality - McDonaldization -efficiency - calculability - predictability - control through automation - occurs when society, its institutions, and its organizations are adapted to have the same characteristics that are found in fast-food chains
Wilson's "Global Economic Changes and the Limits of the Race Relations Vision"
Race and class were organizing structures, causes of inequality, and still are - the world is more of a globalized economy now, but double consciousness, racism, inequality, poverty remain
Weber on basic theoretical continuum
collective, rational
Social Action
human conduct oriented towards others and based on social meaning given to that conduct
Georg Simmel on basic theoretical continuum
individual, non rational
Verstehen
interpretive understanding - understanding of meanings individuals assign, & consequences that meanings have for their conduct
Goffman's Face Work
involves people trying to maintain or save an image or face/ Impression Management - Face: the positive social value a person claims by the lines others assume he has taken during a contact or an encounter - Others can help us maintain face and avoid destroying face
affective action
marked by impulsiveness or display of emotions. NOT calculated weighing of means for end - individual, non-rational - ex: an emotional reason to go to college
Mead basic theoretical continuum
nonrational, individual
Goffman saw social reality as a __
performed event, dependent on components of theater - roles, scripts, costumes, stages, impression management, role conflict
Rationalization
process in which interaction and institutions become governed by procedures and rules (creates bureaucracy) - science provides technological advances that allow us to address how to do things more efficiently, but it doesn't provide us with a set of meanings and values
instrumental-rational action
pursuit of goals through calculating advantages & disadvantages (costs and benefits) of possible means for realizing them - individual, RATIONAL - ex: going to college to increase earning potential
Weber's The Types of Legitimate Domination
rational/legal authority, traditional authority, charismatic authority
value-rational action
selection of means to effectively achieve one's goals; an end in itself, not as a means for achieving an ulterior goal - individual, non-rational - ex: thinking it's good to get a college degree
Features ensure technical superiority of bureaucracies:
(1) authority is hierarchically structured. (2) competitive selection of personnel, based on merit. (3) specialized division of labor - efficient completion of tasks. (4) governed by rules that regulate all facets of the organization. - Bureaucracies depend on mass democracy, but also create new "experts" and technocrats. - Bureaucratic rules & procedures -> loss of individual freedom
Georg Simmel - Individual in Modern Society - Properties of Money
(1) increases individual freedom (2) makes interaction more impersonal (3) emphasizes intellect rather than emotion (4) speeds the tempo of life (5) allows specialization and personal development
Ideal types
- "Pure" categories that can serve analytical constructs/real life cases can be compared - given behavior or course of conduct is likely to exhibit characteristics of more than one type of social action
Du Bois's Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage
- An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America 1860-1880 - ???
Du Bois talented tenth
- Believed that burden for winning freedom & justice for all African Americans fell on those best prepared, educationally & economically & they should lead fight against racial discrimination - "the better classes of (African Americans) should recognize their duty toward the masses"
DuBois's view of the source of African American problems
- Black individuals' own role in creating poverty, alcoholism, and criminality - criticized the Black community - Black parents for not reinforcing education, the Black Church for not combating "social corruption" & "moral decay," the "the usual substratum of loafers and semi-criminals who will not work.
Class, Status, Party definition
- Class - people who share "life chances" or possibilities determined by "economic interests in possession of goods & opportunities for income." - Status - determined by "a specific, positive or negative, social estimation of honor" - Party - characterized by strategic pursuit of goals and maintenance of staff capable of implementing objectives. "parties reside in the sphere of power" inside the "legal order."
Georg Simmel - "Conflict"
- Conflict is inevitable, and in many ways beneficial - Development of a sense of self AND creation of group unity depends on conflict - Without a common crisis or obstacle, no basis for: cooperation, group feelings, "harmony of interest" - These are unifying forces that make society possible.
Mead's Mind
- Controlling one's behavior through thinking is a social process - the mind "emerges" as we point out to others & to ourselves the meaning of things
DuBois the Veil
- Darker skin, physical demarcation of difference of Blacks from whiteness - Whites' lack of clear view of Blacks as true Americans - Blacks' lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what whites say they are and should be.
Georg Simmel - society
- Society is something individuals do as they influence each other. - Society & individuals that compose it are interdependent. - Main task of sociology is to uncover basic forms of interaction.
Du Bois Colorline
- The color line is both a preexisting social and cultural structure and an internalized attitude. - "the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea" - ex: segregated drinking fountains
Mead's Self - "play" & "game"
- The play stage - ability to assume the attitude of only one particular individual at a time. - In the game stage, the child is able to move beyond simply taking the role of particular others and assume the roles of multiple others simultaneously.
Weber's - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Iron Cage
- ascetic ideals of Protestant ethic applied to practical affairs of economic activity & social life -> rationalization, creating an "iron cage" from which there is little power to escape. - Dominance of capitalism & bureaucratic forms of organization: collective force determining life-chances
traditional authority
- authority of "eternal yesterday," rests on an "established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions" This is the rule of kings and tribal chieftains - collective, non-rational
Mead's meaning
- defined meaning as a "three-fold relationship" between: (1) an individual's gesture (2) the response by another to that gesture - A gesture is meaningful only if it elicits the desired, intended response from the other person. (3) the completion of the social act initiated by the gesture of the first individual.
charismatic authority
- demands for obedience are legitimated by leader's "gift of grace," which is demonstrated by extraordinary feats, acts of heroism, or revelations (miracles). Like traditional authority, loyalty is owed to the person, not to an office or bureaucratic position - individual, non-rational
Mead's Self- "generalized other"
- describes a situation where people participate in interactions both as themselves and also as the other person or people, with this process of the constant interaction between the I and Me, the self emerges - collective average of other people's views - "Roles organized according to rules" brings the attitudes of all participants together - organized set of attitudes common in a group. Responding to ourselves from the point of view of the whole community makes possible the coordination of diverse activities in large groups or institutions - also able to realize more abstract ideals (freedom, rights, & justice)
How did Simmel think value was created and determined?
- determined by interaction; actors weigh their desire for the goods against amount of sacrifice required. - Value is created out of "distance"that separates desire from satisfaction, and willingness to sacrifice something in order to overcome that distance.
What type of research did DuBois do?
- empirical studies - interpretive essays - political essays
Georg Simmel "Exchange"
- every interaction could be understood as a form of exchange - in economic exchange: relates to creation of value - sacrifice separates economic forms of exchange from more general exchange interactions
Alexander's "The New Jim Crow"
- mass incarceration keeps the color line alive - denial of the right to vote, exclusion from jury service, employment discrimination, housing discrimination - caste system? (harder for upward mobility)
Symbolic Interactionism
- people act toward things based on the meanings that they have for them, and these meanings are derived from their interaction with other people. These meanings are managed and transformed through the processes of interpretations and self-reflections that individuals use to make sense and handle things that they encounter - i.e meaning comes from interaction and interpretation - social interaction is important - meaning is constructed by others and the individual
Collins's "Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination"
- race, class, and gender are interlocking systems of oppression -
Cooley's Looking Glass Self
- self-conscious - we perceive ourselves through the eyes of others 1. imagining our appearance to the other 2. imagining the other's judgment of our appearance 3. emotional response to the imagined judgment (pride, mortification)
Georg Simmel - Social Types, "The Stranger"
Being assigned or identified as a type of individual: a product of one's relationship to others (social role). -Relationship of "the stranger"to the group: rooted in synthesis of opposites: "wandering"and "attachment" - The stranger is "close" to us - we share commonalities (nationality, gender, race). But these connect us with many others, so the stranger is indistinct or "remote." - stranger's mobility within a group makes the position a "synthesis of nearness and remoteness ex: Jewish people in Europe were often restricted to "mobile" occupations such as trading and finance, because not permitted to own property/land.
Mead's view of self vs Cooley's
Both - we take the attitudes of others toward ourselves. - Mead's idea more elaborate: people participate in interactions as themselves and also as the other person/people. - Cooley: self-image stable if we imagine everyone else has same judgment, or wildly fluctuating because they don't
Charismatic Leaders
Capable of offering their followers purpose and direction in their lives - sparked from people searching for meaning which was the essence of the human condition
Georg Simmel - "Fashion"
Fashion: duality - individuation and group membership (expression of individuality AND of conformity) - Upper classes use fashion to distance themselves from lower classes. - Lower classes imitate those above them; upper classes seek out alternative forms of fashion
Blase Attitude (Simmel)
a psychological device that protects the individual from becoming overwhelmed by intensity of city life.
Weber's sociology
a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects
Weber's Class, Status, Party
aka property, prestige, & power
rational-legal authority
based on rule of law. Legitimacy rests "on a belief in the legality of enacted rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue commands" - collective, rational
traditional action
behaviors determined by habit or custom; conduct shaped by adherence to established routines - individual, non-rational - ex: people in your family get a college degree
