Social Test 3
Functional authority Charismatic
(power based on personality and the ability to attract followers, charisma attributed to them by followers) challenges existing social order, Examples: Cult Leaders, Christ, Hitler, - authority invested in the individual Weber claims ("Politics as a vocation") that Britain often produces charismatic politicians due to the debating parliamentary system.
Marx's Critique of Religious Alientation
- Religion is human invention/institution - "Man makes religion, religion does not make men" - Gives comfort to lower classes: escapism, illusion, promises of life to come, ameliorate troubles of life - Helps upper class maintain control (justifies social oppression of lower classes, suppresses revolutionary impulses) - Religion is human made - Alienation: we give too much credit to God - Projection - Religion comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable
Slavery
- Second mode of production - Occurred after Neolithic revolution: agriculture, raising cattle, beginning of food hoarding - Food surpluses mean some have power over others, results in slavery - Beginning in Ancient Rome, Greece, Egpyt - Survived until Modern Time, including US - To motivate slaves, have to keep half of production: people are interested in getting goods for family - TWO CLASSES: Masters & Slaves
Technology
- according to Marx, the possibility of human freedom is enhanced by the development of technology. Although such progress makes it possible to meet subsistence needs more easily, the real significance of technology for Marx is that it can increase human self-determination. In a subsistence economy, if humans were to attain a full understanding of their position in the world, they would have no option but to acknowledge the inescapable and miserable conditions of their existence. In societies with sophisticated technology, however, subjects have a real chance to humanize the world. According to Marx, an individual should - and can - be the measure of all things.
Productive forces
- productive forces permit subjects to act on, and to transform, the material world ... 1. Labor power: the mental and physical capabilities of the human subject to perform useful work 2. The means of production: tools, machines, water power, steam power, and nuclear power 3. The raw materials of production: coal, iron ore, and uranium. - the social relations of production are the relations among individuals with respect to the ownership of productive forces. In their legal form, relations of production are property relations. - Marx believed that the development of productive forces was at the root of social progress. He also believed that such development compelled subjects to objectify themselves in radically new forms by transforming their modes of self-understanding.
Marxian model of the productive process
-Planning What are you going to make The supplies needed to make Related to the other steps -Manifest production Man- hand The hands on process Creating goods Education- going to class The shop floor -Distribution Where does the product go How is it going to be priced How are the people going to be compensated (wages)- profit Non alienated labor is labor that engages people involved in the process in all three phases in some kind of meaningful fashion Alienated labor- stems from participant exclusion in any of these phases Laborers who produce not involved in distribution enough (not meaningfully compensated- wages) Cannot control the work that they do or the products produced
Marx's view of the stages of history
-Primitive communism Hunting and gathering Sexual egalitarianism Equality No classes -Slavery Outgrowth of colonialism Militarized feudal agricultural society invades an adjacent territory- enslaved those peoples Classical colonialism Slave owners vs slaves -Feudalism Landowners and serfs Hierarchy and patriarchy Serfs were owned by the land -Capitalism Bourgeoisie and proletariat Bourgeoisie- town dweller Owners of the industrial means of production Capitalist has a machine- industrial capitalism has been established Put the machine in town out from the aristocracy's hold Essential proletarian- worker on the shop floor (but also anyone else- even us students)
Forces of Production
-all things connected with society's capacity to produce wealth (goods and services), resources, and level of technological development. -the amount of labor power--labor theory of value-"price" is equal to value of labor power embedded into it.
Class Consciousness
-the adoption of beliefs and values that are consistent with ones self and class interest the sense of common identification of members of a class
According to Marx, alienation exists in society because workers:
1) Do not own means of productions 2) Do not receive full product of activity 3) Do not control organization of production
Characteristics of All societies
1- Humans produce sustenance from the environment to live and "make history" (species being) 2- people create new needs over time (as one set of needs is satisfied, new ones emerge) 3- production is based on division of labor (alienation) 4- ideas and values emerge from the division of labor
4 Characteristics of all societies
1- humans produce sustenance from the environment and "make history" 2- people create new needs over time 3- production is based on the division of labor (alienation and hierarchy) 4- ideas and values emerge from the division of labor
What are the 4 types of alienation?
1. From the species (self) 2. From the product (like the assembly lines in factories) 3. From Production Process 4. From Others (workers) [people become competitors]
Conflict Theory Assumptions
1. People have a number of basic/material interests they attempt to acquire 2. Power is at the core of all social relationships, it is unequally distributed 3. Values/Ideas are seen as weapons and are used by different groups to achieve their political ends
Alienation from:
1. Product - pride in product is gone, loss of satisfaction 2. The act of production - job boring, working for the weekend, no extrinsic value 3. Our species being - human nature, who we are as humans, like machines at work 4. Others - judge others based on economic standings; how much they make or own
"Alienation" Karl Marx
1. Separation of labor from its product 2. Separation of labor from its self interest 3. Separation of labor from its sense of "Species-being"
Methodologies for studying social action and social institutions
1. Vershtehn- Interpretative/Empathetic and emotional understanding 2. Objectivity in social science "value free", facts and values should be kept seperate. "Science" can only tell us facts, not values. 3. Ideal Types- empirically based comparative tools, can compare world cultures -Social science shouldn't be studied like a natural science
Spirit of Capitalism as is shaped by these Protestant beliefs:
1. Work is an end in itself—something to be proud of in itself and righteous—reward for work becomes less important. 2. Trade and Profit are taken not only as evidence of occupational success but also as indicators of personal virtue. 3. Organized and Methodically planned life/economy is good as a way of achieving long term goals and is righteous (planning is delaying gratification). 4. Immediate Pleasure should be denied. Reinvestment of profits is more righteous than living on them. (stockpile of investment capital that fueled western economies).
4 characteristics of Dialectical Materialism
1. society is a social structure 2. social change is inherent in all societies as people make history by satisfying their needs 3. social change evolves in a recognizable direction (from less to more complex structures) 4. freely acting people decisively shape the direction of history given the predictable patterns of opposition that develop from contradictions in society
Communist Manifesto
A socialist manifesto written by Marx and Engels (1848) describing the history of the working-class movement according to their views.
Proletariat
A term used by Marx to describe the working class in the nineteenth century
Power and authority in social relationships - Power
Ability to get someone to do what you want (e.g. wash my car).
Authority
Acceptance of power because it is right or beneficial.
Capitalism
According to Marx, stage in society driven by private property, workers don't own means of production, workers sell labor services in market for subsistence wage, struggle between classes
Feudalism
According to Marx, stage in society in which goods are allocated by political force, obligations up and down hierarchy
Prehistory
According to Marx, stage in society in which man are rude and primitive
Socialism
According to Marx, stage in society that involves the end of private property, end of classes and hence end of class conflict, absorbing state.
Value-rational action
Action to express some value (e.g. Resign job or office protest over unfairness to others). END IN THEMSELVES
Influence from Enlightenment Economists (Adam Smith, David Ricardo)
Adam Smith British economists Influenced by the idea that natural science is a model we can use to understand human social behavior Economics is included in human social behavior Looking for natural laws of economics Pure capitalism- idea that people are motivated by self interests but they bring things to the marketplace that will benefit all due to those self interests Capitalist social relations were to reflect irrefutable natural laws of society The political economists analyzed each part of society separately, as if it had no connection with anything else Competition- motivation to make product better, keep price low Now- corporatism Marx had the vision that pure capitalism could not be sustained (he was right!) Smith and the Wealth of Nations
Affectual (Value)
Affect- emotion Communicating with emotion and acting out in emotion Violent outbursts Behavior determined by peoples emotions
Theory and politics diverge in the communist manifesto
Applied info in the form of political action Communism Doesn't work for societies (we now know) Can work for communities Analysis of capitalism is very accurate but Marx's advocacy for the solution to the limitations of capitalism isn't Advocacy of communism Advocacy of capitalism
Difference btw domination and authority
Authority is granted from those whom it is held Democratic process- bottom up Power is over those it is held Authority doesn't have to be explicitly granted but understood by all that their authority is for the common good (professor- students accept that because of all the credentials, this person has the authority to be in this position) Professor has power too- grading A good leader puts the power back in the hands of whom it is held- students have the power to earn the grade System of authority- students grant professor power to make the grade but understand they have the power to earn that grade Power of police- we recognize their authority and they operate within that authority
Non-rational actions
Based on unreflective action (e.g. breaking cell phone from anger or road rage)
Traditional (Value)
Behavior determined by ingrained habituation Institutions Hard to maintain behavior without institutional support
Value rational
Behavior undertaken in light of ones values People do contradictory actions based on their powerfully held religious/ political/ etc beliefs Sticking to those values- for them its rational
The creation of the bougeoisie
Bourgeoisie and proletariat Bourgeoisie- town dweller Trade center between feudal estates Emerges into a town Owners of the industrial means of production Trader works under aristocracy- business men Bourgeoisie earns money through entrepreneurship and starts to own all the businesses Origin of the idea of capitalism A group of people not ordained by God but have a right to what they owned through their business enterprise Cloth- labor intensive- trader sees someone with a cartload of cloth Mechanical loom Capitalist has a machine- industrial capitalism has been established Put the machine in town out from the aristocracy's hold
Chapter 1- Bourgeois and Proletarians Communist Manifesto FAMILY
Breadwinner Family Father works and earns wages Not always been this way Industrial capitalism- father has to go outside of the family to earn wages His position comes from his function in the family Even the family is significantly structured by money relations Marx analyzes how industrial capitalism affects each part of society
The labor theory of value
Capital Idea from enlightenment economists (Adam Smith and David Ricardo) All value is created by labor Doesn't take into account other forms of value- the value of scarcity (not created by labor) The real reason that they are of value is that it takes a lot of human labor to get/ make those objects (scarcity- time and effort to find those scarce metals) Use value and exchange value Skill Commodities- all things of value
Historical Ideal Type
Capitalism was fostered by the fact that certain societies (Germany, UK) were Protestant societies Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism Spirit of capitalism refers to the essence/ key element of protestantism (the idea of predestination- God has determined that certain people are predestined to go to heaven- evidence is that they are successful on earth)
Typology of domination
Charismatic domination Traditional domination Rational legal domination
Tripartite of Stratification
Class Group of people who share common attributes (income, education) Cardinal attributes of social class Status Position Titles, names Party Any group organized for an instrumental outcome Goals (political parties want someone to get elected) Military, faculty senate When there is a high correlation of class, status, party- the potential for political conflict increases (have low class, low status, not organized) High or low on one and high and low on the other two Explanation for the political conflict we have today
Theory = Study of rationality
Concerned with understanding meaningful social actions of individuals. Distinguished between non-rational and rational actions.
Chapter 1- Bourgeois and Proletarians Communist Manifesto INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION
Constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production Relations of existing production Bourgeoisie decide whether instruments of production exist (personal computer and IBM) Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form (suppression of new technology) Vortex tube- new form of air conditioning without energy We don't use this form Energy industry resists (money) Dialectic Thesis- industrial capitalism Antithesis- resistance to the early industrial class (resistance to new energy forms)
Chapter 1- Bourgeois and Proletarians Communist Manifesto DIALECTIC
Dialectic Thesis- industrial capitalism Antithesis- resistance to the early industrial class (resistance to new energy forms) Industrial production- hand labor Guilds- distributed power among craftsmen Manufacturing middle class- early bourgeois Machines make the products instead of hands Revolutionized machinery- digital technology (today) No longer compatible with the already developed productive forces- burst asunder- antithesis
Marx's theoretical methodology
Dialectical materialism Corporation Not capitalism American invention Business entity Take a business and divide it into millions of pieces- sell those shares to people (stock) When you sell the shares- the corporations have the money of millions of people (the people just have a paper that says how much their stock is worth) Nothing to do with the planning Concentrates financial power exponentially in the hands of the people who run the corporations Major stockholders- get elected to the board of directors- in on the planning process
Routinization of charisma
Efforts by disciples to recast the extraordinary and revolutionary characteristics of the charismatic leader so that they are better able to handle mundane matters. This is also done in order to prepare for the day when the charismatic leader passes from the scene and to allow the disciples to remain in power.
Influence from Friedrich Engels
Engels born into prosperous family The Condition of the Working Class (book) Focused on Manchester (early industrialized cities) Origin of the family, private property, and the state- the power of the state derives from the support of private property (especially corporatized states) Female role in family- fertility; male role- collective (a gen- clan model/ hunting and gathering band) Private property- bridge from family to private property- becoming an agricultural society New interpretation of family- monogamy Men- father of children- aware of their role in procreation- equity with women- could now claim their offspring as their property Patrilineage- children have father's name Private property goes to first born son Territory under king becomes sacred- becomes the state
The problem of values (Weber)
Ethnocentrism How do you transcend it Value free sociology The values never go away- you can't be free of them but you can look over them Objectively study social behavior
The Fetishism of all commodities
Fetish- of special significance, an object believed to have spiritual powers, excessive reverence, an obsessive attachment People come to believe that commodities possess human like attributes and that exploitation arise from relations with machines Anthropomorphism- material objects have human attributes We have fixation on these objects- they act in parallel to the humanization of the deity Things that we can look at, and possess Becomes a vehicle for alienation When you have to have stuff, you will do as told in your economic relations Sacrifice a lot to get those products The machine cuts the industrial worker off from hands on production
Communism
Fifth mode of production - Result of capitalism: people will abolish private property - Immature communism (socialism) turns to Mature communism (communism)
Primitive Communism
First mode of production - Made up of: relatively small, homogenous populations - Rely on primitive/simple tools and instruments - Food/weather is unpredictable
Methodology - Sociology as the science of social action
Focus on social action - not what we do as a result of biological drives.
Traditional non-rational action
Following customary practice without reasoning (e.g. my parents went to church, I will go to church, but without real consideration of what I believe)
Capitalism
Fourth mode of production - If people in feudal systems invest in industry/production of foods (not agriculture), can make everything they previously needed master for - Based on free labor with no coercion - Still based on economic exploitation - TWO CLASSES: Bourgeoise & Proletariat
Marx's rejection of Hegel's idealism
Hegel said what is ultimately real is in the mind Marx said what is real is empirical phenomena Empirical- through the senses Hegel didn't trust the senses (senses can distort but the mind is pure) Perceptions are flawed but empirical data is real People have physical needs Rejected the religious motif that pervades Hegel's work Hegel misperceived the essential characteristics of humans (food, material needs- natural beings) "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature" Idealism creates the illusion of a community rather than the reality of society made up of people with opposing interests Opposing that what is in the mind is a greater reality than what we can perceive through our senses Marx- use our senses to see the empirical reality
Dialectic
Hegel- conceived of the dialectic in idealistic terms Thesis- antithesis- synthesis Philosophical frames of reference from Hegel and Feuerbach Essence of human condition- species being Derived general concept of dialectic from Hegel Hegel focused on the human mind There are organizing principles (theses) As these theses elaborate themselves, they create contradictions (antithesis)- point to limitations of these theses (the way things are)- come into a dialogue with the thesis and in this dialectical process- combination of thesis and antithesis- synthesis
Hegel vs Marx (Dialectical Materialism)
Hegel- idealism Marx- materialism (people must satisfy their physiological needs in the real world)
Methodology - Methodological individulaism
How do particular ideal types of individuals act within specific historical situations...Questions of motivation and rationality.
2nd characteristic of all societies
How has technology shaped our perceived needs The needs of people change over time What changed their needs Transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural Civilization- creates more ways for us to distinguish ourselves from those of other species Consciousness of species being
How ideal types apply
Ideal typology of conservative and liberal Have to be one or the other You either support education or don't Labels Dichotomous thinking Weber warns that ideal types helps us focus on things but are not always pure Leadership types Instrumental or expressive Authoritarian, democratic participatory, laissez faire No leader stays within one of these types- must take on different leadership styles in different situations Religious ideal typologies Believer and non believer
Origins of capitalism - Historically weber
Industrial Capitalism first emerged in Protestant (vs. Catholic) countries. Protestant Ethic Delayed gratification - save and reinvest. Work and labor as a "calling". predestination - worldly wealth as a sign of future grace. Life as a balance sheet of sin and morality.
Two types of rational action
Instrumentally-rational action and Value-rational action.
Charismatic domination
Jesus was a charismatic leader (divine inspiration) Charismatic authority- an individual rising out of the thesis of the society- be the bearer of news to the people Authority lives in the individual unless they transfer the authority/ message to the followers so it can live on when the leader passes Transfer from charismatic authority to disciples (Jesus) Persona of an individual becomes a vehicle for ideas Charismatic personality Starts in charisma and ends in traditional
Karl Marx Ethnicity
Jewish ethnicity Marginalized Germany, France Institutionally discriminated against Being a jew- form of heresy- executed Many Jews went into Academia Descended from a long line of rabbis Tradition among Jews of scholarliness Rabbi- means teacher
Das Kapital
Karl Marx's book that said all social classes should end and everyone should be equal with equal ownership of businesses
The third estate
Language of transition from feudalism to capitalism The bourgeoisie 2 estates- nobility and serfs
Calvinist Doctrine
Led people to believe that God had divided human population into two groups The saved and the damned Predestination Did not know whether they were saved or not- felt isolation- seek community in the church People looked for signs that they were elect All believers were expected to lead ascetic lives Ex. Puritans
Functional authority Rational
Legal (power based on rules; knowledgable candidates, earned respect) Example: Bureautic system, police, judges, -claim to legitimacy based on an appeal to the law and the rationality of the law and of established, fixed rules -bureaucratic means of rules -ideally, every case handled the same way - authority invested in the position of office In spite of potential problems, bureaucracy is the most efficient (indeed the only) form of large-scale social organization.
Conservative, Bourgeois, Socialism
Liberals Lessen miserable conditions of proletarians without abolishing the system itself
Chapter 1- Bourgeois and Proletarians Communist Manifesto CAPITALISM
Markets kept ever growing, the demand ever rising Can be used to describe today's markets Even manufacturer no longer sufficed Corporatism Early in the industrial age- noted that the markets would grow and change Modern industry has established the world market We didn't even start saying the word globalization until the 1980s Predicting
Dialectic Materialism
Marx combined the ideas of Hegel and Feurbach to create this idea. We are influenced by our material interests and because of these interests new ideas emerge causing a clash and a synthesis. Thesis -> Antithesis THEN CLASH
Chapter 1- Bourgeois and Proletarians Communist Manifesto HISTORY
Marx had limited knowledge of the history of all societies Gobekli Tepe- 11 thousand years old Huge city, architecture Predates any evidence of agricultural civilization Manifestation of civilization before any dates that we have for civilization Describes structure of hierarchy in feudal society Beginning of conflict perspective For a long period of time there has been a conflict between social and economic standing= as these conflicts occur- either ruin or reconstitution of society (dialectic- new synthesis)
4. Discuss three ways in which Marx's conception of alienation differs from Hegel's.
Marx's concept of alienation is the separation of things that naturally belong together and the placement of antagonism between things that are properly in harmony. For Hegel, alienation is the extra work needed to raise an average person to a high level of culture.
What's the different between Marx and Weber social class model?
Marx: Power obtain in the ownership class. Weber: Power comes from Authority
Instrumentally rational
Means and ends are systematically related to each other based on knowledge When people do what they do based on stuff they know and with the end in mind of achieving a goal
The Calling"
Motivates individuals to pursue worldy success. Luther- each individual has a calling or life task has its roots in a religious quest for salvation. -reflects the non-rationalist orientation to action, motivated by the moral obligation to perform duties of his labor to the best of his abilities. -individualist concept - For Weber- significance lies in in growth and dominance of capitalism and accompanied rationalization of much of social life.
Chapter 1- Bourgeois and Proletarians Communist Manifesto CLASSES
Only two classes Owners and workers The physician, poet, priest, lawyer, scientist- don't have power- they are paid wage labourers May have comfortable lifestyles but no power- working class Stripped of their halo (power)
Engels' book
Origin of the family, private property, and the state
Methodology - Sociology as value relevant and value free
People are thinking and feeling beings, and need to be studied as such.
Traditional domination
People obtain leadership positions based on custom Remembrance of me bread/ body- connected to Jewish tradition- tradition lives on Officials owe obedience to the leader issuing commands Personal and official affairs are combined The Kennedys Family and loyalty combined Lines of authority are vague Task specialization is minimal Derived from charismatic authority Its not about individual abilities its about the persona
Capitalism
Predates industry Combined with industry- takes off= industrial capitalism 2 factors in the creation of industrial capitalism- trade and industry
Marx's view of the stages of history
Primitive communism Slavery Feudalism Capitalism Socialism Communism
Legal-rational authority - bureaucracy
Problem: over time, goals of bureaucracy come to dominate over individuals goals - individuals become trapped in an 'iron cage' of rationalization.
Marx's 3 Predictions
Proletarians don't even own their own labor (have to punch time clock) They would forever be separated from owning their labor or controlling private property Proletarians would become increasingly impoverished and an industrial reserve army of poor people will be created One tenth of our population owns all the property The rate of profit would fall and bring on industrial crises of ever greater severity
Rational action
Reflects a conscious purpose and some thought.
Describe three aspects of Marx's upbringing that may have influenced his early thought.
Religion had an influence. His Father had high expectations for him which caused him to study hard. The revolutions of the day undoubtedly influenced him.
Emotional non-rational action
Responding to an immediate stimulus without thought (e.g. get into a fight when insulted).
Methodology - Sociology as value relevant and value free
Sociology is most interested in how thinking and feeling individuals act socially.
Capitalism gives rise to what?
The economic base, the ideas/ideology and consciousness.
Alienation o From the labor process
The worker has lack of control of the labor process; his activity is regulated by another (the capitalist), who is responsible for organizing the conditions of work of the laborers.
Alienation From the product itself
The worker is alienated from the object he produces because it is owned and disposed of by another, the capitalist
Engel and Marx
Theorist Did theory in the way that social science values Empirical data He and Engels studied the conditions of the working class in the early industrialized societies (England, Germany) First societies to have a working class (no longer peasants or farm workers- earned wages by selling labor to industrial capitalists) New phenomenon (industrialism)
Feudalism
Third mode of production - Replaces slavery, but goods still produced for master as well as self - Can own personal property - Violence/coercion still exists, any revolt is squashed - Not like classical slavery - Middle Ages Europe, East Europe (19th cent) - TWO CLASSES: Feudals/Lords/Nobility & Serfs`
Karl Marx and Weber
Thought Marx was too fatalistic World was developing the way it was because it was inevitable Weber saw that there was more going on Marx's model of class- only 2 classes (small class held power and the rest of us sold our labor to the owners) True but simplistic Inevitability of history There were no laws of historical development- capitalism had arisen as a result of series of accidents (ex. industrialization)
Instrumentally-rational action
Thoughtful action toward some goal (e.g. go to class, do well on test) (Based on rational calculation of costs and benefits) MEANS TO AN END
What three types of authority was Weber interested in?
Traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal authority. The dominent authority is rational-legal authority.
General Ideal Types
Types he observed contemporaneously (today- he inferred that was is going on today is the result of an evolutionary process) Four types of action Instrumentally rational value rational Traditional Affectual
Methodology - Ideal types
Useful abstraction of reality that captures essential features of some social phenomenon (e.g. ideal type of a "party").
Applying Scientific method to human behavior (Weber)
We can observe objectively Weber is interested in obtaining objectivity through observation Verstehen Create methodologies for obtaining understanding Methodological triangulation Put yourself in others' shoes (their perspective/ experience) Putting yourself in the role of the other Methodological synthesis
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Weber looked at key figures in history (Benjamin Franklin) Origin of Protestantism (Luther and Calvin) Reasoned that if there are people who are "Elect" (chosen by God to go to heaven), then there would be evidence that they are elect in their lives Bible say 144 thousand people will be saved Capitalism was growing and making other rich and some not The people who were successful through capitalism were being selected by God Gave people who were engaging in capitalism a lot of encouragement Escaped criticism of religion that God was interested in the least among us as well as the most among us Social justice based Christianity Nations that embraced Protestantism (Germany, UK, etc) were the first societies to grow economically through industrial capitalism
Rational-legal domination
What we tend to think of as institutional authority Bureaucracy People obtain positions based on knowledge and experience Credentials Obedience is owed to rules uniformly applicable to all No one is above the law Personal and official are kept separate Lines of authority are explicit (there are ranks) Task specialization is great
Why does Marx find the Young Hegelians' critique of religion to be inadequate to the challenge of human emancipation?
Young Hegelianism is too abstract, it does not address reality enough. They are not interested in changing things.
Traditional (habitual) action
action determined by the actor's habitual or customary ways of behaving
Affective (emotional) action
action determined by the emotional state of the actor
Value rationality
action that is done in conformity with absolute moral or ethical values
Purposive (means-ends) rationality
action that rationally calculates and selects among different means according to which best or most efficiently attains the actor's chosen goals
Functional authority
authority must have power and demonstrate discipline
alienation can be overcome
by restoring the truly human relationship to the labour process, by people working in order to meet people's needs, working as an expression of their own human nature, not just to earn a living.
nature of social theory
empirically based grounded on existence of living individuals different from other species bc: 1. humans manipulate environment to satisfy needs- self-reflective 2. act rationally in their own interests consciousness arias from experience- opposite of Hegel's notion that morality, religion, and other awareness are independent of human beings people produced ideas based on social structures and experiences they have within these- human mind is NOT passive receptacle but active- responsive and changing social theory should focus on how people influence and are influenced by material conditions social theory must deal with historical change, its direction and source
species being
essence of the human condition the first characteristic of all societies- human beings produce sustenance from the environment and thus make history underlies everything Marx talks about
4th characteristic of all societies
ideas and values emerge from the division of labor Turning Hegel and the idealists on their head Ideas result from people's efforts at creating needs not from the mind He argues that the division of labor is always hierarchical As a result, ideologies usually justify the status quo Dominant ideology- people who are lower class are inherently inferior One ideological expression of the status quo- American exceptionalism (history- the time when the economy and military dominated the world) Globalization- engagement with the world vs dominance in the world Ideology tends to support status quo Doctrines and political values Individuals have a right to own land; the right to use the means of production for their own rather than collectivity's benefit Gun rights in the US Collectivities benefit- safety Ideology is being generated Status quo of the 2nd amendment
Value rationality is done _____
independently of any assessment of the probable success or ultimate consequences of such action
Basic elements of capitalism
market freedom, rational technology, calculable law, formally free labor, commercialization of economic life
Typology of action
no real person acts on the basis on one action purely (its an ideal type) We're all always to some degree instrumentally rational But we don't always act the way we know instrumentally going to work Driving above the speed limit- know there will be consequences but do it anyway
capitalism deprives human beings
of this essential source of self-worth and identity. The worker approaches work only as a means of survival and derives none of the other personal satisfactions of work because the products of his labor do not belong to him. These products are instead expropriated by capitalists
Functional authority traditional/ legitimate
power that is based on long standing beliefs on who should have control) Example: Kings/Queens, village elders, "eternal yesterday", patriarchal -claim to legitimacy based on an appeal to custom or tradition -unquestioned authority -administration administered on a case by case basis
Exchange value
price tag Can change Has to do with the market operation Stock market Very variable (subject to the marketplace)
First characteristic of all societies
produce sustenance and make history Human social production Agricultural era Species being Agriculture- first manifestation of Marx's idea of species being Life involves eating, drinking, clothing, material things We produce our own history (at that time most people thought there was fate, destiny, we weren't in charge of history) Humans produce the circumstances of their own lives Religion- "God's plan"
third characteristic of all societies
production is based on the division of labor Hierarchical stratification structure He sees hierarchy as an almost inevitable, an innate human characteristic How exploitation and alienation affects us Division of labor- tasks must be done in every society Structural functionalist features (placating gods- theocracy, polity, economy, family) Basis of division of labor is private ownership of land Means of production- land, capital (ownership of industrial means of production) Owners and workers (2 class analysis) Capitalists own the production line and determine how they are distributed Workers are exploited because they cannot control the work that they do Reversal of the first characteristic- species being- alienation takes the form of fantastic reversal in which people free themselves by eating etc Giving the power to shape our existence to the owners Not only industrial capitalism but also feudalism
division of labor
proletarians continually re-create what enslaves them alienation through work because they do not control process nor result
Alienation
the experience of isolation and misery resulting from powerlessness
Use value
the root of all value What can you actually use it for Food, housing has use value diamonds= use value in conveying status, use value in cutting Use value is pretty constant Value of food=nourishment stays same Housing- rent has stayed pretty constant during the boom and bust (but the price of the apartment goes up and down constantly)
routinization of charisma
the transformation of charismatic authority into some combination of traditional and bureaucratic authority
Labor Theory of Value
the value of a commodity can be objectively measured by the number of labor hours required to produce that commodity;
Value of labor power
wages needed to sustain a worker's most basic standards of living;
Productive forces
within any society, a way of producing things exists, both for what is produced and the social organization of production (productive forces are maintained through division of labor)
The worker has lack of control of the labor process; his activity is regulated by another (the capitalist), who is responsible for organizing the conditions of work of the laborers.
• What makes us human is our ability to consciously shape the world around us and express ourselves socially through work. • Productivity and the ability to create value for others is man's natural active species life • However, under capitalism our labour is coerced, forced labour. Work bears no relationship to our personal inclinations or our collective interests. • The deterioration of consciousness through estranged labor reduces "man's species life a means to his physical existence", making man's "species being" alien to him