Soc Theory Exam #2

50. Homans -The Value Proposition -The Deprivation -The Aggression-Approval Propositions -The Rationality Proposition

-The Value Proposition- The more coveted and desirable the rewards, the more likely it is that actors will engage in behavior to secure those rewards -The Deprivation-Satiation Proposition- The more often an actor is rewarded for an action; the less value that reward becomes and therefore the less likely the action will persist -The Aggression-Approval Propositions- Unexpected punishments or even a lack of expected rewards are likely to be produce aggression; unexpectedly large rewards produce pleasure -The Rationality Proposition- Actors consider the costs and benefits of multiple courses of actions before engaging in behaviors

51. Blau -Micro to Macro -Norms and Values

-The exchanges amongst interacting individuals create, organize and change the large scale social structures within which those exchanges take place -Micro to Macro- Social interaction (and exchanges) occur primarily within social groups as individuals offer rewards to become and remain part of those groups & Those who offer the best rewards within groups are often elevated to leadership -Norms and Values- Groups norms enable indirect exchange amongst collectives as members conform & More general common values enforce conformity across social groups and society

86. Giddens -Modernity and Intimacy

-The most intimate relations of pure relationships are democratic or based on sexual and emotional equality -The sequestration of social relations frees relationships from moral rules that create inequities -This also creates ambiguity for the self which does lack social definition

33. Sociology of Emotions -What Is Emotion? -Shame: The Social Emotion -The Invisibility of Shame

-What Is Emotion? Sociologists moved away from an organismic model that claims emotions are embedded in biology and towards an interactional model that highlights how people actively engage emotions within the social and cultural rules -Shame: The Social Emotion- Thomas Scheff argues shame is the most important emotion for social interaction because it can only be experienced in relation to other people and thus most folks adhere to social expectations in order to avoid feeling it -The Invisibility of Shame- Because western cultures are increasingly individualistic, most people do not recognize how shame underlies every social interaction

40. Conversation Analysis -Telephone Conversations -Initiating Laughter -Generating Applause

-Ethnomethodologists analyze the taken-for-granted aspects of people's interactions -Telephone Conversations: Identification and Recognition- The lack of visual perceptions of talk via the telephone make these conversations unique, such as when they open with establishing an understanding who is speaking -Initiating Laughter- Ethnomethodological analysis of conversations reveals that while often thought organic to interactions, the injections and reactions of humor into conversations is organized -Generating Applause- Public speakers utilize emphasis and projection to generate applause from audiences; yet at the same time these strategies are also utilized in ordinary conversations

42. Studies of Institutions -Job Interviews -Executive Negotiations

-Ethnomethodologists study the institutional contexts within which conversations unfold -Job Interviews- The ways interactions unfold rather (usually via a turn-by-turn speaking) than the topics of discussion are largely what characterize job interviews is a unique type of conversation -Executive Negotiations- Business conversations unfold in considered, measured, reasonable ways where animosities & Disagreements and disputes are contained and controlled

37. Definition -Ethnomethodology

-Ethnomethodology focuses on studying daily life as a practical accomplishment -Harold Garfinkel argues ethnomethodology should be the study of social facts -Durkheim who saw social facts as macro level constraints on individuals -Alfred Shultz sees social facts as organizational accomplishments of individuals in their daily lives that largely become unreflective and routinized

48. Exchange Theory -Behaviorism -Rational Choice Theory

-Exchange Theory- The roots and evolution of exchange theory lie in behaviorism -Behaviorism- Behaviorists focus on how individuals become conditioned to act in certain ways in certain situations given the consequences of their previous actions, both rewards and punishments -Rational Choice Theory- Built from neoclassical economics (utilitarianism, game theory), rational choice theory assumes actors utilize available resources toward achieving their goals and preferences given a cost-benefit calculation

47. Overview -Exchange theory, rational choice theory and network theory

-Exchange theory, rational choice theory and network theory are all related and utilize a positivistic orientation, but they are still unique forms of sociological theory as rational choice theory focuses on individuals, exchange theory focuses on social relationships while network theory disregards the assumption of rational actors

64. Propositions -Feminism and Postmodernism

-Feminism and Postmodernism- In looking at a world fundamentally changed by global capitalism, weakened state power, technology and liberationists social movements; postmodernists revisit basic feminist principles including what it means to be a woman and how that often entails take-for-granted assumptions about gendered truth(s)

59. What is it? -Feminism's Basic Questions

-Feminism's Basic Questions 1. A questioning of why women were ignored in spite of their ever-presence in social life first led to the understanding of gender a social rather than a biological construct 2. Then developed to incorporate diverse perspectives and experiences of women along with the subordinate and marginalization of all women 3. Historical Framing: Feminism, Sociology, and Gender -While women were not recognized for their social scientific contributions throughout history - A revisiting of history reveals that sociology has always incorporated both feminist scholarship and activism -(video in powerpoint)

58. What is it?

-Feminist theory is unique not only because it comes from a women's perspective; it also encompasses an interdisciplinary approach of not only scholars, but also artists and activists

16. Economic Sociology -Fordism and Post-Fordism

-Fordism and Post-Fordism- A switch from modern to postmodern society entails movement away from Henry Ford's assembly-line production practices in favor of more specialized products, smaller and more flexible production systems with shorter runs, better trained and more autonomous workers who are increasingly differentiated, flexibility, decentralization, along with a loss of labor based union, political parties and welfare state

56. Rational Choice -Collective Behavior -Norms -The Corporate Actor

-Foundations of Social Theory --Collective Behavior- Seemingly irrational collective behaviors are still rationale to the individual because utility is maximized through disequilibrium --Norms- Most sociologists take norms as a social given & Rational choice theorists argue norms are created and then maintained as individuals see utility in both controlling others and giving up a certain amount of control over their own behavior --The Corporate Actor- People may sometimes seem to act against their own interests because in some cases it is in their interests act for the betterment of the collective & Other times the resources utilized for actions are controlled by the collective, not the individual who acts accordingly

60. _____________________________ -Gender Difference -Cultural Feminism -Theories of Sexual Difference

-Gender Difference- While all theories of difference confront the essentialist notion that gender is biologically real, a necessary pre-requisite of social institutions and/or an indispensable aspect of human selves & Theories of difference vary in the explanations of that essentialism -Cultural Feminism- In celebrating women's uniqueness from men (often by claiming women's ways of being and knowing are superior to that of men) rather than trying to explain it sidesteps questions of essentialism -Theories of Sexual Difference- Culture pushes women's experiences and knowledge to the margins, thereby stripping women of freedom by making females "the other"

62. Propositions -Gender Oppression -Psychoanalytic Feminism -Radical Feminism

-Gender Oppression- Theories of gender oppression focus on patriarchy, or the ways men oppress and dominate women through direct power relations -Psychoanalytic Feminism- Men's oppression of women is embedded in the psyche or subconscious as both men and women are socialized to accept, and even rely upon the socioemotional aspects of the social order that values masculinity while subordinated femininity -Radical Feminism- While women (and their positive social values) are oppressed via economics, ideology, legality and through emotion & Ultimately that oppression is founded upon and sustained with violence

15. Economic Sociology -Labor and Monopoly Capital -Managerial Control -Other Work on Labor and Capital

-Labor and Monopoly Capital- Harry Braverman argues that because no one really owns the means of production in modern capitalism; control, rationalization and exploitation affects more and more white-collar and service workers --Managerial Control- In addition to exploitation, the division of labor (especially as practiced through Taylorism and scientific management) entails more and more control over workers as jobs are divided and assigned to different workers who thus develop an increasingly narrow base of skills and experience -Other Work on Labor and Capital-Modern workers are controlled not through coercion, but through technology (especially computers), impersonal bureaucracies and even informal workplace cultures

55.Rational Choice -Foundations of Social Theory

-Largely marginalized from sociology given its focus on micro level phenomena and individual choices, rational choice's theory greatest contribution was its influence on exchange theory -Foundations of Social Theory- James S. Coleman argues that sociology should not lose sight of the fact that social systems are ultimately comprised of individuals who purposely act towards their goals utilizing the resources they have their disposal

13. Critical Theory -Later Developments in Cultural Critique

-Later Developments in Cultural Critique --The Birminghan school was founded to use a Marxist lens to study popular culture in order to combat the hegemony instilled by media—including how many class-based subcultures use forms of popular culture as sites of resistance

30. Basic Ideas -Learning Meanings and Symbols -Action and Interaction -Making Choices -Groups and Societies

-Learning Meanings and Symbols- While we learn and then react to signs largely without thinking; more abstract symbols and the meanings they reflect are learned only through our interactions with others -Action and Interaction- Symbolic meaning exchanges and interpretation gives social action and interaction its distinctly human aspects -Making Choices- Because humans unlike animals do not automatically respond to stimuli, people anticipate different courses of behavior and their outcomes prior to engaging in action -Groups and Societies- Critical of sociologists who focus on the macro level; at best structures emerge from micro level interactions and the joint actions they engage in

3. Hagelians (Georg Lukacs)

-Lukács's drew upon Marx to further develop the concepts of reification and class consciousness -Reification --Marx's fetishism of commodities, or when the things people want and need dictate relationships between people, can be extended to entire social institutions that are afforded a power over people when in fact, people control them and society more generally -Class and False Consciousness --A false consciousness might better be referred to as an unconsciousness that occurs in capitalist societies until people link their objective economic position with the nature and extent of the exploitation

2. Economic Determinism

-Marx is remembered as an economic determinism because he often gave the economy precedence in his theory -However in advocating dialectics, it would have been impossible for Marx to commit himself entirely to the assumption that everything and anything is somehow economic in nature

68. Micro-Macro Integration -Micro-Macro Extremism -The Movement toward Micro-Macro Integration

-Micro-Macro Extremism- A chasm developed in American theory as theorists interpreted work at either the micro or macro rather than looking for the overlap between them -The Movement toward Micro-Macro Integration- While some were concerned with integrating micro and macro level theories; others work towards developing a theory managing the links between the micro and macro levels of analysis

26. Mead -Mind - Self -Child Development -Play Stage -Game Stage

-Mind- The mind is a social process where people have conversations with themselves in order to solve problems - Self- The self is a process, unfolding and developing as people are able to understand themselves as both subjects and objects, which often entails a process of looking at the self through a social lens --Child Development- Mead looked at how the self comes about through socialization and growth in childhood -Play Stage- In this early stage children are able to imagine themselves in the roles of others -Game Stage- In this late stage children are able to imagine themselves in the roles of multiple others during a complete interaction

95. Taylor -Modernity and the Self

-Modernity and the Self -Like symbolic interactionists, Taylor believes the most important aspects of who people are, develop in relation towards moral meaning they internalize -This creates a malaise of modernity where individuals become disconnected from grand narrative because they promote an individual, rather than a social sense of self

96. Taylor -Modernity's Social Imaginary

-Modernity's Social Imaginary -A set of ideas is entwined with everyday practice which under the conditions of modernity that both lacks a hierarchy in being based a moral ideal of equality and grows out the economy, the public sphere, the sovereign people, and fashion

92. Habermas -Modernity's Unfinished Project

-Modernity's Unfinished Project -Defending modernity against postmodern assaults, Jurgen Habermas sees modernity as an unfinished project §Formal rationality of the social systems gets infused into the lifeworld rather than allowing rather than allowing both the develop their own rationality in their own way

72. Figurational Sociology -Natural Functions -Blowing One's Nose -Sexual Relations

-Natural Functions- Passing wind quietly became an increasing concern as urbanization brought people (mainly the lower classes) into closer proximity -Blowing One's Nose- Shame has been attached to blowing one's nose while the musus is now treated as problematic and diseased -Sexual Relations- People no longer find it appropriate to be naked in front of one another and the consummation of marriages was sometimes observed; both of these are now private matters

19. Neo-Marxists -Neo-Marxian Spatial Analysis -The Production of Space -Trialectics

-Neo-Marxian Spatial Analysis- An ongoing if not increasing interest in space has also been taken up by theorists working through a Marxist lens --The Production of Space- Space is not only the context within which things happen; it influences how things happen especially in the modern world as capitalist elites control and even mold space to profit and oppress -Trialectics- Space can be considered in tandem with geography with a Marxists perspective 1. Firstspace materialist perspective taken by geographers can be complimented with 2. Secondspace consideration of space as perceived by actors along with 3. Thirdspace that imagines what space could be

53. Network Theory -Basic Concerns and Principles -A More Integrative Network Theory

-Network analysists reject atomistic sociological orientations that look at actors in isolation from others and normative approaches that explain people acting in accordance with social values because of their socialization -Basic Concerns and Principles- Network analysis overlooks social groups and social categories in order to study ties among and between actors linked via a wide variety of micro and macro structures -A More Integrative Network Theory- A structural perspective on network theory sees actors as assessing both their own and others' conditions and position when assessing alternative actions

69. Examples of Micro-Macro Integration -Integrated Sociological Paradigm -Multidimensional Sociology

-Integrated Sociological Paradigm- Building on Abraham Edel and Georges Gurvitch's model of four macro-micro groupings with ten objective-subjective levels, Ritzer develops a micro-macro continuum of objective-subjective phenomena with a four levels of social analysis -Multidimensional Sociology- Alexander develops a multidimensional sociology that combines the problem of order at both the micro (individuals who internalize forces) and macro (collectivist nature) with the problem of action at the micro (objective/material) and macro (subjective/nonmaterial) levels

82. The Classical Take

-Karl Marx thought modernity was defined (mostly in problematic ways) by the economy -Max Weber saw modernity as the expansion of formal rationality -Emile Durkheim thought modernity entails a weakening of the collective conscious and mechanical solidarity -George Simmel characterized modernity as entailing urbanization and money economies

75. Agency-Structure Integration -Criticisms

Criticisms -While Ian Craib thinks Giddens structuration lack ontological depth, cannot explain the complexity of the world, lacks a basis for critical reflection and has ambiguous meaning -Giddens work is now central to sociology and therefore sociologists must account for in their work

57. Contemporary Feminist Theory

Week 10 powerpoint

80. Contemporary Theories of Modernity

Week 11 powerpoint

36. Ethnomethodology

Week 9 Powerpoint

46. Exchange, Network, and Rational Choice

Week 9 Powerpoint

54. Network Exchange Theory -Structural Power -Strong and Weak Power Structures

-Network exchange theory combines the rational actor seeking to maximize rewards central to social exchange theory with structural base of network analysis -Structural Power- Linking exchange theory and network analysis makes it possible analyze power across a network as a whole rather than just within interpersonal relations -Strong and Weak Power Structures- Strong power structures are selective and require participation of their exclusive members whereas the position in weak power structures are open for exclusion and competition & This distinction enables network exchange theorists to incorporate agency

71. Figurational Sociology -The History of Manners -Behavior at the Table

-Norbert Elias proposed the concept of figuration or process that interweave people into relationships at the micro and macro levels (along with everything in between) rather than coercing them by external structure -The History of Manners- Elias's focal interest is on the civilization of The West, or the changes in mundane behaviors or the ways people act -Behavior at the Table- Unlike previous eras, picking noses or licking fingers was not widely known to be inappropriate but are now common sense in a supposedly civilized world

65. Feminist Sociological Theorizing -A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge -The Macro Social Order

-A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge- Feminist sociologists account for a women's standpoint which unlike that of men (who are often presumed to be the accurate source of knowing and seeing the world), accounts for patriarchal oppression and marginalization -The Macro Social Order- At the macro level, feminist sociologists expand the Marxian analysis of the economy (and it's power relations) to all aspects of social life thereby developing a critique of both patriarchal ideology and structural-functionalists assertion that society needs strict roles and a social hierarchy

90. Bauman -A Product of Modernity -The Role of Bureaucracy

-A Product of Modernity 1. While the Holocaust is often considered a deviation of the modern world 2. It is a normal if not predictable outcome of the industrial rationality central to modernity -The Role of Bureaucracy 1. The cold rationality and amorality of bureaucracy made the systematic extermination of a people possible

38. The Diversification of Ethnomethodology -Studies of Institutional Settings -Conversation Analysis

-Almost immediately after Garfunkel founded ethnomethodology it began to diversity itself into several different variants -Studies of Institutional Settings-Early ethnomethodologists focused on casual situations & Later scholars working in the tradition turned their attention to the ways people perform official tasks and in the process, constitute the structure, formal rules, and official procedures of the institutions within which those tasks are accomplished -Conversation Analysis- In part because rules and procedures for conversations do not determine but rather help people accomplish conversations analyzing these constraints reveal how people create accounts and accomplish daily life

21. Post Marxists -Analytical Marxism

-Analytical Marxism --Rejecting the assumption that fact and value are inseparable, analytical Marxists explore exploitation and class in capitalism (along with the viability of socialist alternatives) by treating Marx as a functional thinker, utilizing rational choice to analyze individuals capitalists societies and using empiricism to further define Marx's concepts as they exist in social reality

78. Agency-Structure Integration -Colonization of the Lifeworld -Lifeworld

-Colonization of the Lifeworld- While Habermas is best categorized as a Neo-Marxists, his ever-expanding theory of communicative action does link agency and structure through systems, lifeworld and how the system is colonizing or taking over the lifeworld -Lifeworld- Society is the lifeworld and different systems are different ways of looking at this lifeworld with shared but unspoken assumptions and understandings that make communicative action possible & It is this world that is increasingly rationalized across different systems

77. Agency-Structure Integration -Applying Habitus and Field -Distinction -Concluding Thoughts

-Applying Habitus and Field- Unlike many theorists who tend to only work in the abstract, Bourdieu empirically applied his theories -Distinction- To affirm culture as a legitimate object of study, Bourdieu showed that not only do different social classes live in different fields but the preferential tastes of that unique habitus are used for identification and also exclusion -Concluding Thoughts- In not considering himself a theorists, other see him as engaging in a project that was more explanatory than empirical

41. Conversation Analysis -Booing -The Interactive Emergence of Sentences and Stories -Integration of Talk and Nonvocal Activities -Doing Shyness (and Self-Confidence)

-Booing-Booing is an act of disaffiliation to a speaker and unlike applause that is often generated by individual decisions that occur almost immediately; delays in booing illustrate how audiences monitor themselves and act somewhat in unison -The Interactive Emergence of Sentences and Stories- Sentences cannot be analyzed outside their contexts, as highlighted by the telling of stories where listeners react to, and in a sense dictate how the conversation unfolds -Integration of Talk and Nonvocal Activities- Body posture and gaze are two of many ways nonvocal activities and communications can be analyzed via conversational analysis -Doing Shyness (and Self-Confidence)- Introversion and introversion are not entirely psychological as they are things people do during interactions

39. Garfinkel's Work -Breaching Experiments -Accomplishing Gender

-Breaching Experiments- One of the ways to reveal the underlying assumptions made about social reality is by violating the normative procedures through which daily life operates -Accomplishing Gender- Garfinkel's study of a trans woman named Agnes revealed how gender, which is often thought an inevitable outcome of biology, is actually an accomplished set of situated practices

94. Taylor -Self, Society, and Religion

-Self, Society, and Religion -Taylor argues moral orders or grand narratives are communicated through cultural frameworks that provide meanings and structure to our lives

43. Studies of Institutions -Calls to Emergency Centers -Dispute Resolution in Mediation Hearings

-Calls to Emergency Centers- Emergency calls often lack opening sequences and instance where sequences break down are often treated seriously & Misalignments often occur because of the unique and often unfamiliar nature of the conversation, not the abilities of the dispatcher -Dispute Resolution in Mediation Hearings- The highly structured nature of these conversations reduce conflict that often creates the need for mediated resolution in the first place

14. Economic Sociology -Capital and Labor -Monopoly Capitalism

-Capital and Labor- Some theorists assumed capitalism changed little since Marx wrote, mainly by remaining competitive rather than developing monopolies -Monopoly Capitalism- Unlike competitive capitalism, in monopoly capitalism characterized by the rise of large corporations capital is acquired through sales and advertising, not production; this leads to progressive rationalization which creates irrational pricing systems

88. Giddens -Creating Risks -Coping with the Risks

-Creating Risks 1. Global industry spreads risks across space and time 2. No longer global 3. Risk is also tied to social class as wealthy individuals and nations are better able to manage their risks than poor ones -Coping with the Risks 1. Modernity promotes increasing reflexivity which allows people to manage increasing risks 2. People question the risks 3. Neoliberalism

12. Critical Theory -Critical Theory Today: The Work of Axel Honneth -The Ideas of Axel Honneth

-Critical Theory Today: The Work of Axel Honneth-Habermas is the most prominent of today's social thinkers; but other critical theorists are assessing the contemporary world, especially the new "information society" -The Ideas of Axel Honneth -Axel Honneth, the current director the Institution of Social Research, finds the critical theory of his predecessors led to a helpless negativism and proposes that theory should emerge from the everyday world and push for the emancipation of people from domination and oppression; he does this by focusing on the social recognition of the identities people embrace and embody

9. Critical Theory -Criticisms of Critical Theory

-Criticisms of Critical Theory -Critical theory is ahistorical, largely overlooks the economy and opposes Marx in arguing the working class is not a revolutionary force

7. Critical Theory (The Major Critiques of Social and Intellectual Life) 3. Criticisms of Sociology 4. Critique of Modern Society 5. Critique of Culture

-Criticisms of Sociology--The scientific method is not an ends in itself and even ends up oppress individuals in contemporary society because the discipline has come to accept, rather than challenge the status quo -Critique of Modern Society--Culture and reason also play a role alongside the economy in oppressing individuals, especially given the influences of modern technology -Critique of Culture--Critical theorists are concerned with the falseness of popular culture along with how it tends to repress the population and their thinking

35. In Summary -Criticisms -The Future of Symbolic Interactionism

-Criticisms- Symbolic interaction is criticized for too eagerly abandoning positivists social science, for having overly ambiguous concepts, for focusing almost exclusively at the micro level and for ignoring individual's psychology -The Future of Symbolic Interactionism- Because symbolic interaction has fragmented (is practiced beyond a group of scholars at The Chicago School), expanded its concerns beyond micro-level interactions, incorporated ideas from many other fields and traditions while being adopted by scholars who work in other traditions; it is somewhat unclear what it means to be symbolic interactionist right now and nor what it will mean to be a symbolic interactionist in the future

52. Emerson -Power-Dependence -A More Integrative Exchange Theory

-Emerson also notes behaviors amongst networks are also engaged in order to maximize rewards for all those involved -Power-Dependence- All relationships have a subordinate and domination aspect where those with power can compel their dependency to accept certain costs during an exchange & These power relationships are built into the structure of relationships depending on motivational investments and availability of the goals individuals hope to achieve via relationships & CL and CLalt -A More Integrative Exchange Theory- Micro to Macro shift- Insitutional exchanges

34. Sociology of Emotions -Emotion Management and Emotion Work -Feeling Rules -Commercialization of Feeling

-Emotion Management and Emotion Work- Arlie Hochschild outlines that while emotions are felt at the micro level, they are largely managed in ways that keep their expression and often their intrapersonal experiences in line with macro level norms -Feeling Rules- Feeling rules are culturally determined standards for emotion management, which means they vary according to time, place, and the people who embody these feelings during interpersonal exchange -Commercialization of Feeling- Given that emotions are largely organized by social factors; one of, if not the defining social factor of the contemporary era is capitalism is largely responsible for how and why we experience certain emotions

44. Traditional Sociology is No Good! -Separated from the Social -Confusing Topic and Resource

-Separated from the Social- Ethnomethodologists claim sociologists impose their own ideas on social reality rather than let the study of everyday life guide the construction of their ideas about reality -Confusing Topic and Resource- Sociologists utilize daily life as a resource (mainly in the form of data) yet seldom consider daily life worthy of study in and of itself

4. Hagelians (Antonio Gramscis)

-Gramsci knew structural factors were important, but he emphasized how social domination or hegemony was largely embedded in the cultural leadership of the ruling class and the intellectuals they control -"It is hard to fight an enemy that has outposts in your head" -The colonized mind

93. Habermas -Habermas versus Postmodernists

-Habermas versus Postmodernists -Habermas does not argue we should give up on enlightened science, pointing out that postmodernists making such arguments create literature not theory, are driven more by normative sentiments than theoretical goals, totalize rather than reveal specific points of analysis that can be critiqued and changed along with completely ignoring daily life

98. Castells -Informationalism and the Network Society

-Informationalism and the Network Society -Manuel Castells suggests that information technology is fundamentally remade or even revolutionized under capitalism but not in a way that affirms the importance of rationality and knowledge (both of which are antithetical to postmodernism)

6. Critical Theory (The Major Critiques of Social and Intellectual Life) 1. Criticisms of Marxian Theory 2.Criticisms of Positivism

-Originating from The Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany (e.g. The Frankfurt School), critical theorists applied Marx's ideas beyond the economy - Critical theory looks closely at social and intellectual life to reveal a more accurate understanding of social reality -Criticisms of Marxian Theory-- Critical theorists build their work on the idea that economic determinists should also focus on other aspects of social life -Criticisms of Positivism--Positivism falsely assumes there is only one valid and reliable scientific method; and that method as currently practiced reifies the social world in looking at social reality as if it were somehow a natural process

76. Agency-Structure Integration -Habitus -Field

-Pierre Bourdieu challenged the false opposition between objectivism (individual) that ignores social constructivism and subjectivism (society) that ignores agency by focusing on the dialectic between the two in practice -Video in powerpoint -Habitus-People perceive, understand, appreciate, and evaluate the social world using schemas they internalize via their experience and then utilize toward their own actions which in turn, produces habitus -Field- People occupy positions in fields which like structures are constraining in some ways being comprised of power relations based on different forms of capital

25. Mead -The Priority of the Social -The Act -Gestures -Significant Symbols

-The Priority of the Social- Mead thought behavior starts with the social and then filters through the individual rather than vice-versa as many psychologists claim -The Act-There are four, albeit nonconsecutive stages of an act; impulse, perception, manipulation and consummation -Gestures- A gesture is the basic part of social acts between two or more people, especially when these gestures become significant when a similar if not the same meaning is inherent to all those who think prior to acting during an interaction -Significant Symbols- Gestures can become significant symbols when they arose similar responses in both those making them and those observing them, thereby requiring thinking and thus making symbolic interaction possible

22. Post Marxists -Postmodern Marxian Theory -Hegemony and Radical Democracy -Continuities and Time-Space Compression

-Postmodern Marxian Theory- Some poststructuralist and postmodernists incorporate Marxist ideas into their analysis -Hegemony and Radical Democracy-Focusing on the importance of ideas and hegemony, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe think a grassroots and leftists revolutionary force will come from building bridges between the currently fragmented populations who are oppressed by capitalist elites -Continuities and Time-Space Compression- David Harvey argues that the primary element of postmodernism is the capitalist compression of time and space, which thus means there is more overlap between Fordism and Post-Fordism or the modern and the postmodern than is usually recognized, especially when theorists focus on the problems of capitalism rather than its material achievement

73. Figurational Sociology -Power and Civility -Lengthening Interdependency Chains

-Power and Civility- The civilizing of the western world happened as more and more individual people engage in actions that become interweaved into an order -Lengthening Interdependency Chains- Increasing differentiation lengthens interdependency chains which plays a key role in civilization beginning with the institutionalization of monarchs and nobles who secured a monopoly on violence and together moved toward establishing a state that everyone becomes dependent upon

24. Pragmatism and Behaviorism -Between Reductionism and Sociologism

-Pragmatism- Pragmatists like John Dewy think of reality as created by people who use knowledge and definitions that have proven useful; this is important to symbolic interactionists who focus on interactions between people and their world, see both the individual and the world as processes rather than unchanging entities and emphasize actors' abilities to interpret the world -Behaviorism- Radical behaviorists focus on observed behaviors elected by stimuli; but this overlooks the covert aspects of unit acts that exist between stimulus and responses—mainly how people think and consider the consequences of their behaviors before they act -Between Reductionism and Sociologism- Symbolic interaction stands in contrast to theories that assume human behaviors are almost entirely dictated by either psychological factors or the large-scale social phenomena described by structural-functionalists

87. Giddens -The Risk Society

-Prior "classical" stages of modernity were organized around industry -The newly emerging reflexive modernity gives people more agency and thus managing risk overtakes much of life -The production of wealth means managing risk

11. The Critical Theory -Rationalization -Communication

-Rationalization --Building upon Max Weber many theorists claim the rationalization of purposive-rational action increases productive forces yet yields more control over life to technology and distorted communications --Habermas says the solution is to remove restrictions on communication (get rid of legitimations and ideology) that hinder free and open exchange -Communication --Communication happens in everyday life --Discourse occurs in a context with experience and structure and thus consensus occurs when speakers are understood, what they say is true and reliable, and thus there is a normative basis in making the validity claim

97. Taylor -Religion in a Secular Age

-Religion in a Secular Age -Whereas modernity is often a process of secularization; Taylor argues modernity entails a morality in unbelief

32. Goffman -Role Distance -Stigma -Frame Analysis

-Role Distance- There is often a space between people and their embodiment of the roles they play -Stigma- There is often a gap between what a person is and what a person ought to be; a discreditable stigma is concealed from audiences while discredited stigmas are known to audiences -Frame Analysis- Studying schemas or the ways individuals organize their reality can reveal the rules, structures and ideologies that both direct interactions, along with hoe they also developed and redeveloped during interactions

84. Giddens -Modernity and Its Consequences

-Seeing modernity largely as a process of -Distanciation (realignment of space, time and place) 1. Increased the use of rationalized organizations 2. Allows for history to impact the future -Disembedding (social relations lifted out of local contexts) 1. Symbolic tokens 2. Expert systems -Reflexivity (evaluation and reformation of social practices) 1. Dialectic process 2. Double hermeneutic -This occurs alongside an empowering of capitalism, industry along with the nation-state's surveillance capacities and the monopoly over military violence

85. Giddens -Modernity and Identity

-Seeing the self as dialectically related to social institutions -Giddens believes the reflexivity of modernity is applied to the self especially as the body is molded and experiences are sequestered in increasingly abstract systems thereby creating an individual self that is meaningless -Reflexive Morality produces a constant critique of the self

27. Mead -Generalized Other - "I" and "Me"

-Self -Generalized Other- The game stages creates an understanding an abstract other who embodies the social attributes of the community that people use to subjectively evaluate themselves as an object - "I" and "Me"- The I is the active and creative part of the self which largely acts against the me, which is the socially conscious part of the self that is presented to others

28. Mead -Society

-Society -Mead uses the term society to mean the ongoing social process that precedes both the mind and the self as individuals use it to both guide their actions, and understand who they are; society is built or emerges as people interact with one another in patterned ways

61. Propositions -Institutional -Interactional

-Sociological Theories: Institutional and Interactionist -Institutional- Gender differences emerge from the different social roles women play in social institutions, especially the family -Interactional- Ethnomethodologists see gender as something people do or accomplish largely because others hold us accountable

81. Why do sociologist care?

-Sociologists debate whether the world is a more modern version of what came before or whether recent changes have pushed our world beyond the modern and into the postmodern -In three weeks we will get into the postmodern. -Have we just evolved or moved on?

20. Neo-Marxists -Spaces of Hope

-Spaces of Hope- A reworking of the communist manifesto that prioritizes space provides hope for a working-class revolution that could come about as territorial lines of states change and blur, along with how the rural working-class is proving to be much more apt toward collective action than the urban proletariat Max and Engels wrote at length about.

63. Propositions -Structural Oppression -Socialist Feminism -Intersectionality

-Structural Oppression- The oppression of women can be examined as it occurs in the power structures embedded in large scale social relations including not only patriarchy but also capitalism, racism and heterosexism -Socialist Feminism- Combining feminism with the Marxist tradition enables scholars to focus on the articulation of women's oppression through capitalism, often by highlighting how historical material affects not only wealth and power but also ideas or ideology -Intersectionality- Women's experiences with oppression vary by race, class, sexuality, global location, age, etc., which enables feminists to recognize differences amongst women while still recognizing how women share a distinct standpoint

74. Agency-Structure Integration -Structuration Theory -Elements of Structuration Theory-

-Structuration Theory- Anthony Giddens surveys a wide variety of theories and rejects their macro/micro polar alternatives and instead notes how all action involve structure and all structure involves action that structures both consciousness and practices -Elements of Structuration Theory- Actors who rationalize their world in ways that motivate action via consciousness, agency or the things people actually do in ways that change the world, resources and rules that become structured in existing through time, social systems as created by reproduced practices and relationships are central in structuration & Note the links to symbolic inteationsim

79. Agency-Structure Integration -System -Social Integration and System Integration -Colonization

-System- While rooted in the lifeworld, systems develop specific structural-like qualities as they evolve to become more distant from the lifeworld -Social Integration and System Integration- There are two ways to integrate the system and lifeworld & Social integration sees society as the lifeworld as understood or perceived by people while system integration focuses on the ways the external world controls people -Colonization- While the lifeworld of systems have been coupled throughout most of history, they are increasingly split as the lifeworld is colonized by rationalization

31. Goffman -The Self -Dramaturgy -Impression Management

-The Self- Combining Charles Horton Cooley's concept of the looking glass self with Meads differentiation between "the I" and "the me," Erving Goffman views the self as the person we put forth towards others almost as they playing a character in a play -Dramaturgy- The self is molded out of performances were people or actors are successful if they convince others they are who and what they claim to be -Impression Management- The self is molded out of performances were people or actors are successful if they convince others they are who and what they claim to be

5. Critical Theory (The Frankfurt School)

-The Frankfurt School --Horkheimer's vision ---Supra-disciplinary 1. Goal was to take Marxism to the next step 2. Move away from economic determinism 3. What is the role culture plays in inequality and exploitation

89. Bauman -The Holocaust and Liquid Modernity

-The Holocaust and Liquid Modernity -According to Zygmunt Bauman, the formal rationality that both produced The Holocaust and has the potential to create something worse is inherently modern....

91. Bauman -The Holocaust and Rationalization -Liquid Modernity

-The Holocaust and Rationalization 1. The Holocaust was characterized by Weber's rationality: It was efficient, calculated, quantitatively driven, made use of nonhuman technologies and was especially dehumanizing in making victims not only complacent, but part of the system extermination system itself -Liquid Modernity 1. The modern bureaucracies that made The Holocaust possible were solid and permanent 2. Late modernity is characterized by structures that are temporary and solvent as those with power take advantage to the breaking down of space and time via globalization 3. Trouble with Being Human These Days (Video)

10. Critical Theory -The Ideas of Jurgen Habermas -Differences with Marx

-The Ideas of Jurgen Habermas-Habermas is keeping critical theory alive during a time of decline --Differences with Marx-Marx failed to distinguish work (or labor, purposive-rational action) and social (or symbolic) interaction (or communicative action) as parts of species being-- Habermas recognizes not all social interactions unfold via work and the economy as instead, reaching consensus is through communication is the foundation social and cultural reality

8. Critical Theory -The Major Contributions -Subjectivity -Dialectics

-The Major Contributions --Subjectivity-With an interest in thinking and reason, critical theorists reinserted the Hegelian subjectivity into their variant of neo-Marxism --Dialectics- A dialectical approach does not focus on any one aspect of social life (even the economy) in order to develop a view that is both synchronic (looking at interrelationships) as well as diachronic (looking through time) ---Knowledge and Human Interests-Since there is a relationship between subjective and objective factors, neither can be looked at in isolation; it's the job of the critical theorists to uncover the types of knowledge and their corresponding interests

70. Examples of Micro-Macro Integration -The Micro Foundations of Macrosociology

-The Micro Foundations of Macrosociology- Collins raises the micro level by affirming that interactions are not isolated but rather are chained to each other while noting that not action or interaction actually exists at the macro level because structures, organizations, classes and societies (they do not actually do anything) or are merely the conglomeration of interaction chains

66. Feminist Sociological Theorizing -The Micro Social Order -Subjectivity

-The Micro Social Order- The power relations of the macro order create contexts and situations where power (mainly that of men over women) dictates who can, and cannot do what in order to work towards their goals -Subjectivity- Because of marginalization and oppression, women experience and therefore come to subjectively perceive the world in unique ways -Video in powerpoint

17. Historical Marxism -Wallerstein -The Modern World-System -Geographical Expansion

-Wallerstein --The Modern World-System- Using the entire globe as his unit of analysis, Wallerstein concluded the world system is held together by forces that are always in tension and therefore always subject to becoming unraveling in order to reveal that global dominance is now maintained through economics rather than political or military oppression ---Geographical Expansion- While we tend to think of countries pushing for the post-renaissance global exploration, elites pushed forward Europe's global expansion

49. Homans -The Success Proposition -The Stimulus Proposition

-While Homans recognized that people are social, he ultimately claimed that human behavior is best explained by the psychological principles that undermine or can be used to explain all social actions -The Success Proposition- Individuals are more likely to engage in actions now and in the future which resulted in positive sanctions (or rewards) in the past -The Stimulus Proposition- Actors who have been rewarded by acting towards stimulus in rewarding ways are more likely to engage in those action now and in the future

83. Giddens

-While not entirely convinced the world entered a postmodern age, Giddens does believe in an advanced form of modernity where a social, cultural, economic, practices have been transformed since Marx's time -The juggernaut moves through time and over space that humans can only partially control and have no way to stop 1. Fits within structuration theory 2. Modernity threatens agency

29. Basic Ideas -Capacity for Thought -Thinking and Interaction

-While purposely vague, symbolic interaction recognizes human thought is shaped by social interaction largely because people learn the meanings of symbols which, in being used in symbolic interactions become modified for both the individuals who use them, and the society of individuals who share them -Capacity for Thought- Whereas behavioral psychologists see humans as acting out of impulse because of stimuli; symbolic interactionists see people as having the capacity to think and consider -Thinking and Interaction- People's general capacity of thought is refined through social interaction, a process which is similar to socialization although unlike most sociologists, symbolic interactionists see socialization as a dynamic process where information and meaning is shaped by individuals rather than a one-way education or learning of society

45. Traditional Sociology is No Good! -Why I don't like Ethnomethodology

-Why I don't like Ethnomethodology --Ethnomethodology is critiqued for focusing on trivial matters --Ignoring consciousness, cognition along with the macro-level-- it may not seem like it, the assumption is made that people are passive -Undermining the radical assumption that all social activity is an accomplishment while being unable to retain a close relationship with conversation analysis as if conversation is the only human accomplishment.

18. Historical Marxism -Worldwide Division of Labor -Development of Core States -Later Developments -World-System Theory Today

-Worldwide Division of Labor- Global expansion created a world-wide division of labor which undermined stateism, thereby allowing capitalism to arise as the dominant force on the globe -Development of Core States- While capitalism came to dominate the world-system, core states mostly in Europe and North America rose to prominence -Later Developments- The most recent developments in the world system entail the creating of ideologies and liberal states to support the global capitalist system -World-System Theory Today- Expanding inequalities and the fragility of global capitalism since the 2008 crash leads many to think the current world-system will not last in its current state, and will thus become either more oppressive or more democratic in the near future

67. Micro-Macro and Agency-Structure Integration

Powerpoint week 10

1. Neo- Marxists -Making Marx Better?

Powerpoint week 7

23. Symbolic Interaction

Powerpoint week 8