SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES Part I INTRODUCTION

Sociological Theory Understanding complex phenomena (the impact of industrialization on societies, how does racism interact with capitalism, how do crime rates vary with poverty…) Factual research shows how things occur but sociology does not just consist of collecting facts. Why things happen?

Explanatory theories Industrialization What are the origins of and preconditions for industrialization? Differences between societies industrialization processes. Why is industrialization associated with changes in forms of criminal punishment or in family structures and marriage systems?

Theories involve constructing abstract interpretations that can be used to explain a wide variety of empirical/factual situations. A theory of industrialization is concerned with identifying the main features that processes of industrial development share in common and shows which are of importance in explaining industrial development.

We can only develop valid theoretical explanations if we can test them by means of factual research. However, facts do not speak for themselves! Unless they are guided by some knowledge of theory, they are unable to explain the complexity of societies.

Theoretical thinking must respond to general problems posed by the study of human social life (including issues that are philosophical in nature).

Founders of Sociology Systematic study of society – late 1700s and early 1800s. Enlightenment French Revolution Industrial Revolution in Europe What is human nature? Why is the society structured the way it is? How and why do societies change?

Which events made sociological perspective possible? The Industrial Revolution Radically transformed material conditons of life and ways of making living. New social problems such as urban overcrowding, poor sanitation and accompanying diseases, industrial pollution.

French Revolution Marked symbolic endpoint of the older European agrarian regimes and absolute monarchies. Republican ideals of freedom, liberty and citizenship rights came to the fore. Can be regarded as partly being the outcome of European Enlightenment ideas.

Enlightenment (Age of Reason) Challenged religious and traditional authorities Promoted philosophical and scientific notions of reason, rationality and critical thinking as the key to progress in human affairs. Saw the advancement of reliable knowledge in the natural sciences, and as showing the way for the study of social life.

Auguste Comte (1798-1857) Invented the term “sociology”. First had “social physics” in mind but it was taken. A science of society that could explain the laws of the social world just as natural science explained functioning of the physical world. Uncovering the laws that govern human society could help shape our destiny and improve the welfare of humanity.

Sociology as a positive science. Positivism: science should be concerned with observable entities that are known directly to experience. On the basis of careful observation, one can infer laws that explain the relationship between the observed phenomena. By understanding causal relationships between events, scientists can predict future events.

Comte’s Law of Three Stages Human efforts to understand the world have gone through three stages: Theological (religious ideas and the belief that society was an expression of God’s will) Metaphysical (Renaissance, society came to be known in natural not supernatural terms) Positive (application of scientific techniques to the social world)

Reconstruction of the society Religion of humanity that would abandon faith and dogma in favor of a scientific grounding (with sociology at the heart of this new religion). Inequalities produced by industrialization and the threat they posed to social cohesion. Solution? Production of a new moral consensus that would regulate/hold together the society, despite new patterns of inequality.

Canonical Sociology Marx (dynamics of the capitalist economy and causes of social inequality) Durkheim (character of industrial society and the process of secularization) Weber (emergence of capitalism and the consequences of modern bureaucratic forms of organization) What is common in their concerns?

They were all concerned to understand what was unique about modern societies and where they were heading. Good theories help us arrive at a deeper understanding of societies and to explain the social changes that affect us all.

Classical (Canonical) Sociologists Karl Marx (1818-1883) Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Max Weber (1864-1920) Why is classical sociology classical? (R.W. Connell) Who are left out and why?

“Why Is Classical Theory Classical?” Sociology arose out of the concerns and observations of European colonial empires, which led to the concepts of progress, evolution, and the primitive/modern contrast. For all the evils of this beginning, early sociology had at least a central concern for gender and race, later forgotten. Gender, sexuality, and race relations, which were core issues for evolutionary sociology, were pushed to the margins in the process of canon formation.

These concerns broke down because of World War I, with the shift of sociology’s center to the United States and to concerns for inequality and disorder in urban society. Because this empirical work failed to legitimate itself, a classical canon was adopted.

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) Today credited with introducing sociology to Britain through her translation of Comte’s Positive Philosophy. Systematic study of the American Society during extensive travels throughout the US, Society in America (1837).

When one studies a society, one must focus on all key aspects (political, religious and social institutions). An analysis of a society must include an understanding of women’s lives.

Sociological study of previously ignored issues such as marriage, children, domestic and religious life and race relations. “The nursery, the boudoir and the kitchen are all excellent schools in which to learn the morals and manners of a people.”

Sociologists should do more than just observe, they should also act in ways to benefit a society. Proponent of women’s rights and emancipation of slaves.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) Historical, sociological and political economic studies. Muqaddimah (Introduction, 1378)

Muqaddimah (Introduction, 1378) Criticized existing historical approaches and methods as dealing only with description. Claimed instead the discovery of a “new science of social organization” or “science of society” capable of getting at the underlying meaning of events.

Devised a theory of social conflict based on understanding the central characteristics of nomadic and sedentary societies of his time. Central to his theory was asabiyyah (group feeling/solidarity).

Attempted to explain the rise and decline of Maghribian and Arab states. Hence, studied the process of state formation. Nomadic Bedouin tribes – strong group feeling Sedentary town-dweller weak group feeling (internal solidarity)