...heavily dominated by the writings of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Each of these three theorists has carved out a distinctive approach to the study of society and, in the process, has contributed substantially to our understanding of the transition from pre-modern to modern society. There are many who would argue that the ideas of these three classical figures continue to have much to offer to an understanding of contemporary society and politics. There are several possible ways to study the ideas of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. In this course we will attempt to take a thematic and comparative approach by comparing the views of Marx, Weber and Durkheim on a number of central topics. We will look therefore at their ideas concerning the methods appropriate to the study of society, their views on class and the division of labour, on democratic politics and the state and on culture, religion and ideology. Our discussion will begin with a consideration of what a ‘classical’ tradition might look like in the social sciences; and of why Marx, Weber and Durkheim merit inclusion as the most significant members within such a tradition. For a fuller appreciation of the classical tradition in social theory there is no substitute for a reading of the original writings of Marx, Durkheim and Weber. As these writings are very extensive, we will rely on a number of commentaries – principally those by Morrison and Giddens as well as McIntosh’s collection of selections from the original works – to guide...
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...Question 1. Compare and contrast the views of religion held by Marx and Tocqueville. Religions, all over the world have always tried to find an association between mankind and nature and a relation between human beings themselves. One of religion’s main goals is to provide rules and guidance that create order and support for the people that follow it. However, the notion of religion and where it came from has been a subject of debate amongst many historians, thinkers, sociologists and philosophers. Karl Marx, the German philosopher, revolutionist, and sociologist, believed that religion was a manmade ideology. He did not believe that God made humankind; he believed we made God (Marx, 1978). Alex de Tocqueville did not believe in what I just previously mentioned. Instead, the Roman Catholic political thinker and historian believed that God created us and he was responsible for providing the people with the proper rules and keys to living in a materialistic and worldly place (Tocqueville, 1972 pp 359). In this paper, I will be contrasting the different views of religion from the perspectives of Karl Marx and Alex de Tocqueville. With that being said, and although by now we know that both thinkers have different views regarding religion, some of their writings show otherwise and in turn, we will find some striking similarities between them. Beginning with the ideas of Karl Marx; Karl Marx was known to be an atheist who strongly believed that religion was created by the people who...
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...Explain at least four of the ways in which More tries to reduce the work load for individuals in Utopia. What did he want Utopians to do in their spare time? Is More’s attitude about labor the same as Marx’s? Why or why not? When comparing Utopia by Sir Thomas More and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it is clearly noticeable that both take on different extremes while discussing common issues. For instance, Thomas More believes that idleness is unnecessary and that the workload shouldn’t be as burdensome, therefore he finds a way to lessen the workload by lessening the work hours for each day, creating gender specific occupations, emphasizing the importance of reason and intellectual exploration, and lastly through strategic punishment. Karl Marx on the other hand, believes that division of labor leads to the alienation of mankind. Both Utopia and The Communist Manifesto provide insight on a whirlwind of different beliefs all to come to the conclusion that the working class should not suffer. In Utopia people are not forced to work for unreasonable hours each day. The Utopian day is broken into twenty-four hours; Utopians only work for six hours per day (three before lunch and three after). Utopians also sleep on average about eight hours a day. This leaves them with a great deal of free time, which they are free to do with as they will, as long as they do not spend it in idleness. Most people use their free time to engage in intellectual...
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...are replaced by others. Moreover, they are not only external to the individual, but they are "endowed with coercive power, by . . . which they impose themselves upon him, independent of his individual will." Constraints, whether in the form of laws or customs, come into play whenever social demands are being violated. These sanctions are imposed on individuals and channel and direct their desires and propensities. A social fact can hence be defined as "every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint." Although in his early work Durkheim defined social facts by their exteriority and constraint, focusing his main concern on the operation of the legal system, he was later moved to change his views significantly. The mature Durkheim stressed that social facts, and more particularly moral rules, become effective guides and controls of conduct only to the extent that they become internalized in the consciousness of individuals, while continuing to exist independently of individuals. According to this formulation, constraint is no longer a...
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...Capitalism and Economic Globalization In a perfect world there would be no hunger, no poverty, and no crime, but no such world will ever exist. There will always be suffering, hurt, anguish, and despair. Yet, shouldn’t we strive to provide a good future for all? This concept of the most amounts of good for the most amounts of people is call Utilitarianism. Contrary to popular belief, the United States doesn’t believe in such a state of being. Instead, through capitalism and economic globalization the United States has proven to believe in the exact opposite of utilitarianism. The United States has always been based on the principles of capitalism; however, the present economy is far from being the free enterprise system it was once envisioned as. The major change the United States made was directing the system away from competition. The result is a society dominated by mega corporations that control demand rather then respond to the demands of the marker. To break down the previous statement the corporations are so “in control of their products price that they can charge whatever they see fit”. The reason for this is lack of competition in a capitalistic society. Karl Marx a social theorist of the 1800’s believed that the basis of social order in every society is the production of economic goods. “The concepts of what is produced, how it’s produced, and how it’s exchanged determines the differences in people’s wealth, power, and social status”. Marx...
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...Metaphysics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:navigation, search This article is about the branch of philosophy. For the work of Aristotle, see Metaphysics (Aristotle). |Philosophy | |[pic] | |Branches[show] | |Aesthetics | |Epistemology | |Ethics | |Logic | |Metaphysics | |Social philosophy | |Political philosophy | |Eras[show] | |Ancient | |Medieval | |Modern | |Contemporary | |Traditions[show] | |Analytic | |Continental | |Eastern | |Islamic | |Marxist | |Platonic | |Scholastic | |Philosophers[show] | |Aestheticians | |Epistemologists...
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...people have come to identify themselves as subjects.”(Rajchman) And then another good quote about Michel Foucault is “For more than a decade, his elegant shaved skull had been an emblem of political courage-a cynosure of resistance to institutions that would smother the free spirit and stifle the right to be different.” (Miller 13) I will be exploring how the present days views are reinforced; the dominant message of how a wedding should be and then how in some movies, the post-feminism is displayed which slightly alters this dominant image. I will be also exploring the mix of cultural traditions within the wedding to see how the structure is similar or drastically different. I will discuss Marx’s Materialism ideology aspect of the domination of the ruling class and explore the aspect of the base and superstructure with the mode of production/the system of economic relations within the institutions surrounding wedding ideology. Through close textual analysis, I will show the dominant ideology of the wedding industry as illustrated through media and the attitudes of various woman; comparing views of two extremes to the leading up to that of the dominant American wedding ideology of the industry and secondly, I will then contrast this structuralism to that of a few other cultural films to explore the obstacles as well as end result of the dominant media ideology. “Capitalism is not only an economic...
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...Classical theorists: August Comte: He was born on the 19th of January 1798, in Paris France. He was born in the shadow of the French revolution and as modern science and technology gave birth to the industrial revolution. During this time, European society experienced violent conflict and feelings of alienation. Comte spent most of his life developing a philosophy for a new social order amidst all the chaos and uncertainty. He rejected religion and royalty, focusing instead on the study of society which he named “sociology”. He broke the subject into two categories: i. Forces holding the society together(social statics) ii. Those driving social change(social dynamics) Comte wrote so many books which contains the outline of his thought such as: i. Positive philosophy(1830 -42) ii. System of positive policy(1851 -54) iii. Religion of humanity (1958) Comte gave birth not only to a specific methodology of studying knowledge and also analyzed the evolution of human thinking and its various stages. He developed a unilinear theory of evolution. According to Comte, individual mind and human society pass through successive stages of historical evolution leading to some final stage of perfection. The principle developed by Comte in the study of human thinking presumes gradual evolution and development in human thinking and it is known as the law of three stages of thinking. Comte’s law of three stages represents that there are three intellectual stages through...
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...Korson Marxism: For and Against Marxism is essentially a critique of Capitalism. In order to understand Marxism, one needs to evaluate the history of Marxism. Heilbroner described Marxism as being “inescapable” (Heilbroner, 15). Marxism is credited with the contribution for uncovering an unsuspected level of reality beneath the surface of capitalism. His mode of inquiry for uncovering the hidden reality of capitalism is through his own invented process of socioanalysis. Because of Marx’s legacy of revealing the reality of capitalism, Heilbroner compares him to Freud and Plato, all whose works are inescapable for the truths they have unveiled. Freud and Plato both unveiled hidden realities. Marx shared a further similarity in the sense that his “combination of insight and method permanently altered the manner in which reality would thereafter be perceived” (Heilbroner, 17). Marx’s works in his book Capital is still more relevant today than Adam Smith’s renowned work Wealth of Nations. Marx‘s book placed importance on technology and crises and social tension, and more importantly, undertakes the task of critiquing the political economy. However, the problem of Marxism is within trying to define it. Heilbroner believes that there exists a set of premises that can assist in defining Marxist thought, “so that any analysis that contains these premises can be properly classified as Marxist” (Heilbroner, 20). There are four main premises as described by Heilbroner; the dialectical...
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...Social Perspectives Evolutionary Theorist: Ø Ibn Khaldun: He was a historian and wrote history of the cultural life of Babar tribes. He studied the socio-‐cultural aspects of these tribes and thus laid down the foundation of a new science called Ilmul Imran, which became the foundation of sociology. His social theories included: • Social Solidarity (Al-‐Asabiya): o A force that unites people with one another that subsequently leads to the formation of a state. o People, when combine their minds and forces, create solidarity amongst themselves, which is social solidarity. o Al-‐Asabiya is the emotions of similarity that keeps the people of a group united together having a common effective action. o The uniting force is highest in this relation. a spirit that is shared by another great social philosopher – Emile Durkheim. o The state decides conflicts of the group. o The group that achieves social solidarity becomes an invincible force that cannot be subjugated. o...
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...Licensed to: CengageBrain User Licensed to: CengageBrain User This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions, some third party content may be suppressed. Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. The publisher reserves the right to remove content from this title at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. For valuable information on pricing, previous editions, changes to current editions, and alternate formats, please visit www.cengage.com/highered to search by ISBN#, author, title, or keyword for materials in your areas of interest. Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Licensed to: CengageBrain User Sociology in Our Times: Ninth Edition Diana Kendall Sponsoring Editor: Erin Mitchell Developmental Editor: Renee Deljon/Kristin Makarewycz Freelance Development Editor: Tricia Louvar Assistant Editor: Linda Stewart Editorial Assistant: Mallory Ortberg Media Editor: Mary Noel Marketing Manager: Andrew Keay ...
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...Glossary of Sociological Terms |11-Plus Exam |Examination introduced with the 1944 Education Act, sat by all pupils in the state sector| | |at the age of 11. If they passed they went to the selective Grammar School, or if they | | |failed to the Secondary Modern School. This exam still exists in some counties such as | | |Kent and also in Northern Ireland. | |12-Plus Exam |Exam made available only to a minority of 'high-flyers' in Secondary Modern schools, | | |offering a late chance to go to Grammar School at the age of 12. | |'30-30-40 society' |A term associated with Will Hutton to describe an increasingly insecure and polarised | | |society. The bottom 30 per cent is socially excluded by poverty from the rest of society.| | |The next 30 per cent live in fear and insecurity of falling into poverty. Only the top 40| | |per cent feel secure and confident. ...
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...SOUTHERN RURAL SOCIOLOGY, 24(1), 2009, pp. 200–222. Copyright © by the Southern Rural Sociological Association DURKHEIM DID NOT SAY “NORMLESSNESS”: THE CONCEPT OF ANOMIC SUICIDE FOR INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY COURSES PHYLLIS PUFFER BIG SANDY COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE ABSTRACT The definitions of anomic suicide presented in introductory sociology textbooks from 1996 to 2007 were compared with the definition given by Durkheim in his own writings both in the original French and the English translation. It was found that only one textbook correctly gave Durkheim’s own definition while the other definitions showed little or no relationship to the original concept. The original concept was based on an analysis of the economy, more particularly the business cycle, and refers only to the structure of society and not to the mental state of the individual. An attempt is made to discover the source of such a widespread and well-accepted error. All of us are concerned about the introductory course in sociology, no matter the august reaches of academe we might have attained. Nearly all of us have taught it at least once, if only as teaching assistants during our graduate school days. Some of us always teach it. The rest depend on it as a basis for their advanced courses, for a supply of research assistants, and ultimately to build public appreciation and support for the field. If we think of the number of students who take introductory sociology in just one small...
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...GIVING VOICE TO VALUES (What would I say and do if I were going to act on my values) Description 1 Value Clarification: What is a value? Exercises to reveal values. Value Formation. (Please use the exercises in the attached notes, or anything else you can find in books on values) 4 2 Comparative Religions: Inter-religious sensitivity, understanding and common action to build a world on shared values. Breaking through stereotypes. Communalism and Building community. (Video presentation on 3 religions: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity- Arnold Toynebee. After viewing a video programme on each religion, please get a group of 5 students to share on the meaning they get from their religions. Clarifications from the rest of the class are welcome. No discussions. A session on communalism and community building could follow. Talk by Ram Puniyani on communalism. 10 3 Corruption as a way of life: Case studies e.g. CWG, Adarsh and 2G. Attempt to analyse the causes. Don’t get stuck on description. Then try and discuss strategies to avoid corruption. RTI. Civil Society groups. Other strategies to bring accountability and transparency. 4 4 Violence and Conflict Resolution: Input from Kishu Daswani – conflict resolution at the individual level 5 5 Attraction to substance abuse: Resources from Linda. Film: My brother Nikhil, Portrait of an addict. 2 6 The Problem of Evil: Video: God in the dock. A discussion following the film is useful 2 7 Prayer Communal and Personal: Video: Seven...
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...Social Change and Modernity Edited By Hans Haferkamp and Neil J. Smelser UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford © 1992 The Regents of the University of California INTRODUCTION Hans Haferkamp and Neil J. Smelser Haferkamp is grateful to Angelika Schade for her fruitful comments and her helpful assistance in editing this volume and to Geoff Hunter for translating the first German version of parts of the Introduction; Smelser has profited from the research assistance and critical analyses given by Joppke. 1. Social Change and Modernity Those who organized the conference on which this volume is based—including the editors— decided to use the terms "social change" and "modernity" as the organizing concepts for this project. Because these terms enjoy wide usage in contemporary sociology and are general and inclusive, they seem preferable to more specific terms such as "evolution" "progress," "differentiation," or even "development," many of which evoke more specific mechanisms, processes, and directions of change. Likewise, we have excluded historically specific terms such as "late capitalism" and "industrial society" even though these concepts figure prominently in many of the contributions to this volume. The conference strategy called for a general statement of a metaframework for the study of social change within which a variety of more specific theories could be identified. 2. Theories of Social Change Change is such an evident feature of...
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