Chapter 1 4th edition

The Real WorldAn Introduction to Sociology

4th Edition

Chapter 1:

Sociology and the

Real World

WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

Chapter 1

What is Sociology?

• The “Everyday Actor” vs. the “Social Analyst.”

– You are the “Everyday Actor.” What does this mean? How many behaviors do you exhibit on a daily basis that you take for granted and think very little about? How do you explain these behaviors?

• Using your cell phone

• Driving your car

• Eating lunch

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What is Sociology?

• The “Everyday Actor” vs. the “Social Analyst.” – The “Social Analyst” takes all of these everyday, common,

and taken-for-granted behaviors and places them into question.

– Imagine how an alien might view some of these very common behaviors. Would he/she/it really understand them? Would it make sense to them as it does to you?

– It is difficult to study behavior when you’re surrounded by it. It’s almost like we’re in a bubble and we can’t see on the other side of it.

– This is the role of a sociologist to move beyond the bubble.

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What Is Sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.

• Howard Becker (1986) defined sociology as the study of people “doing things together.”

• We must remember that humans are essentially social beings…our survival is contingent up on the fact we living in various groups and ultimately, our sense of self derives from our membership in society.

What is Sociology?

• What does the definition mean by “society” and “social behavior?”

– Society – a group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and pattered ways that distinguish their group from other groups.

– Social Behavior - behavior influenced or controlled by other persons or by organized society. In other words, behavior as influenced by the group or groups.

– Sociologists are interested in ALL aspects of society and social behavior.

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What Is Sociology?

• Sociology also looks at a broad range of social institutions which are complex groups of interdependent positions that perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time.

• More simply, a social institution is any large scale structure in society that works to shape behavior of the groups or people within it.

What is Sociology?

• It might help to

understand sociology

by contrasting it with

the other social

sciences.

• The Social Sciences

are the disciplines that

examine the human or

social world.

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What is Sociology?

• Each of the social sciences has its own particular focus on the social world.

• Sociology often times overlaps other disciplines (as you will learn when you start searching for library resources this semester).

• For example, you might want to explain why people commit certain types of crime, however, much of this research is also done under the umbrella of Criminal Justice.

• Another example might be trying to understand the effects of social media on teenagers – besides a sociology section, what are some other fields of study where you might find this type of research?

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What Is Sociology? (cont’d.)

• How do sociologists go about

understanding human life in society?

• They must first develop what we call the

sociological perspective or a way of

taking a sociological approach or thinking

sociologically about the world.

• How can we do this?

The Beginner’s Mind

• Like it sounds, the “beginner’s mind” is the opposite of an expert’s mind.

• Bernard McGrane says that to explore the social world, it is important that we clear our minds of stereotypes, expectations, and opinions so that we are more receptive to our experiences.

• We must unlearn what we already know. How can we do this? Is it difficult?

• Data Workshop on Page 12

Culture Shock

• Another way to gain a sociological perspective is to attempt to create in ourselves a sense of “Culture Shock.”

• Culture shock happens when you experience a sense of disorientation upon entering a new, different, and/or unfamiliar environment.

• Behaviors that seem typical in one society or culture may seem very strange in another context.

Sociological Imagination

• One of the classic statements about the sociological perspective comes from C. Wright Mills who coined the term Sociological Imagination.

• Mills says, “To understand social life, we must understand the intersection between biography and history.”

• Knowing what you know so far about sociology, what does he mean by this?


• Sociological imagination is quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level.

• For example, think about people who are unemployed and are having trouble finding a job. What is the most common explanation for their problem?

• Now…lets think like a sociologist…


• Sociological imagination is quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level.

• Another example…think about people with high credit card debt. What is the most common explanation for their problem?

• Now…let’s think like a sociologist…

Levels of Analysis

• Sociologists can use different levels of analysis to explore social relationships:– Microsociology vs. Macrosociology

• Microsociology concentrates on the interactions between individuals and the ways in which those interactions construct the larger patterns, processes, and institutions of society.

• It looks at the smallest building blocks of society in order to understand its large-scale structure.

Levels of Analysis

• Macrosociology approaches the study of society from the opposite direction, by looking at large-scale social structures in order to determine how it affects the lives of groups and individuals.

• So, to recap, a microsociological analysis might look at the relationship between a couple or the interactions of a sports team to develop theories about large scale social phenomena.

• A macrosociological analysis might look at the economy and how it impacts consumer behavior or how a presidential election influences American morale.

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The Micro-Macro Continuum

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SOCIOLOGY’S DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1

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Sociological Theories

• Theories in sociology are propositions that explain the social world and help to make predictions about future events.

• Theories are also sometimes referred to as approaches, schools of thought, paradigms, orperspectives.

• Sociology has more theories and/or paradigms than we could possibly explore in a semester. However, we’ll talk about the big ideas and the basics. Let’s start at the beginning.

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Sociology’s Roots

• The earliest Western social theorists focused on

establishing society as an appropriate object of scientific

scrutiny, which was itself a revolutionary concept.

• However, none of the earliest theorists were themselves

sociology (since the discipline didn’t yet exist). They

were philosophers, economists, journalists, etc.

• Their work laid the groundwork not only for the discipline

as a whole but also for the different schools of thought

that are still shaping sociology today.

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Sociology’s Roots

• Auguste Comte:

– Was the first to provide a program for the scientific study of society, or a “social physics” as he labeled it.

– Greatly influenced by the instability of society after the French Revolution and his studies of the scientific method that was revolutionizing the natural sciences.

– He argued that the scientific method could be applied to social life.

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Sociology’s Roots

• Auguste Comte:– He also developed a theory where he

argued that human thinking would move from its early theological or metaphysical stages toward a final “positive” or scientific stage.

– His theory, known as positivism, seeks to identify laws that describe the behavior of a particular reality where you can gain knowledge of the world directly through your senses.

– Observation of natural phenomena…not tradition.

– Today, he is basically remembered for coining the term sociology.

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• Harriet Martineau:

– She had progressive parents

and was well educated for a

woman of her time in England.

She became a journalist and

political economist.

– She was radical: supported

labor unions, the abolition of

slavery, and women’s suffrage.

Sociology’s Roots (cont’d.)

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• Harriet Martineau:

– In 1835, she traveled to the United States to study democracy on its own terms.

– She was disappointed: Blacks and women were denied full citizenship and slavery still existed.

– In her mind, the American experiment was flawed and hypocritical. She wrote 2 books, Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838), both critical of American Leadership and culture. This makes her a precursor to naturalistic sociology.

– Basically, she is remembered for translating Comte’s work into English, making his ideas accessible to England and America.



• Herbert Spencer

– His work was primarily responsible for the establishment of sociology in Britain and America.

– Although Spencer did not receive academic training, he grew up in a highly individualistic family and was encouraged to think and learn independently. His interests as a young man leaned heavily toward physical science, and instead of attending college, he chose to become a railway engineer.

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• Herbert Spencer:

– When railway work dried up, Spencer turned to journalism and eventually wrote books including The Study of Sociology(1873) and The Principles of Sociology (1897).

– Herbert Spencer was the first great English-speaking sociologist.

– Spencer believed in evolution and coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.” The idea of evolution was in wide circulation before Charles Darwin made it famous.

– He believed that societies evolve through time by adapting to their changing environment. His philosophy is often referred to as Social Darwinism.


THE THREE MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

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The 3 Perspectives

• Structural Functionalism (Macro)

• Conflict Theory (Macro)

• Symbolic Interactionism (Micro)

MACROSOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Major Theoretical Developments

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Macrosociological Theory

• Macrosociology is an approach to the discipline which emphasizes the analysis of social systems and populations on a large scale, particularly at the level of social structure.

• Many of the individuals that we’re discussing lived during extraordinary times. They watched the world change rapidly due to the Industrial Revolution and the French and American Revolutions. These changes are the foundation of Macrosociologicaltheory.

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Macrosociological Theory

• Three important perspectives:

–STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

–CONFLICT THEORY

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Structural FunctionalismINTRODUCTION

• Structural functionalism or functionalist theory, was the dominant perspective within sociology well into the 20th century.

• It is a paradigm that begins with the assumption that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures.

• Let’s discuss the founders and key contributors.

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• Émile Durkheim

– Influenced by the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), he hoped that sociological research could help stabilize and revitalize France.

– He will help make sociology a true academic field.

Structural FunctionalismDurkheim


• Emile Durkheim: In his first major study, The Division of Labor in Society (1893), Durkheim expressed his belief that social bonds were present in all types of societies, but that different types of societies created different types of bonds.

• He suggested that the mechanical solidarity experienced by people in an agrarian society bound them together on the basis of shared tradition and beliefs and similarities of experience.

• On the other hand, in industrial societies, where factory work was becoming increasingly specialized, organic solidarity prevailed: people’s bonds with each other were based on the tasks they performed, interdependence, and individual rights.

• In both cases, people are bound to each other—it is the qualities of the bonds that are different.

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• Emile Durkheim Cont’d:

• Durkheim believed that even the most individualistic of actions had sociological explanations, and he set out to establish a scientific methodology for studying these actions.

• He chose for his ground-breaking case study the most individualistic of actions, suicide, and used statistical data to show that suicides were related to social factors such as religious affiliation, marital status, and employment.

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• Emile Durkhiem: In his now classic study, Suicide(1897), he theorized that suicide was one result of anomie, a sense of disconnection bought about by the changing conditions of modern life.

• Ultimately, he explained a particular suicide by focusing exclusively on the victim’s psychological makeup neglected the impact of social bonds.

• His studies are still relevant today.

• He also argued that religion is a powerful source of solidarity, or the degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to which individuals feel connected to other members of their group.

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• Durkheim’s attempt to establish sociology as an important, independent academic discipline was enormously successful.

• He demonstrated the effectiveness of using scientific, or empirical, methods to study “social reality,” essentially validating Comte’s ideas from a half-century earlier.

– Empirical – based on scientific experimentation or observation.

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Structural FunctionalismMAIN PRINCIPLES

• Two main principles of STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM:

– First, society is conceived as a stable, ordered system made up of interrelated parts or structures(a social institution that is relatively stable over time and that meets the needs of society by performing functions necessary to maintain social order and stability).

– Second, each structure has a function that contributes to the continued stability or equilibrium of the unified whole.

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Structural FunctionalismMAIN PRINCIPLES

• Structures are identified as social institutions like the family, the educational system, politics, or religion.

– They meet society’s needs by performing different functions, and every function is necessary to maintain social order and stability.

– Any disorganization or dysfunction in a structure leads to change and a new equilibrium. If one structure is transformed, the others must adjust. Example: if parents fail to discipline a child, other institutions will have to pick up the slack…like education.

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Structural Functionalism

• Definitions:

– Structure – a social institution that is relatively stable over time that meets the needs of society by performing functions necessary to maintain social order and stability.

– Dysfunction – a disturbance to or undesirable consequence of some aspect of the social system.

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Structural FunctionalismOFFSHOOTS

• OFFSHOOTS:

– Talcott Parsons – Developed a theory that specified some of the functions that social structures might fulfill in contemporary life.

• A Healthy Society Must:

1. Provide a means for people to adapt to their environment – i.e. schools, churches, etc. to socialize children.

2. Have opportunities for success – i.e. promoting education for societal members to pursue goals.

3. Must have social cohesion – i.e. shared religious and/or moral values.

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Structural FunctionalismOFFSHOOTS

• OFFSHOOTS:

– Robert Merton – delineated the theory even further, identifying manifest and latent functions for different social structures.

• Manifest Functions – Obvious and intended functions of a social structure for the social system.

• Latent Functions – the less obvious and perhaps unintended functions of a social structure.

– Example: A manifest function of education is to teach knowledge and skills…a latent function is to keep kids busy and out of trouble all day until their parents get off from work.

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Structural FunctionalismCRITICISMS

• No Theory is Perfect…What are the problems?:

1. Because it is preoccupied with stability, it assumes that only dysfunction can create social change. In other words, society is static rather than dynamic.

2. It is entirely focused at the macro level. Therefore, there is no approach to study the lives of individuals except as part of social institutions.

3. With regard to social inequality, it assumes that if poverty, racism, and sexism exist, they must serve a function for society. (See the Herbert Gans theory on page 22 describing the functions of poverty)

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• Conflict Theory is our second major theoretical perspective and it is also a “macro level theory.”

• Conflict Theory is a paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change, and emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change.

Conflict TheoryINTRODUCTION

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• Karl Marx

– A German social philosopher and political activist. He is the founder of the conflict theory.

– Marx’s ideas have become more well known to the world as the basis of communism (a political system based on the collective ownership of the means of production; opposed to capitalism).

Conflict TheoryKarl Marx

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• While “communism” is sometimes called “Marxism,” it is important to separate Marx himself from the current, political application of communism.

• He lived during the Industrial Revolution which was a time of rapid social change (large numbers of people moving from the farm to the city to work in factories).

Conflict TheoryMarx

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• Marx believed that most of the problems caused by this rapid change was a result of capitalism(an economic system on private ownership of the means of production and characterized by competition, the profit motive, and wage labor).

• Because he believed that capitalism created great inequality, he proposed a radical alternative political system in his book Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848).

Conflict TheoryMarx

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• Marx believed that capitalism was creating social

inequality between the bourgeoisie, who owned

the means of production (money, factories, natural

resources, and land), and the proletariat, who were

the workers.

• According to Marx, this inequality leads to class

conflict (generated by the competition between

different class groups for scarce resources and the

source of all social change, according to Marx).

Conflict TheoryMarx

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• Definitions:

– Means of Production – anything that can create wealth; money, property, factories, and other types of businesses, and the infrastructure necessary to run them.

– Proletariat – workers; those who have no means of production of their own and so are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.

– Bourgeoisie – owners; the class of modern capitalists who own the means of production and employ wage laborers.

Conflict TheoryMarx

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• Everything of value in society resulted from human labor, which was the proletariat’s most valuable asset.

• Yet, they suffered from what Marx called alienationbecause they were unable to directly benefit from the fruits of their own labor. Workers were paid wages, but it was the factory owners who grew rich as a result of their toil.

– Alienation – the sense of dissatisfaction the modern worker feels as a result of producing goods that are owned and controlled by someone else, according to Marx.

Conflict TheoryMarx

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• The proletariat were often so absorbed in making a living that they were less apt to protest the conditions that held to their oppression.

• Eventually, Marx believed the proletariat would rise up against the bourgeoisie and abolish capitalism for good. (described in Das Kapital)

• He envisioned in its place a classless society, or socialism/communism, in which each person contributed to and benefited from the public good.

• Communism (collective ownership) vs. socialism (state ownership) vs. capitalism (private ownership)

Conflict TheoryMarx

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• Original Principles:

– Conflict Theory proposes that conflict and tension are basic facts of social life, and suggests that people have disagreements over goals and values and are involved in struggles over both resources and power.

– It takes a materialist view of society and extends it to other social inequalities (social class, race, gender, and age).

Conflict TheoryMAIN PRINICIPLES

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• Conflict theory assumes the wealthy and powerful bourgeoisie controlled major social institutions, reinforcing the class structure so that the state, education, religion, and even the family were organized to represent their interests.

• As a result, conflict theory takes a critical stance toward existing social arrangements and attempts to expose their inner workings.

Conflict TheoryMAIN PRINICPLES

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• Because the ideology that permeated society arose from the values of the ruling class, beliefs that seemed to be widely held were actually a kind of justification that helped to rationalize and explain the status quo.

• Most people readily accepted the prevailing ideology, despite its failure to represent the reality of their lives.

• Marx referred to this acceptance as false consciousness, a denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed when they fail to recognize the interests of the ruling class in their ideology.

Conflict TheoryFURTHER UNDERSTANDING

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• Understanding Marx’s False Consciousness:

– “Religion is the opiate of the masses.”

– This is not a criticism of religion as much as it is a criticism of the use of religion to create false consciousness in the working class.

– The proletariat is told to focus on happiness in the afterlife rather than on deprivations suffered in this world.

– How does this serve the interests of the ruling class?


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• By keeping the working class from demanding better conditions in this life.

• The proletariat must gain class consciousness – the recognition of social inequality on the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action.

• This can only happen when people recognize how society works and challenge those in power.


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• OFFSHOOTS:

– Critical Theory – a contemporary form of conflict theory

that criticizes many different systems and ideologies of

domination and oppression.

• Mass communication, “Culture Industries,” and

Consumerism

– Feminist Theory – a theoretical approach that looks at

gender inequalities in society and the way that gender

structures the social world.

– Queer Theory – a paradigm that proposes that categories

of sexual identity are social constructs and that no sexual

category is fundamentally either deviant or normal.

Conflict TheoryOFFSHOOTS

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• William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) DuBoiswas a notable pioneer in the study of race relations as a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and one of the most influential African American leaders of his time.

• He did groundbreaking research on the history of the slave trade, post-Civil War reconstruction, the problems of urban ghetto life, and the nature of black American society.

• Founding member, in 1909, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)


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• Jane Addams was another pioneer in the field of sociology.

• As a member of the sociology department at the University of Chicago, Addams was among a small handful of women faculty in America.

• Proponents of applied sociology—addressing the most pressing problems of her day through hands-on work with the people and places that were the subject of her research.


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• Jane Addams cont’d: This hands-on approach is perhaps best demonstrated by Hull House, the Chicago community center she established in 1889 to offer shelter, medical care, legal advice, training, and education to new immigrants, single mothers, and the poor.

• As a result of her commitment to delivering support and services where they were most needed, Addams is often considered the founder of what is now a separate field outside the discipline: social work.


Conflict TheoryCRITICISMS


– In focusing on tension and conflict, however, conflict theory can often ignore those parts of society that are truly orderly, stable, and enduring.

– Although society certainly has its share of disagreements, there are also shared values and common beliefs that hold it together.

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MICROSOCIOLOGICALTHEORY

Major Theoretical Developments

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Microsociological Theory

• Microsociology is one of the main branches (or focuses) of sociology, concerning the nature of everyday human social interactions and agency on a small scale: face to face.

• This branch is uniquely American originating at the University of Chicago.

• Main Theoretical Perspective:

– SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

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• Sociology's third (or fourth if you count Weberian Theory) major school of thought, symbolic interactionism (or interactionist theory), proved its greatest influence through much of the 1900s.

• Symbolic interactionism a paradigm that sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interaction

Symbolic InteractionismINTRODUCTION

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• FOUNDER AND KEY CONTRIBUTIONS

• Symbolic interactionism is derived largely from the teachings of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931).

• However, there were several others who were important in the paradigm’s development –

– The Chicago School a type of sociology practiced by researchers at the University of Chicago in the 1920s and 30s which centered on urban sociology and field research methods. Made up of multiple influential sociologists.

Symbolic InteractionismMead & The Chicago School


• What made the Chicago School unique?

– Instead of doing comparative and historical work as had the macro theorists before them, the members of the Chicago School went out and into the city to conduct interviews and collect observational data.

– Their studies were particularly inspired by Max Weber's concept of verstehen as the proper attitude to adopt in the field.

– Thus making personal interactions the foundation for their theoretical perspective (Symbolic Interactionism).

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• The new school of thought was strongly influenced

by a philosophical perspective called pragmatism -

a theoretical perspective that assumes organisms

(including humans) make practical adaptations to

their environments. Humans do this through

cognition, interpretation, and interaction.

• George Herbert Mead would be the one who

eventually pulled these ideas (and others, too)

together into a theory.

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• Understanding Mead:

– Mead proposed that both human development and the meanings we assign to everyday objects and events are fundamentally social processes—they require the interaction of multiple individuals.

– And what is crucial to the development of self and society is language, the means by which we communicate with one another.

– For Mead, there is no mind without language, and language itself is a product of social interactions.

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• According to Mead, the most important human behaviors consist of linguistic "gestures," such as words and facial expressions.

– People develop the ability to engage in conversation using these gestures; further, both society and individual selves are constructed through this kind of symbolic communication

• Furthermore, society and self were created through communicative acts like speech and gestures; the individual personality was shaped by society, and vice versa.

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Symbolic InteractionismMAIN PRINCIPLES

• ORIGINAL PRINCIPLES:

– For symbolic interactionists, society is produced and reproduced through our interactions with each other by means of language and our interpretations of that language.

– Symbolic interactionism sees face-to-face interaction as the building block of everything else in society, because it is through interaction that we create a meaningful social reality.

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– Basic Tenents: Blumer (1969).

– First, we act toward things on the basis of

their meanings.

• For example, a tree can provide a shady

place to rest, or it can be an obstacle to

building a road or home; each of these

meaning suggest a different set of actions.

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Symbolic InteractionismMAIN PRINICIPLES


– Basic Tenants Cont’d

– Second, meanings are not inherent; rather, they are negotiated through interaction with others.

• That is, whether the tree is the obstacle or an oasis is not an intrinsic quality of the tree itself but rather something people must figure out themselves. Different meanings for different people.

– Third, meanings can change or be modified through interaction.

• The contractor who sees the tree as an obstacle might be persuaded to spare it by a neighbor.

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• ORIGINAL PRINCIPLES:– Symbolic interactionism proposes that social facts exist

only because we create and re-create them through our inter-actions.

– This gives the theory wide explanatory power and a versatility that allows it to address any sociological issue.

– Although symbolic interactionism is focused on how self and society develop through interaction with others, it is useful in explaining and analyzing a wide variety of specific social issues, from inequalities of race and gender to the group dynamics of families or co-workers.

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Symbolic InteractionismOFFSHOOTS

• OFFSHOOTS:

– Erving Goffman was interested in how the “self” is developed through interactions with others in society.

• Goffman found it interesting that a person could “act” on way in front of her parents, and yet “act” totally differently in front of friends.

– Goffman used the term dramaturgy to describe the way people strategically present themselves to others.

• Dramaturgy is a theoretical paradigm that uses the metaphor of the theater to understand how individuals present themselves to others.

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Symbolic InteractionismOFFSHOOTS

• OFFSHOOTS:

– Harold Garfinkel, the founder of ethnomethodology

(the study of "folk methods," or everyday analysis of

interaction), maintains that as members of society we

must acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to

act practically in our everyday lives.

– He argues that much of this knowledge remains in the

background, "seen but unnoticed," and that we

assume that others have the same knowledge we do

when we interact with them.

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Symbolic InteractionismCRITICISMS


– Gary Fine sums up the critiques in this way: symbolic interactionism is

• Apolitical (and hence, supportive of the status quo)

• Unscientific (hence, little more than tenured journalism)

• Hostile to the classical questions of macrosociology (hence, limited to social psychology)

• Astructural (hence, fundamentally nonsociological)

– Of course, each of these have been addressed and Symbolic Interacitonism is a widely used and accepted perspective of sociology.

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The Real World: An Introduction To Sociology, 3rd Edition

Copyright © 2012 W. W. Norton & Company

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• Max Weber (1864-1920) was another important European macrosociologicaltheorist during the Industrial Revolution.

• Much of Weber’s work expressed a pessimistic view of social forces, such as the work ethic, that shaped modern life.

• Like other social theorists of his time, Weber was interested in the shift from a more traditional society to a modern industrial society.

Other Theoretical ApproachesWeberian Theory

• Perhaps his most overriding concern was with the process of rationalization, or the application of economic logic to all spheres of human activity.

• In Economy and Society (1921), Weber proposed that modern industrialized societies were characterized by efficient, goal-oriented, rule-governed bureaucracies.

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• He believed that individual behavior was increasingly driven by such bureaucratic goals, which had become more important motivational factors than traditions, values, or emotions.

• Weber's classic sociological discussion of the origins of the capitalist system, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904), concluded with the image of people trapped by their industrious way of life in what he called an iron cage of bureaucratic rules.

• He believed that contemporary life was filled withdisenchantment as the inevitable result of the dehumanizing features of the bureaucracies that dominated the modern social landscape.

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• Definitions:

– Rationalization is the application of economic logic to human activity; the use of formal rules and regulations in order to maximize efficiency without consideration of subjective or individual concerns

– Bureaucracies are secondary groups designed to perform tasks efficiently, characterized by specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, and formal written communication

– Iron Cage: Max Weber's pessimistic description of modern life, in which we are caught in bureaucratic structures that control our lives through rigid rules and rationalization.

– Disenchantment is the rationalization of modern society.

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• His contribution to social theory:

– He was interested in how individual motivation

led to certain social actions, and how those

actions helped shape society as a whole.

– Unlike Marx and Durkheim, Weber was

cautious about attributing any reality to social

institutions or forces independent of individual

action and meaningful thought.

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• He invoked the German term verstehen ("empathic under-standing") to describe how a social scientist should study human action: with a kind of scientific empathy for actors' experiences, intentions, and actions.

– Verstehen: Weber's term to describe good social research, which tries to understand the meanings that individual social actors attach to various actions and events

• In this way, Weber helped lay the groundwork for the third major school of thought.

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New Theoretical ApproachesPostmodernism

• Suggests that social reality is diverse,

pluralistic, and constantly changing

Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jean Baudrillard While many commentators and

critics identify these French intellectuals as “postmodernists,” each one distanced himself

from the label.

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