Key Figures Wrapup Emile Durkheim 1858 1917 Emile

Key Figures Wrap-up!

Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917)

Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917) • Key Problem – Understanding the social forces that produce social order and disorder

Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917) • Key Concepts – Social Facts (They exist!) • outside the individual, observable – Division of Labor • Mechanical Solidarity vs. Organic Solidarity – Mechanical = more traditional, shared values, no division of labor – Organic = more modern, high division of labor, more integrated society, vast differences of opinion – Anomie • Normlessness = condition of society in which people become detached from the norms that usually guide behavior

Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917) • Key Works – The Division of Labor in Society (1893) – Suicide (1897) • Importance of social integration • Demonstrated the social roots of personal acts • Illustrates value of scientific sociological analysis – The Rules of Sociological Method (1901) – Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)

Karl Marx (1818 -1883)

Karl Marx (1818 -1883) • Key Problem – Understanding how the economic system of capitalism affects society and its people

Karl Marx (1818 -1883) • Key Concepts – Historical Materialism • The development of societies is shaped by the ways humans produce life’s necessities – Class Struggle • By its nature, capitalist society is contentious; conflict between workers (proletariat) and owners/capitalists (bourgeoisie) – Surplus Value • The difference between what someone makes off your labor and what they pay you – False Consciousness • Workers’ acceptance and defense of the capitalist system

Karl Marx (1818 -1883) • Key Works – The Communist Manifesto (1848) – Capital

Max Weber (1864 -1920)

Max Weber (1864 -1920) • Key Problems – Effects of Rationality on Modern Society – Response to Marx’s Economic Emphasis • Not simply economics that produce reality, you need culture too

Max Weber (1864 -1920) • Key Concepts – Rationalization • Oriented toward science, calculated, measured, controlled • Rational vs. non-rational—capitalism is highly rational • All this rationality eliminates the human component – Bureaucracy • Modern society is oppressive, increasingly bureaucratic because increasingly rational

Max Weber (1864 -1920) • Key Works – Economy and Society – The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) • Cultural and religious roots to modern capitalism • Salvation in a “calling” • The “iron cage” of capitalism—you can’t opt out!

MOVING ON!

Theoretical Sociological Paradigms

Three Theoretical Paradigms • Structural Functionalism – Society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium • Conflict Theory – Society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for resources • Symbolic Interactionism – Society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another