SOCIALTHEORYIf social theory, whether lay or expert, is a theory of a kind of world, then the type of theory must change as the world turns.
Sociologists use a number of theoretical frameworks to explain the same sets of social facts. Each theory represents a particular way of viewing the world and pulls our focus to different aspects of society. The use of different theoretical perspectives to explore society allows us to gain a more universal picture of social life.
There is little consensus among sociologists as to how to break down these theoretical perspectives into subcategories. In most recent years, the lines between the various perspectives have become more obscure, with several perspectives overlapping and incorporating one another. One set of proposed divisions includes the Functionalism, Conflict, and Interpretive perspectives. Randall Collins (1994) suggests a division of four categories: the Conflict, Rational/Utilitarian, Durkheimian, and Microinteractionist traditions.
Essays
on Sociological Theory Pure and Applied Talcott Parsons 1997
Karl Marx is best known for his writings on the relationship between economic life and other social institutions. His views are best summed up in his theory of base and superstructure. The base is the economy, comprised of the relations of production, the mode of production, and the means of production. The superstructure consists of the ideologies of society and other institutions such as the family, law, politics, religion, and the state. Marx posits that the character of the superstructure is, in the last instance, determined by the character of the base.
While it has been argued that this model entails economic determinism, this was not the intention of Marx and Engels, who suggested that the elements of the superstructure could be relatively autonomous of the base with their own laws of development. Additionally, they argued that the superstructure interacts with the base.
Some theorists argue that the relations
of production are partly relations of ownership, which involve legal definitions
defined as superstructural in the model. This makes it difficult to analytically
separate the base and superstructure. Louis Althusser proposes that the
superstructural elements, such as ideology and politics are conditions
of existence of the economic base. He further argues that ideology should
be seen as a social relation rather than as an illusion.
THE RATIONAL UTILITARIAN TRADITION
In the 1950s, George Homans began the construction of social exchange theory. Through his research on small groups, spanning several decades, he attempted to show that there is a pattern of individual actions underlying every social institution. According to Homans, the rewards and costs experienced by human actors are the basis of all sociological explanations.
The theory of bounded rationality posits that optimization is impossible, therefore actors' choices are not strictly rational, they are bounded. This theory has influenced much of the writing in the renaissance of utilitarian thinking. James G. March and Herbert A. Simon ("Bounded Rationality and Satisficing") argue that the traditional goal of optimizing results is impossible when conditions are sufficiently complex. Rather, the most rational pattern of decision-making is satisficing -- concentrating on a few problems and allowing routine to prevail elsewhere.
Although Weber has often been depicted as critical of Karl Marx's works, increasingly sociologists view Weber's work as an extension of Marx's -- the flip side of society as you will. Max Weber contributed heavily to the ideas of rational choice theory through his concepts of rationalization and disenchantment -- a variety of processes by which every aspect of human action becomes subject to calculation, measurement and control. Every facet of human existence has come under the "iron cage" of rationalization. The individual is stripped of religious meaning and moral value and increasingly subject to bureaucratic regulation and government regulation. For example, the organization of the factory by bureaucratic means and the systematic calculation of profit affects economic organization.
The intellectual development of theology, the disappearance of magic, and the replacement of sacraments by personal responsibility affects religion (Weber expounds upon this idea in the Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism).Deductive legal reasoning on the basis of universal laws has replaced ad hoc decision making in law. Rationalization affects politics by replacing the charasmatic leader with the party machine. The individual innovator is increasingly being replaced by the development of research teams and state-directed science policies in the realm of science. Much like Marx's concept of alienation, Weber's rationalization implies that the individual is separated from community, family, and church, becoming subordinated to legal, political, and economic regulation in these spheres. One of the most famous problems with neo-rationalism is solving the "free rider problem." If self-interested persons calculate their own advantages, then it is not usually rational for these persons to contribute to a group that produces a shared good. The more rational choice is to let others do the work while one "free rides" and enjoys the results. How then is it possible that groups are able to accomplish anything at all?
"Emile Durkheimmay well be sociology's greatest theorist to date (Randall Collins, 1994)." Although not all his theories have turned out right or been fruitful, he provided many of the classic insight breakthroughs of sociology. Experiences such as the realization that social order and rational thought rest on a nonrational foundation; that this substructure is a flow of emotions determined by social interactions and the mutual actions of rituals; that symbols like gods are full of the moral energies of the group whose membership they reflect.
Durkheim explored areas such as social solidarity, the collective conscience, the social nature of humans, social rituals and sacred objects. Social life, "in all its aspects and in every period of its history, is made possible only by a vast sybolism "("Social Rituals and Sacred Objects"; Durkheim, 1912).
Emile Durkheim [1858-1917] built upon the writings of several early philosophers, including Montesquieu, Saint-Simon, Auguste Comte [1798-1857] and Herbert Spencer [1820-1903]. His followers include theorists such as Marcel Mauss, Robert K. Merton, Talcott Parsons (also Functionalism), Claude Levi-Strauss (who also incorporates conflict theory), Erving Goffman (also Microinteractionist) and Pierre Bourdieu.(Forum for the discussion of topics related to Bourdieu and his work.)
The interpretive perspective focuses the processes individuals use to make sense of everyday life and through which they give meaning to daily events. These interpretive models look at society beginning with individual interaction (MICROSOCIOLOGY) moving to larger social systems.
Symbolic interactionists see social systems as products of social interaction and the meaning that people give to their situations. Much work in this area links to the ideas of George Herbert Mead, although the term was coined by Herbert Blumer.According to Mead we are all multiple selves because we engage in multiple social relationships . On these relationships we increase our multiplicity through reflexive thought and relationships with ourselves. The thinking mind itself is social, an internalized conversation among the different parts of the self -- the "I," and the "Me" and the generalized other generalized other." We take on the roles of others and, thus, make symbolism possible.
Symbolic interactionism rests on three premises. [1] Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them. [2] The meaning of such things is is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one's fellows. [3] These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things he encounters.
American
Sociology amp Pragmatism: Mead, Chicago Sociology, amp Symbolic Interaction
J. David Lewisnbspnbsp Richard L. Smith 1981
Erving
Goffman & Modern Sociology Philip Manning 1994
Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Ethnomethodologists, such as Harold Garfinkel ( Studies of the Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities), dig below the level of "taken-for-granted" reality to discover the basic meaning of social action. One method of study for the ethnomethodologist is a "breaching experiment" devised by Garfinkel. In this method the researcher interacts with others without the benefit of taken-for-granted reality. Nothing is assumed and alternative meanings that we "naturally" assign to words are not understood. In response to "I'm sick of this." the researcher may respond "What's your ailment?"
Try it! Strip away the assumptions of everyday life and see how people react.
Charles Horton Cooley argues that social interaction only takes place in the mind, as each individual imagines others' attitudes and possible responses. Cooley is the earliest professional sociologist to delve into the realm of social psychology with his writing of The Looking Glass Self . Many of Cooley's ideas can be found in his book: Social Organization: A study of the larger mind. (1909) For example in chapter 3 he discusses primary groups; in chapter 12 he puts forth a theory of public opinion; and in chapter 18 you can find his views on the principle of hereditary or caste.
Michel Foucault also delved into aspects of "self," studying how the self is created and subjected to relations of power. He also studied the development of new systems of knowledge, new forms of architecture, and new disciplines of social regulation.
Click on Postmodern Theory above to go to that page. Meet Baudrillard, DeLeuze, Derrida, Foucault, Lyotard and Nietzsche and read some papers about them or based on their writings.
Wollstonecraft,
Mary "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with strictures
on political and moral subjects"
Had enough theory for one day (night)? Better bone up on your methodology. Maybe you want to find an area to specialize in. Or go read some scholarly papersfor inspiration. Already inspired? You can find some datato conduct your analysis. Maybe you just want to log off and get some sleep. Yeah, right! Okay . . . well here's a page of Trepanation: Wacky, Zany Fun . Don't tell them I sent you!
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