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This page is intended primarily for SYA4010 at the Social Sciences department of Florida State University (2007). The information below is knowledge obtained from the course, and it is hoped that any and all that come upon this page will find it useful in pursuit of the philosophy of sociology.

Test 1
Please note that these are not intended as standalone material in the absence of class attendance

From Mechanical Solidarity to Organic Solidarity:

Emile Durkheim, 1858-1917
Division of labor:

Top mechanical solidarity - everyone essentially has the same (primitive) tasks in a society... hunting/gathering, pottery/weapons acquisition, etc... all the people in general cook for themselves, clean up for themselves, etc...  organic solidarity - specialized tasks within the society (modernity)... computer technician, janitor, cook, etc...  dynamic density - # of people & level of interaction; he higher the d. d., the  closer one comes to organic (from mechanical) solidarity collective conscience - ideas shared by the members of a collectivity such as a group (SYA 4010), tribe (Cherokee), or society (Canadia) repressive law- (mechanical solidarity) fierce punishment, as crimeis seen as an act against the powerful collective conscience restitute law - (organic solidarity) offenders are obliged to abide by laws & repay what harm they inflict One important source of information regarding repressive/restitute law is Social Deviance. ''What type of law do we have in the states? Is it up to speed according to the collective conscience? How could it be improved?'' social facts - subject matter of sociology (Durkheim set this precedent), treated as things that are external, coercive over individuals, & to be studied empirically/systematically material social facts - social facts that take a material form in the external social world (i.e. the classroom, restaurant, workplace, etc.) nonmaterial/immaterial social facts - external and coercive (i.e. social norms & values) anomie - a sense, associated wit organic solidarity, of not knowing what one is expected to do; of being adrift in society w/o any clear and secure moorings (attachment, anchoring)

Karl Marx, 1818-1883
Top communism may be Marx's well-known creation, but the failure of such regimes and the atrocities of said regimes have little to do with the ideals of Marx, aside from the basic social tenets they fronted; Marx has been radicalized--incorrectly--regarding common knowledge of him... One should always be leery regarding new knowledge, no matter how agreeable...  Human Potential - Marx's starting point (and likely the major source of his benevelont motivation; one must consider the exponential rate of success of humans over other animals that lack the extra layers of neocortex and how important this is for advancing into the future valiantly and with little boundaries by which all societies are unfortunately stricken.  Marx observed (somewhat accurately at the time of his sociological inquiries) how capitalism can disturb the minds of the collective conscience into seeking only banal material wealth and not seeking to exploit its "species being", which is what Marx thought a communistic regime would allow for--the leisure to perform at one's peak creativity through higher intellectual achievement. Alienation - the breakdown of, the separation from, the natural interconnection between people and their productive activities, the products they produce, the fellow workers with whom they produce those things, and with what they are potentially capable of becoming... simply put, this is the process by which society gets caught up with basic "animal-brain" desires instead of recognizing the potential of the brain/mind... Capitalism - an economic system in which one class (capitalists, sooth-sayers, pundits, etc) exploits the other(s)... this is often done implicitly, with neither party actively participating, but merely existing as their roles in the inherited society Means of Production - those things that are needed for production to take place (tools, machinery, raw materials, factories, labor, ingenuity, energy).... subsistence wage - wage paid to allow survival of worker(s) and his/her family... see poverty line... labor theory of value - Marx's theory that 'all' value comes from labor and is therefore traceable in capitalism, to the proletariat; surplus value - the difference b/w the value of a product when it is sold and the value of the elements consumed in production of the product (including workers' labor); exploitation - Interesting article; class consciousness - the ability of a class, in particular the proletariat to overcome false consciousness and attain an accurate understanding of the capitalist system; this employs an extremely ambiguous language, in which one must not rush to conclusions before clearly defining the "false consciousness" relative to the said "accurate understanding"; the most obvious answer is education of the proletariat...  False Consciousness - (capitalism) both classes have an inaccurate sense of themselves (is there ever an accurate sense of ourselve, and by what criteria?), their relationship to one another, and the way in which capitalism operates... alluded to under "Capitalism" above... praxis - the idea that people, especially the proletariat, must take concrete action in order to overcome capitalism; a much better solution allowed in democratic capitalist states is proactive participation...  Communism - the social system that permits, for the first time, the expression of full human potential...; keep in mind that this can be acheived under the most egregiously oppressive regimes...

Max Weber, 1864-1920: the rationalization of society
Top Social Action - seen as the heart of his theoretical orientation; this was largely introduced to 1930s American society by Talcott Parsons, with tendentious biases however... Behavior and Action Types of Action - behavior - things that people do that require little or no thought; action - things that people do that are the result of conscious processes; behaviorism - the study, largely associated with psychology, of behavior; affectual action - nonrational action that is the result of emotion; traditional action - action taken on the basis of the ways things have been done habitually or customarily; value-rational action - action that occurs when an actor's choice of the best means to an end is chosen on the basis of the actor's belief in some larger set of values; this may not be the optimal choice, but it is rational from the point of view of the value system in which the actor finds him/herself; means-ends rational action - the pursuit of ends that th actor has chosen for himself; that choice is affected by the actor's view of the environment in which she finds herself, including the behavior of people and objects in it...  Types of Rationality - practical rationality - on a day-to-day basis, we deal with whatever difficulties exist and find the most expedient way of attaining our goal of getting from one point to another; theoretical rationality - n effort to master reality cognitively through the development of increasingly abstract concepts; the goal is to attain a rational understanding of the world rather than to the rational action within it; substantive rationality - the choice of the most expedient action is guided by larger values rather than by daily experiences and practical thinking; formal rationality - the choice of the most expedient action is based on rules, regulations, and laws that apply to everyone (but clever individuals can skirt to their personal advantage, which can have either positive or negative effects--or both--for the remainder of society; The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - (Calvinism, to which Weber's mother subscribed) Protestant ethic - b/c of their belief in Predestination, the Calvinists could not know whether they were going to heaven or hell or directly affect their fate; however, it was possible for them to discern signs that they were either saved or damned, and one of the major signs of salvation was success in business (which is more often than not, affected by education and inherited family wealth); verstehen - (literal translation from Deutsch: to understand) a methodological technique involving n effort to understand the thought processes of the actor, the actor's meanings and motives, and how these factors led to the action (or interaction) under study Confucianism, Hinduism, and Capitalism - spirit of capitalism - in the West,, unlike any other area of the world, people were motivated to be economically successful, not by greed, but by an ethical system that emphasized the ceaseless pursuit of economic success; the spirit of capitalism had a number of components including the seeking of profits rationally and systematically, frugality, punctuality, fairness, and the earning of money as a legitimate end in itself; Authority Structures and Rationalization - traditional authority - authority based on the belief by followers that certain people (based on their family, tribe, or lineage) have exercised sovereignty since time immemorial; the leaders claim, and the followers believe in, the sanctity of age-old rules and powers; ideal type - a one-sided, exaggerated concept, usually an exaggeration of the rationality of a given phenomenon, used to analyze the social world in all its historical and contemporary variation; the ideal type is a measuring rod to be used in comparing various specific examples of a social phenomenon either cross-culturally or over time; Bureaucracy - bureaucracy - a modern type of organization in which the behavior of officers is rule bound; each office has a specified sphere of competence and has obligations to perform specific functions, the authority to carry them out, and the means of compulsion to get the job done; the offices are organized into a hierarchical system; technical training is needed for each office; those things needed to do the job belong to the office and not the officer; the position is part of the organization and cannot be appropriated by an officer; and much of what goes on in the bureaucracy (acts, decisions, rules) is in writing; charismatic authority - authority legitimated by a belief by the followers in the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of the charismatic leader; charisma - the definition by others that a person has extraordinary qualities; a person need not actually have such qualities in order to be so defined; routinization of charisma - efforts by disciples to recast the extraordinary and revolutionary characteristics of the charismatic leader so that they are better able to handle mundane matters; this is also done in order to prepare for the day when the charismatic leader passes from the scene and to allow the disciples to remain in power; rational-legal authority - a type of authority in which the legitimacy of leaders is derived from the fact that there are a series of codified rules and regulations, and leaders hold their positions as a result of those rules...

01FEB07

From the lecture
Labor as Art 'The Means of Self-Expression

Top Many things cannot be accurately expressed in words, hence our toils. Cultural identity often originates in (and is dominated by) our daily struggles. One of the most popular historical quote is "give us this day our daily bread", in which men and women worked day in and day out to feed themselves and their Empire (Rome).

Labor as a commodity; alienated/estranged laborers (Marx) do not own their own tools in some cases (assemblyline workers) nor do they have ready access to the technical knowledge behind the tools employed; no sense of expression once s/he leaves the factory. DEHUMANIZING in many, but not all, cases... One is unable to articulate their character and being--and even their fellow humans; Know thyself!

Upshot: masonry, construction, architecture, engineering; there is no need to return to the pre-capitalist societies; we simply need to recognized and seek our available freedoms in order to maximize our species being. 4 fold character of estranged labor means of production (tools, materials, labor, ingenuity), products, the self, and fellow human beings Commodity Fetishism What's wrong with the world today? Take public commons (water, air, space, intellectual freedoms) away from people, and public outcry reveals the insidious potential for corruption through capitalizing materials. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Greed is Good. Calvinism, success translates into a better chance of acceptance into Heaven.

'From Feb 6, 2007 Lecture Notes from Bbw'

Weber's approach to Socialogy VERSTEHEN (german) Interpretive understanding. Weber likes to classify and catalog.

Top Social Actions- ppl act in social context. Ppl are social actors, they are engaged in Social Actions. According to Weber, there are 4 types of Social Actions. Affectual, Traditonal, Value-Rational and Means-Ends Rational.

Affectual- Done out of emotion.

Traditional - Done out of habit, Without thought "the way we've always done things"

Value Rational - Guided by Social Means, the norms, the "right" thing to do, what's acceptable Means-End - A way of being rational that exclusively focuses on the goal What constitutes Social Action, the Movitation, the thought Process, reasoning. Weber's 3 typolgies: Action- ways of acting (Social Action). Rationality- ways of being rational. Authority-Traditional, Chrismatic, Ration/Legal.

Weber believes that modernity lead to Ration Social Actions. Webster's 4 types of Rationality: Formal Rationality- (removes reasoning)writing rules, procedures for every situation, Practical/Instrumental/End Rationality Theoritical/Cognitive/Conceptual rationalitySubstantive Value Rationality'''- Laws, beliefs we employ to get to our decision.

Weber's 3 types of Legitamate AuthorityTradtional, Chrasimatic & Rational/Legal

Georg Simmel, 1858-1918
Top (tragedy of culture) association - the relationships among people, or interaction forms - patterns imposed on the bewildering array of events, actions, and interactions in the social world both by people in their everyday lives and by social theorists types - patterns imposed on a wide range of actors by both laypeople and social scientists in order to combine a number of them into a limited number of categories secrecy - as defined by Simmel, the condition in which one person has the intention of hiding something while the other is seeking to reveal that which is being hidden lie - a form of interaction in which a person intentionally hides the truth from others reify - to endow social structures, which are created by people, with a separate and real existence dyad - a 2-person group triad - a 3-person group stranger - one of Simmel's social types defined by distance: one who is neither too close nor too far objective culture - the objects that people produce--art, science, philosophy, and so on--that become part of culture individual culture - the capacity of the individual to produce, absorb, and control the elements of objective culture (Turn the TV OFF!) tragedy of culture - stems from the fact that over time objective culture grows exponentially while individual culture and the ability to produce it grow only marginally; our meager individual capacities cannot keep pace with our cultural products; as a result, we are doomed to increasingly less understanding of the world we have created and to be increasingly controlled by that world Division of Laborhighly specialized individuals lose a sense of the total culture and loses the ability to control it

Thorstein Velben, 1857-1929; Great Depression: 1929-1939
Top business - a pecuniary approach to economic processes in which the dominant interests are acquisition oil, money, and profitability, rather than production and the interests of the larger community industry - the understanding and productive use, primarily by the working classes, of a wide variety of mechanized processes on a large scale conspicuous consumption - the consumption of a variety of goods, not for subsistence but for higher status for those who consume them and thereby to create the basis for invidious distinctions between people conspicuous leisure - the consumption of leisure; the nonproductive use of time; the waste of time as a way of creating an invidious distinction between people and elevating the social status of those able to use their time in this way

George Herbert Mead, 1863-1931
Top act - the basic concept in Mead's theory, involving an impusle, perception of stimuli, taking action involving the object perceived, and using the object to satisfy the initial impulse impulse - first stage of the act, in which the actor reacts to some external stimulus and feels the need to do something about it perception - second stage of the act, in which the actor consciously searches for and reacts to stimuli that relate to the impulse and the ways of dealing with it  manipulation - third stage of the act involving the taking of action that satisfies the original impulse consummation - final stage of the act involving the taking of action that satisfies the original impulse gestures - movements by one party (person or animal) that serve as stimuli to another party conservation of gestures - gestures by the party that mindlessly elicit responding gestures from the other party significant gestures - gestures that require thought before a response is made; only humans are capable of this significant symbols - symbols that arouse in the person expressing them the same kind fo response (it need not be identical) as they are designed to elicit from those to whom they are addressed mind - to Mead, the conversations that people have with themselves using language self - the ability to take oneself as an object reflexivity - the ability to put ourselves in others' places: think as they think, act as they act play stage - the first stage in the genesis of the self, in which the child plays as being someone else game stage - the second stage in the genesis of the self: instead of taking the role of discrete others, the child takes the role of everyone involved in a game; each of these others plays a specific role in the overall game generalized other - the attitude of the entire community or of any collectivity in which the actor is involved definition of the situation - the idea that if people define situations as real, then those definitions are real in their consequences (Thomas and Thomas) I - the immediate response of the self to others; the incalculable, unpredictable, and creative aspect of the self

Lecture Notes: 13FEB07
Top Exam Results. Score - Number of Students 15.............4 14.............7 13.............5 12.............5

Wiki Project.
 * Model Wiki Entry: Charismatic Authority
 * Entries should be replete with HYPERLINKS
 * How to do this: Cheatsheet
 * Double-check Dr. Luke's requirements

Simmel
 * Tragedy of Culture
 * Group Size dyad/triad
 * The Stranger (p 48). Social groups, when cohesive, tend to become more prone to Groupthink. It is the role a person plays when in a social group who is not bound by the group's social norms, and this person can affect group cohesion and group decision-making.  It's all role-playing!

Veblen
 * Conspicuous Consumption
 * Conspicuous Leisure

Final
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