Chapter 1 4th edition

The Real World
An Introduction to Sociology
4th Edition
Chapter 1:
Sociology and the
Real World

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
3

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.
4

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.
6

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.
8

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?
9

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.
17

SOCIOLOGY’S DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1
19

20
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, or
perspectives.
• 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.

21
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.

22
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.

23
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.

24
• 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.)

25
• 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.
26

27
• 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
PERSPECTIVES28

The 3 Perspectives
• Structural Functionalism (Macro)
• Conflict Theory (Macro)
• Symbolic Interactionism (Micro)

MACROSOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
Major Theoretical Developments
30

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 Macrosociological
theory.
31

Macrosociological Theory
• Three important perspectives:
–STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
–CONFLICT THEORY
32

Structural Functionalism
INTRODUCTION
• 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.
33

34
• 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.
Durkheim

Durkheim
• 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.
35

Durkheim
• 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.
36

Durkheim
• 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.
37

Durkheim
• 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.
38

MAIN 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.
39

MAIN 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.
40

• 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.
41

OFFSHOOTS
• 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.
42

OFFSHOOTS
• 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.
43

CRITICISMS
• 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)
44

45
• 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 Theory
INTRODUCTION

46
• 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 Theory
Karl Marx

47
• 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 Theory
Marx

48
• 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 Theory
Marx

49
• 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 Theory
Marx

50
• 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 Theory
Marx

51
• Everything of value in society resulted from human labor,
which was the proletariat’s most valuable asset.
• Yet, they suffered from what Marx called alienation
because 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 Theory
Marx

52
• 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 Theory
Marx

53
• 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 Theory
MAIN PRINICIPLES

54
• 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 Theory
MAIN PRINICPLES

55
• 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 Theory
FURTHER UNDERSTANDING

56
• 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?
Conflict Theory

57
• 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.
Conflict Theory

58
• 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 Theory
OFFSHOOTS

59
• William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) DuBois
was 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)
Conflict Theory
OFFSHOOTS

60
• 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.
Conflict Theory
OFFSHOOTS

61
• 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 Theory
OFFSHOOTS

Conflict Theory
CRITICISMS
• No Theory is Perfect…What are the
problems?:
– 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.
62

MICROSOCIOLOGICAL
THEORY
Major Theoretical Developments
63

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
64

65
• 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 Interactionism
INTRODUCTION

66
• 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.
Mead & 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).
67

• 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.
68

• 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.
69

• 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.
70

MAIN 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.
71

MAIN PRINCIPLES
– 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.
72

MAIN 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.
73

MAIN 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.
74

OFFSHOOTS
• 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.
75

OFFSHOOTS
• 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.
76

CRITICISMS
• No Theory is Perfect…What are the problems?:
– 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.
77

80
• Max Weber (1864-1920) was another
important European macrosociological
theorist 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 Approaches
Weberian 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.
81
Weberian Theory

• 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 with
disenchantment as the inevitable result of the dehumanizing
features of the bureaucracies that dominated the modern social
landscape.
82
Weberian Theory

• 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.
83
Weberian Theory

• 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.
84
Weberian Theory

• 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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Weberian Theory

New Theoretical Approaches
Postmodernism
• 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.

Chapter 1 4th edition

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