Two Myths:Origins of Modern Sociology

Was It Men or Math?

Origins

• 1800 – no such word as Sociology• 1900 –Sociology known to intellectuals

• 2000 – Around 25,000 Sociology majors graduate in US in 2000

• Where’d Sociology come from?– Determining origins always problematic

• E.g., origins of Civil War, hip-hop, Christian dogma• Answers often more important for how they

work now than for accuracy

Competing Stories Concerningthe Origins of Sociology

• First origin myth:– Great 19th – 20th century thinkers responding

to 18th and 19th century events• Marx, Weber, Durkheim in particular• The conventional story

• Second origin myth– Statistically oriented 19th century analysts

interpreting contemporary data from government and other sources

• Not the conventional story

Heavy Duty WarningHeavy Duty Warning

►Much of the following material is Much of the following material is “deeper” than usual (at least for this “deeper” than usual (at least for this course)course)

►We’ll be looking at some of the ideas We’ll be looking at some of the ideas of the mastersof the masters

►Good stuff!!!Good stuff!!!

Myth 1: Factors Stimulating Development of Sociology

• Three general events / trends in European history

1. French Revolution (1789 – 1799) and aftermath

2. Urbanization

3. Rise of industry and capitalism

• Institutionalization of science and modernization of universities

Myth 1: The Challenges

• Dramatic events of 19th century challenged intellectuals to explain those events

• Dramatic events of 19th century challenged activists to do something

Most important early sociologists did both explanation and activism

French Revolution and Aftermath

• Revolution itself started 1789, ran to 1799. Consequences lasted much longer

• "Death knell" of the Ancien Regime– Ancien regime – the old way of organizing social life,

especially of governing, especially Europe pre-1789– Death was protracted; not really complete until WWI– Long death illustrates a principle of social

movements: strong social movements tend to generate countermovements

• Napoleon overthrew revolutionary govt, eventually restructured much of Europe

By 1812 Napoleon Dominated Europe

Why We’re Doing This HistoryWhy We’re Doing This History

►Hopefully you have learned or will learn Hopefully you have learned or will learn about the general importance of the about the general importance of the phenomena we’re discussingphenomena we’re discussing Along with colonialism largely responsible for Along with colonialism largely responsible for

social, economic, and political world of todaysocial, economic, and political world of today►Sociology’s appearance small potatoes Sociology’s appearance small potatoes

compared to other thingscompared to other things Does illustrate widespread consequencesDoes illustrate widespread consequences Sociologists care about where we came Sociologists care about where we came

from !!!from !!!

Before the French Revolution :The Enlightenment

• Era in European intellectual history from Glorious Revolution in England (1688) to French Revolution (1789)

• Emphasis was on powers of human reason– Not just in science, but also ethics, aesthetics, and

social policy

• Great belief in the “idea of progress”– Feeling that progress in all things was here and was

here to stay

Gallery of Enlightenment Thinkers

Enlightenment and French Revolution

• French Revolution “should” have been the successful end of 100 yrs of enlightenment– Instead, for intellectuals marked uneasy end to

optimism of the Enlightenment• The Law of Progress: every day, in every way

things are getting better because we’re smarter– In France seemed every day things were getting

snarfed up– Guillotines and worse of First Republic were hardly

enlightened• Ambivalence toward Napoleon’s effort to be

“enlightened despot”

French Revolution

Migration

• Traditional European feudal society agrarian, based in the countryside

• In 1800s people were leaving countryside– Mostly going to cities– So what?

• Ferdinand Toennies [Tönnies] terms– Gemeinschaft – traditional, rural society; community– Gesellschaft – modern, urban society; lacking sense

of community– Terms now used by many intellectuals

Industrialization / Rise of Capitalism

• Industrial Revolution (1750ff) changed economies– May not have had to be capitalist, but it was– Industrial Revolution was largely responsible

for urbanization

• Capitalism's rise preceded the 19th century, but it took over then

Review• Events most important for development

of modern sociology• Ancien regime and its lengthy demise• Consequences of French Revolution• Consequences of Napoleon• Enlightenment• Gemeinschafft and Gesellschaft• Industrial Revolution

Marx, Weber, Durkheim

• Thinkers today usually considered “founders” of modern sociology are …– Karl Marx (Prussian – English) 1818 - 1883– Max Weber (Prussian – German) 1864 - 1920– Emile Durkheim (French) 1859 – 1917

• Not always been considered “Big Three”• All three are macrosociologists

– American microsociologist George H. Mead sometimes added

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• Huge impact on the world– No doubt most of any PhD– More than most people of any kind– At one time, 1 / 3rd of world under

“Marxist” governments

• Great scholar– “Biggie” in sociology, philosophy,

political science, economics, history

• Impact without army, wealth, or political position– His importance today (and those Marxist

governments!) reminds us of the power of ideas

Some of Marx’s Ideas

• A theory of capitalism– “Explained” past, present, and future of economic

organization– Discussion of globalization sounds very current

• A theory of revolution– Who would rebel, when they would rebel, and why

• 19th and 20th centuries were centuries of revolution

– Particularly colonies shedding “masters”– Ironically, countries that did rebel often were not ones

his theory expected (e.g., Russia and China)• Did not separate his science from his activism

Max Weber 1864 - 1920

• MOCKS VAY-burr

• Born into comfort, very well educated

• Visits Tuskegee ~1904

• Sees world in all its shades of gray

• Fundamental question: How did Germany get to be the way it is (pre-WWI)?– Idiographic question approached nomothetically

Weber and Rationality I

• W. argued increasing rationality in social life was key to development of Europe in the centuries after fall of Rome

• Weber’s three forms of rationality1. Knowledge of how to achieve desired ends2. Predictability and regularity in complex

systems, especially the market and government

• With markets, producing surplus is sensible

3. Active efforts to master or change the world

Max Weber & Rationality II

• That is, Weber argued Europe owed its social and economic structure to 1) cause and effect knowledge

2) predictable markets and governments

3) norms encouraging actors, individual and corporate, to take advantage of knowledge and predictability

Max Weber & Rationality III

• Results of rationality were dramatic– Better life chances– Fabulous economic productivity– Unprecedented military might

Max Weber & Rationality IV

• Weber argued you can’t eliminate emotional behavior

• Even apparently rationality-driven settings have emotional sides– For example, in bureaucracies, leadership

Max Weber & Rationality V

• Bureaucracies:– better ways of organizing large scale efforts

than any previous way– minimize individuality among bureaucrats– minimize emotional behavior– can be “iron cages” in which we accomplish

a great deal, but at great emotional cost

Max Weber & Rationality VI

Forms of Authority/Leadership/ Followership1. Traditional leadership: we follow leader

because always have – e.g., in hereditary monarchy

2. Rational-legal leadership: we follow leader because rules or laws tell us to – basis for bureaucracies

3. Charismatic leadership: follow leader because we like leader and want to please him or her– Such authority is non-rational

Weber Review

• Development of Europe since Rome

• Types of rationality

• Predictable markets

• Types of authority

• Charisma

• Emotion

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Sociology is study of “social facts”• Social facts – things outside individual with

power to shape individual’s behavior regardless of his or her will

• Being external to the individual, social facts exist regardless of whether any particular person lives or dies

• Social facts are not properties of the human mind, therefore not part of subject matter of psychology– Therefore we needed a new science

Durkheim – Social Facts

• Examples of social facts:– Traffic laws– Dating rules (e.g., one

date at a time, boys initiate, boys pay, etc.)

– Obligations that come with being a parent, child, citizen, etc.

Durkheim and Suicide

• D’s book Suicide provided example of sociological research on presumably psychological topic

• If suicide purely personal, different parts of France wouldn’t have same rates year after year; but they do

• D. argues social cause of diffs in suicide rates is diffs in levels of social integration

DIGRESSION:Social Integration

• Integration : bringing things together

• Differentiation : making things different or separate

• Society : a collection of separate people who hang together– E Pluribus Unum

Hobbesian Problem of Order

• HOW IS SOCIETY POSSIBLE? – Why is human life NOT a war of all against

all? Why is not

"… the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"?

Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679)

Durkheim and Social Solidarity

• Social integration – bringing individuals and groups together; also, keeping them together

• Durkheim called it social solidarity; social integration is modern term

• For some sociologists, understanding creation and maintenance of social integration is most important issue in sociology

– Hobbesian problem of order

Sources of Social Integration

• Two Sources / Types of Social Integration– Sentiment – feelings of belonging together– Interdependence – needing each other

Durkheim: Social Integration & Suicide

• Durkheim: suicide rates reflect problems with social integration– Not appropriate levels of social interaction– Not appropriate levels of social regulation of

individual behavior

• Anomie – situation when there are no rules, the rules are unclear, or the rules aren’t enforced

Social Differentiation

• TWO UBIQUITOUS FORMS OF SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION

► Division of labor – the distribution of tasks among members of a society

► Gender – differences in the treatment, behavior, and lives of men and women

Durkheim Review

• Social facts

• Integration vs differentiation

• Hobbesian problem of order

• Integration and suicide

• Anomie

• Division of labor