Sociological Theory Classical Statements
Chapter 1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 What is ‘Sociological Theory .................................................................... 1 What is Theory? ........................................................................................ 2 Theory in the Natural Sciences .................................................................. 2 Theory and ‘Commonsense’ ...................................................................... 3 Sociological Theory ................................................................................... 4 Theory and ‘Proof’: Testing a Hypothesis ................................................ 5 The Enlightenment and the Emergence of Social Theory ......................... 6 What was the Enlightenment? ................................................................... 6 The Development of Social Theory........................................................... 8 Enlightenment and the Question of ‘Society? ........................................... 9 Comte and Sociological Positivism ......................................................... 12 Chapter 2 Sociological Rational Choice Theory .............................................. 14 Introduction ............................................................................................. 14 Basic Assumptions about Choice Determination .................................... 15 Extensions ................................................................................................ 18 A Brief Description of the Rational Choice Method ............................... 19 Preference Specification .......................................................................... 20 Theory Revision ...................................................................................... 21 Why is the Rational Choice Approach so Popular? ................................ 22 A Detailed Example: Church Attendance ................................................ 24 Several Brief Examples ........................................................................... 27 Preface xi vi Suicide ..................................................................................................... 27 Auto Safety Regulation ........................................................................... 27 Addiction ................................................................................................. 29 Racial Profiling ........................................................................................ 31 Congressional Influence on Military Assignments .................................. 32 Ideology and Intransigence ..................................................................... 32 Megafauna Extinction ............................................................................. 34 Shirking ................................................................................................... 35 Predicting Consumption Behaviour ........................................................ 37 Ot her Papers ........................................................................................... 38 Issues in Rational Choice Theory ............................................................ 39 Definition of Rationality ......................................................................... 39 Critiques of Rational Choice Theory ....................................................... 42 Policy Prescriptions ................................................................................. 48 Christian Perspectives ............................................................................. 49 Chapter 3 Structural Functionalism, Neo-functionalism and Conflict Theory ................................................................................. 51 Structural Functionalism.......................................................................... 51 Theory ...................................................................................................... 51 Prominent Theorists ................................................................................. 53 Structural Functionalism and Unilineal Descent ..................................... 58 Decline of Functionalism ........................................................................ 59 Criticisms ................................................................................................. 59 Influential Theorists ................................................................................. 62 Neo-functionalism ................................................................................... 62 Conflict Theory ....................................................................................... 64 In Classical Sociology ............................................................................. 65 Modern Approaches ................................................................................. 67 Types of Conflict Theory ......................................................................... 69 Chapter 4 St. Augustine .....................................................................................113 Life and Work ........................................................................................ 113 Civitas Dei versus Civites Terrena ........................................................ 113 Justice and the State ............................................................................... 114 State, Property, War and Slavery ........................................................... 115 Thought .................................................................................................. 116 Anthropology ......................................................................................... 116 Astrology ............................................................................................... 117 Creation ................................................................................................. 117 Ecclesiology .......................................................................................... 117 Eschatology ........................................................................................... 118 vii Epistemological Views .......................................................................... 118 Presently War ......................................................................................... 119 Mariology .............................................................................................. 119 Natural Knowledge and Biblical Interpretation .................................... 119 Original Sin ........................................................................................... 119 Sacramental Theology ........................................................................... 121 Statements on Jews ................................................................................ 122 Views on Sexuality ................................................................................ 122 Teaching Philosophy ............................................................................. 123 Works ..................................................................................................... 124 Power ..................................................................................................... 124 Chapter 5 Emile Durkheim .............................................................................. 127 Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) ............................................................... 127 Biography .............................................................................................. 128 Childhood and Education ...................................................................... 128 Academic Career ................................................................................... 129 Durkheim’s Thought .............................................................................. 130 Inspirations ............................................................................................ 131 Establishing Sociology .......................................................................... 132 Methodology ......................................................................................... 132 Social Facts ............................................................................................ 133 Society, Collective Consciousness and Culture ..................................... 134 Social Pathologies and Crime ................................................................ 136 Religion ................................................................................................. 137 Sociology as Science ............................................................................. 139 Introduction: Sociology in the ‘Science and Theology Dialogue’ ........ 139 The Durkheimian Epistemology: A Brief Overview ............................. 140 The Division of Labour ......................................................................... 144 Forms of Solidarity ................................................................................ 152 Chapter 6 Herbert Spencer .............................................................................. 154 Life ........................................................................................................ 154 Synthetic Philosophy ............................................................................. 157 Evolution ............................................................................................... 159 Sociology ............................................................................................... 160 Agnosticism ........................................................................................... 161 Political Views ....................................................................................... 162 Social Darwinism .................................................................................. 163 General Influence .................................................................................. 164 Political Influence .................................................................................. 165 Influence on Literature .......................................................................... 166 viii Chapter 7 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel .................................................... 167 Life ........................................................................................................ 168 Early Years ............................................................................................. 168 Career Years ........................................................................................... 169 Thought .................................................................................................. 171 Freedom ................................................................................................. 171 Progress ................................................................................................. 173 Civil Society .......................................................................................... 174 State ....................................................................................................... 175 Heraclitus ............................................................................................... 175 Religion ................................................................................................. 176 Works ..................................................................................................... 177 Legacy ................................................................................................... 178 Reading Hegel ....................................................................................... 178 Left and Right Hegelianism ................................................................... 179 Triads ..................................................................................................... 180 Renaissance ........................................................................................... 181 Criticism ................................................................................................ 182 Chapter 8 Karl Marx ........................................................................................ 184 Karl Marx (1818-1883) ......................................................................... 184 Karl Marx: The Almost Capitalist ......................................................... 188 Marx’s Work... The Cause of Injustice .................................................. 190 Marx and Capitalism... They Almost Meet in the Dark ........................ 190 Three Mistakes... The Course of History Changes ................................ 191 Error No. 1: The Labour Theory of Value ............................................. 192 Error No. 2: Marx’s Failure to Understand the Political Significance of Property ............................................................................................. 194 The Communist Politician... A True Tyrannical Capitalist .................... 196 Error No. 3: Mistaking the Wealth Created by Capital for Wealth Created by Labour and Stolen by the Capitalists .................................. 197 Marx’s Three Errors... A Fateful Near Miss .......................................... 201 Karl Marx and Marxism ........................................................................ 202 Historical Materialism ........................................................................... 202 The Role of Ideas ................................................................................... 202 Class Struggle ........................................................................................ 203 The Inevitable Revolution ..................................................................... 204 The Development of Marx’s Thought ................................................... 205 Hegel ...................................................................................................... 206 Hegelian Dialectics ................................................................................ 206 Hegel and Historical Development ........................................................ 208 Feuerbach and ‘Alienation’ ................................................................... 208 ix Marx’s Materialism ............................................................................... 209 Modes of Production, Class Struggle and Historical Change ............... 211 Alienation of Labour ............................................................................. 211 Social Class and Class Consciousness .................................................. 212 Laws of Development: The Problem of Social Change ........................ 212 Elements of Social Change .................................................................... 213 Chapter 9 Max Weber ...................................................................................... 215 Max Weber ............................................................................................. 215 Biography .............................................................................................. 216 Weber’s Thought ................................................................................... 220 Inspirations ............................................................................................ 220 Methodology ......................................................................................... 220 Rationalisation ....................................................................................... 222 Sociology of Religion ............................................................................ 223 Politics and Government ....................................................................... 227 Economics ............................................................................................. 228 Legacy ................................................................................................... 231 Critical Responses to Weber .................................................................. 232 Social Action: Basic Concepts and Terms ............................................. 233 Social Action and Max Weber ............................................................... 233 Types of Social Action ........................................................................... 233 Methodologies of the Social Science .................................................... 236 Facts and Values .................................................................................... 236 Chapter 10 Georg Simmel .................................................................................. 237 Biography .............................................................................................. 238 Early Life and Education ....................................................................... 238 Career ..................................................................................................... 238 Personal Life .......................................................................................... 239 Foundations of Simmel’s Theory .......................................................... 239 Levels of Concern .................................................................................. 239 Dialectical Thinking .............................................................................. 239 Individual Consciousness ...................................................................... 240 Sociability .............................................................................................. 240 Social Geometry .................................................................................... 240 Dyad and Triad ...................................................................................... 240 Distance ................................................................................................. 241 Views ..................................................................................................... 241 On the Metropolis .................................................................................. 241 On Secrecy............................................................................................. 243 On Flirtation .......................................................................................... 244 x On Fashion ............................................................................................. 244 Works ..................................................................................................... 244 Chapter 11 Sigmund Freud ................................................................................ 246 Biography .............................................................................................. 247 Early Life and Education ....................................................................... 247 Early Career and Marriage .................................................................... 248 Development of Psychoanalysis ............................................................ 249 Relationship with Fliess ........................................................................ 250 Early Followers ..................................................................................... 252 Early Psychoanalytic Movement ........................................................... 255 Patients .................................................................................................. 257 Cancer .................................................................................................... 257 Escape from Nazism .............................................................................. 257 Death ...................................................................................................... 259 Ideas ....................................................................................................... 260 Early Work ............................................................................................. 260 Seduction Theory ................................................................................... 261 Cocaine .................................................................................................. 262 The Unconscious ................................................................................... 263 Dreams ................................................................................................... 264 Psychosexual Development ................................................................... 264 Id, Ego, and Super-Ego ......................................................................... 265 Life and Death Drives ........................................................................... 265 Melancholia ........................................................................................... 266 Femininity and Female Sexuality .......................................................... 266 Religion ................................................................................................. 267 Legacy ................................................................................................... 268 Psychotherapy ....................................................................................... 268 Science ................................................................................................... 270 Philosophy ............................................................................................. 272 Literature and Literary Criticism ........................................................... 273 Feminism ............................................................................................... 274