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An Introduction to Western
Social Theory
?1.The significance of studying
western social theory
? 1.1 The developing tendency of social
science
? 1.2 The sociology’s researching target
? 1,The independence of sociology
?
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? 2.the characteristics of
social theory
? 2.1 accumulation
? 2.2 development stage
? 2.3 diversification
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? 3.The four stages of social theory
? 3.1 The first stage,from 1837 to the
beginning of 20 century---the
foundation of sociology
? 3.2 The second stage,from 1920’s to
1960’s---the general theory
appearance
?
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? 3.3 The third stage,from 1960’s to
1980’s --- the prosperity of social theory
? 3.4 The forth stage,from 1980’s till
now---the integration of social theory
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? 4,Divergent methodology of social
theory
? Macrocosm vs microcosm
? Positivism vs anti-positivism
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Chapter one,
Auguste Comte (1798—1857)
? The Person
? A Summary of Ideas
? 1 the law of human progress
? 2 hierarchy of science
? 3 social statics and dynamics
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? The person
? Auguste Comte was born on January 19,1798,in
the southern French city of Montpellier
? In August 1814,Comte entered the competition
for the entrance examinations of the prestigious
Ecole Polytechnique which was a worldly
famous scientific university,
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? In the summer of 1817 Comte was
introduced to Henri Saint-Simon
? who was to have a major and lasting
influence on Comte's life and works,
? In 1824 Comte finally broke with his
master,
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? began to publish his course of philosophy in 1826,
? Because of his unhappy life,
? He realized that mere intellectual development is
insufficient for life,and,having presented
Positivism as the scientific doctrine and method,
he aimed at making it a religion,the religion of
humanity,
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? Comte's chief works are his "Cours de
philosophie positive" [6 vols.,Phiosophie
mathématique (1830),astronomique et
physique (1835),chimique et biologique
(1838),partie dogmatique de la
philosophie sociale (1839),partie
historique (1840),complément de la
philosophie sociale et conclusions (1842);
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A Summary of Ideas
? Comte's aim was to create a naturalistic science
of society,which would both explain the past
development of mankind and predict its future
course,The study of social dynamics and social
statics--of change and stability--are the twin
pillars of his systems,
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? Natural science,Comte argued,had
succeeded in establishing the lawfulness of
natural phenomena,
? the new science relied on "reasoning and
observation,duly combined" as the only
legitimate means of attaining knowledge,
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? Every scientific theory must be based on
observed facts,but it is equally true that
"facts cannot be observed without the
guidance of some theory
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? The new social sciences that Comte sought to
establish he first called "social physics;,Later,he
changed it into,sociology”,
? It was to be patterned after the natural sciences,
not only in its empirical methods and
epistemological underpinnings,but also in the
functions it would serve for mankind,
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? Far from being of theoretical interest alone,
the social sciences,like the natural
sciences,must ultimately be of concrete
benefit to man and play a major part in the
amelioration of the human condition,
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? "For it is only by knowing the laws of
phenomena,and thus being able to foresee
them,that we can,,, set them to modify
one another for our advantage.,,, From
Science comes Prevision; from Prevision
comes Action." (Savoir pour prevoir et
prevoir pour pouvoir.)
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? The Law of Human Progress
? the theological---the metaphysical--- the
positive
? Comte pointed out that the evolution of the
human mind passed through three
successive stages,the theological---the
metaphysical--- the positive
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? At the positive stage,which rejects the
validity of metaphysical speculation,the
existence of final causes,and the
knowableness of the absolute,and confines
itself to the study of experimental facts and
their relations,represents the perfection of
human knowledge,
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? The fundamental principle of Positivism is that
sense experience is the only object of human
knwledge,science cannot be,as Aristotle
conceived it,the knowledge of things through
their ultimate causes,since material and formal
causes are unknowable,final causes illusions,
while metaphysics,under any form,is
illegitimate,Positivism is thus a continuation of
crude Empiricism and Associationism.onism,
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Chapter Two,Herbert Spencer
(1820---1903)
? Person
? Spencer was born on April 27,1820,in Derby,
England,Herbert Spencer did not attend a regular
school,His father educated him at home,At the
age of 13,Spencer received his further education
from his uncle,Spencer leaned heavily on the
scientific side but his Latin and Greek were weak
and his knowledge of history was superficial,
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? In 1837,Spencer joined the staff of the
London and Birmingham Railway as an
engineer,In 1848,he found a stable
position and assured income as a subeditor
with the London Economist,While
working on the Economist,Spencer
finished his first book,Social Statics,
which was published in 1851,
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? When his uncle died in 1853,he left
Spencer a sizable sum of money,Spencer
felt encouraged to give up his job with the
Economist,From then on he lived the life
of a private scholar without regular
employment or institutional attachment,
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? Spencer wrote many books in his long life,First
Principles (of his overall Synthetic Philosophy)
was published in 1862,The several volumes of
Principles of Biology were issued between 1864
and 1867,The Study of Sociology appeared in
1873,and the many volumes of Principles of
Ethics and Principles of Sociology were
published between the seventies and the nineties,
The Man Versus the State appeared in 1884,
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? A Summary of Ideas,
? Although Spencer seems to have protested
too much in disclaiming any profound
influence of Comte's thought on his own,it
is true that his general orientation differs
significantly from Comte's,Spencer
described their different approaches in this
way,
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? What is Comte's professed aim? To give a
coherent account of the progress of human
conceptions,What is my aim? To give a coherent
account of the progress of the external
world.Comte proposes to describe the necessary,
and the actual,filiation of ideas,I propose to
describe the necessary,and the actual,filiation of
things,Comte professes to interpret the genesis
of our knowledge of nature,My aim is to
interpret,,, the genesis of the phenomena which
constitute nature…
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? Spencer's first and foremost concern was with
evolutionary changes in social structures and
social institutions rather than with the mental
states,Evolution,that is,"a change from a state
of relatively indefinite,incoherent,homogeneity
to a state of relatively definite,coherent,
heterogeneity," was to Spencer that universal
process which happened in both nature and social
society,
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? Growth,Structure,and Differentation
? Both organic and social aggregates are
characterized by Spencer according to
progressive increases in size,"Societies,
like living bodies,begin as germs--
originate from masses which are extremely
minute in comparison with the masses
some of them eventually reach."
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? Societal growth may come about through
two processes,"which go on sometimes
separately,and sometimes together." It
results either from an increase in
population,"by simple multiplication of
units," or from the joining of previously
unrelated units by "union of groups,and
again by union of groups of groups."
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? Increases in the size of units is invariably
accompanied by an increase in the complexity of
their structure,The process of growth,by
definition,is to Spencer a process of integration,
And integration in its turn must be accompanied
by a progressive differentiation of structures and
functions if the organism or the societal unit is to
remain viable--that is,if it is to survive in the
struggle for existence,
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? Social aggregates,like organic ones,grow from
relatively undifferentiated states in which the
parts resemble one another into differentiated
states in which these parts have become
dissimilar,Moreover,once parts have become
unlike,they are mutually dependent on each
other; thus,with growing differentiation comes
growing interdependence and hence integration,
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? In simple societies,where the parts are
basically alike,they can be easily
substituted for one another,But in complex
societies,"the actions of one part which
fails in its function cannot be assumed by
other parts." Complex societies are
therefore more vulnerable and more fragile
in structure than their earlier and ruder
predecessors,
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? The increasing mutual dependence of
unlike parts in complex societies,and the
vulnerability it brings in its wake
necessitate the emergence of a "regulating
system" that controls the actions of the
parts and insures their coordination,
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? Early in the process of social evolution,
regulating centers are mainly required for
dealing with the outside environment,but
later such regulating centers assume the
burden of internal regulation and social
control when complexity of functions no
longer allows the entirely spontaneous
adjustment of parts to one another,
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? Evolution - Unilinear or Multilinear
? In many passages,especially in his earlier
writings,Spencer expresses what seems to be a
belief in the unilinear evolution of mankind,Yet
the mature Spencer,,recognized that,though the
evolution of mankind as a whole was certain,
particular societies may retrogress as well as
progress,
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? "While the current degradation theory is
untenable,the theory of progression,in its
ordinary form,seems to me untenable also,,,, It
is possible and,I believe,probable,that
retrogression has been as frequent as
progression." Spencer by and large believed that
societies do not develop irreversibly through
predetermined stages,Rather,it was his general
view that they developed in response to their
social and natural environment,
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Chapter Three,
Emile Durkheim (1858—1917)
The Person,
Emile Durkheim was born at Epinal in the
eastern French on April 15,1858,Son of a rabbi
and descending from a long line of rabbis,he
decided quite early that he would follow the
family tradition and become a rabbi himself,But
later he turned away from all religious
involvement,though not from interest in
religious phenomena,and became an agnostic
(one who believes that there can be no proof of
the existence of God but does not deny the
possibility that God exists),
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? In 1879,Durkheim was entered the Ecole
Normale,At the time of his graduation,
Durkheim decided not to be the traditional
philosopher but to be devote himself to a
discipline that would contribute to the
clarification of the great moral questions that
agitated the age,as well as to practical guidance
of the affairs of contemporary society,More
concretely,Durkheim wished to make a
contribution to the moral and political
consolidation of the Third Republic,What he
considered imperative was to construct a
scientific sociological system,
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? From 1882 to 1887 he taught philosophy in
a number of provincial Lycees in the
neighborhood of Paris,Then in 1887,he
was appointed to the staff of the University
of Bordeaux,At Bordeaux,Durkheim was
attached to the department of philosophy
where he offered the first sociology course
in a French university,
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? In 1893,he finished his French doctoral
thesis,The Division of Labor,Only two
years later The Rules of Sociological
Method appeared,and within another two
years Le Suicide was published,With these
three major works,Durkheim moved into
the forefront of the academic world,
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? Durkheim founded a scholarly journal
L'Annee Sociologique in 1898,which soon
became the center for an extraordinarily
gifted group of young scholars,all united,
in a common devotion to the Durkheimian
approach to sociology,L’Annee was
successful to weld them together into a
cohesive "school“,
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? In his later life,Durkheim turned to the
detailed study of primitive religion,He had
published a number of preliminary papers
in the area,and this course of studies
finally led to the publication in 1912 of
Durkheim's last major work,The
Elementary Forms of Religious Life,
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? A Summary of Ideas
? Social Fact
? The main thrust of Durkheim's overall
doctrine is his insistence that the study of
society must eschew reductionism and
consider social phenomena sui generis,
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? Durkheim presented a definitive critique of
reductionist explanations of social behavior,
Social phenomena are "social facts" and
these are the subject matter of sociology,
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? Social facts have distinctive social
characteristics and determinants which are
not amenable to explanations on the
biological or psychological level,They are
external to any particular individual
considered as a biological entity,They
endure over time while particular
individuals die and are replaced by others,
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? Moreover,they are not only external to the
individual,but they are "endowed with
coercive power,by,,, which they impose
themselves upon him,independent of his
individual will." Constraints,whether in
the form of laws or customs,come into
play whenever social demands are being
violated,
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? Durkheim stressed that social facts,and
more particularly moral rules,become
effective guides and controls of conduct
only to the extent that they become
internalized in the consciousness of
individuals,
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? To him,constraint is no longer a simple
imposition of outside controls on
individual will,but rather a moral
obligation to obey a rule,In this sense,
society is "something beyond us and
something in ourselves."
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? Functional Explanation
? It is Durkheim who clearly established the logic
of the functional approach to the study of social
phenomena and used it to his works,In particular,
Durkheim set down a clear distinction between
historical and functional types of inquiry and
between functional consequences and individual
motivations,
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?,When,,,, the explanation of a social
phenomenon is undertaken,we must seek
separately the efficient cause which produces it
and the function it fulfills,We must determine
whether there is a correspondence between the
fact under consideration and the general needs of
the social organism,and in what this
correspondence consists,without occupying
ourselves with whether it has been intentional or
not.”
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? Durkheim separated functional analysis
from two other analytical procedures,the
quest for historical origins and causes and
the probing of individual purposes and
motives,The second seemed to him of only
peripheral importance for sociological
inquiry since men often engage in actions
when they are unable to anticipate the
consequences,
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? The quest for origins and historical causes,
however,was to Durkheim as an essential
and legitimate part of the sociological
enterprise as was the analysis of functions,
In fact,he was convinced that the full
explanation of sociological phenomena
would necessarily utilize both historical
and functional analysis,
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? For an example,in his discussion of deviance and
criminality,Durkheim departed fundamentally
from the conventional path,While most
criminologists treated crime as a pathological
phenomenon and sought psychological causes in
the mind of the criminal,Durkheim saw crime as
normal in terms of its occurrence,and even as
having positive social functions in terms of its
consequences,
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? Crime was normal in that no society could
enforce total conformity to its injunctions,
and if society could,it would be so
repressive as to leave no leeway for the
social contributions of individuals,
Deviance from the norms of society is
necessary if society is to remain flexible
and open to change and new adaptations,
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? "Where crime exists,collective sentiments
are sufficiently flexible to take on a new
form,and crime sometimes helps to
determine the form they will take,How
many times,indeed,it is only an
anticipation of future morality--a step
toward what will be."
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? Durkheim always shows himself a masterful
functional analyst,He must be recognized as the
direct ancestor of that type of functional analysis
which came to dominate British anthropology
under the impact of Radcliffe-Brown and
Malinowski and which led,somewhat later,to
American functionalism in sociology under
Talcott Parsons and Robert K,Merton,
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From Mechanical Solidarity to Organic
Solidarity Due to the Division of Labor
? Durkheim said that in contrast to earlier types of
social organization based on mechanical
solidarity that demanded a high degree of
regimentation,modern types of organization rest
on organic solidarity obtained through the
functional interdependence of autonomous
individuals,
?,
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? In modern societies,social solidarity
is dependent upon,rather than
repressive of,individual autonomy of
conduct,
? There are some differences between
the Mechanical Solidarity to Organic
Solidarity,
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? 1,The first binds the individual directly to
society without any intermediary,In the
second,he depends upon society,because
he depends upon the parts of which it is
composed,
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? 2,Society is not seen in the same aspect in
the two cases,In the first,what we call
society is a more or less organized totality
of beliefs and sentiments common to all
the members of the group,this is the
collective type,On the other hand,the
society in which we are solidary in the
second instance is a system of different,
special functions which definite relations
unite,
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? Individual,Society and Anomie
? To Durkheim,men were creatures whose
desires were unlimited,Human’s insatiable
desires can only be held in check by
external controls,Society imposes limits
on human desires and constitutes "a
regulative force which must play the same
role for moral needs which the organism
plays for physical needs."
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? In well-regulated societies,social controls
set limits on individual propensities so that
"each in his sphere vaguely realizes the
extreme limits set to his ambitions and
aspires to nothing beyond”,
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? When social regulations break down,the
controlling influence of society on
individual propensities is no longer
effective and individuals are left to their
own devices,Such a state of affairs
Durkheim calls anomie,which refers to a
condition of relative normlessness in a
whole society or in some of its component
groups,
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? Anomie does not refer to a state of mind,
but to a property of the social structure,It
characterizes a condition in which
individual desires are no longer regulated
by common norms and where,as a
consequence,individuals are left without
moral guidance in the pursuit of their goals,
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? Although complete anomie,or total
normlessness,is empirically impossible,
societies may be characterized by greater
or lesser degrees of normative regulations,
Moreover,within any particular society,
groups may differ in the degree of anomie
that besets them,
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? Social change may create anomie either in
the whole society or in some parts of it,
Business crises,for an example,may have
a far greater impact on those on the social
pyramid than on the underlying population,
When depression leads to a sudden
downward mobility,the men affected
experience a de-regulation in their lives--a
loss of moral certainty and customary
expectations which these men once held,
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? Similarly,the rapid onset of prosperity
may lead some people to a quick upward
mobility and hence deprive them of the
social support needed in their new styles of
life,Any rapid movement in the social
structure that upsets previous networks in
which life styles are embedded carries with
it a chance of anomie,
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? An introduction to le Suicide
? His work on suicide is the discussion
and analysis of anomie forms,Once he
discovered that certain types of suicide
could be accounted for by anomie,he
could then use anomic suicide as an
index for the otherwise unmeasurable
degree of social integration,
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? He reasoned as follows,There are no
societies in which suicide does not
occur,and many societies show
roughly the same rates of suicide over
long periods of time,This indicates
that suicides may be considered a
"normal," that is,a regular,occurrence,
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? However,sudden spurts in the suicide rates
of certain groups or total societies are
"abnormal" and point to some
perturbations not previously present,
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? Hence,"abnormally" high rates in specific
groups or social categories,or in total
societies,can be taken as an index of
disintegrating forces at work in a social
structure,
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? Durkheim distinguished between types of
suicide according to the relation of the
actor to his society,When men become
"detached from society,"when they are
thrown upon their own devices and loosen
the bonds that previously had tied them to
their fellows,they are prone to egoistic
suicide,or individualistic suicide,
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? When the normative regulations
surrounding individual conducts are
relaxed and hence fail to curb and guide
human propensities,men are susceptible to
succumbing to anomic suicide,
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? To put the matter differently,when the
restraints of structural integration,as
exemplified in the operation of organic
solidarity,fail to operate,men become
prone to egoistic suicide; when the
collective conscience weakens,men fall
victim to anomic suicide
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? In addition to egoistic and anomic types of
suicide,Durkheim refers to altruistic and
fatalistic suicide,The latter is touched
upon only briefly in his work
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? In the case of excessive regulation,the
demands of society are so great that suicide
varies directly rather than inversely with
the degree of integration,For example,in
the instance of the Hindu normative
requirement that widows commit ritual
suicide upon the funeral pyre of their
husbands,
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? Arguing from statistical data,Durkheim
shows that in modern societies the high
rates of suicide among the military cannot
be explained by the deprivations of
military life suffered by the lower ranks,
since the suicide rate happens to be higher
for officers than for enlisted men,
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? Rather,the high rate for officers can be
accounted for by a military code of honor
that enjoins a passive habit of obedience
leading officers to undervalue their own
lives,
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? Durkheim's treatment of altruistic suicide
indicates that he also realized that total
control of component social actors by
society would be as detrimental as anomie
and de-regulation,Throughout his life he
attempted to establish a balance between
societal and individual claims,
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? The Sociology of Religion
? Durkheim's earlier concern with social
regulation was in the main focused on
the more external forces of control,
more particularly legal regulations
that can be studied,
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? Later he was led to consider forces of
control that were internalized in
individual consciousness,Being
convinced that "society has to be
present within the individual,"
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? Basic to his theory is the stress on religious
phenomena as communal rather than
individual,"A religion is a unified system
of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things,that is to say,things set apart and
forbidden--beliefs and practices which
unite in one single moral community called
a Church,all those who adhere to it."
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? Durkheim argued that religious phenomena
emerge in any society when a separation is
made between the sphere of the profane--
the realm of everyday utilitarian activities,
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? Sacred activities are valued by the
community of believers not as means to
ends,but because the religious community
has bestowed their meaning on,
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? Distinctions between the spheres of the
sacred and the profane are always made by
groups who band together in a cult and
who are united by their common symbols
and objects of worship,Religion is "an
eminently collective thing." It binds men
together,
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? But if religion,the great binding force,is
on its deathbed,how then can the malady
of modern society,its tendency to
disintegrate,be upheld? Here Durkheim
accomplished one of his most daring
analytical leaps,Religion,he argued,is not
only a social creation,but it is in fact
society divinized,stated that
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? Religion is eminently social,it occurs in a
social context,and,more importantly,
when men celebrate sacred things,they
unwittingly celebrate the power of their
society,This power so transcends their
own existence that they have to give it
sacred significance in order to visualize it,
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? If religion in its essence is a
transcendental representation of the
powers of society,then,Durkheim
argued,the disappearance of
traditional religion need not herald the
dissolution of society,
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? All that is required is for modern men now to
realize directly that dependence on society which
before they had recognized only through the
medium of religious representations,
? "We must discover the rational substitutes for
these religious notions that for a long time have
served as the vehicle for the most essential moral
ideas."
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Chapter Four Max Weber (1864-
1920)
? The Person,
? Max Weber was born on April 21,
1864,Germany,He went to the
University of Heidelberg at eighteen
and studied law,In the fall of 1884,his
military service over,Weber returned
to his parents' home to study at the
University of Berlin,
2013-3-1 90
? For the next eight years of his life,Weber
stayed at his parents' house,first as a
student,later as a junior barrister in Berlin
courts,and finally as a lecture at the
University of Berlin,
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? A Summary of Ideas
? Introduction
? Max Weber conceived of sociology as a
comprehensive science of social action which,
Weber said,was the subject matter of sociology,
In his analytical focus on individual human actors,
he differed from many of his predecessors whose
sociology was conceived in social-structural
terms,
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? Spencer concentrated on the evolution of
the body social as analogous to an
organism.,
? Durkheim's central concern was with
institutional arrangements that maintain the
cohesion of social structures,
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? In contrast,Weber's primary focus was on
the subjective meanings that human actors
attach to their actions in their mutual
orientations within specific social-
historical contexts,Behavior devoid of
such meaning,Weber argued,falls outside
the purview of sociology,
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? Interpretative sociology considers the
individual and his action as the basic unit,
as its "atom." Such concepts as "state,"
"association," "feudalism," and the like,
designate certain categories of human
interaction,Hence it is the task of
sociology to reduce these concepts to
"understandable" action,that is without
exception,to the actions of participating
individual men,
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? Weber's definition of sociology as "that
science which aims at the interpretative
understanding (Verstehen) of social
behavior in order to gain an explanation of
its causes,its course,and it effects."
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? The Ideal Type
? Weber developed a key conceptual tool which
called the ideal type,Weber argued that no
scientific system is ever capable of reproducing
all concrete reality,nor can any conceptual
apparatus ever do full justice to the infinite
diversity of particular phenomena,All science
involves selection as well as abstraction,
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? Yet the social scientist can easily be caught
in a dilemma when he chooses his
conceptual apparatus,When his concepts
are very general--as when he attempts to
explain capitalism or Protestantism by
subsuming them under the general
concepts of economics or religion--he is
likely to leave out what is most distinctive
to them,
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? When,on the other hand,he uses the
traditional conceptualizations of the
historian and particularizes the
phenomenon under discussion,he allows
no room for comparison with related
phenomena,The notion of the ideal type
was meant to provide escape from this
dilemma,
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? An ideal type is an analytical construct that
serves the investigator as a measuring rod
to ascertain similarities as well as
deviations in concrete cases,It provides the
basic method for comparative study,An
ideal type never corresponds to concrete
reality but always moves at least one step
away from it,
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? It is constructed out of certain elements of
reality and forms a logically precise and
coherent whole,which can never be found
as such in that reality,There has never
been a full empirical embodiment of the
Protestant Ethic,of the "charismatic
leader," or of the "exemplary prophet."
2013-3-1 101
? Weber's two kinds of ideal types are
distinguished by their levels of abstraction,
First are the ideal types rooted in historical
particularities,such as the "western city,"
"the Protestant Ethic," or "modern
capitalism," which refer to phenomena that
appear only in specific historical periods
and in particular cultural areas,
,
2013-3-1 102
? A second kind involves abstract elements
of social reality--such concepts as
"bureaucracy" or "feudalism"--that may be
found in a variety of historical and cultural
contexts,
2013-3-1 103
? Rationality,Rationalization and Modernity
? Modernity is a type,mode,or stage of society,
initially abstracted from the recent history of
West European countries from the Renaissance to
the rise of mass media,globalization and
departure from tradition and religion to
individualism,rational or scientific organization
of society,and egalitarianism,
2013-3-1 104
? A society in the state of modernity is called a
modern society,The process of a society
becoming a modern society is called
modernization,Weber pointed that rationality
was the most important characteristics of modern
society and rationalization was the essential logic
in modernization,Rationality expresses on
painting,music,architecture,organization,
institution,etc in modern society,
2013-3-1 105
? Weber stressed that in the modern society,
Man has rationalized and made calculable
and predictable what in an earlier age had
seemed governed by chance,but also by
feeling,passion,and commitment,by
personal appeal and personal fealty,by
grace and by the ethics of charismatic
heroes,
2013-3-1 106
? Natural Science and Social Science; Value
Relevance and Value Neutrality
? Weber rejected both the positivist contention that
the cognitive aims of the natural and the social
sciences were basically the same and the
opposing German historicist doctrine which says
that it is impossible to make legitimate
generalizations because human actions are not
subject to the regularities that govern the world
of nature,
2013-3-1 107
? Against the historicists,Weber argued that
the method of science,whether its subject
matter be things or men,always proceeds
by abstraction and generalization,Against
the positivists,he took the stand that man,
in contrast to things,could be understood
not only in external manifestations,that is,
in behavior,but also in the underlying
motivations,
2013-3-1 108
? And against both these approaches Weber
emphasized the value-bound problem,
choices of the investigator and the value-
neutral methods of social research,What
distinguishes the natural and social is not
an inherent difference in methods of
investigation,but rather the differing
interests and aims of the scientists,
2013-3-1 109
? The natural scientist is primarily interested
in those aspects of natural events that can
be formulated in terms of abstract laws,
While the social scientist may wish to
search for such lawful abstract
generalizations in human behavior,he is
also interested in particular qualities of
human actors and in the meaning they
ascribe to their actions,
2013-3-1 110
? What particular problem attracts a scholar,
and what level of explanation is sought,
depends,Weber argues,on the values and
interests of the investigator,The choice of
problems is always "value relevant."
2013-3-1 111
? "There is no absolutely 'objective'
scientific analysis of culture or,,, of
'social phenomena',consciously or
unconsciously--they are selected,analyzed
and organized for expository purposes."
What is considered "worthy to be known"
depends upon the perspective of the
inquiring scholar,
2013-3-1 112
? Weber insisted that a value element
inevitable entered into the selection of the
problem an investigator chooses to attack,
Value relevance must be distinguished
from value-neutrality,since they refer to
two different orders of ideas,
2013-3-1 113
? In the first place,ethical neutrality implies
that once the social scientist had chosen his
problem in terms of its relevance to his
values,he must hold values--his own or
those of others--in abeyance while he
follows the guidelines his data reveal,
2013-3-1 114
? He cannot impose his values on the data and he is
compelled to pursue his line of inquiry whether
or not the results turn out to be inimical to what
he holds dear,Value neutrality,in this first
meaning of the term,refers to the normative
injunction that men of science should be
governed by the ethos of science in their role as
scientists,but emphatically not in their role as
citizens,
2013-3-1 115
? In addition,value neutrality refers no less
importantly to another order of
considerations; the disjunction between the
world of facts and the world of values,
departure the"ought statements" from "is
statements." An empirical science,Weber
contended,can never advise anyone what
he should do,
2013-3-1 116
? Four Types of Social Action
? Four major types of social action are
distinguished in Weber's sociology,Men may
engage in purposeful or goal-oriented rational
action ; their rational action may be value-
oriented ; they may act from emotional or
affective motivations; or,finally,they may
engage in traditional action,
2013-3-1 117
? Purposeful rationality,in which both goal and
means are rationally chosen,
? Value-oriented rationality is characterized by
striving for an ultimate goal,which in itself may
not be ration--say,the attainment of salvation--
but which is nonetheless pursued with rational
means--for example,ascetic self-denial in the
pursuit of holiness,
2013-3-1 118
? Affective action is anchored in the
emotional state of the actor rather than in
the rational weighing of means and ends
? Finally,traditional action is by customary
habits of thought,by reliance on "the
eternal yesterday;"
2013-3-1 119
? Weber was primarily concerned with
modern Western society,in which,as he
saw it,behavior had come to be dominated
increasingly by goal-oriented rationality,
whereas in earlier periods it tended to be
motivated by tradition,affect,or value-
oriented rationality,
2013-3-1 120
? Max Weber's key question is which social
factors have brought about the rationalization of
Western civilization,In modern society,Weber
argued,whether in the sphere of politics or
economics,in the realm of the law and even in
interpersonal relationships,the efficient
application of means to ends has become
predominant and has replaced other springs of
social action,
2013-3-1 121
? Max Weber's key question is which social factors
have brought about the rationalization of Western
civilization,In modern society,Weber argued,
whether in the sphere of politics or economics,in
the realm of the law and even in interpersonal
relationships,the efficient application of means
to ends has become predominant and has
replaced other springs of social action,
2013-3-1 122
? Types of Authority
? Weber's discussion of authority relations--
why men claim authority,and feel they
have a legitimate right to expect willing
obedience to their command--illustrates his
use of the ideal type as an analytical tool
and his classification of types of social
action,
2013-3-1 123
? Weber distinguished three main modes of
claiming legitimacy,Authority may be
based on rational grounds and anchored in
impersonal rules that have been legally
enacted or contractually established,This
type is rational-legal authority,
2013-3-1 124
? Traditional authority,on the other hand,
which predominates in pre-modern
societies,is based on belief in the sanctity
of tradition,It is not codified in impersonal
rules but inheres in particular persons who
may either inherit it or be invested with it
by a higher authority,
2013-3-1 125
? Charismatic authority,finally,rests on the
appeal of leaders who claim allegiance
because of their extraordinary virtuosity,
whether ethical,heroic,or religious,
2013-3-1 126
? Characteristics of Bureaucracy
? 1,There is the principle of fixed and
official jurisdictional areas,which are
generally ordered by rules,that is,by laws
or administrative regulations,
2013-3-1 127
? 2,The principles of office hierarchy and of
levels of graded authority mean a firmly
ordered system of super- and subordination
in which there is a supervision of the lower
offices by the higher ones,
2013-3-1 128
? 3,The management of the modern office is
based upon written documents ('the files'),
which are preserved in their original or
draught form,
? 4,Office management,at least all
specialized office management-- and such
management is distinctly modern--usually
presupposes a thorough and expert training,
2013-3-1 129
? 5,When the office is fully developed,
official activity demands the full working
capacity of the official,irrespective of the
fact that his obligatory time in the bureau
may be firmly delimited,
2013-3-1 130
? 6,The management of the office follows
general rules,which are more or less stable,
more or less exhaustive,and which can be
learned,Knowledge of these rules
represents a special technical learning
which the officials possess,
2013-3-1 131
Chapter Five,G.H.Mead
（ 1863—1931)
? The person
? George Herbert Mead was born at South Hadley,
Massachusetts,on February 27,1863,In 1883
Mead graduated from Oberlin.In 1887 he entered
into Harvard university to pursue further study
in philosophy,After the year at Harvard,Mead
decided to go to Germany for advanced studies in
philosophy,
2013-3-1 132
? In1893,Mead accepted John Dewey's
invitation to join him at the new university
of Chicago,Mead stayed at the university
until his death on April 26,1931.Mind,self,
and Society was posthumously published
in 1934 which was Mead’s lectures,
2013-3-1 133
? Mead is regarded as one of the founding
numbers of pragmatic school and the father
of symbolic interactionism,Mead,as a
pioneering philosopher of social
psychology,was in further developing the
view that individuals are products of
society,
2013-3-1 134
? The Academic Background
? 1,Utilitarianism
? 2 Darwinism
? 3,Behaviorism and Individual-orientated
methodology
? 4,Pragmatism
2013-3-1 135
? Pragmatism is a school of philosophy
originating in United States in the late 1800s,
Pragmatism is characterized by the insistence on
consequences,utility and practicality as vital
components of truth,Pragmatism objects to the
view that human concepts and intellect alone
accurately represent reality,and therefore stands
in opposition to both formalist and rationalist
schools of philosophy,
2013-3-1 136
? Symbolic Interactionism
? Symbolic interactionism is a sociological
perspective which examines how
individuals and groups interact,focusing
on the creation of personal identity through
interaction with others,Of particular
interest is the relationship between
individual action and group pressures,
2013-3-1 137
? This perspective examines the idea that
subjective meanings are socially
constructed,and that these subjective
meanings interrelate with objective actions
2013-3-1 138
? The Self in Society
? Social psychology for Mead is the
discipline that "studies the activity or
behavior of the individual as it lies within
the social process,The behavior of an
individual can be understood only in terms
of the behavior of the whole social group
of which he is a member,since his
individual acts are involved in larger,
social acts which go beyond himself”,
2013-3-1 139
? While earlier social psychology had dealt
with social experience from the individual
psychological standpoint,Mead suggested
that individual experience be dealt with
"from the standpoint of society,at least
from the standpoint of communication as
essential to the social order."
2013-3-1 140
? Mead argued that there can be no self apart
from society,Society must be understood
as a structure that emerges through an
ongoing process of communicative social
acts,
2013-3-1 141
? Mead saw in gesture the key mechanism
through which social acts are effected,But
he sharply separates nonsignificant (unself-
conscious) gestures,as found on the animal
level,from the significant (self-conscious)
gestures that characterize most human
intercourse,
2013-3-1 142
? On the animal level,gesture involves an
immediate response to a stimulus,
? In contrast,at the human level of
communication,significant gestures come
into play,
2013-3-1 143
? These rest upon "an arousal in the
individual himself of the response which
he is calling out in the other individual,a
taking of the role of the other,a tendency
to act as the other person acts."
2013-3-1 144
? Significant gestures are based on linguistic
symbols carrying a content that is more or
less the same for different individuals and
hence meaning the same thing to them all,
2013-3-1 145
? Human thought arises when there are
"symbols,vocal gestures generally,which
arouse in the individual himself the
response which he is calling out in the
other,and such that from the point of view
of that response he is able to direct his later
conduct."
2013-3-1 146
? Significant gestures involving the use of
symbols always presuppose the ability of
each participant in a communicative
process to visualize his own performance
from the standpoint of the others,to take
the role of the others,
2013-3-1 147
? In nonsymbolic interaction human beings,
like animals,respond directly to one
another,In symbolic interaction,where
they use significant gestures,they interpret
each other's attitudes and act on the basis
of the meaning yielded by such
interpretations,
2013-3-1 148
? Human communicative processes involve
the constant self-conscious adjustment of
actors to the conduct of others,a repeated
fitting together of lines of action through
definitions and redefinitions,
interpretations and reinterpretations,
2013-3-1 149
? The Genesis of the Self
? Among Mead's most notable achievements
is his account of the genesis of
consciousness and of the self through the
gradually developing ability in child- hood
to take the role of the other and to visualize
his own performance from the point of
view of others,
2013-3-1 150
? In this view,human communication
becomes possible only when "the symbol
[arouses] in one's self what it arouses in the
other individual." Very young children do
not yet have the ability to use significant
symbols; therefore,when they are at play,
their behavior in many ways is similar to
that of puppies playing with each other,
2013-3-1 151
? As children grow older,however,they
gradually learn to take the role of others
through play,"A child plays at being a
mother,at being a teacher,at being a
policeman; that is,it is taking different
roles."
2013-3-1 152
? A crucial landmark in the child's social
development is made when,in showing a
picture to someone facing him,he will turn
the picture away from himself rather than,
as he did up to then,hold it toward himself
in the belief that his partner can see only
what he himself sees,
2013-3-1 153
? Child play at the level of simple role-
taking (play stage) is the first stage in the
gradual transformation from simple
conversations of gestures--a child's running
away when chased--to the mature ability to
use significant symbols in interaction with
many others,
2013-3-1 154
? Although he has learned to put himself,in
imagination,in the position of his partner,
the child still does not relate in his mind
the roles that several others play with one
another outside himself,Thus,he can
under- stand the relation of mother or
father with himself,but he cannot
understand that his own mother is not his
father's mother also,
2013-3-1 155
? This breakthrough in his conceptualization
comes with his ability to play complex
organized games (game stage),when he
will have in his mind all the roles of other
players and make assessments about their
potential responses to one another,
2013-3-1 156
? such games must be distinguished from
simple games such as hide-and-seek,
which involve only two types of role
partners,In hide-and-seek,"everyone,with
the exception of the one who is hiding,is a
person who is hunting,A child does not
require more than the person who is hunted
and the one who is hunting."
2013-3-1 157
? But in a game in which a number of
individuals playing different roles are
involved,in baseball for example,"the
child taking one role must be ready to take
the role of everyone else."
2013-3-1 158
? The fundamental difference between the
[complex] game and the play is that in the
former the child must have the attitude of
all the others involved in that game,The
attitudes of the other players which the
participant assumes organize into a sort of
unit,and it is that organization which
controls the response of the individual.,,,
2013-3-1 159
? multiple person games require taking the
role of the "generalized other“,that is,each
player's having an idea of the behavior of
every other player toward each other and
toward himself,With the help of the rules
that govern the game,the child develops
the ability to take the place of all the other
players and to determine their responses,
2013-3-1 160
? These "rules are the set of responses which
a particular attitude calls out.'' The final
stage in the maturation process of the child,
Mead argues,occurs when the individual
takes the role of the "generalized other"--
the attitude of the whole community,
2013-3-1 161
? "Only insofar as he takes the attitudes of
the organized social group to which he
belongs towards the organized,cooperative
social activity or set of such activities in
which that group as such is engaged,does
he develop a complete self."
2013-3-1 162
? Hence,the mature self arises when a "gen-
eralized other" is internalized so that "the
community exercises control over the
conduct of its individual members."
2013-3-1 163
? The essence of the self,according to Mead,
is its reflexivity,The individual self is
individual only because of its relation to
others,Through the individual's ability to
take in his imagination the attitudes of
others,his self becomes an object of his
own reflection,The self as both subject and
object is the essence of being social,
2013-3-1 164
? The peculiar individuality of each self is a
result of the peculiar combination,never
the same for two people,of the attitude of
others that form the generalized other,
Hence,although individuality is rooted in
sociality,each person makes an individual
contribution to the social process,
2013-3-1 165
? The "I" and the "Me,
? Both "I" and "me" necessarily relate to
social experience,But the "I" is "the
response of the organism to the attitudes of
the others; the "me" is the organized set of
attitudes of others which one assumes,
2013-3-1 166
? The attitudes of the others constitute the
organized 'me,' and then one reacts toward
that as an 'I'." As a "me" the person is
aware of himself as an object,He reacts or
responds to himself in terms of the
attitudes others have toward him,His self-
appraisal is the result of what he assumes
to be the appraisal by others,
2013-3-1 167
? The "me" is the self as conceived and
apprehended in terms of the point of view
of significant others and of the community
at large,It reflects the laws and the mores,
the organized codes and expectations of the
community,
2013-3-1 168
? The "I," in contradistinction,is "the answer
which the individual makes to the attitude
which others take toward him when he
assumes an attitude toward them,,, it
gives the sense of freedom,of initiative."
2013-3-1 169
? What appears in consciousness is always
the self as an object,as a "me," but the
"me" is not conceivable without an "I" as a
unique subject for which the "me" can be
an object,
2013-3-1 170
? The "I" and the "me" are not identical,for
the "I" "is something that is never entirely
calculable,,, it is always something
different from what the situation itself calls
for,
2013-3-1 171
? The growing child who assumes these
roles thereby cultivates in himself the
ability to put himself in the place of others
who are significant to him,As he matures,
he will not only be able to take these roles
by acting them out; but he will conceive of
them by assuming them in his imagination,
2013-3-1 172
Chapter Six,Talcott Parsons
(1902—1979)
? An Introduction to Parsons
? Parson (Dec 13,1902,Colorado,USA—
May 8,1979,Munich Germany) was the
best-known sociologist in USA and one of
the best known in the world for many years,
? His work was enormously influential
through the 1950s and well into the 1960s,
2013-3-1 173
but it fell gradually out of favour from that
time on,His major work was a general
theoretical system for the analysis of
society,this came to be called structural
functionalism which was constituted by his
major publications,
2013-3-1 174
? The Structure of Social Action (1937)
? The Social System (1952)
? Structures and Process in the Modern
Societies(1960)
? Sociological Theory and Modern
Society(1968)
? Politics and Social Structure(1969)
2013-3-1 175
? Parsons was an advocate of "grand theory,"
an attempt to integrate all the social
sciences into a whole theoretical
framework,His early work (The Structure
of Social Action) reviewed the output of his
great predecessors,especially Weber,
Pareto and Durkeim,
2013-3-1 176
? He attempted to derive from them a single
"action theory" based on the assumptions that
human action is voluntary,intentional,and
symbolic,Parsons is also well known for his idea
that every group or society tends to fulfill four
"functional imperatives." which are
adaptation,goal attainment,integration and
latency,We call it AGIL paradigm
2013-3-1 177
? Parson’s most important contributions to
sociology theory were the formulations of
pattern variables,AGIL paradigm and the
unit act,
2013-3-1 178
? The Unit Act
? The difination of unit act
? An unit act includes ; actor,end,
situation(controled and uncontroled) and
normative orientation,
2013-3-1 179
? The motivation,cultural pattern and
mode of unit act
? 3 motivational orientation,cognitive
interest; cathectic interest and evaluative
? Interest,
2013-3-1 180
? 3 cultural pattern
? 1) systems of cognitive ideas or bliefs; 2) systems
of adjustive patterns or expressive symbols; 3)
systens of integratives pattern or value-
orientation standard,
? 3 modes of unit act
Instrumental act,expressive act and moral act
2013-3-1 181
? Pattern Variables
? Parsons asserted that there were two
dimensions to societies,instrumental and
expressive,By this he meant that there are
qualitative differences between kinds of
social interaction,
2013-3-1 182
? Essentially,he observed that people can
have personalized and formally detached
relationships based on the roles that they
play,The characteristics that were
associated with each kind of interaction he
called the pattern variables,as illustrated
on the following chart,
2013-3-1 183
Dimension
Expressive Instrumental
Statues
indentitty
Ascription Achievement
Functions
of relations
Diffuse-many
functions
Specific
functions
Interaction
style
Particular-
actors,situations
Universal-
norms,values
Quality of
relations
Affective Affective
neutrality
2013-3-1 184
1,Ascription
Status is largely ascribed (that is "given" to you
by others),In basic terms,individual status is
determined by the type of family into which you
are born,
Achievement
Status in society is achieved through the things
you do (your personal merits),rather than simply
being ascribed,
2013-3-1 185
? 2 Diffuseness
? People develop relationships that satisfy a
large range of needs,
For example,a mother - child relationship
satisfies a range of sociological and
psychological needs,
2013-3-1 186
Specificity
? People enter into a wide range of
relationships,each of which satisfies a
specific need,
For example,the relationship between a
shop assistant and a customer is structured
to fulfil a particular need,
2013-3-1 187
? 3.Particularism
? People act differently towards particular
people,based on the nature of their
relationship,
For example,you may trust your
immediate family,but not a stranger,
2013-3-1 188
? Universalism
? Individuals act according to values and
norms that are "universal" in their society,
For example,the universal value that all
are equal in the eyes of the law,
2013-3-1 189
? 4,Affectivity
? Relationships between people are largely
affective (based on love,trust,close
personal involvement and so forth),rather
than instrumental (impersonal relationships
based on what people can do for us in any
given situation),
2013-3-1 190
? Affective neutrality (Instrumental)
? Relationships are largely based on what
people can do for us in particular situations
(and what we can do for them),
2013-3-1 191
? 5.Collective Orientation
? People put the interests of the social groups
to which they belong before their personal
interests,
Self Orientation
People give primacy to the pursuit of their
own interests,rather than those of the
group or groups to which they belong,
2013-3-1 192
? General Action System
? Parsons argues that each of us is an actor
playing a role within a system of
relationships,He analyses the real
(concrete) system we are in into social
system,cultural system and our own
personality system,
2013-3-1 193
? A society survives which has to fulfill the
social needs,
? A general Action System
?
Social Intergraion
Cultural＊ Latency (Pattern
Maintenance)
Personality＊ Goal Attainment
Behavioral
Organism＊
Adaptation
2013-3-1 194
? Four,functional imperatives”,The first of
these is adaptation,adaptation to the
physical and social environment,The
second is goal attainment,which is the
need to define primary goals and enlist
individuals to strive to attain these goals,
2013-3-1 195
? The third is integration,the coordination of
the society or group as a cohesive whole,
The last is latency,maintaining the
motivation of individuals to perform their
roles according to social expectations
2013-3-1 196
? Structural Functionalism
? Functionalism,or rather functional analysis,
is a technique that originally attempted to
explain social institutions as collective
means to fill individual biological needs;
later it came to focus on the ways social
institutions fill social needs,especially
social solidarity,Functionalism is
associated with Durkheim and more with
Parsons,
2013-3-1 197
Functionalists argue that social institutions
are functionally integrated to form a stable
system,and a change in one institution will
precipitate a change in other institutions;
expressed by Durkheim and others as a
organic analogy,Originating as an
alternative to historical explanations,
functionalism was one of the first twentieth
century anthropological theories,
2013-3-1 198
? Structural-functionalism takes the view
that society consists of parts (e.g,polices,
hospitals,schools and farms),),each of
which has its own function,),each of
which has its own function,
2013-3-1 199
? Prior to social movements in the 1960’s,
functionalism was the dominant view in
sociological thinking,In the 1960s
functionalism was criticized for being
unable to account for social change and
conflict,
2013-3-1 200
? In 1960’s conflict theory challenged the
current society,which functionalist theory
defended,Functionalist theory contends
that conflict is harmful to the society,and
therefore tends to be the prominent view
among the conservative thinkers
?
2013-3-1 201
? In 1980’s,the most prominent attempt to
revive Parsonian thinking,under the rubric
"neofunctionalism," has been made by the
sociologist Jeffrey Alexander,now at Yale
University,
2013-3-1 202
? Jeffrey Alexander see functionalism as a
broad school rather than a specific method
or system,such as Parson's,which is
capable of taking equilibrium (stability) as
a reference-point rather than assumption
and treats structural differentiation as a
major form of social change,"
2013-3-1 203
Chapter Seven,
Robert.K.Merton(1910—2003)
Person,
American sociologist,born in Philadelphia,
Graduated from Temple Univ,(A.B.,1931)
and Harvard (M.A.,1932; Ph.D.,1936),
From 1941 on he was a professor of
sociology at Columbia Univ,and was
especially known for his contributions to
the study of social structure,bureaucracy,
mass communications,and the sociology of
science,Merton developed such concepts as
the,self-fulfilling prophecy,”,role
model,”,reference group,“deviant behavior,”
and focus groups,
2013-3-1 204
? Publications
? Social Theory and Social Structure (1949),
The Sociology of Science (1973),
2013-3-1 205
? 1.Merton’s criticism to structure-function
theory,
2.Modification of Three Traditional
functionism’s hypotheses
? 3,Main Concepts of Function Analysis
?
2013-3-1 206
? 3.1,Manifest Function and Latent
Function
? As functionalist,he distinguished between
manifest functions,referring to those
objective consequences for a specific unit
(person,subgroup,social or cultural
system) which contribute to its adjustment
or adaptation and were so intended,
2013-3-1 207
? Latent functions,which are unintended or
not obviously recognized results of social
processes in Social Theory and Social
Structure
? 3.2,Positive Functions and Dysfunctions
? 3.3,Functional Alternatives
2013-3-1 208
? Functional alternative ( functional
substitute) indicates that,"just as the same
item may have multiple functions,so may
the same function be diversely fulfilled by
alternative items." The concept may serve
as an antidote to "the gratuitous
assumption of the functional
indispensability of particular social
structures."
2013-3-1 209
? 4,Merton’s Empirical Research
? 4.1 Non-conforming and Deviant
Behavior
? 4.2 The theory of reference groups
? The role-set and status-set and the role
models people select not only for
emulation but also as a source of values
adopted as a basis for self-appraisal
2013-3-1 210
Chapter Eight,Lewis Alfred
Coser
2013-3-1 211
? 1,An Brief introduction to Coser
? 2,The Function of Social Conflict
? 2.1,The Functions of Internal Social
Conflicts
? 2.2,The Function of External Confliction
2013-3-1 212
? 3,Safety—Valve
Social institutions which provide substitute
objects upon which to displace hostile
sentiments as well as means of abreaction
of aggressive tendencies,
?
2013-3-1 213
? Safety-valve institutions may serve to
maintain both the social structure and the
individual’s security system,but they are
incompletely functional for both of them,
2013-3-1 214
? 孔德, 论
实证主义精神,
? 迪尔凯姆
,自杀论,
,社会学方法的准则（规则）,
?马克思 ·韦伯
,新教伦理与资本主义精神,
,社会科学方法论,
? 罗伯特 ·墨顿
,论理论社会学,
Reference books
2013-3-1 215
? 查尔斯 ·米尔斯
,社会学的想象力,
? 彼得 ·布劳, 社会生
活中的权力与交换,
? 乔治 ·米德, 心
灵、自我与社会,
? 吉登斯, 现代
性与自我认同,
2013-3-1 216
An Introduction to Western
Social Theory
?1.The significance of studying
western social theory
? 1.1 The developing tendency of social
science
? 1.2 The sociology’s researching target
? 1,The independence of sociology
?
2013-3-1 2
? 2.the characteristics of
social theory
? 2.1 accumulation
? 2.2 development stage
? 2.3 diversification
2013-3-1 3
? 3.The four stages of social theory
? 3.1 The first stage,from 1837 to the
beginning of 20 century---the
foundation of sociology
? 3.2 The second stage,from 1920’s to
1960’s---the general theory
appearance
?
2013-3-1 4
? 3.3 The third stage,from 1960’s to
1980’s --- the prosperity of social theory
? 3.4 The forth stage,from 1980’s till
now---the integration of social theory
2013-3-1 5
? 4,Divergent methodology of social
theory
? Macrocosm vs microcosm
? Positivism vs anti-positivism
2013-3-1 6
Chapter one,
Auguste Comte (1798—1857)
? The Person
? A Summary of Ideas
? 1 the law of human progress
? 2 hierarchy of science
? 3 social statics and dynamics
2013-3-1 7
? The person
? Auguste Comte was born on January 19,1798,in
the southern French city of Montpellier
? In August 1814,Comte entered the competition
for the entrance examinations of the prestigious
Ecole Polytechnique which was a worldly
famous scientific university,
2013-3-1 8
? In the summer of 1817 Comte was
introduced to Henri Saint-Simon
? who was to have a major and lasting
influence on Comte's life and works,
? In 1824 Comte finally broke with his
master,
2013-3-1 9
? began to publish his course of philosophy in 1826,
? Because of his unhappy life,
? He realized that mere intellectual development is
insufficient for life,and,having presented
Positivism as the scientific doctrine and method,
he aimed at making it a religion,the religion of
humanity,
2013-3-1 10
? Comte's chief works are his "Cours de
philosophie positive" [6 vols.,Phiosophie
mathématique (1830),astronomique et
physique (1835),chimique et biologique
(1838),partie dogmatique de la
philosophie sociale (1839),partie
historique (1840),complément de la
philosophie sociale et conclusions (1842);
2013-3-1 11
A Summary of Ideas
? Comte's aim was to create a naturalistic science
of society,which would both explain the past
development of mankind and predict its future
course,The study of social dynamics and social
statics--of change and stability--are the twin
pillars of his systems,
2013-3-1 12
? Natural science,Comte argued,had
succeeded in establishing the lawfulness of
natural phenomena,
? the new science relied on "reasoning and
observation,duly combined" as the only
legitimate means of attaining knowledge,
2013-3-1 13
? Every scientific theory must be based on
observed facts,but it is equally true that
"facts cannot be observed without the
guidance of some theory
2013-3-1 14
? The new social sciences that Comte sought to
establish he first called "social physics;,Later,he
changed it into,sociology”,
? It was to be patterned after the natural sciences,
not only in its empirical methods and
epistemological underpinnings,but also in the
functions it would serve for mankind,
2013-3-1 15
? Far from being of theoretical interest alone,
the social sciences,like the natural
sciences,must ultimately be of concrete
benefit to man and play a major part in the
amelioration of the human condition,
2013-3-1 16
? "For it is only by knowing the laws of
phenomena,and thus being able to foresee
them,that we can,,, set them to modify
one another for our advantage.,,, From
Science comes Prevision; from Prevision
comes Action." (Savoir pour prevoir et
prevoir pour pouvoir.)
2013-3-1 17
? The Law of Human Progress
? the theological---the metaphysical--- the
positive
? Comte pointed out that the evolution of the
human mind passed through three
successive stages,the theological---the
metaphysical--- the positive
2013-3-1 18
? At the positive stage,which rejects the
validity of metaphysical speculation,the
existence of final causes,and the
knowableness of the absolute,and confines
itself to the study of experimental facts and
their relations,represents the perfection of
human knowledge,
2013-3-1 19
? The fundamental principle of Positivism is that
sense experience is the only object of human
knwledge,science cannot be,as Aristotle
conceived it,the knowledge of things through
their ultimate causes,since material and formal
causes are unknowable,final causes illusions,
while metaphysics,under any form,is
illegitimate,Positivism is thus a continuation of
crude Empiricism and Associationism.onism,
2013-3-1 20
Chapter Two,Herbert Spencer
(1820---1903)
? Person
? Spencer was born on April 27,1820,in Derby,
England,Herbert Spencer did not attend a regular
school,His father educated him at home,At the
age of 13,Spencer received his further education
from his uncle,Spencer leaned heavily on the
scientific side but his Latin and Greek were weak
and his knowledge of history was superficial,
2013-3-1 21
? In 1837,Spencer joined the staff of the
London and Birmingham Railway as an
engineer,In 1848,he found a stable
position and assured income as a subeditor
with the London Economist,While
working on the Economist,Spencer
finished his first book,Social Statics,
which was published in 1851,
2013-3-1 22
? When his uncle died in 1853,he left
Spencer a sizable sum of money,Spencer
felt encouraged to give up his job with the
Economist,From then on he lived the life
of a private scholar without regular
employment or institutional attachment,
2013-3-1 23
? Spencer wrote many books in his long life,First
Principles (of his overall Synthetic Philosophy)
was published in 1862,The several volumes of
Principles of Biology were issued between 1864
and 1867,The Study of Sociology appeared in
1873,and the many volumes of Principles of
Ethics and Principles of Sociology were
published between the seventies and the nineties,
The Man Versus the State appeared in 1884,
2013-3-1 24
? A Summary of Ideas,
? Although Spencer seems to have protested
too much in disclaiming any profound
influence of Comte's thought on his own,it
is true that his general orientation differs
significantly from Comte's,Spencer
described their different approaches in this
way,
2013-3-1 25
? What is Comte's professed aim? To give a
coherent account of the progress of human
conceptions,What is my aim? To give a coherent
account of the progress of the external
world.Comte proposes to describe the necessary,
and the actual,filiation of ideas,I propose to
describe the necessary,and the actual,filiation of
things,Comte professes to interpret the genesis
of our knowledge of nature,My aim is to
interpret,,, the genesis of the phenomena which
constitute nature…
2013-3-1 26
? Spencer's first and foremost concern was with
evolutionary changes in social structures and
social institutions rather than with the mental
states,Evolution,that is,"a change from a state
of relatively indefinite,incoherent,homogeneity
to a state of relatively definite,coherent,
heterogeneity," was to Spencer that universal
process which happened in both nature and social
society,
2013-3-1 27
? Growth,Structure,and Differentation
? Both organic and social aggregates are
characterized by Spencer according to
progressive increases in size,"Societies,
like living bodies,begin as germs--
originate from masses which are extremely
minute in comparison with the masses
some of them eventually reach."
2013-3-1 28
? Societal growth may come about through
two processes,"which go on sometimes
separately,and sometimes together." It
results either from an increase in
population,"by simple multiplication of
units," or from the joining of previously
unrelated units by "union of groups,and
again by union of groups of groups."
2013-3-1 29
? Increases in the size of units is invariably
accompanied by an increase in the complexity of
their structure,The process of growth,by
definition,is to Spencer a process of integration,
And integration in its turn must be accompanied
by a progressive differentiation of structures and
functions if the organism or the societal unit is to
remain viable--that is,if it is to survive in the
struggle for existence,
2013-3-1 30
? Social aggregates,like organic ones,grow from
relatively undifferentiated states in which the
parts resemble one another into differentiated
states in which these parts have become
dissimilar,Moreover,once parts have become
unlike,they are mutually dependent on each
other; thus,with growing differentiation comes
growing interdependence and hence integration,
2013-3-1 31
? In simple societies,where the parts are
basically alike,they can be easily
substituted for one another,But in complex
societies,"the actions of one part which
fails in its function cannot be assumed by
other parts." Complex societies are
therefore more vulnerable and more fragile
in structure than their earlier and ruder
predecessors,
2013-3-1 32
? The increasing mutual dependence of
unlike parts in complex societies,and the
vulnerability it brings in its wake
necessitate the emergence of a "regulating
system" that controls the actions of the
parts and insures their coordination,
2013-3-1 33
? Early in the process of social evolution,
regulating centers are mainly required for
dealing with the outside environment,but
later such regulating centers assume the
burden of internal regulation and social
control when complexity of functions no
longer allows the entirely spontaneous
adjustment of parts to one another,
2013-3-1 34
? Evolution - Unilinear or Multilinear
? In many passages,especially in his earlier
writings,Spencer expresses what seems to be a
belief in the unilinear evolution of mankind,Yet
the mature Spencer,,recognized that,though the
evolution of mankind as a whole was certain,
particular societies may retrogress as well as
progress,
2013-3-1 35
? "While the current degradation theory is
untenable,the theory of progression,in its
ordinary form,seems to me untenable also,,,, It
is possible and,I believe,probable,that
retrogression has been as frequent as
progression." Spencer by and large believed that
societies do not develop irreversibly through
predetermined stages,Rather,it was his general
view that they developed in response to their
social and natural environment,
2013-3-1 36
Chapter Three,
Emile Durkheim (1858—1917)
The Person,
Emile Durkheim was born at Epinal in the
eastern French on April 15,1858,Son of a rabbi
and descending from a long line of rabbis,he
decided quite early that he would follow the
family tradition and become a rabbi himself,But
later he turned away from all religious
involvement,though not from interest in
religious phenomena,and became an agnostic
(one who believes that there can be no proof of
the existence of God but does not deny the
possibility that God exists),
2013-3-1 37
? In 1879,Durkheim was entered the Ecole
Normale,At the time of his graduation,
Durkheim decided not to be the traditional
philosopher but to be devote himself to a
discipline that would contribute to the
clarification of the great moral questions that
agitated the age,as well as to practical guidance
of the affairs of contemporary society,More
concretely,Durkheim wished to make a
contribution to the moral and political
consolidation of the Third Republic,What he
considered imperative was to construct a
scientific sociological system,
2013-3-1 38
? From 1882 to 1887 he taught philosophy in
a number of provincial Lycees in the
neighborhood of Paris,Then in 1887,he
was appointed to the staff of the University
of Bordeaux,At Bordeaux,Durkheim was
attached to the department of philosophy
where he offered the first sociology course
in a French university,
2013-3-1 39
? In 1893,he finished his French doctoral
thesis,The Division of Labor,Only two
years later The Rules of Sociological
Method appeared,and within another two
years Le Suicide was published,With these
three major works,Durkheim moved into
the forefront of the academic world,
2013-3-1 40
? Durkheim founded a scholarly journal
L'Annee Sociologique in 1898,which soon
became the center for an extraordinarily
gifted group of young scholars,all united,
in a common devotion to the Durkheimian
approach to sociology,L’Annee was
successful to weld them together into a
cohesive "school“,
2013-3-1 41
? In his later life,Durkheim turned to the
detailed study of primitive religion,He had
published a number of preliminary papers
in the area,and this course of studies
finally led to the publication in 1912 of
Durkheim's last major work,The
Elementary Forms of Religious Life,
2013-3-1 42
? A Summary of Ideas
? Social Fact
? The main thrust of Durkheim's overall
doctrine is his insistence that the study of
society must eschew reductionism and
consider social phenomena sui generis,
2013-3-1 43
? Durkheim presented a definitive critique of
reductionist explanations of social behavior,
Social phenomena are "social facts" and
these are the subject matter of sociology,
2013-3-1 44
? Social facts have distinctive social
characteristics and determinants which are
not amenable to explanations on the
biological or psychological level,They are
external to any particular individual
considered as a biological entity,They
endure over time while particular
individuals die and are replaced by others,
2013-3-1 45
? Moreover,they are not only external to the
individual,but they are "endowed with
coercive power,by,,, which they impose
themselves upon him,independent of his
individual will." Constraints,whether in
the form of laws or customs,come into
play whenever social demands are being
violated,
2013-3-1 46
? Durkheim stressed that social facts,and
more particularly moral rules,become
effective guides and controls of conduct
only to the extent that they become
internalized in the consciousness of
individuals,
2013-3-1 47
? To him,constraint is no longer a simple
imposition of outside controls on
individual will,but rather a moral
obligation to obey a rule,In this sense,
society is "something beyond us and
something in ourselves."
2013-3-1 48
? Functional Explanation
? It is Durkheim who clearly established the logic
of the functional approach to the study of social
phenomena and used it to his works,In particular,
Durkheim set down a clear distinction between
historical and functional types of inquiry and
between functional consequences and individual
motivations,
2013-3-1 49
?,When,,,, the explanation of a social
phenomenon is undertaken,we must seek
separately the efficient cause which produces it
and the function it fulfills,We must determine
whether there is a correspondence between the
fact under consideration and the general needs of
the social organism,and in what this
correspondence consists,without occupying
ourselves with whether it has been intentional or
not.”
2013-3-1 50
? Durkheim separated functional analysis
from two other analytical procedures,the
quest for historical origins and causes and
the probing of individual purposes and
motives,The second seemed to him of only
peripheral importance for sociological
inquiry since men often engage in actions
when they are unable to anticipate the
consequences,
2013-3-1 51
? The quest for origins and historical causes,
however,was to Durkheim as an essential
and legitimate part of the sociological
enterprise as was the analysis of functions,
In fact,he was convinced that the full
explanation of sociological phenomena
would necessarily utilize both historical
and functional analysis,
2013-3-1 52
? For an example,in his discussion of deviance and
criminality,Durkheim departed fundamentally
from the conventional path,While most
criminologists treated crime as a pathological
phenomenon and sought psychological causes in
the mind of the criminal,Durkheim saw crime as
normal in terms of its occurrence,and even as
having positive social functions in terms of its
consequences,
2013-3-1 53
? Crime was normal in that no society could
enforce total conformity to its injunctions,
and if society could,it would be so
repressive as to leave no leeway for the
social contributions of individuals,
Deviance from the norms of society is
necessary if society is to remain flexible
and open to change and new adaptations,
2013-3-1 54
? "Where crime exists,collective sentiments
are sufficiently flexible to take on a new
form,and crime sometimes helps to
determine the form they will take,How
many times,indeed,it is only an
anticipation of future morality--a step
toward what will be."
2013-3-1 55
? Durkheim always shows himself a masterful
functional analyst,He must be recognized as the
direct ancestor of that type of functional analysis
which came to dominate British anthropology
under the impact of Radcliffe-Brown and
Malinowski and which led,somewhat later,to
American functionalism in sociology under
Talcott Parsons and Robert K,Merton,
2013-3-1 56
From Mechanical Solidarity to Organic
Solidarity Due to the Division of Labor
? Durkheim said that in contrast to earlier types of
social organization based on mechanical
solidarity that demanded a high degree of
regimentation,modern types of organization rest
on organic solidarity obtained through the
functional interdependence of autonomous
individuals,
?,
2013-3-1 57
? In modern societies,social solidarity
is dependent upon,rather than
repressive of,individual autonomy of
conduct,
? There are some differences between
the Mechanical Solidarity to Organic
Solidarity,
2013-3-1 58
? 1,The first binds the individual directly to
society without any intermediary,In the
second,he depends upon society,because
he depends upon the parts of which it is
composed,
2013-3-1 59
? 2,Society is not seen in the same aspect in
the two cases,In the first,what we call
society is a more or less organized totality
of beliefs and sentiments common to all
the members of the group,this is the
collective type,On the other hand,the
society in which we are solidary in the
second instance is a system of different,
special functions which definite relations
unite,
2013-3-1 60
? Individual,Society and Anomie
? To Durkheim,men were creatures whose
desires were unlimited,Human’s insatiable
desires can only be held in check by
external controls,Society imposes limits
on human desires and constitutes "a
regulative force which must play the same
role for moral needs which the organism
plays for physical needs."
2013-3-1 61
? In well-regulated societies,social controls
set limits on individual propensities so that
"each in his sphere vaguely realizes the
extreme limits set to his ambitions and
aspires to nothing beyond”,
2013-3-1 62
? When social regulations break down,the
controlling influence of society on
individual propensities is no longer
effective and individuals are left to their
own devices,Such a state of affairs
Durkheim calls anomie,which refers to a
condition of relative normlessness in a
whole society or in some of its component
groups,
2013-3-1 63
? Anomie does not refer to a state of mind,
but to a property of the social structure,It
characterizes a condition in which
individual desires are no longer regulated
by common norms and where,as a
consequence,individuals are left without
moral guidance in the pursuit of their goals,
2013-3-1 64
? Although complete anomie,or total
normlessness,is empirically impossible,
societies may be characterized by greater
or lesser degrees of normative regulations,
Moreover,within any particular society,
groups may differ in the degree of anomie
that besets them,
2013-3-1 65
? Social change may create anomie either in
the whole society or in some parts of it,
Business crises,for an example,may have
a far greater impact on those on the social
pyramid than on the underlying population,
When depression leads to a sudden
downward mobility,the men affected
experience a de-regulation in their lives--a
loss of moral certainty and customary
expectations which these men once held,
2013-3-1 66
? Similarly,the rapid onset of prosperity
may lead some people to a quick upward
mobility and hence deprive them of the
social support needed in their new styles of
life,Any rapid movement in the social
structure that upsets previous networks in
which life styles are embedded carries with
it a chance of anomie,
2013-3-1 67
? An introduction to le Suicide
? His work on suicide is the discussion
and analysis of anomie forms,Once he
discovered that certain types of suicide
could be accounted for by anomie,he
could then use anomic suicide as an
index for the otherwise unmeasurable
degree of social integration,
2013-3-1 68
? He reasoned as follows,There are no
societies in which suicide does not
occur,and many societies show
roughly the same rates of suicide over
long periods of time,This indicates
that suicides may be considered a
"normal," that is,a regular,occurrence,
2013-3-1 69
? However,sudden spurts in the suicide rates
of certain groups or total societies are
"abnormal" and point to some
perturbations not previously present,
2013-3-1 70
? Hence,"abnormally" high rates in specific
groups or social categories,or in total
societies,can be taken as an index of
disintegrating forces at work in a social
structure,
2013-3-1 71
? Durkheim distinguished between types of
suicide according to the relation of the
actor to his society,When men become
"detached from society,"when they are
thrown upon their own devices and loosen
the bonds that previously had tied them to
their fellows,they are prone to egoistic
suicide,or individualistic suicide,
2013-3-1 72
? When the normative regulations
surrounding individual conducts are
relaxed and hence fail to curb and guide
human propensities,men are susceptible to
succumbing to anomic suicide,
2013-3-1 73
? To put the matter differently,when the
restraints of structural integration,as
exemplified in the operation of organic
solidarity,fail to operate,men become
prone to egoistic suicide; when the
collective conscience weakens,men fall
victim to anomic suicide
2013-3-1 74
? In addition to egoistic and anomic types of
suicide,Durkheim refers to altruistic and
fatalistic suicide,The latter is touched
upon only briefly in his work
2013-3-1 75
? In the case of excessive regulation,the
demands of society are so great that suicide
varies directly rather than inversely with
the degree of integration,For example,in
the instance of the Hindu normative
requirement that widows commit ritual
suicide upon the funeral pyre of their
husbands,
2013-3-1 76
? Arguing from statistical data,Durkheim
shows that in modern societies the high
rates of suicide among the military cannot
be explained by the deprivations of
military life suffered by the lower ranks,
since the suicide rate happens to be higher
for officers than for enlisted men,
2013-3-1 77
? Rather,the high rate for officers can be
accounted for by a military code of honor
that enjoins a passive habit of obedience
leading officers to undervalue their own
lives,
2013-3-1 78
? Durkheim's treatment of altruistic suicide
indicates that he also realized that total
control of component social actors by
society would be as detrimental as anomie
and de-regulation,Throughout his life he
attempted to establish a balance between
societal and individual claims,
2013-3-1 79
? The Sociology of Religion
? Durkheim's earlier concern with social
regulation was in the main focused on
the more external forces of control,
more particularly legal regulations
that can be studied,
2013-3-1 80
? Later he was led to consider forces of
control that were internalized in
individual consciousness,Being
convinced that "society has to be
present within the individual,"
2013-3-1 81
? Basic to his theory is the stress on religious
phenomena as communal rather than
individual,"A religion is a unified system
of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things,that is to say,things set apart and
forbidden--beliefs and practices which
unite in one single moral community called
a Church,all those who adhere to it."
2013-3-1 82
? Durkheim argued that religious phenomena
emerge in any society when a separation is
made between the sphere of the profane--
the realm of everyday utilitarian activities,
2013-3-1 83
? Sacred activities are valued by the
community of believers not as means to
ends,but because the religious community
has bestowed their meaning on,
2013-3-1 84
? Distinctions between the spheres of the
sacred and the profane are always made by
groups who band together in a cult and
who are united by their common symbols
and objects of worship,Religion is "an
eminently collective thing." It binds men
together,
2013-3-1 85
? But if religion,the great binding force,is
on its deathbed,how then can the malady
of modern society,its tendency to
disintegrate,be upheld? Here Durkheim
accomplished one of his most daring
analytical leaps,Religion,he argued,is not
only a social creation,but it is in fact
society divinized,stated that
2013-3-1 86
? Religion is eminently social,it occurs in a
social context,and,more importantly,
when men celebrate sacred things,they
unwittingly celebrate the power of their
society,This power so transcends their
own existence that they have to give it
sacred significance in order to visualize it,
2013-3-1 87
? If religion in its essence is a
transcendental representation of the
powers of society,then,Durkheim
argued,the disappearance of
traditional religion need not herald the
dissolution of society,
2013-3-1 88
? All that is required is for modern men now to
realize directly that dependence on society which
before they had recognized only through the
medium of religious representations,
? "We must discover the rational substitutes for
these religious notions that for a long time have
served as the vehicle for the most essential moral
ideas."
2013-3-1 89
Chapter Four Max Weber (1864-
1920)
? The Person,
? Max Weber was born on April 21,
1864,Germany,He went to the
University of Heidelberg at eighteen
and studied law,In the fall of 1884,his
military service over,Weber returned
to his parents' home to study at the
University of Berlin,
2013-3-1 90
? For the next eight years of his life,Weber
stayed at his parents' house,first as a
student,later as a junior barrister in Berlin
courts,and finally as a lecture at the
University of Berlin,
2013-3-1 91
? A Summary of Ideas
? Introduction
? Max Weber conceived of sociology as a
comprehensive science of social action which,
Weber said,was the subject matter of sociology,
In his analytical focus on individual human actors,
he differed from many of his predecessors whose
sociology was conceived in social-structural
terms,
2013-3-1 92
? Spencer concentrated on the evolution of
the body social as analogous to an
organism.,
? Durkheim's central concern was with
institutional arrangements that maintain the
cohesion of social structures,
2013-3-1 93
? In contrast,Weber's primary focus was on
the subjective meanings that human actors
attach to their actions in their mutual
orientations within specific social-
historical contexts,Behavior devoid of
such meaning,Weber argued,falls outside
the purview of sociology,
2013-3-1 94
? Interpretative sociology considers the
individual and his action as the basic unit,
as its "atom." Such concepts as "state,"
"association," "feudalism," and the like,
designate certain categories of human
interaction,Hence it is the task of
sociology to reduce these concepts to
"understandable" action,that is without
exception,to the actions of participating
individual men,
2013-3-1 95
? Weber's definition of sociology as "that
science which aims at the interpretative
understanding (Verstehen) of social
behavior in order to gain an explanation of
its causes,its course,and it effects."
2013-3-1 96
? The Ideal Type
? Weber developed a key conceptual tool which
called the ideal type,Weber argued that no
scientific system is ever capable of reproducing
all concrete reality,nor can any conceptual
apparatus ever do full justice to the infinite
diversity of particular phenomena,All science
involves selection as well as abstraction,
2013-3-1 97
? Yet the social scientist can easily be caught
in a dilemma when he chooses his
conceptual apparatus,When his concepts
are very general--as when he attempts to
explain capitalism or Protestantism by
subsuming them under the general
concepts of economics or religion--he is
likely to leave out what is most distinctive
to them,
2013-3-1 98
? When,on the other hand,he uses the
traditional conceptualizations of the
historian and particularizes the
phenomenon under discussion,he allows
no room for comparison with related
phenomena,The notion of the ideal type
was meant to provide escape from this
dilemma,
2013-3-1 99
? An ideal type is an analytical construct that
serves the investigator as a measuring rod
to ascertain similarities as well as
deviations in concrete cases,It provides the
basic method for comparative study,An
ideal type never corresponds to concrete
reality but always moves at least one step
away from it,
2013-3-1 100
? It is constructed out of certain elements of
reality and forms a logically precise and
coherent whole,which can never be found
as such in that reality,There has never
been a full empirical embodiment of the
Protestant Ethic,of the "charismatic
leader," or of the "exemplary prophet."
2013-3-1 101
? Weber's two kinds of ideal types are
distinguished by their levels of abstraction,
First are the ideal types rooted in historical
particularities,such as the "western city,"
"the Protestant Ethic," or "modern
capitalism," which refer to phenomena that
appear only in specific historical periods
and in particular cultural areas,
,
2013-3-1 102
? A second kind involves abstract elements
of social reality--such concepts as
"bureaucracy" or "feudalism"--that may be
found in a variety of historical and cultural
contexts,
2013-3-1 103
? Rationality,Rationalization and Modernity
? Modernity is a type,mode,or stage of society,
initially abstracted from the recent history of
West European countries from the Renaissance to
the rise of mass media,globalization and
departure from tradition and religion to
individualism,rational or scientific organization
of society,and egalitarianism,
2013-3-1 104
? A society in the state of modernity is called a
modern society,The process of a society
becoming a modern society is called
modernization,Weber pointed that rationality
was the most important characteristics of modern
society and rationalization was the essential logic
in modernization,Rationality expresses on
painting,music,architecture,organization,
institution,etc in modern society,
2013-3-1 105
? Weber stressed that in the modern society,
Man has rationalized and made calculable
and predictable what in an earlier age had
seemed governed by chance,but also by
feeling,passion,and commitment,by
personal appeal and personal fealty,by
grace and by the ethics of charismatic
heroes,
2013-3-1 106
? Natural Science and Social Science; Value
Relevance and Value Neutrality
? Weber rejected both the positivist contention that
the cognitive aims of the natural and the social
sciences were basically the same and the
opposing German historicist doctrine which says
that it is impossible to make legitimate
generalizations because human actions are not
subject to the regularities that govern the world
of nature,
2013-3-1 107
? Against the historicists,Weber argued that
the method of science,whether its subject
matter be things or men,always proceeds
by abstraction and generalization,Against
the positivists,he took the stand that man,
in contrast to things,could be understood
not only in external manifestations,that is,
in behavior,but also in the underlying
motivations,
2013-3-1 108
? And against both these approaches Weber
emphasized the value-bound problem,
choices of the investigator and the value-
neutral methods of social research,What
distinguishes the natural and social is not
an inherent difference in methods of
investigation,but rather the differing
interests and aims of the scientists,
2013-3-1 109
? The natural scientist is primarily interested
in those aspects of natural events that can
be formulated in terms of abstract laws,
While the social scientist may wish to
search for such lawful abstract
generalizations in human behavior,he is
also interested in particular qualities of
human actors and in the meaning they
ascribe to their actions,
2013-3-1 110
? What particular problem attracts a scholar,
and what level of explanation is sought,
depends,Weber argues,on the values and
interests of the investigator,The choice of
problems is always "value relevant."
2013-3-1 111
? "There is no absolutely 'objective'
scientific analysis of culture or,,, of
'social phenomena',consciously or
unconsciously--they are selected,analyzed
and organized for expository purposes."
What is considered "worthy to be known"
depends upon the perspective of the
inquiring scholar,
2013-3-1 112
? Weber insisted that a value element
inevitable entered into the selection of the
problem an investigator chooses to attack,
Value relevance must be distinguished
from value-neutrality,since they refer to
two different orders of ideas,
2013-3-1 113
? In the first place,ethical neutrality implies
that once the social scientist had chosen his
problem in terms of its relevance to his
values,he must hold values--his own or
those of others--in abeyance while he
follows the guidelines his data reveal,
2013-3-1 114
? He cannot impose his values on the data and he is
compelled to pursue his line of inquiry whether
or not the results turn out to be inimical to what
he holds dear,Value neutrality,in this first
meaning of the term,refers to the normative
injunction that men of science should be
governed by the ethos of science in their role as
scientists,but emphatically not in their role as
citizens,
2013-3-1 115
? In addition,value neutrality refers no less
importantly to another order of
considerations; the disjunction between the
world of facts and the world of values,
departure the"ought statements" from "is
statements." An empirical science,Weber
contended,can never advise anyone what
he should do,
2013-3-1 116
? Four Types of Social Action
? Four major types of social action are
distinguished in Weber's sociology,Men may
engage in purposeful or goal-oriented rational
action ; their rational action may be value-
oriented ; they may act from emotional or
affective motivations; or,finally,they may
engage in traditional action,
2013-3-1 117
? Purposeful rationality,in which both goal and
means are rationally chosen,
? Value-oriented rationality is characterized by
striving for an ultimate goal,which in itself may
not be ration--say,the attainment of salvation--
but which is nonetheless pursued with rational
means--for example,ascetic self-denial in the
pursuit of holiness,
2013-3-1 118
? Affective action is anchored in the
emotional state of the actor rather than in
the rational weighing of means and ends
? Finally,traditional action is by customary
habits of thought,by reliance on "the
eternal yesterday;"
2013-3-1 119
? Weber was primarily concerned with
modern Western society,in which,as he
saw it,behavior had come to be dominated
increasingly by goal-oriented rationality,
whereas in earlier periods it tended to be
motivated by tradition,affect,or value-
oriented rationality,
2013-3-1 120
? Max Weber's key question is which social
factors have brought about the rationalization of
Western civilization,In modern society,Weber
argued,whether in the sphere of politics or
economics,in the realm of the law and even in
interpersonal relationships,the efficient
application of means to ends has become
predominant and has replaced other springs of
social action,
2013-3-1 121
? Max Weber's key question is which social factors
have brought about the rationalization of Western
civilization,In modern society,Weber argued,
whether in the sphere of politics or economics,in
the realm of the law and even in interpersonal
relationships,the efficient application of means
to ends has become predominant and has
replaced other springs of social action,
2013-3-1 122
? Types of Authority
? Weber's discussion of authority relations--
why men claim authority,and feel they
have a legitimate right to expect willing
obedience to their command--illustrates his
use of the ideal type as an analytical tool
and his classification of types of social
action,
2013-3-1 123
? Weber distinguished three main modes of
claiming legitimacy,Authority may be
based on rational grounds and anchored in
impersonal rules that have been legally
enacted or contractually established,This
type is rational-legal authority,
2013-3-1 124
? Traditional authority,on the other hand,
which predominates in pre-modern
societies,is based on belief in the sanctity
of tradition,It is not codified in impersonal
rules but inheres in particular persons who
may either inherit it or be invested with it
by a higher authority,
2013-3-1 125
? Charismatic authority,finally,rests on the
appeal of leaders who claim allegiance
because of their extraordinary virtuosity,
whether ethical,heroic,or religious,
2013-3-1 126
? Characteristics of Bureaucracy
? 1,There is the principle of fixed and
official jurisdictional areas,which are
generally ordered by rules,that is,by laws
or administrative regulations,
2013-3-1 127
? 2,The principles of office hierarchy and of
levels of graded authority mean a firmly
ordered system of super- and subordination
in which there is a supervision of the lower
offices by the higher ones,
2013-3-1 128
? 3,The management of the modern office is
based upon written documents ('the files'),
which are preserved in their original or
draught form,
? 4,Office management,at least all
specialized office management-- and such
management is distinctly modern--usually
presupposes a thorough and expert training,
2013-3-1 129
? 5,When the office is fully developed,
official activity demands the full working
capacity of the official,irrespective of the
fact that his obligatory time in the bureau
may be firmly delimited,
2013-3-1 130
? 6,The management of the office follows
general rules,which are more or less stable,
more or less exhaustive,and which can be
learned,Knowledge of these rules
represents a special technical learning
which the officials possess,
2013-3-1 131
Chapter Five,G.H.Mead
（ 1863—1931)
? The person
? George Herbert Mead was born at South Hadley,
Massachusetts,on February 27,1863,In 1883
Mead graduated from Oberlin.In 1887 he entered
into Harvard university to pursue further study
in philosophy,After the year at Harvard,Mead
decided to go to Germany for advanced studies in
philosophy,
2013-3-1 132
? In1893,Mead accepted John Dewey's
invitation to join him at the new university
of Chicago,Mead stayed at the university
until his death on April 26,1931.Mind,self,
and Society was posthumously published
in 1934 which was Mead’s lectures,
2013-3-1 133
? Mead is regarded as one of the founding
numbers of pragmatic school and the father
of symbolic interactionism,Mead,as a
pioneering philosopher of social
psychology,was in further developing the
view that individuals are products of
society,
2013-3-1 134
? The Academic Background
? 1,Utilitarianism
? 2 Darwinism
? 3,Behaviorism and Individual-orientated
methodology
? 4,Pragmatism
2013-3-1 135
? Pragmatism is a school of philosophy
originating in United States in the late 1800s,
Pragmatism is characterized by the insistence on
consequences,utility and practicality as vital
components of truth,Pragmatism objects to the
view that human concepts and intellect alone
accurately represent reality,and therefore stands
in opposition to both formalist and rationalist
schools of philosophy,
2013-3-1 136
? Symbolic Interactionism
? Symbolic interactionism is a sociological
perspective which examines how
individuals and groups interact,focusing
on the creation of personal identity through
interaction with others,Of particular
interest is the relationship between
individual action and group pressures,
2013-3-1 137
? This perspective examines the idea that
subjective meanings are socially
constructed,and that these subjective
meanings interrelate with objective actions
2013-3-1 138
? The Self in Society
? Social psychology for Mead is the
discipline that "studies the activity or
behavior of the individual as it lies within
the social process,The behavior of an
individual can be understood only in terms
of the behavior of the whole social group
of which he is a member,since his
individual acts are involved in larger,
social acts which go beyond himself”,
2013-3-1 139
? While earlier social psychology had dealt
with social experience from the individual
psychological standpoint,Mead suggested
that individual experience be dealt with
"from the standpoint of society,at least
from the standpoint of communication as
essential to the social order."
2013-3-1 140
? Mead argued that there can be no self apart
from society,Society must be understood
as a structure that emerges through an
ongoing process of communicative social
acts,
2013-3-1 141
? Mead saw in gesture the key mechanism
through which social acts are effected,But
he sharply separates nonsignificant (unself-
conscious) gestures,as found on the animal
level,from the significant (self-conscious)
gestures that characterize most human
intercourse,
2013-3-1 142
? On the animal level,gesture involves an
immediate response to a stimulus,
? In contrast,at the human level of
communication,significant gestures come
into play,
2013-3-1 143
? These rest upon "an arousal in the
individual himself of the response which
he is calling out in the other individual,a
taking of the role of the other,a tendency
to act as the other person acts."
2013-3-1 144
? Significant gestures are based on linguistic
symbols carrying a content that is more or
less the same for different individuals and
hence meaning the same thing to them all,
2013-3-1 145
? Human thought arises when there are
"symbols,vocal gestures generally,which
arouse in the individual himself the
response which he is calling out in the
other,and such that from the point of view
of that response he is able to direct his later
conduct."
2013-3-1 146
? Significant gestures involving the use of
symbols always presuppose the ability of
each participant in a communicative
process to visualize his own performance
from the standpoint of the others,to take
the role of the others,
2013-3-1 147
? In nonsymbolic interaction human beings,
like animals,respond directly to one
another,In symbolic interaction,where
they use significant gestures,they interpret
each other's attitudes and act on the basis
of the meaning yielded by such
interpretations,
2013-3-1 148
? Human communicative processes involve
the constant self-conscious adjustment of
actors to the conduct of others,a repeated
fitting together of lines of action through
definitions and redefinitions,
interpretations and reinterpretations,
2013-3-1 149
? The Genesis of the Self
? Among Mead's most notable achievements
is his account of the genesis of
consciousness and of the self through the
gradually developing ability in child- hood
to take the role of the other and to visualize
his own performance from the point of
view of others,
2013-3-1 150
? In this view,human communication
becomes possible only when "the symbol
[arouses] in one's self what it arouses in the
other individual." Very young children do
not yet have the ability to use significant
symbols; therefore,when they are at play,
their behavior in many ways is similar to
that of puppies playing with each other,
2013-3-1 151
? As children grow older,however,they
gradually learn to take the role of others
through play,"A child plays at being a
mother,at being a teacher,at being a
policeman; that is,it is taking different
roles."
2013-3-1 152
? A crucial landmark in the child's social
development is made when,in showing a
picture to someone facing him,he will turn
the picture away from himself rather than,
as he did up to then,hold it toward himself
in the belief that his partner can see only
what he himself sees,
2013-3-1 153
? Child play at the level of simple role-
taking (play stage) is the first stage in the
gradual transformation from simple
conversations of gestures--a child's running
away when chased--to the mature ability to
use significant symbols in interaction with
many others,
2013-3-1 154
? Although he has learned to put himself,in
imagination,in the position of his partner,
the child still does not relate in his mind
the roles that several others play with one
another outside himself,Thus,he can
under- stand the relation of mother or
father with himself,but he cannot
understand that his own mother is not his
father's mother also,
2013-3-1 155
? This breakthrough in his conceptualization
comes with his ability to play complex
organized games (game stage),when he
will have in his mind all the roles of other
players and make assessments about their
potential responses to one another,
2013-3-1 156
? such games must be distinguished from
simple games such as hide-and-seek,
which involve only two types of role
partners,In hide-and-seek,"everyone,with
the exception of the one who is hiding,is a
person who is hunting,A child does not
require more than the person who is hunted
and the one who is hunting."
2013-3-1 157
? But in a game in which a number of
individuals playing different roles are
involved,in baseball for example,"the
child taking one role must be ready to take
the role of everyone else."
2013-3-1 158
? The fundamental difference between the
[complex] game and the play is that in the
former the child must have the attitude of
all the others involved in that game,The
attitudes of the other players which the
participant assumes organize into a sort of
unit,and it is that organization which
controls the response of the individual.,,,
2013-3-1 159
? multiple person games require taking the
role of the "generalized other“,that is,each
player's having an idea of the behavior of
every other player toward each other and
toward himself,With the help of the rules
that govern the game,the child develops
the ability to take the place of all the other
players and to determine their responses,
2013-3-1 160
? These "rules are the set of responses which
a particular attitude calls out.'' The final
stage in the maturation process of the child,
Mead argues,occurs when the individual
takes the role of the "generalized other"--
the attitude of the whole community,
2013-3-1 161
? "Only insofar as he takes the attitudes of
the organized social group to which he
belongs towards the organized,cooperative
social activity or set of such activities in
which that group as such is engaged,does
he develop a complete self."
2013-3-1 162
? Hence,the mature self arises when a "gen-
eralized other" is internalized so that "the
community exercises control over the
conduct of its individual members."
2013-3-1 163
? The essence of the self,according to Mead,
is its reflexivity,The individual self is
individual only because of its relation to
others,Through the individual's ability to
take in his imagination the attitudes of
others,his self becomes an object of his
own reflection,The self as both subject and
object is the essence of being social,
2013-3-1 164
? The peculiar individuality of each self is a
result of the peculiar combination,never
the same for two people,of the attitude of
others that form the generalized other,
Hence,although individuality is rooted in
sociality,each person makes an individual
contribution to the social process,
2013-3-1 165
? The "I" and the "Me,
? Both "I" and "me" necessarily relate to
social experience,But the "I" is "the
response of the organism to the attitudes of
the others; the "me" is the organized set of
attitudes of others which one assumes,
2013-3-1 166
? The attitudes of the others constitute the
organized 'me,' and then one reacts toward
that as an 'I'." As a "me" the person is
aware of himself as an object,He reacts or
responds to himself in terms of the
attitudes others have toward him,His self-
appraisal is the result of what he assumes
to be the appraisal by others,
2013-3-1 167
? The "me" is the self as conceived and
apprehended in terms of the point of view
of significant others and of the community
at large,It reflects the laws and the mores,
the organized codes and expectations of the
community,
2013-3-1 168
? The "I," in contradistinction,is "the answer
which the individual makes to the attitude
which others take toward him when he
assumes an attitude toward them,,, it
gives the sense of freedom,of initiative."
2013-3-1 169
? What appears in consciousness is always
the self as an object,as a "me," but the
"me" is not conceivable without an "I" as a
unique subject for which the "me" can be
an object,
2013-3-1 170
? The "I" and the "me" are not identical,for
the "I" "is something that is never entirely
calculable,,, it is always something
different from what the situation itself calls
for,
2013-3-1 171
? The growing child who assumes these
roles thereby cultivates in himself the
ability to put himself in the place of others
who are significant to him,As he matures,
he will not only be able to take these roles
by acting them out; but he will conceive of
them by assuming them in his imagination,
2013-3-1 172
Chapter Six,Talcott Parsons
(1902—1979)
? An Introduction to Parsons
? Parson (Dec 13,1902,Colorado,USA—
May 8,1979,Munich Germany) was the
best-known sociologist in USA and one of
the best known in the world for many years,
? His work was enormously influential
through the 1950s and well into the 1960s,
2013-3-1 173
but it fell gradually out of favour from that
time on,His major work was a general
theoretical system for the analysis of
society,this came to be called structural
functionalism which was constituted by his
major publications,
2013-3-1 174
? The Structure of Social Action (1937)
? The Social System (1952)
? Structures and Process in the Modern
Societies(1960)
? Sociological Theory and Modern
Society(1968)
? Politics and Social Structure(1969)
2013-3-1 175
? Parsons was an advocate of "grand theory,"
an attempt to integrate all the social
sciences into a whole theoretical
framework,His early work (The Structure
of Social Action) reviewed the output of his
great predecessors,especially Weber,
Pareto and Durkeim,
2013-3-1 176
? He attempted to derive from them a single
"action theory" based on the assumptions that
human action is voluntary,intentional,and
symbolic,Parsons is also well known for his idea
that every group or society tends to fulfill four
"functional imperatives." which are
adaptation,goal attainment,integration and
latency,We call it AGIL paradigm
2013-3-1 177
? Parson’s most important contributions to
sociology theory were the formulations of
pattern variables,AGIL paradigm and the
unit act,
2013-3-1 178
? The Unit Act
? The difination of unit act
? An unit act includes ; actor,end,
situation(controled and uncontroled) and
normative orientation,
2013-3-1 179
? The motivation,cultural pattern and
mode of unit act
? 3 motivational orientation,cognitive
interest; cathectic interest and evaluative
? Interest,
2013-3-1 180
? 3 cultural pattern
? 1) systems of cognitive ideas or bliefs; 2) systems
of adjustive patterns or expressive symbols; 3)
systens of integratives pattern or value-
orientation standard,
? 3 modes of unit act
Instrumental act,expressive act and moral act
2013-3-1 181
? Pattern Variables
? Parsons asserted that there were two
dimensions to societies,instrumental and
expressive,By this he meant that there are
qualitative differences between kinds of
social interaction,
2013-3-1 182
? Essentially,he observed that people can
have personalized and formally detached
relationships based on the roles that they
play,The characteristics that were
associated with each kind of interaction he
called the pattern variables,as illustrated
on the following chart,
2013-3-1 183
Dimension
Expressive Instrumental
Statues
indentitty
Ascription Achievement
Functions
of relations
Diffuse-many
functions
Specific
functions
Interaction
style
Particular-
actors,situations
Universal-
norms,values
Quality of
relations
Affective Affective
neutrality
2013-3-1 184
1,Ascription
Status is largely ascribed (that is "given" to you
by others),In basic terms,individual status is
determined by the type of family into which you
are born,
Achievement
Status in society is achieved through the things
you do (your personal merits),rather than simply
being ascribed,
2013-3-1 185
? 2 Diffuseness
? People develop relationships that satisfy a
large range of needs,
For example,a mother - child relationship
satisfies a range of sociological and
psychological needs,
2013-3-1 186
Specificity
? People enter into a wide range of
relationships,each of which satisfies a
specific need,
For example,the relationship between a
shop assistant and a customer is structured
to fulfil a particular need,
2013-3-1 187
? 3.Particularism
? People act differently towards particular
people,based on the nature of their
relationship,
For example,you may trust your
immediate family,but not a stranger,
2013-3-1 188
? Universalism
? Individuals act according to values and
norms that are "universal" in their society,
For example,the universal value that all
are equal in the eyes of the law,
2013-3-1 189
? 4,Affectivity
? Relationships between people are largely
affective (based on love,trust,close
personal involvement and so forth),rather
than instrumental (impersonal relationships
based on what people can do for us in any
given situation),
2013-3-1 190
? Affective neutrality (Instrumental)
? Relationships are largely based on what
people can do for us in particular situations
(and what we can do for them),
2013-3-1 191
? 5.Collective Orientation
? People put the interests of the social groups
to which they belong before their personal
interests,
Self Orientation
People give primacy to the pursuit of their
own interests,rather than those of the
group or groups to which they belong,
2013-3-1 192
? General Action System
? Parsons argues that each of us is an actor
playing a role within a system of
relationships,He analyses the real
(concrete) system we are in into social
system,cultural system and our own
personality system,
2013-3-1 193
? A society survives which has to fulfill the
social needs,
? A general Action System
?
Social Intergraion
Cultural＊ Latency (Pattern
Maintenance)
Personality＊ Goal Attainment
Behavioral
Organism＊
Adaptation
2013-3-1 194
? Four,functional imperatives”,The first of
these is adaptation,adaptation to the
physical and social environment,The
second is goal attainment,which is the
need to define primary goals and enlist
individuals to strive to attain these goals,
2013-3-1 195
? The third is integration,the coordination of
the society or group as a cohesive whole,
The last is latency,maintaining the
motivation of individuals to perform their
roles according to social expectations
2013-3-1 196
? Structural Functionalism
? Functionalism,or rather functional analysis,
is a technique that originally attempted to
explain social institutions as collective
means to fill individual biological needs;
later it came to focus on the ways social
institutions fill social needs,especially
social solidarity,Functionalism is
associated with Durkheim and more with
Parsons,
2013-3-1 197
Functionalists argue that social institutions
are functionally integrated to form a stable
system,and a change in one institution will
precipitate a change in other institutions;
expressed by Durkheim and others as a
organic analogy,Originating as an
alternative to historical explanations,
functionalism was one of the first twentieth
century anthropological theories,
2013-3-1 198
? Structural-functionalism takes the view
that society consists of parts (e.g,polices,
hospitals,schools and farms),),each of
which has its own function,),each of
which has its own function,
2013-3-1 199
? Prior to social movements in the 1960’s,
functionalism was the dominant view in
sociological thinking,In the 1960s
functionalism was criticized for being
unable to account for social change and
conflict,
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? In 1960’s conflict theory challenged the
current society,which functionalist theory
defended,Functionalist theory contends
that conflict is harmful to the society,and
therefore tends to be the prominent view
among the conservative thinkers
?
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? In 1980’s,the most prominent attempt to
revive Parsonian thinking,under the rubric
"neofunctionalism," has been made by the
sociologist Jeffrey Alexander,now at Yale
University,
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? Jeffrey Alexander see functionalism as a
broad school rather than a specific method
or system,such as Parson's,which is
capable of taking equilibrium (stability) as
a reference-point rather than assumption
and treats structural differentiation as a
major form of social change,"
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Chapter Seven,
Robert.K.Merton(1910—2003)
Person,
American sociologist,born in Philadelphia,
Graduated from Temple Univ,(A.B.,1931)
and Harvard (M.A.,1932; Ph.D.,1936),
From 1941 on he was a professor of
sociology at Columbia Univ,and was
especially known for his contributions to
the study of social structure,bureaucracy,
mass communications,and the sociology of
science,Merton developed such concepts as
the,self-fulfilling prophecy,”,role
model,”,reference group,“deviant behavior,”
and focus groups,
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? Publications
? Social Theory and Social Structure (1949),
The Sociology of Science (1973),
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? 1.Merton’s criticism to structure-function
theory,
2.Modification of Three Traditional
functionism’s hypotheses
? 3,Main Concepts of Function Analysis
?
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? 3.1,Manifest Function and Latent
Function
? As functionalist,he distinguished between
manifest functions,referring to those
objective consequences for a specific unit
(person,subgroup,social or cultural
system) which contribute to its adjustment
or adaptation and were so intended,
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? Latent functions,which are unintended or
not obviously recognized results of social
processes in Social Theory and Social
Structure
? 3.2,Positive Functions and Dysfunctions
? 3.3,Functional Alternatives
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? Functional alternative ( functional
substitute) indicates that,"just as the same
item may have multiple functions,so may
the same function be diversely fulfilled by
alternative items." The concept may serve
as an antidote to "the gratuitous
assumption of the functional
indispensability of particular social
structures."
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? 4,Merton’s Empirical Research
? 4.1 Non-conforming and Deviant
Behavior
? 4.2 The theory of reference groups
? The role-set and status-set and the role
models people select not only for
emulation but also as a source of values
adopted as a basis for self-appraisal
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Chapter Eight,Lewis Alfred
Coser
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? 1,An Brief introduction to Coser
? 2,The Function of Social Conflict
? 2.1,The Functions of Internal Social
Conflicts
? 2.2,The Function of External Confliction
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? 3,Safety—Valve
Social institutions which provide substitute
objects upon which to displace hostile
sentiments as well as means of abreaction
of aggressive tendencies,
?
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? Safety-valve institutions may serve to
maintain both the social structure and the
individual’s security system,but they are
incompletely functional for both of them,
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? 孔德, 论
实证主义精神,
? 迪尔凯姆
,自杀论,
,社会学方法的准则（规则）,
?马克思 ·韦伯
,新教伦理与资本主义精神,
,社会科学方法论,
? 罗伯特 ·墨顿
,论理论社会学,
Reference books
2013-3-1 215
? 查尔斯 ·米尔斯
,社会学的想象力,
? 彼得 ·布劳, 社会生
活中的权力与交换,
? 乔治 ·米德, 心
灵、自我与社会,
? 吉登斯, 现代
性与自我认同,
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