Chapter 4 Society

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Chapter 4 Society
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Society

• Terms
• Society people who interact within a defined
  territory who share a common culture.
• Status a social identity (ex mother, student,
  girlfriend, athlete, etc)
• Ascribed status a social identity that is beyond
  the control of an individual, such as the race,
  sex, age aspects of our identity.
• Achieved status a status that an individual has
  control over or that we choose to acquire, such
  as that of being a college student.
• Group collection of individuals who share
  expectations about each others behavior.
• Primary group small, intimate, emotional,
  lasting (ex family, friends).
• Secondary group formal, impersonal,
  task-oriented (ex a committee or a large scale
  bureaucracy).

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Four examinations of society

• 1. Gerhard Lenski society and technology.
• Focus societal changes due to technological
  development.
• 2. Karl Marx society and social conflict.
• Focus inequality and the unequal distribution of
  material goods.
• 3. Max Weber society and rationalization.
• Focus effects of modern bureaucracy.
• 4. Emile Durkheim society and function.
• Focus changing patterns of social solidarity.

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1. Gerhard Lenski

• Sociocultural evolution the process of change
  resulting from new technologies.
• Lenski examines how societies change as their
  technologies improve.
• Societies with simple technologies can only
  support a small population therefore their way
  of life is relatively simple.
• Societies with complex technologies can support
  large populations therefore their way of life
  is more diverse, complex, and ever-changing.

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Five Basic Types of Societies (Lenski)

• 1. Hunting and Gathering
• 2. Horticultural and pastoral
• 3. Agrarian
• 4. Industrial
• 5. Post-industrial

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Hunting and Gathering Societies

• Use of simple tools to hunt animals and gather
  vegetation.
• Simple weapons spear, arrow, stone knife.
• Emerged about 3 million years ago. They were the
  dominant type of society until 12,000 years ago.
  Today, only a few remain (ex Pygmies).
• They spend most of the day trying to find food
  unless the environment is lush, whereupon they
  have lots of leisure time.
• Frequently nomadic. They rarely form permanent
  settlements.
• Small in size. Typically 25-40 people per
  village.
• Few statuses gender and age statuses, shaman,
  warrior/hunter.
• Where women gather or have productive economic
  roles, they are equal to men. Indeed, all members
  are relatively equal to each other.
• Very unstable due to natural forces and foreign
  invaders.

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Horticultural and Pastoral Societies

• Horticultural farmers who use hand tools like a
  hoe and plant seeds.
• Settlements emerged, but they were not that
  permanent.
• Pastoral domesticated animals.
• Typically nomadic.
• Emerged 12,000 years ago.
• More material surplus brought a more complex
  society
• Allowed village size to increase to the hundreds,
  or more.
• Allowed new statuses to emerge.
• With more statuses, a bit more inequality and
  conflict.

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Agrarian Societies

• Large-scale cultivation using animal-drawn plows,
  perfection of the wheel, etc.
• Emerged about 5000 years ago.
• Large amount of surplus resources allowed
• First permanent settlements cities.
• Now, as much as 30 of the population could be
  urban while most of the rest are farmers and
  small town tradespeople.
• Greater specialization of statuses many more
  social identities available. Institutions are
  increasingly differentiated.
• Empires emerged to spread their influence across
  the globe.
• Extreme inequality, with lots of slavery, as
  monarchies emerged.

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Industrial Societies

• These societies produce goods using advanced
  sources of energy to drive large machinery.
• The steam engine revolutionized production,
  followed by complex-fuel engines.
• Began about 1750 industrial technology gave
  people great power over the environment, stirring
  rapid social changes.
• Rise of industrial factories shifted life away
  from family.
• Increased bureaucracy altered social life.
• Highly differentiated institutions.
• Very specialized statuses.
• Allowed massive urbanization, with up to 70 of
  the population becoming urban (but loss of
  self-sufficiency).
• Lots of mobility (but loss of small town
  community).
• Greater access to knowledge with a slight
  decrease in inequality.
• Massive problems too pollution, alienation,
  overcrowding, etc.

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Post-Industrial Societies

• Post-industrial societies are essentially
  industrial societies that have moved toward
  computers.
• A post-industrial society uses technology that
  supports an information-based economy.
• Computers (and the Internet) allow information to
  be applied better.
• Since the 1950s, blue collar jobs have been
  giving way to white collar jobs.
• The new emphasis is on specialized education in a
  global information network.

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Lenski summary

• As technologies get more complex, societies
  become more complex.
• Larger populations
• More urban
• More institutional differentiation
• More statuses
• More specialization of statuses
• More globalization
• More knowledge
• More rapid change
• More potential to reduce inequality (with indus.
  Societies)
• More complex social problems

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2. Karl Marx Society and Conflict

• Marxs basic point Inequality leads to
  oppression of the have-nots by the haves, and
  this is morally wrong.
• The solution is to bring about equality by
  revolution if necessary in order to achieve a
  fair and just society.

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Karl Marx

• Marx was concerned about the growing inequality
  that characterized newly industrial societies.
• The factory brought concentrated private power in
  the hands of the few under capitalism.
• Social conflict arises when different segments of
  society compete over valued resources.
• The most significant resources are economic the
  material goods that a society produces.
• Hence, Marx focused mostly on industrial
  factories.
• Those who owned factories were a tiny group that
  Marx called bourgeoisie capitalists.
• Their goal was private profit at the expense of
  the public interest, said Marx.

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Karl Marx

• The owners of the factories were bourgeoisie
  capitalists. But most people did not own
  factories they worked in them. Marx called
  these industrial workers the proletariat.
• The capitalists (the haves) oppressed the
  proletariat (the have-nots), creating tensions
  and conflicts in an unjust economic system that
  exploited workers while creating huge profits for
  the capitalists.

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Marx economic determinist

• To Marx, those who owned the factories the
  economic sector - also had the power to shape the
  policies of government, schools, religion, and
  other key social institutions.
• Thus, each social institution reinforced the
  control of society by the economic sector the
  wealthy capitalists.
• Example Marx argued that religion was the opiate
  of the masses because the Church reinforced a
  message of obedience to authority (capitalists).
• In other words, the Church promoted false
  consciousness.

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False Consciousness

• When an oppressed group accepts the dominant
  ideology of their oppressor, they are in a state
  of false consciousness.
• Rather than blame the economic system, problems
  are linked to the shortcomings of individuals
  themselves, to fate or God - anything BUT the
  economic system of industrial capitalism.
• The result is that the validity of the economic
  system is not challenged.
• False consciousness is promoted by capitalists
  and the institutions they influence.

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Class consciousness

• As long as the oppressed are in a state of false
  consciousness they will not challenge or change
  the system that oppresses them. For change to
  occur, the oppressed must develop a sense of
  class consciousness.
• Class consciousness refers to a sense that the
  system itself has oppressed the have-nots, not
  their so-called individual deficiencies, or fate,
  or God.
• When the have-nots have class consciousness they
  get angry at the system and challenge its
  validity.
• They become aware that they, as members of an
  oppressed group, are held down by the capitalist
  elite.

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Karl Marx

• At the heart of Marxs ideas is the notion of
  social class. Industrial capitalism breeds two
  basic social classes bourgeoisie capitalists
  versus the proletariat.
• Capitalists the few, the owners, the
  order-givers, the source of dominant ideologies
  that promote false consciousness.
• Proletariat the many, the workers, the
  order-takers, the victims of false consciousness.
  
• As long as they are in a state of false
  consciousness, they are passive and obedient to
  the wealthy capitalists.
• But if they acquire class consciousness, they
  will rise up and take action to overthrow their
  oppressors and establish a more egalitarian
  system.

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Karl Marxs ideal system

• Marx sought the overthrow of capitalism, to be
  replaced by democratic socialism (what Marx
  called communism but do not confuse this with
  Lenin or Stalins authoritarian communism).
• In democratic socialism, workers themselves would
  jointly own the factory, and all profits would be
  equally shared among the workers.
• Decisions would be democratically arrived at by
  workers voting for various workplace policies.
• Marx valued equality with democracy, and felt all
  factories should be held to these high standards.
• He argued that early hunting and gathering
  societies practiced something close to communism.

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Capitalism and Alienation

• Alienation refers to a sense of powerlessness.
• Marx argued that jobs in capitalist factories
  became de-humanized and workers felt little
  satisfaction with their labor.
• There are four ways that capitalism alienates
• 1. From the act of working being denied a
  voice.
• 2. From the products of work they dont belong
  to workers.
• 3. From other workers workers are made to
  compete with against each other.
• 4. From humanity alienated from reaching their
  human potential because work is no longer
  fulfilling.

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Capitalism Adam Smith v Karl Marx

• Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations, 1776
• Advocated competition for private profit in a
  free market. It serves the public interest via
  innovation and invention.
• Smith presumed a free market - a level playing
  field - with lots of competition. He did not
  support the oligopoly-style corporate capitalism
  that is so common today.
• Karl Marx Das Kapital, 1847
• Critical of capitalism and its emphasis on
  self-interested private profit because it
  promotes personal greed at the expense of the
  public interest.
• Industrial capitalism led to exploitation of the
  working class out of the self interest of the
  rich, and the resulting economic inequality is
  unjust and harmful to society.

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Max Weber the Rationalization of Society

• While Marx was interested in how the economic
  system influences society, Weber was interested
  in how modern society affects our minds. He was
  specifically interested in the increased
  rationality of modern life.
• Rationality logical systematic thinking to
  achieve efficient behavior. Instrumental (task
  oriented) behavior is emphasized over expressive
  behavior (aesthetic oriented).
• Rationalization the replacement of traditional
  forms of social interaction, based on
  informality, emotionality, and spontaneity, with
  modern interaction based on formalized rules and
  regulations and the values of efficiency and
  predictability.

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Rationality and Industrial Capitalism

• To Weber, pre-industrial societies emphasize
  tradition and primary-group interaction as the
  basis of everyday life.
• Traditional social interaction is informal,
  spontaneous, and emotionalized. It occurs almost
  entirely among friends and family. It is deep and
  meaningful.
• Industrial societies are different they
  emphasize rationality. Outside of the family,
  social interaction is typically secondary-group
  based, emphasizing deliberate, calculated,
  efficient behaviors designed to accomplish a
  goal.
• School, government, health care, and other
  institutional behaviors are guided by formal
  rules and regulations that encourage efficiency.
• So also does industrial capitalism operate under
  the force of rationality. Work life has become
  rationalized.

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Modern Life is Rationalized

• While rationality has its strengths, Weber argued
  that modern life was becoming overly
  rationalized.
• Modern social interaction is dictated by rules
  and regulations, norms of efficiency, and by
  formal secondary group interaction. This leaves
  little room for human spontaneity or creativity.
• In essence, we are becoming de-humanized by the
  force of rationalization.

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The Roots of Rationality

• Weber argued that industrial capitalism promotes
  rationality out of the desire to maximize
  profits, and this rationality emphasis has spread
  across other institutions.
• To Weber, rationality was rooted in religious
  changes that helped bring about the
  rational-capitalist mindset.
• Calvinism a type of Protestantism that
  emphasizes the doctrine of predestination. John
  Calvin (1509-1564) claimed that God selects some
  people for salvation and others for Hell even
  before birth. How could one know whether God had
  selected them for Heaven or Hell? By whether they
  prospered in this world.
• Calvinists were driven to strive to be
  prosperous. They developed rational discipline
  and a hard work ethic for this reason.

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Capitalism from Calvinism

• Calvinists learned to be thrifty and rational
  and they became the first true capitalists. The
  roots of capitalism are in the pursuit of private
  wealth especially by re-investing profits to
  make even more wealth.
• Calvinists were different from other religions.
  Other religions focused on accepting ones lot on
  this earth and looked for salvation in the
  afterlife. Ones material wealth did not matter.
  To Calvinists, ones material wealth DID matter.
  Hence their drive for material success.

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Weber The Power of Ideas

• The Protestant work ethic (by Calvinists)
  ultimately became ingrained in the larger
  culture.
• Webers study of Calvinism and capitalism
  provides evidence of the power of ideas in
  shaping a society and its institutions.
• Whereas Marx wrote of the power of economic
  forces, Weber wrote of the power of ideas
  (idealism) in shaping society.
• Webers ideas led to great interest in subjective
  reality and in verstehen as a tool to understand
  social interaction.

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How does Rationality Shape Modern Life?

• 1. Institutional differentiation. New
  institutions are more formal and rationalized.
• 2. Specialization. Specialized, formal job
  statuses and roles are highly rational and
  efficient. They are guided by formal rules and
  regulations.
• 3. Impersonality. Much social interaction is
  within secondary groups where personal feelings
  are de-valued.
• 4. Large scale organizations. Increased
  bureaucracy.
• 5. Time is re-conceptualized. Time becomes
  something to be logically measured off,
  systematic and rational.
• 6. Self-discipline. The emphasis on
  self-discipline reflects new values linked to
  rationality and efficiency.
• 7. Technical competence. Emphasis on technical
  competence over personality and character.

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Rationality and Formal Organizations

• A formal organization is a social structure where
  interaction is task-oriented, formalized and
  guided by formal rules and regulations.
• In formal organizations, rights and
  responsibilities are attached to formal statuses
  not to the individual. Any individual is easily
  replaceable.
• The bureaucracy is a large-scale formal
  organization that is hierarchically structured in
  a top-down way. Power is concentrated at the top.

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Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracies are designed to achieve goals
  rationally and efficiently. Each status/role has
  a specialized, formal function.
• The bureaucratic worker is a technocrat. They
  behave impersonally in structured, predictable
  ways in order to maximize efficiency and output.
• Spontaneous, emotionalized behavior is
  discouraged.
• To Weber bureaucracies, while useful, breed
  alienation.

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Rationality and Alienation

• To Marx, alienation is the powerlessness that is
  due to economic forces that cause oppression of
  the have-nots.
• To Weber, alienation is the powerlessness that is
  due to institutions that have been
  over-rationalized and de-humanized, reducing the
  human into being merely a cog in the machine.
• Weber was critical of modern bureaucratic
  societies because the quality of work life,
  school life, and other interaction that has been
  rationalized suffers. Bureaucracies, while highly
  productive, breed alienation.
• Overly-rationalized jobs become assembly-line
  jobs that are dull, routine, boring and
  repetitive. They are McJobs. The human worker
  is trapped in the iron cage of bureaucracy.

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Emile Durkheim Society and Function

• Durkheim is one of the founders of structural
  functionalism.
• To Durkheim, the institutions we create are
  powerful forces that cannot be reduced to the
  micro behavior of individuals. The sum is greater
  than the parts.
• Social facts any part of society that exists
  apart from the individual and therefore may be an
  external influence upon the individual.
• Social norms, values, and institutions operate as
  social facts, and they have functions that help
  preserve the larger social structure.

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Durkheim Anomie

• Society regulates individuals. The individual is
  socialized into existing social facts (beliefs
  and norms) and develops a personality consistent
  with societal expectations.
• When all individuals share the same norms and
  values, society has provided effective moral
  guidance and will operate smoothly.
• However, some forces disrupt this regulatory
  system, like individualism and rapid social
  changes from industrialization.
• When this occurs, levels of anomie increase and
  society provides less moral guidance for people.

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Durkheim Solidarity

• Traditional societies have high levels of
  mechanical solidarity social bonds based on
  shared morals, shared values, shared norms, and
  social likeness.
• Example the mythical town of Andy Griffiths
  Mayberry.
• Modern society, with its individualism and rapid
  changes, leads to a decrease in mechanical
  solidarity. Organic solidarity takes the place of
  mechanical solidarity.
• Organic solidarity social bonds based on
  specialization dependencies. Modern societies
  have a complex division of labor in which
  institutions are differentiated and we become
  specialists who need each other to complete the
  task of living.
• We no longer share common values and morals, but
  we still need each other to survive. Example the
  TV show Scrubs features individuals with
  different value systems, but who are specialists
  who need each other to get the job done.

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Durkheim

• The transformation from mechanical solidarity to
  organic solidarity means that modern societies
  will have higher crime and anomie levels and will
  struggle with the absence of consensus.
• However, they will be highly productive and will
  learn to tolerate value differences in this age
  of specialization and institutional
  differentiation.

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End of Chapter 4