Title: THE DESTINY OF SOCIETY: Sociologies of Hope and Hopelessness
1THE DESTINY OF SOCIETY Sociologies of Hope and
Hopelessness
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING IN SOCIOLOGY
2Contents of Presentation
- 1. Introduction
- Social Darwinism and Societal Transformation
- Central Question and Main Theory
- Assumption, Paradigm Shift, and Agenda of Main
Theory - 2. Typologies of Evolutionary Theorizing
- Classical
- Neo-evolutionary
- 3. Classical Evolutionary Theorists
- 4. Neo-evolutionary Theorists
- 5. Darwins Nightmares
3IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN
- http//www.youtube.com/watch?vnLvszWBf6BQ
4 5INTRODUCTIONSocial Darwinism
- Evolutionary selection is the organizing force of
not only the natural world but also the social
world. - According to Herbert Spencer, since all
creatures adapt biologically to their
environments, it is both useless and cruel to try
to civilize the natives in colonies or to allow
criminals and mentally defective persons to
produce their inevitably defective children (
Collins and Makowsky 2005, p. 81).
6- EVOLUTIONARY SELECTION (x)
x
Y
Transformation of the Social World
7INTRODUCTIONSocietal Transformation
- Evolutionary theories of sociology provide a
stimulating overview of how societies transform
by identifying - 1. the major and far-reaching differences
between our reality and that of our ancestors. - 2. the processes of the transformation
- 3. the directions and impact of the
transformation - 4. the driving forces of the transformation
- 5. the destiny of society
8INTRODUCTIONCentral Question
- WHAT IS THE CHANGE PATTERN OF HUMAN SOCIETIES,
ITS IMPACT, DRIVING FORCE DESTINATION?
9INTRODUCTIONMain Theory
- All human societies start from the same point,
move on the same path and in the same direction
towards the same destination independent of the
actions of societal members or social
engineering.
10INTRODUCTIONAssumption
- Human choices count for little unless society is
in transitional crisis Societal change is
non-negotiable.
11INTRODUCTIONParadigm Shift
- Supernatural forces and human/social action have
little to do with societal change. - Social Engineering is unnecessary
- According to Saint-Simon, the main task of
science knowledge is to discover the laws of
social development, evolution , and progress
those laws are inevitable and absolute. All that
man can do is submit. Progress takes place in
stages and each stage is necessary and
contributes something to the further progress of
humankind (Zeitlin 2001 71).
12INTRODUCTIONAgenda
- Political To maintain the STATUS QUO.
- to avert revolution and to achieve the
resignation of the multitude to the conditions
of the existing order (Zeitlin 2001 82). - This agenda puts evolutionary theorizing into the
ideological typology of sociological theory.
13 14TYPOLOGIES OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- 1. Classical Evolution Theory Linear Stages
Model - 2. Neo Evolution Theory
- Ecological Model
- Curvilinear Model
- Globalization Model
15TYPOLOGIES OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- CLASSICAL Growth is Progress Stages Toward
Progress - Conceptualizes the movement of society through
evolutionary stages where each stage of
development represents a marked movement in human
progress. - The movements are independent of social
action/engineering. - NEO Growth creates a New order but not
necessarily Progress - focuses on mechanisms and processes of change in
size, scale, scope and complexity rather than
progress. - Social action/engineering influences change only
in periods of structural crises.
16- CLASSICAL SOCIAL EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
17CLASSICAL SOCIAL EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- MAIN THEORY
- Change in human society is inevitable,
unidirectional, stages-based, and progresses
toward a final destination.
18SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF CLASSICAL SOCIAL
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- 1. All societies are fundamentally similar in
that they all go through the same sequence of
stages, albeit at different rates of change,
showing a hierarchy of developmental stages
toward the highest and final stage. - 2. Many of these classical theorists ranked their
own societies (European societies) very high and
placed contemporary non-European societies lower
on the sequence of developmentthrowbacks to
earlier, simpler social forms that European
societies had long since surpassed.
19SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF CLASSICAL SOCIAL
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- 3. Classical social evolutionists did not believe
that once the final stage of evolution was
achieved, history came to an end rather, they
thought that once the final stage arrives, change
would involve a continued elaboration and
development of this final form.
20SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF CLASSICAL SOCIAL
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- 4. Social Relationships, that is, 1) Social
Action, 2) Social Status positions and Roles, 3)
Culture, 4) Structured Social Inequality, 5)
Social Institutions, 6) Attitudes and Behaviors
of individuals, and 7) all collective phenomena
are manifestations of a particular stage of
development or disruptions that occur in crises
periods of transition in the progressive
development process.
21- CLASSICAL SOCIAL EVOLUTIONISTS
22CLASSICAL SOCIAL EVOLUTIONISTS
- Saint-Simon Sociology of Hope
- Auguste Comte Sociology of Hope
- Herbert Spencer Sociology of Hope
- Emile Durkheim Sociology of Hope
- Karl Marx Sociology of Hope
- Max Weber Sociology of Hopelessness
- Thorstein Bunde Veblen Sociology of Hope
23LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
CLASSICAL EVOLUTIONISTS
- 1. Saint-Simon Comte Model
- The Law of Three Stages
- Movement of ideas towards science causes society
to progress in stages from THEOLOGICAL, through
METAPHYSICAL to POSITIVISTIC. - Whats the driving force of social progress?
- Knowledge is the underlying and sustaining factor
of society a social system is the application of
a system of ideas. The historical growth of
knowledge, or science, was the major cause of
the transformation of European society from
feudalism to industrialism (Zeitlin 2001 70-71).
24LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Theological Stage
- Dominated by religion ruled by priests.
- Metaphysical Stage
- Dominated by abstract philosophy ruled by
Enlightenment thinkers - Positivistic Stage
- Dominated by science or positive philosophy as
against negative philosophy, the legacy of
Enlightenment and the French revolution and
social thought before them ruled by
scientific-industrial elite.
25LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- 2. Spencers Model
- The Law of the Four Stages
- Increasing differentiation moves human society
from simple society through compound and doubly
compound societies to trebly compound society. - What drives social progress?
- Increasing differentiation in the areas of
production, reproduction, regulation and
distribution moves society progressively from a
simple stage, through compound, to doubly
compound and trebly compound stages. In the
process the best forms of social organization
emerge ensuring the survival of the fittest and
thereby elevating the level of society.
26LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- Simple societies of hunters and gatherers reveal
very little differentiation. As societies
compound to horticultural systems, however, clear
differentiation between regulatory (political)
and operative (productive and reproductive)
structures is evident then, as they doubly
compound into agrarian societies, they
differentiate distinctive distributive systems
such as markets, ports and roads. Finally, with
treble compounding into industrial societies,
complex patterns of differentiation between and
within the operative, regulative, and
distributive axes are evident.
27LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Simple Society
- Dominated by hunting-gathering virtually no
differentiation among the three fundamental axes
of society. - Compound Society
- Dominated by horticulture clear differentiation
among the axes of society - Doubly Compound Society
- Dominated by agrarian activities distinct
differentiation with the distributive axis - Trebly Compound
- Dominated by industrial activities complex
differentiation among and within the three main
axes of society.
28LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- Survival of the fittest
- Almost a decade before Darwin published On the
Origin of Species, Spencer coined the phrase
Survival of the fittest. He used this phrase in
a moral and philosophical sense, arguing that the
best forms of social organizations emerge with
unregulated competition among human, which allows
most fit to survive, thereby elevating the level
of society (Turner 2003 77).
29LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- 3. Durkheims Model
- The Law of Two Stages
- The necessity of social integration moves human
society from the Mechanical Solidarity stage to
the Organic Solidarity stage - What drives social progress?
- Problems of integration compel society to become
differentiated and progressively move from a
MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY stage to an ORGANIC
SOLIDARITY stage (Emile Durkheim).
30LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Mechanical Solidarity Stage
- This is an initial stage of evolution when
society is characterised by hunting/gathering
with little differentiation. Collective
conscience (shared basic moral values, beliefs,
and norms) provided social solidarity. - Organic Solidarity Stage
- This highest stage of society is characterized by
industrialization with complex pattern of
differentiation, and division of labour creating
a moral value in the form of mutual
interdependence that provide integration for the
social system.
31LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- 4. Marxs Model
- The Law of Six Stages
- Contradictions in the relations of production
create social conflict that moves society from
Classprimitive communism through slavery,
feudalism, capitalism, and socialism-- to
Classlessness (advanced communism). - What drives social progress?
- Contradictions in relations of production
reflected in economic inequalities, exploitation
and alienation produce conflicts--class
struggles--that progressively transform society
from class society into classless society
specifically from a primitive communalism through
ancient slavery, feudalism, and capitalism, to
socialism, and, ultimately, communism.
32LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Primitive Communism
- Hunting/gathering is the focus of life with
little economic inequalities and exploitation. - Slavery
- Horticulture/agrarian activities dominate slaves
and commoners are exploited for the benefits of
the nobility/royalty. - Feudalism
- Agrarian economy is well developed with the
exploited labour of the serfs for the benefit of
the clergy and gentry.
33LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- Capitalism
- Industrialization takes a central stage
exploiting the working classes (proletariat) for
the benefit of the upper classes (bourgeoisie). - Socialism
- Dictatorship of the proletariat .
- Communism
- Highest stage of industrialization without
exploitation classless society. - Inequality
- Unfair distribution of scarce resources
- Exploitation
- Appropriation of the labor effort of a
group/individual for the benefit of another. - Alienation
- Separation from ones self, others, and
product/service.
34LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- 5. Webers Model
- The Law of Two Stages
- Increasing rationality moves society from
traditional society to modern society - What drives social change?
- Increasing rationality changes society from a
traditional inefficient stage into a modern
efficient but oppressive bureaucratic stage - Increasing purposive rationality structures
society into a bureaucratic iron cage.
35LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Purposive Rationality
- the rule of reason demanding that meaning and
action are justified explicitly and objectively. - Iron Cage
- Social organization that depersonalizes,
dehumanizes, and dominates/restrains its members. - Bureaucracy
- formally rational, large-scale organization with
the following six characteristics division of
labor, hierarchy of positions, formal system of
rules, separation of the person from the office,
hiring and promotion based on technical merit,
and the protection of careers that produce
efficiency.
36LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- 6. Veblens Model
- The Law of Three Stages
- From savagery through barbarianism to
civilization - As the material conditions of life change,
society develops through three basic
stages--savagery through barbarianism to
civilization.
37LINEAR STAGES MODEL THEORIES IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY
- MAJOR CONCEPTS
- Savage Society
- Small, independent, and self-sufficient hunting
and gathering communities. - Barbarian Society
- Both the agricultural slave societies of the
ancient Middle East and Asia and feudal societies
that developed in Europe and Asia. - Civilization
- Modern society that began in the West in the 19th
century with the Industrial Revolution.
38- NEO-EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
39NEO-EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- MAIN THEORY
- Competition for scarce resources and control over
surplus compels society to evolve/grow from
simple to more complex forms of social
organization.
40NEO-EVOLUTIONARY THEORISTS
- Amos Hawley
- Gerhard Lenski
- Jurgen Habermas
- Anthony Giddens
- Immanuel Wallerstein
411. ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- Unlike the stages model, the ecological model
does not focus on social progress. Rather, it
focuses on growththat is, increasing size,
scale, scope, and complexity of the systemic
whole in its environment (Turner 2003 89). -
42ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF NEO-EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- Amos Hawleys Ecological Model
- Main Theory A societys contact with other
cultures and societies causes it to increase in
size, scale, scope, and complexity. - An ecosystems exposure to ecumenical environment
produces new knowledge that causes growth and
change in society when it increases the level of
communication and transportation technologies
through increasing production which then causes
expansion of these technologies until the
mobility costs associated with the change reach
their maximum, that is, until equilibrium is
attained (Hawley 1950, 1992).
43ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORIZING
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Growth
- Increasing size, scale, scope, and complexity of
the systemic whole in its environment - Mobility cost
- the time, energy, money and materials associated
with the movement of information, materials, and
people for a change in any given technology. - Ecumenical Environment
- Other societies or cultures of other societies
- Equilibrium
- Relative stability in the ecological system.
442. CURVILINEAR STAGES MODEL OF NEO-EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- Main Theory
- Societies begin with equality, change into
inequality, and move toward equality (Kuznets
Curve). - http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWth6HhOYpn8
-
45CURVILINEAR STAGES MODEL OF EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- Lenskis Model
- Main Theory Improvement in technology first
changes society from more equality to less
equality and later back towards more equality. - Low technology-production-surplus in
hunting/gathering societies displayed the most
equality then through medium technology-productio
n-surplus in horticultural and agrarian societies
monopolistic control of surplus increased
inequality, but with high technology-production-su
rplus in industrial societies, democratic
redistribution of surplus lowered inequality
somewhat but not to the level of hunter-gatherers
(Gerhard Lenski).
46CURVILINEAR STAGES MODEL OF EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Inequality
- Unfair distribution of power and privilege among
the members of a population. - Societal types
- Hunting and gathering societies, simple
horticultural societies, advanced horticultural
societies, agrarian societies, and industrial
societies.
473. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- MainTheory
- Traditional societies disintegrate into
transitional modern capitalist nation-states and
eventually into a global society.
483. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- 1. Habermas Model Three Stages
- Main Theory Crises/contradictions in the social
system transmitted by communicative action
transform society from primitive classless,
through class systems, to a postmodern classless
global society. - Communicative action/rationality (increasing
rationalization of peoples lifeworlds or ideas,
values and consciousness) transmits the crises
and contradictions inherent in a social system
to transform society from primitive classless
social formation, through class social formations
(traditional civilizations, modern
civilizationsliberal capitalist, organized
capitalist, postcapitalist) to postmodern
classless global social formation (Jurgen
Habermas).
493. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- In other words, this evolutionary process is a
reflection of underlying structural changes and
contradictions manifested in the breakdown of
shared values or normative structures that cause
the old social system to disintegrate because
such disintegration threatens peoples feeling of
social identity, and therefore integration
(Wallace and Wolf 2006 177) - All societies in a given social formation are
similar in their lifeworlds that evolve.
503. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Lifeworld (Ideas and Consciousness) Peoples
values, feelings, identity, and interaction. - Communicative Action or Communicative
Rationality - a distinctive type of interaction oriented to
mutual understanding or noncoercive
argumentation an ideal speech situation in
which everyone would have an equal chance to
argue and question, without those who are more
powerful, confident, or prestigious having an
unequal say (Wallace and Wolf 2006 184)
513. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- Primitive Social Formation
- Tribal societies where the burden of social
integration is on religion - Traditional Civilizations
- Ancient and Feudal societies where the burden of
social integration is shifting from religion - Liberal Capitalist Social Formation
- 19th Century capitalism where the consensus
formation in language is emerging as the burden
of social integration.
523. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- Organized Capitalist Social Formation
- Capitalism in the 20th and 21th centuries Western
societies where the burden of social integration
is shifting to consensus formation in language - Postcapitalist Social Formation
- State-socialist class societies where the
political elite disposes of the means of
production. - Postmodern
- Global high modernity where the burden of social
integration has shifted to consensus formation in
language/voices.
533. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- 2. Anthony Giddens Model Three Stages
- Main Theory Changing dynamics of the interaction
between social structure and human agency have
transformed human society from a tribal system
through a class-divided systems to a global high
modernity - Due to structuration, the past is dominated first
by tribal societies and then by class-divided
societies where tradition and kinship are the
dominant structural principles. Then followed
global high modernity, distinctly different from
class-divided societies in that its classes are
global and structured by expertise and risk
(Anthony Giddens).
543. GLOBALIZATION MODEL OF NEO- EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIZING
- ACCOMPANYING CONCEPTS DEFINITIONS
- Structuration The dynamics of the combined
forces of social structure and human agency - Social Structure Norms, particularly rules, of
relationships that tell people how to do social
life, and the resources on which people can call
to do social life. - Human Agency The creative aspect of human
actionthe individual as a knowledgeable actor. - Global High Modernity Modern capitalism where
people both calculate risk and feel out of
control where economic changes have taken from
the poor to give to the richon a huge and global
scale, both within and between countries (Susan
George 1999 190).
55 56DARWINS NIGHTMARES
- 1. Natural Selection is the Exception Unnatural
Selection is the Rule - A) Orchestrated or planned action does the
de-selection or the selection. - B) Societies that are well advanced on the
evolutionary ladder are not producing enough
off-spring and vice versa - 2) Change is negotiable
57DARWINS NIGHTMARES
- Unnatural Selections is the Rule
- MOVIE REVIEW 'DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE' By A. O. SCOTT
Published August 3, 2005 Get the full video
in Camosun Library and watch it. - Youtube Video http//www.youtube.com/watch?vVK9v
3ioiYBUfeaturefvsr
58DARWINS NIGHTMARES
- What do the planes bring to Africa?The answers
vary. The factory managers say the planes'
cavernous holds are empty when they land. One of
the Russians, made uncomfortable by the question,
mutters something vague about "equipment." Some
of his colleagues, and several ordinary Mwanzans,
are more forthright the planes, while they
occasionally bring humanitarian food and medical
aid, more often bring the weapons that fuel the
continent's endless and destructive wars. - Along the shores of the lake, homeless children
fight over scraps of food and get high from the
fumes of melting plastic-foam containers used to
pack the fish. In the encampments where the
fishermen live, AIDS is rampant and the afflicted
walk back to their villages to die.
59DARWINS NIGHTMARES
- Unnatural Selection is the Rule
- The Nile perch itself haunts the film's infernal
landscape like a monstrous metaphor. An alien
species introduced into Lake Victoria sometime in
the 1960's, it has devoured every other kind of
fish in the lake, even feeding on its own young
as it grows to almost grotesque dimensions, and
destroying an ancient and diverse ecosystem.
60DARWINS NIGHTMARES
- 3. The Extinction of the Naturally Selected
- http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_an
d_territories_by_fertility_rate
61DARWINS NIGHTMARES
- The Extinction of the Naturally Selected
- In 2005, Hispanic women had the highest fertility
rates, followed by non-Hispanic black women,
Asian women, Native American women, and
non-Hispanic white women. Fertility rates for
Hispanic women were over 45 percent higher than
those for non-Hispanic black women and Asian
women (99 births per 1,000 for Hispanic women
versus 67 births per 1,000 for non-Hispanic black
and Asian women), and more than 65 percent higher
than those for Native American women and
non-Hispanic white women (60 and 58 births per
1,000 women, respectively). (See Figure 3)
62DARWINS NIGHTMARESThe Extinction of the
Naturally Selected
- Ukraine 0.8 natural decrease annually 28
total population decrease by 2050Russia -0.6
-22Belarus -0.6 -12Bulgaria -0.5
-34Latvia -0.5 -23Lithuania -0.4
-15Hungary -0.3 -11Romania -0.2
-29Estonia -0.2 -23Moldova -0.2
-21Croatia -0.2 -14Germany -0.2 -9Czech
Republic -0.1 -8Japan 0 -21Poland 0
-17Slovakia 0 -12Austria 0 8
increaseItaly 0 -5Slovenia 0 -5
63 64CONCLUSION
- Societal Change is Negotiable
- The irony of Marxism and functionalism, says
Berger and Luckmann, was that though their social
ideas were inspired by the high ideals of the
Enlightenment, their social theories sketched a
process of social evolution in which individual
choice counted for little Berger and Luckmann
wished to bring real living, acting individuals
back into the center of social thinking. They
aimed to replace organismic and mechanistic
social imagery with a view of society as a
precariously negotiated, fluid order that
ultimately resides in the interaction of
individuals. The very title of their major work,
The Social Construction of Reality, underscored
the power of the individual to shape society and
the open-ended character of history ( Seidman
2004, p. 81)