Home Assignment

On
The Contributions of Classical thinkers in Social
Psychology
Paper no: 10100.
Paper name: Sociological Theory.

Submitted to Submitted by

Dr. Anannya Gogoi Karan Kujur

Associate professor Course: Ph.D in Sociology

Department of Sociology Department of Sociology

Dibrugarh university Dibrugarh University

 Contents

1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Analysis
4. Conclusion
5. References
 1. Introduction:

Sociology is one of the vast studies which encompass various fields. Sociology
discusses about the society and its relations with individual, institutions and various
components. Prof. Ginsberg Defines sociology “as the study of society, which is the web or
tissues of human interactions and interrelations”. In other words, Sociology is the scientific
study of mains behavior in group or of the inter action among human beings of social
relationship and the process by which human group activity takes place. Sociology appeared
when it was felt that other field of human knowledge does fully explain means social
behavior. Sociology is on the one hand a synthetic discipline, trying to unify from a central
point of view of result of separate disciplines and on the other an analytic and specialised
science with is our field of research. As sociology we are interested in social relationship not
because they are economic, political or religious but because they are social. The focus of
sociology is socialness. Sociology has various branches such as social psychology,
educational sociology, sociology of development, social demography etc.

Social psychology is one of the main branches of sociology. Social Psychology is the
scientific studies of new people influence each other’s thoughts, feelings and behavior. Social
Psychology focuses on three main areas: Social thinking, social influence and social
behavior. It is the scientific study of how peoples thought, feelings, intensions and goals are
constructed within a social context by actual or imagined interactions with other people and
the conditions under which social behavior and feelings occur. Kurt Lewin is regarded as the
father of social Psychology. So, in this assignment, it is attempted establish a relationship
with social phychology.

2. Objectives:

The main objectives of this assignment are:

 (i) To establish a relationship between social psychology and sociology.
(ii) To analyse or dig out the contribution of classical sociologists on social
psychology.

3. Analysis

The classical Sociologists, Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber
have various contributions on the branch social psychology. In the eighteen and nineteenth
centuries, their concepts were popularised as the dominant bodies of knowledge.

Comte gave the famous “Law of Three Stages". Auguste Comte analysed the the
evolution of human thinking with various stages. In this process of evolution, each
succeeding stage is superior one over the preceding stage. This theory is known as
evoulutionray theory. According to Comte, not only does the world go through the process,
but groups’ societies, sciences, individuals and even minds go through the same stages. The
theological stage is the first and it characterized the world prison to 1300. During this period,
the major idea system emphasized the belif that supernstural because, religion figures,
medaled after human kind, are of the root of everything. In particular the social and physical
world seen as produced by God. The second stage is the metaphysical stage. Which occurred
roughly between 1300 and 1800, this era as charectzed by the belief that abstract borces like
“nature’’, rather than personised Gods, explain virtually everything . Finally in 1800 the
worlds intended the positivistic stage, character seed by belif in science. People new tended
to give up the seach for abseute carses (God or Nature) and concentrated misted an
observation of the social and physical world in the search for the many governing them.
(Ritzer, sociological Theory). According to Comte, mtcllectual disorder was the cause of
social disorder. It is clear that in this theory Comte foussed on intellectual factors. So his
evolutionary theory of human thinking is related with phychology of human being on society.

Karl Marx was one of the main proponents of conflict perspectives of the sociological theory.
It is also known as the dialectical theory. In the eighteen and nineteenth centuries, we can
name Devid hume, Bain, Negel, Comte and Mars the expenets of Social Phychology”. (Dr.SS
Mathur, Social Psychology)
 Based on the vision of social theory, Marx emphasized that theoretically anaylis
should be oriented to what he called “the real process of production. The first characteenistie
of all societies is that human beings unlike other animal species preduce sustenance from the
environment to live and there by “make history”. Marx noted that human “life involues
before anything also eating and drinking a habitation, clothing, and many other things. Such
needs are satisfied by employing techenology to manipulate the environment in some socially
organized manner. People create new needs over time. Need creations occur because
production (or work) always involves the use of tools or instruments of various sorts, and
there tools are periodically improved; fielding more and bellows consume goods. Thus Marx
said the process of production and consumption always feed back each other in a umileative
fashion, so that as one set of need creation imvolves the desire not only for improved
food,clothing and shelter but also for the various amenites of life. Marx observed that in the
production and consumption of goods beyond the minimum necessary for survival what are
called amenities people become “civilized” in the sense that they can distinguish their
uniquely human characteristics from there of other species. This in the Economic and
Philosophic Menuserirtc (Written in 1844), he described productive work as serving a dual
purpose: (1) To satisfy physical needs and (2) To express uniquely human creativity.
According to Max, this duality is why ether animals work only to satisfy an “immediate
physied need, whilst man produces even when he is free from physical need and only truly
produces in freedom therefrom.”

Marx’s view of conflictt over material resources can be summarised through various
stages. Conflicts of ideology are also part of social psychology. Marx saw human societies a
having developed through a series of historical stages, each characterised by its unique else
divisions and exploitations. Marx believed that humans originally lived in hunting and
gathering societies in which everyone worked at the same tasks to subsist. Private property
did not exist nor did a division of labor. Hence, there were no classes and no exploitation
based on class. There societies were communist.

The initial system of exploitation or conflict was slavery, in which ownership of other
human beings determined rank and position. In slave societies, the interests of owners and
slaves were obviously opposed. So there was a socio-psychological domination over the
properties and wealth. Till today also, one section of people i.e the capitalists dominate the
other sections of the society for their vested interest.
 Human potential is one of the main concept of Karl Marx. The basis of much of Marx’s
thinking lies in the ideas of the potential of human beings. He believed that until his time in
history. People had not even begun to approach what they ultimately could become. The
nature of society prior to capitalism had been too harsh to allow people to realize their
potentials. According to Marx, capitation was too oppressive an environment to allow most
people to develop their human potential. It was Marx’s hope and belief that communism
would provide the kind of environment in which people could begin to express that potential
fully. This was also from socio psychological perspective.

Marx also said about concepts like powers and need of people which are inevitable in
social psychology. Powers may be defined as the faculties, abilities, and capacities of people.
In Marxian system, human powers are not simply what they are now, but also what they were
historically, and what they can be in the future under changed social circumstances. Needs ate
the desires people feel for things that are usually not immediately available. Needs, like
powers. Are greatly affected by the social settings in which people exist.

Another concept, consciousness was also defined by Karl Marx, the heart of the
nation of human potential lies in Marx’s view that people differ from animals in their
possession of consciousness as well as in their ability to link this consciousness to their
actions. Although borrowing from Hegel here, Marx was critical of Hegel for discussing
consciousness as if it existed independently of people rather than focusing on the
consciousness of real, sentient people. Consciousness is a characteristic of people and it is
shaped out of human action and interaction: “Consciousness is therefore, frem the very
beginning a social product and remains so as long as men exist at all.” The basic position on
the indispensability and real function of consciousness completely excludes the possibility in
psychology of considering the phenomena of consciousness only as epiphenomena
accompanying brain process and the activity that they realize. In addition, psychology cannot
simply postulate the activity of consciousness. The task of psychological science consists in
explaining scientifically the actual role of consciousness; this is possible only under the
conditions of a radical change in the very approach to the approach to the problem, and more
than anything, under conditions that reject the limited anthropological view of consciousness
that looks for its explanation in processes taking place within the head of the individual under
the influence of stimuli acting on him, views that inevitably return psychology to the
parallestic position.
 Marxists teaching about the nature of consciousness product is a general theory of the
human psychology. At the same time it found its embodiment in the theoretical resolution of
such of such large problems as the problem of pereeption and through. In each of these areas,
Marx introduced ideas that are basic for scientific psychology. These ideas anticipated by
many years the principal direction of their development in the area of the psychological study
of pereeption and though activity of man.

Marxism considers perception that is direct sensual reflection of activity, as a degree,

as well as a basic form of cognition, which reaches a high degree of perfection in the process
of the historical development.

Marx’s concept of alienation is also psychological in nature. According to him, the

workers in capitalism are alienated from their follow workers. Marx’s assumption was that
people basically need and want to work co-operatively in order to appropriate from nature
what they require to survive. But in capitalism, this co-operation is disrupted, and people,
often strangers, are forced to work side by side for the capitalist. Even if the workers on the
assembly line, for example, are close friend, the nature of technology makes for a great deal
of isolation.

Emile Durkheim was also the main proponents of social psychology. His contribution
on socialisation is prominent in social psychology. According to Durkheim, every society has
its own values, emotions, beliefs and ideals. All these influence the members of the society.
Every new generation has to learn them. The society’s values, emotions, concepts, feeling,
norms, beliefs and habits etc. are accepted by most of its members and because of this we
may say that they have social sanction. Thy greatly influence the child during his formative
period.

In every society, there is an engoing process of social consciousness. This process

makes the members of the society conscious of its value system, belief system, feeling,
concepts and ideals etc. Every person has individual consciousness. It provides knowledge of
the environment around him. When the individual interacts with the members of society then
social consciousness is aroused. This social consciousness is of these beliefs, attitudes, values
which represent the viewpoint of the society. In the opinion of Durkheim these collective
representation play an important role in the socialisation of the individual.
 Education is that process through which the child learns the ingredients of collective
representation. The child is taught all these ideas and ideals which the society approves. The
education is formally given in school and colleges and informally by the family, community,
society etc. thus, in the opinion of Durkheim the processes of education and socialisation are
similar.

Durkheim’s social facts and psychological facts are also important. Social facts are
the product of social conditions, and these in no way related with individual will and wishes.
These are largely based on collective consciousness, rather than individual needs and desires.
Social facts and psychological facts are not the same one. He differentiated sociology form
psychology, and said that psychological facts are basically inherited phenomena, but social
facts are external to and coercive of the actor. Thus, psychological facts are clearly internal,
whereas social facts are external and coercive.

Durkheim’s conception of suicide is also socio-psychological in nature. According to

him, it is the social circumstances and the influence of collective consciousness which are, in
the main, responsible for the phenomenon of suicide. Durkheim had classified different types
of suicides on the basis of different types of personalities of man. He recognised four types of
suicides. They are- (1) Egoistic, (2) Altruistic, (3) Anomic, (4) Fatalistic. He also developed
the idea of collective consciousness and collective representation.

Max Weber was another contributor in social psychology. He gave the concept of
ideal types which is very important. Ideal types is simply a mental construct of the researcher,
his own interpretation and understanding, on the basic of which he can collect empirical
evidences and prove and explain the phenomena causally. Another concept of Weber is
authority which is related to domination. Authority is power, which is legitimised in nature.
Weber associates authority with domination, and he mainly discussed the legitimate forms of
domination, which he called authority.

Weber’s concept of social action is also socio psychological in nature. Zweckrational

action, westrational action, affectual action and traditional actions are parts of social action
which are socio psychological which determine our daily life. In his book “Protestant ethic
and the spirit of capitalism, Weber mentioned that religion can control the minds of the
individuals and it can make a society rich through various social as well as individual value
system. According to him, religion and economic phenomena are interdependent and closely
related to each other.
4. Conclusion
From the above mentioned concept and ideas given by various classical sociologists.
We come to know that they contributed a lot in understanding social psychology. Social
psychology includes a vast branch of knowledge which connects individual mind with
society. Many of them mentioned about the human thinking and its relation with the society’s
conformity, values, and norms. Their contributions can be regarded as the bases of social
psychology. Social psychology that why is the main branch of sociology.

5. References
(i) Ritzer, George; Sociological Theory; Reprint 2017; McGraw Hill Education (India)
Private Limited; 444/1, Sri Ekambare Naicker Industrial Estate, Alapakkam, Perur, Chnnai
600116, Tamil Nadu (India).

(ii) Leont’ev, A, N; Marxism and Psychological science; Marxists.org/archive

(iii) Mathur, S.S.; Social Psychology; 2017; ShriVined Pustak Mandir; Plot No 4, Mauja
Kakretha, Near foot on shoes Sikandra, Agra.