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Introduction To Sociology 240214
Introduction To Sociology 240214
DEFINITION
The scientific study of these social interactions and of social organization is called sociology.
Why are some people wealthy and others poor? What causes war? Why do people violate social rules? How do revolutions occur? What causes mass hysteria?
This sciencesociologypursues the study of social interaction and group behavior through research governed by the rigorous and disciplined collection of data and analysis of facts.
Purpose of sociology
To improve the human condition so that we might lead fuller, richer, and more fruitful lives.
To do this we need knowledge about the basic structures and processes underlying our social lives. Through its emphasis on observation and measurement, sociology allows us to bring rigorous and systematic scientific thinking and information to bear on difficult questions associated with social policies and choices, including those related to poverty, health, crime, and education.
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Social and behavioral sciences also are central to the worlds health and science agenda. Sociology can play a role even in natural disasters.
Sociological perspective
The sociological perspective invites us to look at the many layers of meaning in the human experience. Networks of invisible rules and institutional arrangements guide our behavior. We continually evolve, negotiate, and rework tacit bargains with family members, friends, lovers, and work associates. We look beyond outer appearances at what lies beneath, we encounter new levels of social reality. This approach to reality is the core of the sociological perspective.
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Sociologist C. Wright Mills (1959): the ability to see our private experiences, personal difficulties, and achievements as, in part, a reflection of the structural arrangements of society and the times in which we live.
The sociological imagination allows us to see the relationship between our personal experiences and broader social and historical events.
the sociological imagination allows us to identify the links between our personal lives and the larger social forces of lifeto see that what is happening to us immediately is a minute point at which our personal lives and society intersect.
cont
Microsociological and macrosociological levels are not independent of one another Difference in DEGREES
Macrostructures, such as organizations or the hierarchy of social classes, are composed of routine patterns of interaction on the micro level. Macrostructures provide the social contexts in which people encounter one another at the micro level. Microstructures, such as friendship relations and work groups, form out of these encounters and provide a link from individuals to macrostructures. Microstructures also may cause change and evolution in macrostructures.
Development of sociology
Sociology is a product of micro + macro Impetus for sociology organization & interaction
French Revolution: 1789 through 19th C Industrial Revolution: Rural to Urban society Capitalism: Social + Economic
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Gnosis
Prophetic Model
Way of Life
Spiritual Perfection
Divine Commandments
Spiritual Purification
Creed
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3.
4. 5.
Protection of Life
Protection of Intellect/Psyche/Mind Protection of Property
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Formative
PostFormative
Pre-Modern
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Sociological Theories
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Background
Ibn Khaldun remained a controversial gure even after his death. His Muqaddima, and to a lesser extent his other writings, were both respected and reviled by later scholars.
In the Muqaddima, Ibn Khaldun sets forth a clear exposition of his theory of social and historical development and decline. He describes the various Islamic sciences, their development, and the process of professionalization that scholars had to endure to become certied by their contemporaries as qualied academics. This process of professional certication, according to Ibn Khaldun, which had become so extensive by the medieval period that it prevented scholars of indepth knowledge in any one eld, was one of the factors that led Muslim societies to decline. His theories about the decline of Muslim society would inuence late-nineteenth and twentieth- century Muslim scholars who embraced Ibn Khalduns theories as evidence of the need for renewal of Islamic culture and thought
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Group Solidarity
The Marinid occupation of Tunis left its mark on the young scholar. He came to see the period as a model for the historical development and decline of Islamic societies. He argued that Islamic societies followed a specic path of development and decline whereby desert tribes invade a given society and infuse it with a sense of vitality and what he called asabiyya (group solidarity). Asabiyya becomes the foundation for all social relations and provides the fundamental motives for cultural, intellectual, and economic development. Over time, however, the sense of group solidarity breaks down, followed by a slow period of decline until a new group asserts itself into society and brings with it a new sense of asabiyya. The English equivalent of the term asabiyya is akin to social solidarity or tribal loyalty. It is an abstract noun that derives from the Arabic root asab, meaning to bind. It refers to a special characteristic or set of characteristics that denes the rather vague essence of what constitutes a particular group. As a sociological principle, it would be especially signicant within the political thought of Ibn Khaldun (1332 1406).
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Asabiyya, according to him, is the social bond that is particularly evident among tribal groups and is based more on social, psychological, physical, and political factors than on those of genetics or consanguinity. It is not unique among the Arabs; rather, each group possesses its own distinct asabiyya. In this way, Ibn Khaldun identied a Jewish asabiyya, a Greek asabiyya, and so on. He also perceived an intimate connection between asabiyya and religion. For a religion to be effective it must evoke a feeling of solidarity among all the members of the group. In this way one could have diverse asabiyyat; for example, an asabiyya to ones tribe, ones guild, and ultimately to ones religion. Ibn Khaldun argues that Islam brought a strong sense of asabiyya to the Arabs and was responsible for the benets that Islamic civilization produced.
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PostModern
Kant describes the Enlightenment as the emergence of man from self-accusatory sheepishness
This denition of Enlightenment means a change in the human beings self- knowledge and place in the universe, and has led to the conception of a new change of the ages of the world. Kant is putting all of his emphasis here on self-accusatory . Every person, Kant holds, is outtted with reason, and therefore has the duty to act reasonably, or according to reason. Here Kant means the free and open, public use of ones own opinion and conviction.
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Both the ethics of the present and modern democratic societies emerge from this change. Not least of all, the Enlightenments criticism of religion has had a share in the basic alteration of religious life.
With the foundation (1459) of a Platonic Academy in Florence, a revival of Greek and Roman antiquity had taken place, especially of Neoplatonism ( Platonism).
A new interpretation of the individual human beings role and capacities became central, as shown especially in liberty and freedom (Pico della Mirandola, De Hominis Dignitate, On the Dignity of Man, 1486). Luthers Reformation, as well, appealed to the Liberty of a Christian Human Being (1520) as the immediacy of the human being to God, where he sees a broader aspect of the new understanding of a human beings freedom in the singularity of this faith relationship. In this innovation, the upwardly mobile middle class found the appropriate Weltanschauung for its understanding of the individual and society. The image of the autolocated human being, personally responsible (autonomous) for his and her action and faith, permitted a concentration on the individual, and on the salvation of that individual.
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FRENCH REVOLUTION
1789-1799
FRANCE
REVOLUTION
Struggle put up to change the way of being ruled
la Rvolution franaise
Sociological SITUATION
Life under the ancient regime/old regime The Three Estates
First Estate = clergy Second Estate = nobility Third Estate = everyone else
THIRD ESTATE
Merchants Doctors Shopkeepers The urban poor
The peasants
EVERYTHING
What has it been in the political order until now?
NOTHING
What is it asking for?
TO BECOME SOMETHING
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Borrowing money Costly wars
Borrowing Money
Costly Wars
Food Crisis
=>
Tax
REFERENCES
Anderson, James Maxwell. Daily Life During the French Revolution. United States of America: Greenwood, 2007. Barber, Nicola. The French Revolution. Minnesota: Smart Apple Media, 2005. Linda Frey, Marsha Frey. The French Revolution. United States of America: Greenwood, 2004. Service, Social Studies School. "The French Revolution "Culver, 2007. Taylor, David. The French Revolution. China: Heinemann Educational, 1997. Thomas, Paul. "The French Revolution."
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Although his specific ideas no longer direct contemporary sociology, Comte created the intellectual foundation for a science of social life and exerted enormous influence on the thinking of other sociologists, particularly Herbert Spencer, Harriet Martineau, and mile Durkheim
Each department of knowledge passes through three stages. The theoretic stage; the theological stage and the metaphysical or abstract stage
The sacred formula of positivism: love as a principle, the order as a foundation, and progress as a goal
A science is not completely known as long as one does not know its history The purpose of any science is the forecasting
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She paved the way for the new discipline through her observations of social behavior in the United States and England.
Like Comte, she insisted that the study of society represents a separate scientific field. First book on the methodology of social research, How to Observe Manners and Morals, in 1838. Comparative study of the stratification systems of Europe and the United States
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Martineau contribution
Martineau showed how the basic moral values of the young American nation shaped its key institutional arrangements Ardent defender of womens rights She showed the similarities between the position of women in Western societies and that of American slaves
She called for freedom and justice for all in an age in which they were only granted to white males
What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honorable, than that of teaching?
Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it
Religion is a temper, not a pursuit
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Herbert Spencer an English sociologist, shared Comtes concern with social statics and social dynamics
He compared society to a biological organism and depicted it as a system, a whole made up of interrelated parts. Human body is made up of organs, so society is made up of institutions (e.g., the family, religion, education, the state, and the economy)
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Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity All socialism involves slavery
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Although Karl Marx considered himself a political activist and not a sociologist, in truth he was bothand a philosopher, historian, economist, and political scientist as well.
He viewed science not only as a vehicle for understanding society but also as a tool for transforming it. Marx was especially eager to change the structure of capitalist institutions and to establish new institutions in the service of humanity. Although he was born in Germany, authorities there viewed him as politically dangerous, and he was compelled to spend much of his adult life as a political exile in London.
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He focused his search on the economic environments in which societies develop, particularly the current state of their technology and their method of organizing production, such as hunting and gathering, agriculture, or industry.
At each stage of history, these factors dictate the group that will dominate society and the groups that will be subjugated. He believed that society is divided into those who own the means of producing wealth and those who do not, which gives rise to class conflict. All history is composed of struggles between classes. In ancient Rome the conflict was between patricians and plebeians and between masters and slaves. In the Middle Ages it was a struggle between guild-masters and journeymen and between lords and serfs. In contemporary Western societies, class antagonisms revolve around the struggle between the oppressing capitalist class or bourgeoisie and the oppressed working class or proletariat. The former derive their income through their ownership of the means of production, primarily factories, which allows them to exploit the labor of workers. The latter own nothing except their labor power and, because they are dependent for a living on the jobs provided by capitalists, must sell their labor power in order to exist.
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Dialectical materialism
Marxs perspective is called dialectical materialism: The notion that development depends on the clash of opposing social forces and the subsequent creation of new, more advanced structures.
The approach depicts the world as made up not of static structures but of dynamic processes, a world of becoming rather than of being.
In the Marxian view of history, every economic order grows to a state of maximum efficiency; at the same time, it develops internal contradictions or weaknesses that con- tribute to its decay. The roots of a new order begin to take hold in the old order.
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Revolutionary ideology
Marx thought that if a revolutionary ideology emerged to mobilize the working class in pursuit of its class interest, the existing social order would be overturned and replaced by one that would pursue more humane goals.
In Marxs view, economic factorswhether one owns and controls the means of production are primary. For this reason, he is viewed by many as an economic determinist.
Though Marx is often identified with the communist revolutions and socialist governments that appeared in many nations in the 20th century, Marx actually had little to say about communism or socialism.
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Marx today
Marx was a utopian who centered his attention on capitalism and its internal dynamics, assuming that when socialism replaced capitalism many of the worlds problems would disappear.
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Background
Born 1864, Thuringia
Father was wealthy civil servant who was highly involved in both politics and academics
For Christmas one year he wrote two analytical essays to give to his parents as gifts Attended law school Spent some time in the military
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Background
In 1893 he married Marianne Schnitger a feminist activist and author
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Early Work
Early on took an interest in contemporary social policy
Felt that the role of economics was the primary source of solving social problems
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Influences
Strongly influenced by German Idealism
Linked romanticism and Enlightenment politics
Strongly influenced by Marxs ideas of socialism and active politics Differed on the idea of utopian society
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Views on Society
Bureaucratic Society
Rather than capitalism or communism, Weber thought society should be run through a system of well organized institutions Society can be understood through empirical observation rather than quantitative research Power is not just in the hands of the elite
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Relevancy
Influenced Parsons, Habermas, and many others
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Limitations
His specific explanations for society in his time are hard to generalize for other circumstances in society Failed to see all the positive aspects of rationalization and deemed society to be doomed and trapped in an iron cage of its own making
Bureaucratic features of Webers ideal society might actually be inefficient (argued by Merton)
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Leaving Andalusia to further enhance his career, Ibn Khaldun traveled to Algeria, where he was briefly employed as an adviser to the Hafsid ruler there and as a preacher and jurist. However, these were turbulent times in the Maghrib (North Africa), and after repeated attempts to secure long-term employment, he retired to a desert oasis near Oran in 1374, where he and his family lived under the protection of a friendly Arab desert tribe. Renouncing a career in politics, he dedicated himself to a scholars life and began to write the famous introduction, known as the Muqaddima, to his universal history of the Arabs and Berbers (Kitab al-Ibar). In 1378, Ibn Khaldun returned to his native Tunis, but, in 1382, he went to Cairo, Egypt, where his scholarly reputation earned him several appointments as a teacher of Maliki law and as the citys chief Maliki jurist. In his autobiography, he called his new home the metropolis of the world . . . illuminated by the moons and stars of its learned men. He was to spend the remaining years of his life there, completing and revising his multivolume history (seven volumes long in its Arabic printed edition) and offering advice to the Mamluk rulers of Egypt and his former royal patrons in Tunis. When the Mongol armies of Tamerlane (d. 1405) invaded Syria in 1400, Ibn Khaldun reluctantly accompanied the Mamluk army to Damascus to oppose the invasion. During the siege, he was invited to a lengthy audience with the Mongol conqueror. According to the scholars account, the two men discussed their respective views of history and the rise and fall of civilizations for 35 days, and Ibn Khaldun provided Tamerlane with information about the peoples and lands of Egypt and North Africa. Tamerlanes forces plundered Damascus, but Ibn Khaldun negotiated his own freedom and returned to Cairo, where he held several posts as a Maliki judge and scholar. He also finished writing his autobiography and made the final revisions in his universal history before his death in 1406. The Muqaddima is encyclopedic in scope; it expresses Ibn Khalduns philosophy of history and
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brilliant understanding of society and religion. It is divided into a preface and six substantive chapters. The chapters address the following subjects: society and nature, tribal society, politics and government, urban society, economics, and religious knowledge and the sciences. In these chapters, he proposes what he calls a new science of history and civilization. Ibn Khaldun argues that at the beginning of human culture, kin-based groups banded together to overcome the forces of nature, with the most successful ones developing a strong feeling of group solidarity, which he called Asabiyya. Competition and conflict between groups in time ended with some groups becoming more powerful than others, forming political states. Eventually this led to the establishment of the institutions of government, the building of great cities and civilizations, and the development of learning. Ibn Khaldun acknowledges that the laws established to restrain human violence and ensure justice could be either natural (man-made) or God-given. Revealed law, he argues, especially in a religion such as Islam, not only contributes to worldly security but also offers salvation in the AfterliFe. Drawing on his own life experience and knowledge of history, however, Ibn Khaldun also recognizes that ruling dynasties, cities, and civilizations fall and that morality and justice become corrupted. Indeed, he believes that civilizations possess the seeds of their own destruction, for with prosperity and luxury, the bonds of social solidarity weaken, leaving them vulnerable to collapse from within and invasion from without. Tribal groups possessing a more profound degree of group solidarity then arise and form new states and civilizations, thus inaugurating another phase in the cycle of history. Ibn Khaldun sought to convey to the rulers under whom he served the secrets of history that, if mastered, would assure long-lasting peace and security for their subjects and preserve the civilizational heritage they enjoyed. Ibn Khalduns philosophy of history had a mixed reception in his own time and was favor ably viewed by reformminded Ottoman historians in the 18th century. However, it has been
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most deeply appreciated by modern scholars in the West and in Muslim countries; many see it as an exemplary attempt to explain history, society, and religion in terms of human reason.
Encyclopedia of Islam, Jean Campo
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Major works:
Founder of a new science: Ilm ul-`Imran
Comprised of 3 sciences:
Political Science
Philosophy of History
Sociology in its Modern understanding
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Original Thinker: his book studies the conditions of human society in a State and investigates the factors and outcomes upon the citizen:
1. He concludes that human society in a State is a being who is a member of it and alive in it.
A society is born, it grows, matures and then dies Every society exists for 4 generations, each generation is 40 years old A link between a social being and its external circumstances Geographical, Climate and Regional He differentiated the world on the basis of regions and described the physical environments that are generated by each climate in every region, and their psychological and physiological affects Geography: He relied upon Botlimus, Idrissi and Mas`udi
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2.
Focused his studies towards Islamic Caliphate and not on all political systems
seasons on a State Conditions (ahwal) of evolution King (malik) and conquering (taghalub) Different types of Kings and disintegration What is the actual condition of political state than what ought to be the condition
Aristotle and Plato spoke of what a state ought to be whereas Ibn Khaldun studied what it is First time in history that a scholar focused on what is the condition and this makes him a Modern thinker because of his stress on Realism ( )positive science Ibn Khaldun states his originality on this point because unlike any of his predecessors he focused on the present reality
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3.
All of his studies involve a critical study of the environment and the influence of economic conditions upon the bodies of humanity and ethics
4.
5.
Assabiya
Age of a Civilization:
> -- > -- > --
Combination of limited racism (bloodline) + limited Nationalism (tribalism); objective is Power and State
Nomadic Civilized King Marketplace So, a civilization has a life like an individual has life If an individual matured by the age of 40 years so did a society Emergence Growth Disintegration Civilization: Use of luxuries and the behaviors accompanied with it; use of expensive tools
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6.
Known today as cultural philosophy Kulturphilosophie as opined by Spengler Ibn Khalduns in comparison to Spengler is more religious
7.
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POST RENAISSANCE
RATIONAL EMPIRICAL MODEL
Philosophy
Descartes (1596-1650) Spinoza (1632-1677) Leibniz (1646-1716) Locke (1632-1704) Berkeley (1685-1753) Hume (1711-1776) Burke (1729-1797)
Science
Copernicus (14731543), Newton (16421727) Machiavelli (14691527) Bacon (15611626) Hobbes (15881679)
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