Professional Documents
Culture Documents
5slides - July - Theoretical Perspectives - Updated
5slides - July - Theoretical Perspectives - Updated
Theories
-are perspectives we use to explain
the world
-guide us to ask questions and
interpretations we make
The pioneers of Sociology
Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
Karl Marx
(1818-1883)
and the
Capitalist
Mode of
Production
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Max Weber (1864-1920)
Bio: Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_
C3%89mile_Durkheim Weber
Karl Marx
Marx is concerned with “exploitation” and asks : “What
sorts of transformations are needed to eliminate
economic oppression and exploitation within capitalist
societies?”
Marx
-Wanted to eliminate the discrimination in the
society
-Hoped for a social revolution
-Actively supported the overthrowing of capitalism
QUESTION: So then what is capital and who is a capitalist?
☭For Marx, capital is used to buy something only in order to sell it
again to realize a financial profit, and for Marx capital only exists
within the process of economic exchange—it is wealth that grows
out of the process of circulation itself and forms the basis of the
economic system of capitalism.
☭So a capitalist is someone who controls the means of production
and who seeks to create wealth through the labour process
(generally by buying the labour of others).
Industrial Revolution and Rise of Capitalism
Cotton
Corn
Commodity
Recommended reading:
Page 141, 147-152 of Anderson (2016)
Emile Durkheim and Social facts
Source:
https://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/Durkheim%20-%20Division%20of%20Labor_fi
les/Durkheim%20-%20Social%20Facts.htm
Max Weber: Social structure and agency
He focuses on-
• Stratification
• Class
• Status
• Power
What did Weber have to say about
Bureaucracy?
• At the turn of the 20th century Weber started to
study these new forms of social structure– new
bureaucracies - that were developed and used
to manage large numbers of people engaged in
widely dispersed and disparate activities
• Concluded that they were similar and set about
to define their essential features:
Features of a Bureaucracy
– jurisdiction of each office is clearly delimited (no
interference);
– duties are delimited by general, unchanging rules (no
bias/emotion);
– officials have expert qualifications and training
(competency/expediency);
– work is based on written documents
(transparency/accountability);
– official activity is separate from private life of
bureaucrat (official interests are paramount);
– offices are permanent. The incumbents are not.
Advantages of Bureaucracies
Weber thought that bureaucracies had advantages over other
forms of social structure because they make it possible to
conduct the affairs of an organization “according to calculable
rules”. Bureaucracies
-are the most efficient structures to handle large numbers of
tasks
-emphasizes the quantification of things- reducing performance
to a series of quantifiable tasks helps people gauge success
-are based on well entrenched rules and procedures – this means
that bureaucracies operate in a highly predictable manner
-exercise good control over individuals by replacing individual
judgments with dictates of rules, regulations and hierarchical
structures- especially by using trained managers specially
selected for their specific jobs
Weber felt that all bureaucracies are “rational”
•Efficiency,
•Calculability,
•Predictability,
•Increased Control through the Replacement of Human by Non-
human Technology.
Concern about raising rates of obesity in American, Morgan Spurlock
made the documentary “Supersize Me”. See what happened to him
as he eats three meals a day at McDonald’s for 1 month.