Social Problems: The Sociology

Project
First Edition

Chapter 2
Theories of Social
Problems

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What Is Social Theory? (1 of 3)
Social Theories
• Heart of sociological imagination
• Systematic models of societies
• Tools to seek understanding of social problems
• Guide and provoke

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (1 of 26)
Key Transitions of the 1800s and Early-1900s
• Agriculture to industry (industrial revolution)
• Rural to urban
• Monarchy to democracy
• Decline of religious influence

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (2 of 26)
Learning Objective 2.2.1 Discuss why Marx believed that societies were so heavily
shaped by their economic systems.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• Founder of socialist movement
• Economic system the defining element of society
• Economic surplus is a constant
• Goods distribution never truly equal

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (3 of 26)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) continued
• Economic inequality
• Who possesses surplus?
• By what means do they possess the surplus?
• What are consequences of uneven distribution?
• Tensions between classes create conflict

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (4 of 26)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) continued
• The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels (1848)
• Historical analysis
• Modes of production
• Ancient societies, slavery
• Feudalism, small group landowners
• Capitalism, market-based exchange

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (5 of 26)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) continued
• Forces of production
• Technological and productive capacity
• Tools used to create things
• Social relations of production
• Relationships and inequalities between people
• How people organize to perform tasks

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Figure 2.2 Marx’s Model of Society:
Components of A Mode of Production

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (6 of 26)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) continued
• Mode of production shapes social problems
• Determines laws and government
• Influences political and social ideas
• Das Kapital, Marx 1867
• Study of capitalism
• Conflict between elitist bourgeoisie and working class
proletariat
• Intermediate groups shrink over time to grow the imbalance

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (7 of 26)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) continued
• Social revolution likely as any mode stagnates
• Socialist society emerges from capitalism
• Class struggle inevitable
• Primary social problems
• Exploitation
• Domination

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (8 of 26)
Karl Marx (1818-1883) continued
• Anticipated rise of capitalism, globalization
• Established economy as critical context for
understanding problems
• Modern theorists look beyond economic facts

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (9 of 26)
Learning Objective 2.2.2 Analyze Émile Durkheim’s explanation of what holds societies
together.

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Founding father of sociology
• Key concepts
• Social facts or forces
• Social solidarity
• Impact of religion

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (10 of 26)
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) continued
• The Rules of Sociological Method, Durkheim (1895)
• Sociology an important science
• Examines social facts or forces
• Social relating to human action
• Facts or forces influencing behavior
• Forces objective, independent of our control

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (11 of 26)
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) continued
• Human behavior is learned
• Socialization process
• Norms an important force
• Social problems arise from ineffective norms
• Suicide is a social problem
• Patterns indicate forces exist beyond the individual

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (12 of 26)
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) continued
• Social solidarity
• What holds societies together?
• Weakened solidarity creates problems
• Mechanical or organic
• Mechanical solidarity
• Primitive societies built around families, tribes
• Minimal division of labor
• Simple, shared world view

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (13 of 26)
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) continued
• Organic solidarity
• Extensive division of labor
• Mutual dependence
• Integration increasingly difficult given complexity and
diversity

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Social Solidarity

Émile Durkheim’s ideas about

primitive, or tribal, societies
(where he thought there was
little room for individuality)
were contrasted with modern
societies where diversity is
common. Both types of
societies face the problem of
creating social solidarity and
solving social problems but do
it in very different ways.

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (14 of 26)
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) continued
• What held premodern societies together?
• Shared activities, worldview
• Routinized life less problematic
• What holds modern society together?
• Still need shared beliefs
• “Cult of the individual” a key belief

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (15 of 26)
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) continued
• Role of religion
• Centered on the sacred
• Not necessarily supernatural
• Knits groups together, provides common beliefs
• Problems arise when solidarity breaks down
• Violating of norms should be punished
• Punishment should reinforce sacred values

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (16 of 26)
Learning Objective 2.2.3 Discuss Max Weber’s contributions to our understanding of
motivations for behavior and status groups and social closure.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

• Economy and Society, Weber (1922), introduced
interpretative sociology
• Key concepts
• Individual behavior as foundation for social order
• How do motives shape actions?
• Typology based on guiding motives

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Figure 2.3 Weber’s Typology of
Motives for Action

For long description, see slide 59, Appendix B

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (17 of 26)
Max Weber (1864-1920) continued
• Society as a whole shaped by individuals’ actions
• The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
Weber (1904)
• Connected growth of capitalism to religious movement
• Shared values of hard work, reinvestment led to economic
success
• Successful values became model for future norms

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (18 of 26)
Max Weber (1864-1920) continued
• Charisma or “gift of grace”
• Individuals can influence beliefs of others

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (19 of 26)
Max Weber (1864-1920) continued
• Status groups
• Share attributes or identities, beyond economic
• Group struggles create stratification system
• Social closure seeks to monopolize opportunities

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (20 of 26)
Learning Objective 2.2.4 Explain W. E. B. Du Bois’s views of the diverse ways in which
racism influences the lives of African Americans and how racism produces a double
consciousness.

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
• Founder of the NAACP
• Key concepts
• Inequality was not biological
• Racism prevented African Americans from achieving

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (21 of 26)
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) continued
• Study of black community in late 1890s Philadelphia
• Statistical data
• House-to-house interviews
• Described failure of black “elites” to “uplift the race”

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How Did the Early Social Theorists
Think About Social Problems? (22 of 26)
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) continued
• The Souls of Black Folks, Du Bois (1903)
• Stereotypes a result of place in society
• Lack of educational opportunities
• Lack of economic opportunity
• Concentration in poor communities where crime is higher
• “Double consciousness”

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Double Consciousness

Du Bois’s view of the

“double consciousness”
of African Americans was
continually reinforced by
the practice of
segregation, especially
in the American South,
which prevented blacks
from participating in
mainstream American
life.

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