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Lecture 1

Learning Objectives

• This lecture provides students with the information necessary for

completing the following tasks:

• Identify social facts.

• Distinguish hypothesis and theory.

• Distinguish theories of everyday life from grand theories.

• Describe some of the common issues with sociological cannon and

explain why those issues matter.

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Social Facts

• Social facts are objects external to

individuals and invested with a

coercive power by which they come to

affect the lives of individuals.

• Many social facts are entirely nonmaterial, having no physical presence.

• Consider, for example, how language

fits the criteria of a social fact. Is it…

• …external to individuals?

• …invested with a coercive power?

• …something that affects people’s lives?

Theories and Hypotheses

• Hypotheses are testable propositions

about relationships that may exist

between variables.

• Theories are models derived from

scientific research that explain and

predict patterns of behavior.

• Theories consist of a series of hypotheses

that must be regularly tested and

continually verified.

• Theories that fail the verification process

are discarded, altered, or replaced.

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Theories and Hypotheses

• Sociological theories are sets of interrelated

ideas that allow for the systematization of

knowledge of the social world, the

explanation of that world, and predictions

about the future of that world.

• “…systemization…” refers to the process of

categorizing and organizing the objects of

interest to sociologists (i.e. social facts) and

what is known about them.

• This systemization process is dynamic as

opposed to fixed, changing as we learn more

about the world and the various objects

within.

Grand and Everyday Theories

• A grand theory attempts to explain a

longitudinal pattern of behavior and/or a

large portion of the social world.

• Theories of everyday life focus on the

characteristics and actions of individuals

and/or small groups within a specific

setting at a specific period of time.

• Grand theories may still be applied to

“everyday life,” but within the context of

grand theories, those “everyday life”

situations represent anecdotes within a

larger pattern that is being observed and

described.

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Sociological Cannon and Its Known Issues

• Sociological cannon is the theories, ideas,

and texts that, at least in the past, have been

considered the most important in the field of

sociology.

• While sociological cannon still largely consists

of white, Western European men, sociological

thought and theory has never been restricted

to that category.

• Only recently has the sociological community

made a concerted effort to acknowledge the

work of those who were “written out” of

sociological cannon to provide a more

accurate history of the development of

sociological theory.

Review

• Assess your understanding of the information within

this lecture by answering the following questions:

• What is a social fact?

• What is the difference between a hypothesis and

theory?

• What is the difference between a theory of everyday

life and a grand theory?

• Why and how has sociological cannon become more

accurate over time?

Lecture Outline 2

• This lecture provides students with the information necessary for

completing the following tasks:

• Explain classic sociological concepts and ideas expressed by Emile

Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber.

• Evaluate the utility of those theories.

• Explain contemporary concepts and theories have built upon the

ideas of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber.

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Karl Marx

• Influenced heavily by his parents and Hegelian

philosophy, Marx (1818 – 1883) spent his life

attempting to define and support an economic

system that he believed would permit the

expression of full human potential: communism.

• Within a capitalist system, the bourgeoisie own the

means of production and the proletariat must sell

their labor to them, thus establishing a hierarchical

arrangement.

• Marx believed a communist society would allow

for individuals to realize their creative capacity by

tearing down the economic barriers and

restrictions that often make innovation difficult,

especially for the proletariat.

Karl Marx

• Marx believed that capitalism was a necessary

developmental step towards a communist society,

but one that would inevitably result in the

exploitation and alienation of the proletariat if left

in place over time.

• According to Marx, capitalism would remain

entrenched due to the development of a false

consciousness – a collective misperception of

people’s relationships to one another and the

system that surrounds them.

• Because the owners are likely to be more

incentivized to maintain a system that benefits

themselves most, the workers must develop a class

consciousness and engage in praxis.

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Contemporary “Marx”

• Ralph Dahrendorf criticized Marx’s work

for being too narrowly focused on broad

class differences, arguing that conflict

groups and the systems around them are

more complicated in their construction

and operation.

• Divisions within the bourgeoisie and

proletariat (especially in the latter) led to

less direct conflict between them.

• Increases in self-employment as well as

participation within a sharing and gig

economy represent responses to crisis

within capitalism.

Emile Durkheim

• Durkheim (1858 - 1917) studied the first

industrial revolution and experienced the

second industrial revolution with a particular

interest in studying how these revolutions

changed the division of labor and social

solidarity within society.

• Durkheim perceived of society as “every

aggregate of individuals who are in

continuous contact...”

• Durkheim believed that society…

• …demands ongoing, patterned interaction,…

• …reminds us of the collective interests - our

“larger purpose,”…

• …and is made challenging by our basic human

instincts.

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Emile Durkheim

• “Pre-modern” societies exhibited

mechanical solidarity – a sense of

connectedness based on similarities

and shared experiences.

• The shift from pre-modern to modern

societies was marked by changes in

dynamic density, which describes the

number of people in society and their

frequency of interaction.

• “Modern” societies exhibit organic

solidarity – a sense of connectedness

based on mutual interdependence.

Contemporary “Durkheim”

• What is the division of labor like and

what factors affect social solidarity

within post-modern/industrial

societies?

• The augmentation hypothesis is the

idea that technology enhances

solidarity, and feelings of belonging.

• The displacement hypothesis is the

idea that technology reduces face-toface contact and causes isolation.

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Max Weber

• Emulating characteristics of both his parents,

albeit at different times, Weber (1864 – 1920)

came to encourage the scientific pursuit of

verstehen.

• Weber’s interests in studying what motivated

people to act are represented in his work The

Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

wherein he argued that people’s beliefs were

ultimately the cause of behavior and, if held

by many, could lead to the development of

social structures, systems, and institutions.

• Weber sought to distinguish rational and

nonrational behavior and determine the

extent to which the systems surrounding

individuals encouraged or discouraged either.

Practical Theoretical

Substantive Formal

Forms of

Rationality

Contemporary “Weber”

• George Ritzer’s theory of McDonaldization is

the idea that many of the organizations that

surround us today promote efficiency through

calculability, predictability, and technology.

• These seemingly “rational” organizations can

be less efficient than intended or cause other

dysfunctions within society.

• While Ritzer used McDonalds to frame this

“Weberian” theory, other scholars have

debated the extent to which Disney,

Starbucks, and other comparable

organizations are responsible for or engage in

this pattern.

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Review

• Assess your understanding of the information within this lecture by

answering the following questions:

• According to Karl Marx, what is a communist society and why did he

describe it as ideal?

• What is the difference between a false consciousness and a class

consciousness?

• What was Ralph Dahrendorf’s primary criticism of Marx’s work?

• How did Emile Durkheim define dynamic density?

• What is the difference between the augmentation hypothesis and

displacement hypothesis regarding the perceived effects of technology

on social solidarity?

• What is verstehen and how does this practice guide the development of

“Weberian” theory?

• What are the four principles of McDonaldization?

Lecture Outline 3

• This lecture provides students with the information necessary for

completing the following tasks:

• Distinguish types and forms.

• Explain the role that strangers play within Simmel’s group theory.

• Explain the tragedy of culture.

• Distinguish business and industry.

• Explain Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption.

• Describe DuBois’s concept of the veil.

• Explain DuBois’s theory of the double consciousness.

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Georg Simmel

• Simmel (1858 - 1918) argued that individuals

would construct basic categories for

individuals and interactions to navigate these

often-complex structures and social

situations.

• The basic means of categorization include…

• Types are patterns imposed on a wide range of

actors.

• Forms are the patterns imposed on events,

actions, and interactions in the social world.

• Simmel’s most well-known contributions

focus on the exponential growth in

associations that occurs alongside increases

in group membership.

• Dyads and Triads

Contemporary “Simmel”

• Defining the boundaries of each group are

strangers - those who are not close enough to

the group to be considered a member but not

far enough from the group to be entirely

unknown.

• Simmel believed that all relationships must

include some element of “strangeness” lest

they become disenchanting and without the

potential for surprise.

• Simmel sought to develop a grand theory

when comparing the association between

individual and objective culture in his theory

the tragedy of culture.

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Thorstein Veblen

• An economist above all else, Veblen

expressed concerns regarding the ways in

which business was overtaking industry

and its impacts on patterns of production

and consumption.

• Veblen perceived of business as focusing

on acquisition, money, and profitability

whereas industry focused on the

production of goods and services.

• Ideally, businesses would support the

growth and sustainability of industries

that would support and improve the

standard of living for those in society.

Contemporary “Veblen”

• As business overtakes industry, it will give rise

to growing inequality between classes that

will be marked by unique patterns of

conspicuous consumption and leisure.

• Regarding conspicuous consumption, consider

why individuals may go to Starbucks rather

than get a coffee machine to make their own

at home, or why someone may buy a third

yacht when their other two are just fine.

• We can observe class differences in leisure

activities, by considering the things that

people in different classes do for fun.

• Would you rather go to a dirt track race or go

golfing at a country club?

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W.E.B. DuBois

• As a Black man in the United States,

DuBois observed and experienced firsthand the impacts of race and ethnicity on

people’s associations and interactions.

• While sociologists today emphasize the

distinction between race and ethnicity,

DuBois believed that cultural differences

emerged between racial categories due to

the sociohistorical development of racial

groups.

• DuBois described race as a veil that led

minorities to develop a doubleconsciousness.

Contemporary “DuBois”

• Racial and ethnic minorities must frequently

operate in a society dominated by others who

are not entirely familiar with their history or

experiences which, in turn, may lead to the

exclusion or suppression of their interests in

the public domain.

• Code switching is the practice of a person

changing their behavior, particularly patterns

of communication, while moving between

minority and majority cultures.

• Recently, scholars have begun to apply

DuBois’s concepts of the veil and doubleconsciousness to racial majorities in order to

better understand the effects of Whiteness.

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Review

• Assess your understanding of the information within

this lecture by answering the following questions:

• Of what significance are types and forms within

Simmel’s theories of groups and culture?

• What is the distinction between business and industry

in Veblen’s theories of production, consumption, and

leisure?

• How did DuBois describe and apply the veil and

double-consciousness regarding his theories on race