Just a few reminders, especially for some of you who missed classes during that final week.
(1) I handed out a write-up of Essay II on Tuesday. It will be due on April 8th, which is the first class after the break. Also, I will be happy to accept any essays that are finished before then. You may email them to me directly.
(2)Don't forget about the longer paper assignment, especially if you decide to do topic II which will involve some outside research. That paper is due on April 29th.
(3) We will get back to Chapter 8 in the text when we get back. I may post some lecture notes over the break to cover the remainder of Weber.
Have a good break. See you in a week and a half.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Families' Midterm Questions
Below are the questions from the families which I accepted and will appear on our upcoming midterm exam (Thurs. 3/20). There was one similar question that two families proposed, and I decided to accept the version that was closer to the kind of question I would have asked. As you will also note, I did edit some of the questions you submitted. And for those families which submitted more than the required three, I simply discounted the additional ones. All participating family members receive 5 points and two of the families earned an additional bonus point. So, here they are:
YELLOW FAMILY (Patrick, Shane, Justin P., Jessica) One bonus point.
1. What was the central interest of the Philosophes/Enlightenment thinkers? (2)
ANSWER: "...The attainment of human and social perfectibility in the here and now rather than in some heavenly future. They consider rational education and scientific understanding of self and society the routes to all human and social progress." (p. 11)
2. Name and briefly define ONE of the two principal varieties of status quo conservatism. (2)
ANSWER: (a) evolutionism -- society changes slowly and is self-corrective in the process OR (b) functionalism -- society is similar to an organism with interrelated structures that meet needs and perform functions.
BLUE FAMILY: (Brent, Jessie, Bryant, Jennie)
1. In advocating the use of interviews, Harriet Martineau also saw the need to do what to guard against the possible bias from interviewing just a few individuals? (1)
ANSWER: she saw the need to select a RANDOM SAMPLE.
BLACK FAMILY: (Tye, McKenzie, Scott, Phil, MC) One bonus point
1. Define "social realism" and identify one theorist who strongly advocated social realism. (2)
ANSWER: social realism is the idea that society exists in its own right and is above and apart from the individuals in society. Durkheim was a strong advocate (or, Comte)
2. The authors of our text introduced three Research Traditions in Chapter 1, at least two of which we have encountered so far. Identify and briefly describe ONE of these two research traditions and identify ONE sociological theorist who is associated with that tradition. (3)
ANSWER: (a) Positivism: search for scientific laws of society. (Comte, Martineau, Saint Simon, or Durkheim) OR (b) Critical theory: antagonistic to positivism; seeks to envision a better society and promotes change. (Marx, Engels, Lenin, or Luxemburg)
See you tomorrow, when we'll wrap up Chapter 5 on Marx and Engels and get into and perhaps finish Chapter 6. I'll also set aside some time for review and questions.
YELLOW FAMILY (Patrick, Shane, Justin P., Jessica) One bonus point.
1. What was the central interest of the Philosophes/Enlightenment thinkers? (2)
ANSWER: "...The attainment of human and social perfectibility in the here and now rather than in some heavenly future. They consider rational education and scientific understanding of self and society the routes to all human and social progress." (p. 11)
2. Name and briefly define ONE of the two principal varieties of status quo conservatism. (2)
ANSWER: (a) evolutionism -- society changes slowly and is self-corrective in the process OR (b) functionalism -- society is similar to an organism with interrelated structures that meet needs and perform functions.
BLUE FAMILY: (Brent, Jessie, Bryant, Jennie)
1. In advocating the use of interviews, Harriet Martineau also saw the need to do what to guard against the possible bias from interviewing just a few individuals? (1)
ANSWER: she saw the need to select a RANDOM SAMPLE.
BLACK FAMILY: (Tye, McKenzie, Scott, Phil, MC) One bonus point
1. Define "social realism" and identify one theorist who strongly advocated social realism. (2)
ANSWER: social realism is the idea that society exists in its own right and is above and apart from the individuals in society. Durkheim was a strong advocate (or, Comte)
2. The authors of our text introduced three Research Traditions in Chapter 1, at least two of which we have encountered so far. Identify and briefly describe ONE of these two research traditions and identify ONE sociological theorist who is associated with that tradition. (3)
ANSWER: (a) Positivism: search for scientific laws of society. (Comte, Martineau, Saint Simon, or Durkheim) OR (b) Critical theory: antagonistic to positivism; seeks to envision a better society and promotes change. (Marx, Engels, Lenin, or Luxemburg)
See you tomorrow, when we'll wrap up Chapter 5 on Marx and Engels and get into and perhaps finish Chapter 6. I'll also set aside some time for review and questions.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Comments and Questions About First Family Activity; Clarifying Marx, and Reminders
COMMENTS & QUESTIONS ON FIRST FAMILY ACTIVITY:
I appreciated all the family submissions presented in class yesterday. They serve as a reminder of how superficial in some respects my presentation of these various social theorists can be. Below I am going to summarize what each of the families turned in, drawing as much as possible on your wording. I accepted a question from each family (for which you will get an additional point), but I had to modify a couple of them substantially. Everyone should consider this material as part of what we covered in class, so you need to study this (and the questions, of course) for the midterm exam.
BLUE FAMILY: Sumner's theory of ANTAGONISTIC COOPERATION (p. 85)
Sumner's theory of antagonistic cooperation is a form of cooperation where people or groups combine to satisfy common interests while minor antagonisms of interest are suppressed. This is not to say that Sumner advocated state or government interference in individuals' lives, but only that he recognized the need for a minimum amount of cooperation to allow for competition. He saw any government interference against capitalism as producing "violence, bloodshed, poverty, and misery." Therefore, in his mind, there must be some "antagonistic" cooperation to serve the common good (although I would say, it is not clear how much or in what circumstances exactly), but not in the socialist sense because there will always be underlying conflict regarding scarce resources, which he regarded as a natural law. This is relevant to today because it balances the conservative ideology of survival of the fittest by saying that we have a need for government to ensure that underlying conflicts do not interfere with the common good.
Midterm Question: Although Sumner stressed survival of the fittest and conflict as essential to societal evolution and harmony, what theory (or concept) did he offer to explain people coming together to fight for a common cause such as in wartime? (1pt)
Answer: the theory of "antagonistic cooperation," or a form of cooperation which occurs when people or groups combine to "satisfy a great common interest while minor antagonisms of interest which exist between them are suppressed." (p. 85)
YELLOW FAMILY: Herbert Spencer's "Law of Adaptation" (pp. 65-66)
Spencer's "law of adaptation" is one of four social laws which Spencer believed were scientific. Presumably, Spencer believed these could be proven empirically, especially through observation. Spencer postulated the law of adaptation in order to express his ideas on social progress, thereby fusing science and ethics. He recognized that society is composed of individuals, and he believed that individual happiness was the ultimate end of life. The ultimate end of society, he believed, is to facilitate "the greatest happiness of all." (65) Spencer, therefore, argued that the state should limit its interference in the lives of its citizens. We may notice the vestiges of this today when we hear conservatives or libertarians arguing for an expansion of free enterprise and free markets (laissez faire).
In a nutshell, the law of adaptation is this: Human progress develops naturally when people are free. The evolutionary progress of society necessitates freedom....
Obviously, Spencer's law of adaptation is relevant because it offers a distinct contrast to the theories we've studied so far. It contrasts with the social realism of Comte and Saint Simon. Nonetheless, Spencer regarded it as a scientific social law just as Comte and Martineau assumed there were social laws.
Midterm Question: Spencer's "law of adaptation" is based on what view of the relationship between the individual and the state? (1 pt)
ANSWER: The individual must be naturally free, unconstrained by the state as much as possible, where the only duty of the state is to protect each citizen from the "trespasses of neighbors" and defend society against foreign aggression.
BLACK FAMILY: Herbert Spencer's Concept of "Social Types and Constitutions" (p. 71)
Herbert Spencer was concerned with the development and evolution of society. Spencer identified three functional systems that exist within society and suggested that as societies grow these systems become more complex through compounding and re-compounding. This growth leads to increasing specialization and eventually structural differentiation. We felt that Spencer's theories on functional social systems, and their relation to the evolution of society, are important because his theories show the way, and order, in which societies must grow and develop in order to become "great civilized nations." Additionally, by recognizing these three systems, Spencer shows that all societies needed to solve problems of control and coordination, production of goods, services, and ideas, and finally, find ways to distribute these resources....
The three functional social systems:
(1) Sustaining System: productive activities required by an organism or a society to maintain and develop itself.
(2) Regulating System: governing structures of the organism or society.
(3) Distributing System: means by which the sustaining and regulating systems are linked together. This system is critical to the maintenance of relationships between interdependent parts of both biological and social organisms. This involves communication channels, transporation means, and the circulation of goods and people.
Midterm Question: Name or describe TWO of Spencer's three types of functional systems within society? (2 pts)
ANSWER: See above.
Before we move on, let me stress that the above three questions will be on the midterm. Also, I would suggest you review the pages in the text from which these various concepts and theories came from. I may ask a couple more questions based on this material.
____________________________
Clarifying my opening lecture on Marx: I did not feel good at all about my lecture yesterday which I suspect may have been a bit confusing to some of you. When talking about Marx and Marxism I have a tendency to go off on tangents about political and historical events since I have also read extensively on revolutionary states and movements in the 20th century. So, let me backtrack a bit.
It is important to understand Marx's materialism, as well as the distinction between historical and dialectical materialism. The following passage (which I did not present in class yesterday) underscores his materialism in contrast to some other thinkers we've discussed:
"Like other nineteenth-century social scientists from Comte to Spencer, he (rightly) insisted that societies, like organisms, were systems, composed of parts (social institutions). Each part was influenced by its relationship to the rest, and the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. But this left open the question as to whether all institutions were of equal weight, and of how the different institutions fitted one another. The search was on for a master principle analogous to natural selection in biological evolution. For idealists, the dynamic of social development was humanity's intellectual capacity. For Marx, it had to be 'material' -- and he found it, eventually, in the concept of the mode of production."
The best statement of Marx's HISTORICAL MATERIALISM comes from his Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859), which the authors of our text do not cite, unfortunately:
"In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond to definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life."
And remember that DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM encompasses a view of social change, and I believe is perhaps best captured in a phrase Marx uses in The Communist Manifesto: that each stage of society (as long as there is a class hierarchy) contains within itself THE SEEDS OF ITS OWN DESTRUCTION (until, of course, in theory, a classless society comes into being).
I hope this helps. We'll get back to Marx tomorrow.
_________________________
REMINDERS: Remember, I'll give the families some more time to brainstorm some midterm exam questions, which should be short-answer. Each family needs to come up with THREE such questions which you will e-mail me NO LATER THAN NOON FRIDAY, 14TH. These questions can come from any material we've covered since the beginning of the term. Also, finish reading Chapter 5 in the text, if you haven't already.
I appreciated all the family submissions presented in class yesterday. They serve as a reminder of how superficial in some respects my presentation of these various social theorists can be. Below I am going to summarize what each of the families turned in, drawing as much as possible on your wording. I accepted a question from each family (for which you will get an additional point), but I had to modify a couple of them substantially. Everyone should consider this material as part of what we covered in class, so you need to study this (and the questions, of course) for the midterm exam.
BLUE FAMILY: Sumner's theory of ANTAGONISTIC COOPERATION (p. 85)
Sumner's theory of antagonistic cooperation is a form of cooperation where people or groups combine to satisfy common interests while minor antagonisms of interest are suppressed. This is not to say that Sumner advocated state or government interference in individuals' lives, but only that he recognized the need for a minimum amount of cooperation to allow for competition. He saw any government interference against capitalism as producing "violence, bloodshed, poverty, and misery." Therefore, in his mind, there must be some "antagonistic" cooperation to serve the common good (although I would say, it is not clear how much or in what circumstances exactly), but not in the socialist sense because there will always be underlying conflict regarding scarce resources, which he regarded as a natural law. This is relevant to today because it balances the conservative ideology of survival of the fittest by saying that we have a need for government to ensure that underlying conflicts do not interfere with the common good.
Midterm Question: Although Sumner stressed survival of the fittest and conflict as essential to societal evolution and harmony, what theory (or concept) did he offer to explain people coming together to fight for a common cause such as in wartime? (1pt)
Answer: the theory of "antagonistic cooperation," or a form of cooperation which occurs when people or groups combine to "satisfy a great common interest while minor antagonisms of interest which exist between them are suppressed." (p. 85)
YELLOW FAMILY: Herbert Spencer's "Law of Adaptation" (pp. 65-66)
Spencer's "law of adaptation" is one of four social laws which Spencer believed were scientific. Presumably, Spencer believed these could be proven empirically, especially through observation. Spencer postulated the law of adaptation in order to express his ideas on social progress, thereby fusing science and ethics. He recognized that society is composed of individuals, and he believed that individual happiness was the ultimate end of life. The ultimate end of society, he believed, is to facilitate "the greatest happiness of all." (65) Spencer, therefore, argued that the state should limit its interference in the lives of its citizens. We may notice the vestiges of this today when we hear conservatives or libertarians arguing for an expansion of free enterprise and free markets (laissez faire).
In a nutshell, the law of adaptation is this: Human progress develops naturally when people are free. The evolutionary progress of society necessitates freedom....
Obviously, Spencer's law of adaptation is relevant because it offers a distinct contrast to the theories we've studied so far. It contrasts with the social realism of Comte and Saint Simon. Nonetheless, Spencer regarded it as a scientific social law just as Comte and Martineau assumed there were social laws.
Midterm Question: Spencer's "law of adaptation" is based on what view of the relationship between the individual and the state? (1 pt)
ANSWER: The individual must be naturally free, unconstrained by the state as much as possible, where the only duty of the state is to protect each citizen from the "trespasses of neighbors" and defend society against foreign aggression.
BLACK FAMILY: Herbert Spencer's Concept of "Social Types and Constitutions" (p. 71)
Herbert Spencer was concerned with the development and evolution of society. Spencer identified three functional systems that exist within society and suggested that as societies grow these systems become more complex through compounding and re-compounding. This growth leads to increasing specialization and eventually structural differentiation. We felt that Spencer's theories on functional social systems, and their relation to the evolution of society, are important because his theories show the way, and order, in which societies must grow and develop in order to become "great civilized nations." Additionally, by recognizing these three systems, Spencer shows that all societies needed to solve problems of control and coordination, production of goods, services, and ideas, and finally, find ways to distribute these resources....
The three functional social systems:
(1) Sustaining System: productive activities required by an organism or a society to maintain and develop itself.
(2) Regulating System: governing structures of the organism or society.
(3) Distributing System: means by which the sustaining and regulating systems are linked together. This system is critical to the maintenance of relationships between interdependent parts of both biological and social organisms. This involves communication channels, transporation means, and the circulation of goods and people.
Midterm Question: Name or describe TWO of Spencer's three types of functional systems within society? (2 pts)
ANSWER: See above.
Before we move on, let me stress that the above three questions will be on the midterm. Also, I would suggest you review the pages in the text from which these various concepts and theories came from. I may ask a couple more questions based on this material.
____________________________
Clarifying my opening lecture on Marx: I did not feel good at all about my lecture yesterday which I suspect may have been a bit confusing to some of you. When talking about Marx and Marxism I have a tendency to go off on tangents about political and historical events since I have also read extensively on revolutionary states and movements in the 20th century. So, let me backtrack a bit.
It is important to understand Marx's materialism, as well as the distinction between historical and dialectical materialism. The following passage (which I did not present in class yesterday) underscores his materialism in contrast to some other thinkers we've discussed:
"Like other nineteenth-century social scientists from Comte to Spencer, he (rightly) insisted that societies, like organisms, were systems, composed of parts (social institutions). Each part was influenced by its relationship to the rest, and the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. But this left open the question as to whether all institutions were of equal weight, and of how the different institutions fitted one another. The search was on for a master principle analogous to natural selection in biological evolution. For idealists, the dynamic of social development was humanity's intellectual capacity. For Marx, it had to be 'material' -- and he found it, eventually, in the concept of the mode of production."
The best statement of Marx's HISTORICAL MATERIALISM comes from his Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859), which the authors of our text do not cite, unfortunately:
"In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond to definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life."
And remember that DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM encompasses a view of social change, and I believe is perhaps best captured in a phrase Marx uses in The Communist Manifesto: that each stage of society (as long as there is a class hierarchy) contains within itself THE SEEDS OF ITS OWN DESTRUCTION (until, of course, in theory, a classless society comes into being).
I hope this helps. We'll get back to Marx tomorrow.
_________________________
REMINDERS: Remember, I'll give the families some more time to brainstorm some midterm exam questions, which should be short-answer. Each family needs to come up with THREE such questions which you will e-mail me NO LATER THAN NOON FRIDAY, 14TH. These questions can come from any material we've covered since the beginning of the term. Also, finish reading Chapter 5 in the text, if you haven't already.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
IMPORTANT AMENDMENT TO NEW FAMILY ACTIVITY
Regarding the New Family Activity I posted last Thursday, 3/6, which involves making up midterm exam question, I am going to need to revise the due date. Instead of Tuesday, 3/18, I am going to need those questions by THURSDAY, 3/13. I will give you some class time on Tuesday to brainstorm some questions, and then I want each family to present its 3 proposed questions (and answers) on Thursday. The reason for the change is I need more time to make up the midterm exam; it would be very difficult to do that if I got your questions just two days before the exam. So please be advised of this change. And check out the previous post of 3/6 if you haven't already. See you Tuesday when I will also expect to hear from each family regarding overlooked concepts or ideas.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Remaining Lecture Notes on Durkheim & New Family Activity
Sorry I ran out of time this morning, but I had intended to finish Durkheim and move on to Section III: Radical Theory and Chapter 5. So, I'll post my remaining remarks on this blog:
A. Gender Relations
1. As the point I made about suicide and marriage (marriage being good for men but bad for women in terms of suicide) suggests, Durkheim accepted the notion that there were fundamental physical and mental differences between the sexes that were natural, biologically based, which meant that men and women were suited to different tasks in social life.
2. "Women's domestic role was "natural" and functional in the logic of progressive specialization, as well as being important to the moral health of society." (p. 112)
3. Durkheim also appears to have bought into the stereotype of women as closer to nature, men more rational and intellectual. And in this respect, if one of the marks of social progress is control of nature, then it is a sign of progress that men control women!!
4. I believe it is undeniable that Durkheim made some significant contributions to sociology and explored some important issues regarding the transition to modern society, but on the gender issue I fully concur with the authors' assessment: "Like so many classical sociologists, Durkheim's sociological imagination seems to have deserted him when it comes to the question of gender." (p. 114)
B. Finally, the authors rightly challenge the simple application of the conservative label to Durkheim. True, he was interested in restoring order and stability to society, but he was not advocating a form of sociological totalitarianism. Individual rights (at least for men) needed to be protected. Furthermore, they suggest the issues and problems Durkheim dealt with a century ago are still very much with us. (see p. 117)
1. In this context, read carefully the bracketed portion of the xerox handout (pp. 146-147)which I believe very accurately characterizes Durkheim's ultimate position on what was necessary for modern society to achieve a harmonious social order.
Section III: Radical Theory
A. The authors open this section by drawing a clear contrast between the conservative theories we've been discussing and radical theory which will be the focus of the next couple chapters. The whole of p. 119 gets at both the general and some specific differences between conservative and radical theory. (I planned to quote and comment on most of that in class.)
So, that brings us up to the beginning of Chapter 5 where we will begin on Tuesday (3/11) after we hear from the families about overlooked concepts or ideas.
_________________________
FAMILY ACTIVITY: Midterm Questions
For this second family activity, as I mentioned in class today, I want to give you a shot at making up some questions for our upcoming midterm exam (3/20). I want each of the families to come up with THREE short-answer questions on anything we have covered since the beginning of the term. Use class (or blog) lecture notes as your guide, as well as xerox handouts which I used to supplement the text. DO NOT MAKE UP QUESTIONS ON PORTIONS OF THE TEXT OR BOLD-PRINT TERMS THAT I DID NOT REFER TO IN CLASS (OR ON THE BLOG). I'll give the families a chance to brainstorm some questions next week. You'll have to come to some consensus on which three you want to present. You'll need to have these written up, along with answers, by TUESDAY 3/18. I will make every effort to accept at least one question from each family. For each additional question I accept you will earn a bonus point, so if I accept all three each participating family member may earn two bonus points. This activity is worth 5 points.
A. Gender Relations
1. As the point I made about suicide and marriage (marriage being good for men but bad for women in terms of suicide) suggests, Durkheim accepted the notion that there were fundamental physical and mental differences between the sexes that were natural, biologically based, which meant that men and women were suited to different tasks in social life.
2. "Women's domestic role was "natural" and functional in the logic of progressive specialization, as well as being important to the moral health of society." (p. 112)
3. Durkheim also appears to have bought into the stereotype of women as closer to nature, men more rational and intellectual. And in this respect, if one of the marks of social progress is control of nature, then it is a sign of progress that men control women!!
4. I believe it is undeniable that Durkheim made some significant contributions to sociology and explored some important issues regarding the transition to modern society, but on the gender issue I fully concur with the authors' assessment: "Like so many classical sociologists, Durkheim's sociological imagination seems to have deserted him when it comes to the question of gender." (p. 114)
B. Finally, the authors rightly challenge the simple application of the conservative label to Durkheim. True, he was interested in restoring order and stability to society, but he was not advocating a form of sociological totalitarianism. Individual rights (at least for men) needed to be protected. Furthermore, they suggest the issues and problems Durkheim dealt with a century ago are still very much with us. (see p. 117)
1. In this context, read carefully the bracketed portion of the xerox handout (pp. 146-147)which I believe very accurately characterizes Durkheim's ultimate position on what was necessary for modern society to achieve a harmonious social order.
Section III: Radical Theory
A. The authors open this section by drawing a clear contrast between the conservative theories we've been discussing and radical theory which will be the focus of the next couple chapters. The whole of p. 119 gets at both the general and some specific differences between conservative and radical theory. (I planned to quote and comment on most of that in class.)
So, that brings us up to the beginning of Chapter 5 where we will begin on Tuesday (3/11) after we hear from the families about overlooked concepts or ideas.
_________________________
FAMILY ACTIVITY: Midterm Questions
For this second family activity, as I mentioned in class today, I want to give you a shot at making up some questions for our upcoming midterm exam (3/20). I want each of the families to come up with THREE short-answer questions on anything we have covered since the beginning of the term. Use class (or blog) lecture notes as your guide, as well as xerox handouts which I used to supplement the text. DO NOT MAKE UP QUESTIONS ON PORTIONS OF THE TEXT OR BOLD-PRINT TERMS THAT I DID NOT REFER TO IN CLASS (OR ON THE BLOG). I'll give the families a chance to brainstorm some questions next week. You'll have to come to some consensus on which three you want to present. You'll need to have these written up, along with answers, by TUESDAY 3/18. I will make every effort to accept at least one question from each family. For each additional question I accept you will earn a bonus point, so if I accept all three each participating family member may earn two bonus points. This activity is worth 5 points.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Key Quotes on Durkheim's Division of Labor in Society & Additional Lecture Material
Below are the passages I quoted in class yesterday from sources other than our text which I believe help elucidate Durkheim's argument in The Division of Labor in Society:
First, his use of the organic analogy in comparing "restitutive law" in modern society to the nervous system in the body:
"This law (restitutive) definitely plays a role in society analogous to that played by the nervous system in the organism. The latter has as its task, in effect, the regulation of the different functions of the body in such a way as to make them harmonize."
Durkheim had doubts about the possibility of "organic solidarity" emerging automatically from the increasing division of labor. He believed the modern world was in a transitional phase in which what was needed was a new set of moral rules to address the condition of ANOMIE (often defined simply as a condition of normlessness or breakdown of moral guidelines). But I quoted a longer description of ANOMIE:
"In general, the anomic state of modern society has led to a relatively unrestrained citizenry, wherein people primarily look out for their own interests and have disregard for those of others....The individual's social part, Durkheim insisted, is just as natural to humans as their individual (self-interest) part. The problems of modern society are due not to a basically anti-social human nature but to the structure of contemporary society, which does not adequately nurture, develop, and sustain the individual's socially oriented part." -- and sociology could play a key role in developing a new morality (a "science of ethics") to cultivate the "individual's socially oriented part."
So, what Durkheim perceives is a "moral crisis" (NOT one rooted in a capitalist economic system, as Marx would contend). As George Ritzer observed -- "In the end, structural reform was subordinated in Durkheim's mind to changes in the collective morality. He believed the essential problems of modern society were moral in nature and that the only real solution lay in reinforcing the strength of the collective morality."
1. Initially, the OCCUPATIONAL GROUP was seen as the key intermediate institution (or vehicle) through which this new morality could take hold, but ultimately Durkheim advocated a MORAL EDUCATION (which is also the title of his last book).
The theme of a moral education is taken up a bit later by the authors of our text, and they do a good job describing what it involves and why it is needed in modern society.
I am going to leave it there. As you'll note, I provided a bit of lecture material along with those passages I quoted. We'll be able to wrap up Chapter 4 tomorrow (Thurs. 3/6) and move on to Radical Theory and Chapters 5 & 6. I will also give the families some more time to work on your family activity for next Tuesday (3/11).
First, his use of the organic analogy in comparing "restitutive law" in modern society to the nervous system in the body:
"This law (restitutive) definitely plays a role in society analogous to that played by the nervous system in the organism. The latter has as its task, in effect, the regulation of the different functions of the body in such a way as to make them harmonize."
Durkheim had doubts about the possibility of "organic solidarity" emerging automatically from the increasing division of labor. He believed the modern world was in a transitional phase in which what was needed was a new set of moral rules to address the condition of ANOMIE (often defined simply as a condition of normlessness or breakdown of moral guidelines). But I quoted a longer description of ANOMIE:
"In general, the anomic state of modern society has led to a relatively unrestrained citizenry, wherein people primarily look out for their own interests and have disregard for those of others....The individual's social part, Durkheim insisted, is just as natural to humans as their individual (self-interest) part. The problems of modern society are due not to a basically anti-social human nature but to the structure of contemporary society, which does not adequately nurture, develop, and sustain the individual's socially oriented part." -- and sociology could play a key role in developing a new morality (a "science of ethics") to cultivate the "individual's socially oriented part."
So, what Durkheim perceives is a "moral crisis" (NOT one rooted in a capitalist economic system, as Marx would contend). As George Ritzer observed -- "In the end, structural reform was subordinated in Durkheim's mind to changes in the collective morality. He believed the essential problems of modern society were moral in nature and that the only real solution lay in reinforcing the strength of the collective morality."
1. Initially, the OCCUPATIONAL GROUP was seen as the key intermediate institution (or vehicle) through which this new morality could take hold, but ultimately Durkheim advocated a MORAL EDUCATION (which is also the title of his last book).
The theme of a moral education is taken up a bit later by the authors of our text, and they do a good job describing what it involves and why it is needed in modern society.
I am going to leave it there. As you'll note, I provided a bit of lecture material along with those passages I quoted. We'll be able to wrap up Chapter 4 tomorrow (Thurs. 3/6) and move on to Radical Theory and Chapters 5 & 6. I will also give the families some more time to work on your family activity for next Tuesday (3/11).
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