Without doing any research or reading in our text, I want you to identify a sociologist that you have read or heard about in any sociology course you have taken and briefly describe an idea or concept he or she developed that you believe has some merit or usefulness. Describe briefly in what way exactly you believe this idea or concept is useful.
I am looking for two paragraphs at most (no dissertations). Post them as a comment on this blog post. This activity is worth 5 activity points, which you will earn for any reasonable submission. Please do so by next Monday, Feb. 15th, so I can have the opportunity to review them and possibly use some in class next week.
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Erving Goffman is widely known for dramaturgy. Dramaturgy is the idea that social life is a play and we are all performers in it. We wear different masks in different situations and the mask (self) is situationally created and is negotiated between you and the people you are with. The mask can change in an instant or you can use it multiple times. Front stage is where the play takes place and back stage is where the performance teams regroup and rethink their performance.
This concept is useful in everyday situations because you accept that it is a performance and therefore go along with it easily. If you go to a fancy cocktail party you can prep yourself by saying "this is a performance...play along well with others and you will be successful." I remind myself of Goffman every time I give a tour to perspective students because I am putting on the same performance each time but they are seeing it for the first time. I have to keep up the performance to connect with them so they will decide to come to Wofford and I have to make sure to read them well to make sure I give them a tour they would like (again: self is situationally created).
Alan Donald
Sociology 340
Max Weber was a German sociologist who believed in economic sociology. His most famous work is “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, which also began Weber’s work in the sociology of religion. Weber also argued that the beginnings of capitalism is not purely materialist in Karl Marx's sense, but rather originates in religious ideals. Weber was also the first to recognize several diverse aspects of social authority. His views of bureaucracy stated that modern state institutions are based on a form of rational-legal authority. Weber's thought regarding the rationalizing tendencies of modern Western society, which is sometimes known as the Weber Thesis, comes to facilitate critical theory.
Weber’s thoughts and ideas about economic sociology and capitalism still exist today. Weber believed that people spend their money not solely on what they could gain from it, but maybe what they could help others benefit from as well. Weber’s thoughts about the modern state institution based on rational legal authority is seen today in our society through the many different laws that we have in place today that keep our society together without social disorder.
Max Weber was also someone I have learned about in previous sociology classes and I believe he stuck out to me the most because of his thoughts about economics. These beliefs were unselfish thoughts and unlike others he believed many people did things with their money to help others and not just themselves. Weber was recognized for coming up with the "Ideal Type" and explaining that there is more to it then describing someone else, but interpreting them is the main goal. He understood that social order was important and "Ideal Types" helps us understand human behavior.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is relevant not only in the specific field of sociolinguistics but also in the greater field of everyday interaction, especially in today’s increasingly globalizing context. Aptly named for the developers Sapir and Whorf, the theory relates an individual’s or rather a specific culture’s understanding of the world in relation to their language. In its most rigid interpretation, it explains a culture’s grasp of their environment as limited and bound by their language; thus, if a particular society does not have a word that matches a concept, it is then unable to interpret or grasp the concept itself. (e.g. “snow”, Cultures originally located in areas with tropic climates may not have experienced snow and so the word for “snow” was not developed; according to the strict application, they are unable to then grasp the concept of “snow” if/once they encounter it.) If we were to substitute the word “honor” or “death” for “snow” in the example, we can perhaps see how differences in language and meaning can become problematic in pluralist societies.
The softer interpretation of this hypothesis defines the relationship differently, in that a society’s/culture’s language predisposes individual’s to think a certain way, but it does not restrict them (in other words, there is no determining factor between language and thinking). Today, the globalizing environment we live in provides growing opportunities for cultures to interact and often clash with, misunderstand, and misrepresent each other. This hypothesis can relate to one dimension of cultural relations within communities and also in defining gaps, misinterpretations, and strategies for overcoming cultural barriers in communities by recognizing the ambiguities of our definitions of our constructed human social realities.
Karl Marx is mostly widely recognized as the writer of "The Communist Manifesto." He is an important sociologist because of his ideas about the bourgeoisie (the small group of elite aristocrats) expoloitation of the proletariat (large group made up the working class). He thought that the working class should overthrow the aristocracy because over time a power struggle would ensue because of the large wealthy gap. Marx was opposed to capitalism because of the private ownership of the means to production. He thought that these means should be socialized and owned by the people, not a small elite group. After the majority working class revolted, he thought that equality would be created and that there would be no class divsions.
Leon Festinger wrote extensively on the theory of cognitive dissonance wherein he described the social reactions to having incongruous thoughts. Festinger found that when you have one cognition and then are either forced to do something directly countering this cognition or it is otherwise shaken you will react with one of two responses. The first is that you will become more fervent about this belief. The second response is that you will internalize the secondary cognition and then give up your original beliefs.
This is useful because it can be used within debates and other arguements when discussing polarized issues or when discussing them with staunch supporters. The most useful aspect here is that you can understand what their responses will be and then be prepared to deal with the backlash of it.
Erving Goffman has been one sociologist that has been mentioned in just about every sociology class I have taken so far. He is known for his theory of the dramaturgical approach.
This approach basically means that we can analyze social life as if it was a performance. We as people can change different ways we act depending on the situation. One concept that is critical in the dramaturgical approach is impression management. Impression management is where a person manipulates their actions or appearance to present themselves as a particular person. I think the approach Goffman took can be applied to everyday life in some way. Because we as a people do treat situations from day to day as a performance.
Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents is one of the most prominent sociological works that stands out in my mind from my past courses. I actually read the full text in a religion course. During this course we focused on the religious aspects of Freud's argument, as he sought to dismantle what he saw as having unnecessary and debilitating effects to the overall good of society. Freud instead proposed that science should become the new tenet which gives meaning to society. He also characterized religion as an extension into adulthood of childish desires for paternal affection and guidance.
While Freud's stance on religion is a bit extreme, I think what can be gained from his criticism is that religion should be something that is not solely a debilitating comfort, but leads one to effecting actually positive change for society. A religion which denigrates scientific advances is dangerous to society, while a religion which seeks to understand science can help one make better sense of the ways in which society functions.
The sociologist who affects Americans the most on a daily basis, in my opinion, is Martin Luther King, Jr. His concepts of equality, non-violence, and civil disobedience are in many ways part of our core values as a nation. His legacy, white-washed though it may be, is one of peace and sacrifice. His concept of civil disobedience is one that I find very meaningful. King stated that breaking a law that one feels is unjust and then accepting the legal ramifications of that action shows the highest respect for that law. This means that if a person were to choose to protest illegally outside of an event, for example, and then allow himself to be arrested, he has shown that he respects himself enough to stand up for his beliefs and respects the law enough to accept his punishment. I agree strongly with this sentiment. King spoke from a religious position, but his speeches taught inclusion. I think that this, too, is an important concept for modern Americans. We so often understand religious and secular positions to be at odds with one another. I think it is important to study King's works and to follow the example of a man who was willing to look past the relatively minor ideological differences of his colleagues in the pursuit of the greater good.
Howard Becker invented labeling theory to help explain primary and secondary deviance. The idea is that once a person is labeled as deviant their identity becomes spoiled. Other people begin to treat this person as a “deviant” person and soon this person starts to believe they are actually deviant. This leads to further deviance, known as secondary deviance. In my class we learned that about 2/3 of criminals end up back in prison. One of the reasons could be due to labeling theory. Other people might not offer them jobs since they have been labeled as a “criminal” already. Without a job they turned back to the streets and became involved in deviants acts once again, seeing no hope for overcoming their “deviant” identity.
This theory is important because once one has learned the potential effects of labeling someone as deviant, they might think twice before labeling someone again. In our class we used the example of a child being labeled ADHD. When this child was not on his medicine he explained that his bad behavior was because he had not taken his medicine that day. This label enables the child to act out in deviant ways while providing a convenient excuse. Also, the understanding of this theory may provide an understanding of someone who has committed repeated deviant acts. (Such as the 2/3’s of criminals who return to jail.)
Through all of my sociology classes I have enjoyed studying George Herbert Mead's symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism is a theory based on how people interact with one another. Herbert Blumer added on to Mead's theory by defining the signals we send out as practices we have learned from interacting with people over time, and how we believe we should interact. I believe that this is an important theory because it helps us to better understand society's everyday practices. We must be able to understand how people "normally" act in order to define abnormal behavior.
The first Sociologist that came to my mind when considering this question was Auguste Comte. Although there are countless sociologists that I have studied over the course of my time in college he springs to my mind. Comte is considered the first founding "Father" of Sociology and basically paved the way for sociological thought and practice. He attempted to put into words and practice the reasons behind events such as the French Revolution that had left such a mark on 'society', therefore leading to what we today call Sociology. It was Durkheim who later academically established Sociology as a subject for study. I believe he defined the term "altruism" meaning concern for the welfare of others around you. In a way Sociology studies this concept because we look to what is going on around us in order to discover things about how people interact and what happens on a larger social scale. This is a useful tool to Sociologists because we can try to discover how the individual relates to the larger scheme of society. Comte is clearly most significant because he created a movement towards what is now Sociology and the great figures that we look to.
The dramaturgical theory by Goffman is one of the more interesting theories that I have studied in a sociology class at Wofford. This theory is a description of human interaction and how people adapt their behavior in response to their environment. People are continuously conscious of their appearance and behavior in front of others, which differs from their behavior when they are alone or in a very comfortable environment. People don’t always act like themselves, they act like a version of themselves that they believe others will perceive as the social norm.
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