Reminders & Lecture Notes

REMINDERS: Remember, that I will be giving the families a bit more time tomorrow (Thurs. 4/22) to come up with what you consider three significant contributions to sociological theory from Chapter 11. Next Tuesday (4/27) I want a representative from each family to present your findings in class. And, then, by next Wed. (4/28) I want those findings posted as a comment on the blog post where I described this family activity. Below is the "game plan" for what I hope to cover by the end of the semester:

Chapter 12: W.E.B. DuBois
Chapter 13: Mead & Freud
_________________________________ April 20-22

Section VII
Chapter 14: 20th Century Functionalism
Chapter 16: Critical Theory
_________________________________ April 27-29

Chapter 19: Mid-20th Century Sociology
Chapter 24: Final Thoughts
"Order and Disorder in Society" E.A. Ahrens (4 copies on reserve in the library)
"SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION PAPER DUE, THURSDAY MAY6TH
__________________________________ May 4-6

"Order and Disorder in Society"
Essay III
__________________________________ May 11-13

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LECTURE NOTES:

A couple final points about Robert Michels:

1. Not only was Michels skeptical about the goal of a Marxist revolution -- a classless, stateless society -- but he was also sensitive to the difficulty of enlisting the support of the masses in overthrowing capitalism as long as there appeared some hope or opportunity for the proletariat to rise to the top (i.e., some "upward mobility").

2. In fact, Michels recognized that rather than demeaning, alienating work giving rise to radicalism, it is more likely to breed APATHY among the workers.

CHAPTER 10: ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES: VEBLEN AND SCHUMPETER

A. Although both of these thinkers had interesting insights into the nature of capitalist society, we are going to focus on Veblen as the better-known and more influential figure (an influence on C. Wright Mills, for example) and gloss over Schumpeter (in part, because I am not that familiar with his work, and I believe it could be characterized as more strictly economic rather than sociological.)

B. The chapter opens, appropriately, I believe, with a song from "Fiddler on the Roof" -- "If I Were a Rich Man" -- a song which illustrates Veblen's notion of "conspicuous consumption" in his most famous work, "The Theory of the Leisure Class."

C. Biographically speaking, Veblen was born and raised on the farm in the Midwest (Wisc. & Minn.), but he clearly "broke the mold" becoming quite an intellectual, one with a critical, even sarcastic, bent.

(1. As we've seen before, the authors indulge in a little pop psychology, suggesting that his marginality and struggles obtaining and keeping an academic appointment fed his criticism of America and higher education. Perhaps, but it strikes me as pure speculation, and suggesting such a connection tends to diminish the strength of his arguments.)

D. It is noted that Veblen was something of an evolutionist, in that he believed in technological change, but he was critical of capitalism and he did NOT believe in the inevitability of human progress, whether through evolution or Marxist revolution.

1. Indeed, as the authors observe, "Had Veblen been more optimistic about the ability to change society, he might have been a Marxist." (p. 246)

E. Despite their strong criticisms of capitalism, Veblen disagreed with Marx on some important points.

1. Veblen questioned the whole idea of economic laws, such as Marx proposed regarding the inevitability of a workers' revolution.

a.) Veblen saw oppressed, exploited workers NOT rationally considering what might be in their best interests -- overthrowing the system -- but he saw their situation giving rise to apathy, avoiding change. This is nicely summed up -- see middle paragraph, p. 247.

2. The authors suggest Veblen's view of capitalism was even more cynical than Marx's. Veblen noted how SABOTAGE, DESTRUCTION are important to capitalist business enterprise, in two senses:

a.) BUILT-IN OBSOLESCENCE -- throwaway society, so we can produce more and companies can make more profit.

b.) WAR is good for capitalism -- maximizes productivity for war effort, but also because war is destructive of goods and is followed by reconstruction. The authors use the 1991 Persian Gulf War as an example of this "destruction/reconstruction" cycle.

F. In terms of class, Veblen focused more on the ways of the wealthy, the captains of industry or "robber barons", rather than the distress of the working class. In this context, he wrote his best-known work, "The Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899)

1. Although Veblen observed that humans have an "instinct to workmanship" -- a need to create, do something, once they begin producing a surplus the "universal desire for status" takes over among those who control that surplus and it comes to be used more to impress people.

2. Accumulation becomes an end in itself, for the sake of repute and esteem.

3. In modern industrial society, a "leisure class" emerges which is intent upon demonstrating conspicuously its status -- through CONSPICUOUS LEISURE and, generally, CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION. See p. 250, two paragraphs before Gender.

G. Among the other aspects of Veblen's work that are covered, I believe the authors' treatment of Veblen's book, "The Higher Learning in America," is most significant -- although I would not endorse the suggestion that one of his motives in writing the book was his own alienation from the academic community.

1. In his day, I believe Veblen recognized the influence of business in higher education and how that influence was PERVERTING education -- turning it away from its fundamental purpose of the pursuit of learning and knowledge for its own sake and all that that entails.

a.) He observed how governing boards and administrations came to focus increasingly on PRESTIGE, PUBLICITY, PLANT, and PERPETUATION, competing for students like any business. He even took a whack at money in athletic programs. (Think of what he might say if he were alive today!!)

2. In the end, he felt that the modern university was coming to resemble any large capitalist bureaucratic organization -- see top paragraph, p. 253.

H. Though he saw capitalism/business as the villian, Veblen clearly was not ready to embrace the Marxist alternative. In the end, he had no alternative, but that is not to say he was not insightful about the capitalist system, and indeed what it would likely become. see p. 254, middle two paragraphs just before Joseph Schumpeter.
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That brings us up to Chapter 12, where I will pick up tomorrow (Thurs., 4/22).