The first writing assignment is to answer two questions related to the lecture on sociological
theories (lecture 2)
Your answers should be in your own words – please don’t copy directly from the text, the PowerPoint slides, or any online resource. You can paraphrase if youlike, or quote something. The paper should be about two pages long, typed and double- spaced. You must write in complete sentences and use the spell checker.
Conflict Theory:
Marx– Marx’s ideas are part of the foundation of modernsociology, and all sociologists must take a positionon Marx’s theories– He was interested in “big picture” historical forcesand social change (the macro level of analysis”),and thought structure was more important thanagency– Marx considered himself a scientist trying todiscover the “laws of motion” of capitalistsociety.– Marx was the first theorist to emphasize socialclass as a determinant of social change;
Alienation•
Alienation in capitalist society was one of Marx’s earlyconcerns, and he outlined a theory of alienation in theEconomic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844(published in 1932).• Alienation in this sense means a sense of disconnectionfrom other people, a situation, or one’s own nature.• Marx believed that performing productive work is apart of our nature (“species being”).• Under capitalism, workers were alienated from thework process, the products of their labor, from otherworkers, and from themselves (because their nature or“species being” was thwarted).
Watch the video Karl Marx on Alienation on youtube
Classes in Capitalist Society
• Marx believed history and social change wasdriven by conflict between classes – what hesometimes calls class struggle
• For Marx, class was determined by relations tothe means of production – the owners of thefactories, mines, and so forth are called thebourgeoisie, and the workers are theproletariat, who must sell their labor.
• Capitalism is based on exploitation of theworkers through extraction of “surplus value.
Two Types of Solidarity•
Durkheim said that in societies with a simple division of labor,where most people are either warriors or farmers, everyone hasthe same worldview and ethical beliefs. Simple societies are heldtogether by “mechanical solidarity.” These societies exhibit astrong collective conscience, based on religious norms.
•As the division of labor becomes more complex with thedevelopment of new economic arrangements, new technologies,and new political arrangements, a type of solidarity called “organicsolidarity” develops: people are interdependent, and the stabilityof the society depends upon people performing many differenttypes of work.
• Because the values and beliefs that people hold are more complexand varied in modern societies, the collective conscience is weaker.
• A consequence of the weaker collective conscience is anomie – astate of “normlessness” experienced by some people who are lessintegrated into society. Anomie is very similar to what Marx called“alienation” and is related to Weber’s“disenchantment/rationalization” dynamic.
Suicide and Social Facts
• Durkheim performed a study of suicide rates in variousethnic and religious groups in Europe and showed thatsuicide rates were higher in groups that were less sociallycohesive. For instance, suicide was more common amongProtestants than Catholics.– Protestants tended to be more individualistic, and in a sense thebeliever stood alone before God, with no priest to intercede onhis behalf.– Catholics retained a closer connection with a church hierarchythat had existed for almost two centuries.
• Durkheim called the variation in suicide rates with thedegree of integration into the community a “social fact.”• He famously advised all sociologists to “treat social facts asthings” that exist in the world
Questions
a. Describe Karl Marx’s theory of alienation, and give an example of “alienating” work. Is it similar to Durkheim’s idea of anomie (normlessness), or completely unrelated? Are alienation and anomie both found in today’s society? How did Marx think we could get rid of “alienated labor”?
b. What is the difference between mechanical and organic solidarity, according to Emile Durkheim?What did he mean by “collective conscience” and “anomie,” and how do they differ with the type of solidarity that is found in a society?
