1.
Firstly, the Enlightenment gave rise to an emphasis on reason and less focus on
god and the natural ways of the world were seen as independent of divinity. Science and
empiricism contributed to the birth of sociology in the mid-nineteenth century. Just as
biological organisms could be seen scientifically, so too could society (p. 16). Later on,
industrialization transformed the family life from rural to urban; factory workers’ survival
now depended on impersonal labor, education became standardized, and the family
became more private (p. 17). Civil movements emerged as a result of these conditions
and philosophers began to examine social structure; for example, Thomas Hobbes
published his theory on “social contract” (p. 21).
The digital revolution of the late 20th century has impacted society both positively
and negatively. For example, it has led to the practicing of telehealthcare with is
accessible to those in underserved areas. Further, online education increases access to
education and academic resources. Our communication has been impacted by
technology with social media, the internet, and personal cell phones. Digital technology
has also given rise to new forms of activism, which can promote social change. We have
adjusted our ways of studying society as the dimensions of family life, communication,
education, healthcare, finances, and more have shifted to eliminate or produce aspects
of society.
I think the digital revolution has impacted society and sociology greatly, but not to
the same extent as the Industrial Revolution. My parents did not grow up in the digital
revolution and while they use technology for many things, their lives were not drastically
different without technology. Before digital technology, we still had quality healthcare,
public schools, civil movements, banks, etc. By contrast, the Industrial Revolution
completely shifted society from rural to urban and impersonal. Families no longer grew
their own crops, sewed their own clothes, managed their livestock, etc. as they now
worked impersonally in factories for someone else with a new version of economic
processes. I think that industrialization completely shifted how society works and how we
ought to study it.
2.
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3.
Hegel viewed change as a creation of history. His dialectical process had the
notion that a given idea (thesis) had within it aspects of the opposing idea (antithesis) (p.
53). Marx agrees with Hegel that the occurrence of history is progressive. However, he
disagrees by explaining that what we do and think fuels historical change. Marx takes
Hegel’s idealism, with history as a change in consciousness, and inverts it to the doings
of man in order to understand the progression of human societies. This inversion shifts
from a nonrationalistic orientation (with an emphasis on ideas influencing social life) to a
rationalistic understanding that focuses on the pursuit of interests (p. 54).
4.
Marx’s concept of the “species being” is that humans are distinct from other
animals in that we can purposely intervene in the world through conscious activity,
allowing us to achieve our full potential and create relationships with others (p. 51). The
idea of alienation refers to workers selling not only their labor, but their souls as they
have no connection to what they are producing and their work doesn’t possess any
valuable human qualities (p. 44). A worker is disconnected, alienated, from his species
being, as “Estranged labor estranges the species from man” (p. 66). Marx further
explains that “Estranged labor reverses this relationship, so that it is just because man is
a conscious being that he makes his life-activity, his essential being, a mere means to
his existence” (p. 66). Labor disconnects our essential being from conscious activity; our
consciousness. our life activity, becomes only a means to our existence.
5.
Commodity fetishism explains the relationship between production and exchange
as a social relationship (amongst things like money) instead of as a relationship between
people. This means that economic value is inherent to the commodities instead of from
the humans in the workforce who produced such commodities. Commodities are
objectified results of a worker’s labor.