Intro 1
SYA4110 – Development of Sociological Thought
Tuesday, January 20th 2009- Agenda
1. Announcements
-What's up on Campus & in the Community
-TODAY: Presidential Inauguration
-TODAY: Career Showcase (9am-3pm in the O'Dome)
-TONIGHT: AKD-Sociology Club & Honor Society Meeting at 6pm in Turl. 2306. Free food. ALL are
welcome. Discussion of resumes & CVs, bring yours to revise.
-TONIGHT: "Visions of the Promised Land?: Examining the Effect of Barack Obama's Election on the
Civil Rights Movement and MLK's Legacy" in Pugh Hall 170 at 7:00 PM
-The Student Organization Fair is Coming!!! Registration is open now for our Spring SOF on Jan 21st
and 22nd. Please go online to www.union.ufl.edu/ideal/ and follow the link under the Spring SOF
section. ideal@union.ufl.edu.
-Questions?
-Questions?
2. Review:
-Intro & Basic Concepts (what is sociology? science? theory?
truth?)
-What is Social Theory?
-Who can be a Social Theorist?
-Why is language so important?
3. Today:
-Enlightenment according to Lemert
-Critiques of Enlightenment thinking
-Auguste Comte: “positivist” & founder of sociology
-sociology
-positivism
-social statics vs. social dynamics
-Law of the 3 stages of social dynamics
-Comte’s paradox
4. Homework:
-Read in your text about The Enlightenment & Comte
-Read the Final Project section of the class website for Thurs.
REVIEW:
-Our goal in this course: to understand a particular kind of thinking that has only emerged in the last few
hundred (or thousand) years and to begin developing a theoretical basis for your own sociological work
-C.Wright Mills: "The sociological imagination"
1. the ability to distinguish between public issues and private troubles and to see the
connections between the two
2. the ability to understand the larger historical & cultural context and how it affects our own
lives
Basic Concepts
1. Science: the process of inventing and systematically testing theories
2. Sociology: the science of social life and social forces
3. Social forces: the pressures and expectations generated by our relationships with other people and
institutions
4. Theory: a statement or set of statements linking concepts, usually in causal relationships
5. Concept: a definition that singles out some aspect of social reality that sociologists believe will be significant
to their theories
Example: People from more privileged social classes are more likely to be admitted to college.
Intro 2
-how could we test this theory?
-in what ways could we elaborate on it?
What is Social Theory?
-6 defs from your text
Definitions of Social Theory
Lemert: a survival skill
-tools that help us to understand how the world works and how to manage our way in it.
-“the normal accomplishment of socially adept human creatures figuring out what others of the same
sort are doing with, to, or around them”
Origins of Social Theory
-Greeks
-like Socrates & Plato's Allegory of the Cave (metaphor for knowledge = light)
-Enlightenment
Europe in the middle ages (500-1500 before the Enlightenment) was characterized by:
1. Lack of mobility
2. Rural and isolated
3. Lack of literacy
4. Role of tradition
5. Role of religion
-Sociology will not arise where there is a stable way of life, sacredly legitimated, with minimal
knowledge of other societies
-What were the conditions of the first Social Theorists of the Enlightenment?
1. got a view of society
2. started thinking theoretically about society
3. their theories were comparative (vs. “traditional” of the middle ages)
-How did theorizing during the enlightenment differ from theorizing today?
-it was mostly done by bourgeois intellectuals, now anyone can be a social theorist
Who can be a social theorist?
-first ST’s were bourgeois intellectuals, PUBLIC figures and it was a public activity
-1960's - now: everyone is a social theorist.
Do you agree?
-we should NOT assume that the voices of the ordinary and oppressed are insignificant or inarticulate
-persons in privilege seldom hear what the oppressed say
-the weak often know whats going on better than those in power
Ex. Harriet Jacobs
-classic period and 1960s were a time for the disadvantaged to speak
-new technologies have simultaneously made us more aware of our differences and brought us closer
together
Why is language so important?
-language is how we communicate with other people and express our ideas:
Intro 3
-a major critique of contemporary social theorists (those FEW that we do recognize as such: like
philosophers and college professors) is that sociological theorists have become more and more
isolated from public life, to the detriment of both sociology & public life.
-partly b/c they’re using a language that is incomprehensible to the “everyday” person
-the goal of modern social theory has always been to advance human freedom, to make
the world a better place to live.
-If we recognize that “normal” people in their everyday lives have some pretty brilliant things to say
about the realities of the world, then we can and will produce STs that will create a better world.
-language is the most important weapon of the weak
Social Theory vs. Social Science
3 competing definitions of ST:
-scientific: science has the only method capable of achieving
reliable social knowledge
-aim is to discover laws & principles that apply to human behavior (in all societies, past & present) and
to prove cause/effect
-philosophical: aspire to develop sweeping, overarching theories of human behavior and social
evolution
-aim was to provide core/foundational concepts of human life to the work of researchers & analysts
-moral: social knowledge is valuable because of its potential to
make the world a better place to live
-aim is to bring attention to social problems and to guide social and political action to solve those
problems
-these 3 definitions often overlap.
*how can one be bias-free (major tenant of science) if their goal is to improve rather than be objective?
-According to Lemert: Social Theory vs. Social Science
-willingness to trust the language of things is what differs ST from SS
-ideal of science (enlightenment’s big goal) is to gather evidence/data to bring thought into “truth”
Review of the Enlightenment
History:
Classical Period (Greeks: 300-400BCE)
Middle Ages (500 – 1500)
Renaissance (1600-1700s)
Revolution (late 1700s – 1800s; 1776, 1789)
Enlightenment (1600-1800s; 1848)
The Enlightenment was a period of intellectual development and change in philosophical thought.
Enlightenment thinkers sought to combine reason with empirical research on the model of Newtonian science.
-Immanuel Kant: (1784) What is Enlightenment?
Man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
-Industrial revolution: 1760s –80s: spinning jenny, iron rails,
iron bridge, steam engine, mills
Intro 4
-major change: move from rural/agrigarian to urban
Critique of Enlightment Thinkers (by Seidman)
-Enlightenment thinkers dismissed most of previous ST as based on prejudice, opinion, revelation,
philosophical reason, and tradition
-they asserted that “True” knowledge could only rest on the
ground of “fact” and scientific method
-its based on the assumption that humans create society
-the aim of ST is to reveal the common patterns of human association across societies to further human
progress
-BUT, how can science be morally neutral if its is suppose to
be a vehicle for progress?
-the enlighteners were mostly educated men from privileged backgrounds who wanted to bring about
change
-they fought against the beliefs and social norms that upheld societies organized around social
hierarchy, intolerance, and inequality
-they challenged the legitimacy and authority of the aristocracy and the church hierarchy
-interestingly, they accepted the equation that Science = Truth the same way that their predecessors
professed Christianity, as a faith
-perceived Science as both a symbol of a new enlightened era and as a force for social
progress
August Comte (1798-1857): founder of Sociology
-he coined the term “sociology”
-Aim of sociology, according to Comte:
-to discover the universal laws that govern the organization of the world and the evolution of humanity.
-coined the term “positivism”
Positivism
-the application of the methods of science to the understanding of society
-the search for invariant laws governing the social and natural worlds
-is based on the assumptions of empiricism
-the view that the experiences of the 5 senses are the only legitimate sources of knowledge
-presumes that there exists a “Truth” or “Reality” which can be discovered if one just uses the
right methods
-the “right” methods are those which minimize the sources of error and can be verified
“scientifically” (through empirical methods & replication)
Intro 5
-also defined Postivitism in a 2nd sense:
bringing order and progress (to the European crisis of ideas)
-Comte believed that positivism could both advance science (theory) and change the ways people live
their lives (practice).
“The discovery of a language of truth is a turning point for humanity. Truth will liberate human
kind from the web of ignorance, illusion, and error that has slowed human progress.”
-He differentiated between “social statics” and “social dynamics”
-“social statics”
-the ways in which the parts of a social system (social
structures) interact with one another
-ex. Individuals, the family, religion, language, and the
division of labor, education, health care, criminal justice…
“social dynamics” (aka “social change”)
-a process of progressive evolution (via fixed, invariable linear stages) in which people become
cumulatively more intelligent and in which altruism eventually triumphs over egoism.
-this process is one that people can modify or accelerate, but in the end the laws of progressive
development dictate the development of society.
Law of the 3 Stages of Social Dynamics
-Theological stage
-search for the essential nature of things
-people come to believe that all phenomena are created and influenced by gods and
supernatural forces.
-Monotheism is the ultimate belief system of the Theological stage
-basic social unit is the family
-Metaphysical stage
-mysterious, abstract forces (ex. nature) replace supernatural forces as the powers that explain
the workings of the world.
-basic social unit is the state
-Positivist stage
-the last and highest stage
-people search for invariant laws that govern all of the
phenomena of the world.
-basic social unit is humanity as a whole
Paradox: Comte’s heavenly view of sociology
-viewed theory as scientific, philosophical and moral endeavor
-had a moral goal: understanding the laws of humanity would serve as moral guidelines for
social reform
-thought that objective scientific methods could uncover the laws of humanity
Question: If the theories that guide observation originate in a particular cultural world view, how can we be
sure that they are not biased by the values and social interests of their social origin?
Intro 6
-In short: Comte wished to make science into a religion
-Notice Comte's desire to come up with an evolutionary scheme into which all human societies can be fit
10 Basic Weaknesses of Comte’s work
* Comte's thought was distorted by his own experiences in life.
* He was out of touch with the real world.
* He was out of touch with other thinkers of his times.
* His empirical work is laughable, and his theoretical work far too generalized.
* His work is only marginally sociological.
* He made no original contributions to sociology.
* His sociology was primitive (b/c he used a fixed linear stage theory)
* Comte heavy-handedly imposed his theoretical frameworks on the data he was analyzing.
* His self-conceit led him to make many ridiculous pronouncements and blunders.
* His positivist theory was much like a religion
*His plans for the future were totalitarian & bizarre.
Reminder: When doing the readings, pay attention to:
-context
-content/summary (main points)
-meanings/interpretations/importance
-critique
MARX next week!
:)