Theorist
Durkheim
concept
Normal &
pathological
Modern
Normal/healthy= similar conditions in similar
stage in other societies.
Justice
Social justice= more equitable social relations
which “assure the free development of all
socially useful forces”.
Anomie
Anomie-Normlessness/normative
ambiguity/Lack of consensus of values/goals
Humans=unlimited desires/need society to
limit/control

Anomic
{Anomie=Lack of regulation that celebrates
individuality & doesn’t tell people what to do}.
> Specialization=> anomie

Forced
{outdated norms and expectations can force
people into positions for which they are ill
suited.}
Tradition/power/status rather than talent and
qualifications result in job
(almost Marxian)

Poorly conditioned
{Poor coordination between specializations}

“Homo Duplex” Two beings within: The
isolated individual and the social being.

We have two beings/two states of
consciousness

The two beings are in constant tension and
connected.

Our sense of individuality develops socially
with the division of labor.

Egoism= individualism Non-social needs

Moral individualism= collective
representation/ commonality

Modern form of collective conscience is the
“cult of the individual”- moral
individualism is the new link to society.
Abnormal forms of
the D.O.L
Cult of the individual
(Not in 6th edition of
Ritzer)
Postmodern /postindustrial

Does the presence of similar conditions in numerous societies necessarily denote
societal health today? What does ‘similar stage’ mean today?

Is there such a thing as unhealthy “contagion” being responsible for similar
societal conditions?

How does Durkheim’s measure of “healthy” contrast with that of Martineau?

Where do we now see an emphasis on social justice and where do we not see this
focus?

How does Durkheim’s apparent goal for social justice differ from Martineau’s
vision and that of Marx?

How might Marx and Durkheim’s differing assumptions about human nature
affect their ideas of social justice?

What forces today promote a homogeneity of norms globally and a heterogeneity
of norms domestically?

How is the concept of anomie relevant today and what forces reduce its
contemporary relevance?

Is there anything about contemporary society that counters the trend of anomie
arising from the increased specialization in the division of labor?

In what ways are the less powerful being subject to a forced division of labor in
the U.S. and how is that linked to education?

What evidence do you see of poor coordination between specializations and why
do you see this as happening more in the post industrial world?



What is the current balance between egoism and moral individualism and what
contemporary forces foster egoism and moral individualism?
What are the societal and individual costs and benefits of egoism over moral
individualism? Of moral individualism over egoism?
How does the contemporary division of labor promote egoism and how does it
promote a moral individualism?
Moral Education &
Social Reform

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
Marx
Human nature &
labor


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
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

Alienation

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Modern problems are temporary aberrations
not problems inherent in the structure of
modern society.
Humans are selfish; society is the source of
morality.
Morality is relativist but grows out of
collective traditions.
Morality has three components: Discipline,
Attachment, Autonomy
o Discipline-constrains egoistic
impulses
o Attachment-social responsibility
o Autonomy-fully grounded in
science
Human nature=variable not static changes
historically & societally
Species being:
o Ability for objectification
o Full of potential,
o inherently productive
labor=
objectification of purpose,
relationship between need and objects of
need,
transformation of human nature (specific to
time & place),
emergence of human as an individual in
society
Alienation=Relationship between humans
and labor perverted in capitalism
Labor NOT expression of purpose
Labor = means to end
Forced to sell time to capitalists
Alienated from
o Productive activity,
o product,
o fellow workers,
o human potential.
According to Ritzer, Durkheim proposes that “ Autonomy only comes to full force
in modernity with the decline of the myths and symbols that previous moral
systems used to demand discipline and encourage attachment, Durkheim
believed that now that these myths have passed away, only scientific
understanding can provide the foundation for moral autonomy”.

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
In our contemporary world, what are some of the myths and symbols of
moral systems than continue to be central?
What are some examples of science providing a moral foundation?
Durkheim saw education as the vehicle for modern morality. What role
does education now play in morality and what role does morality play in
education?

What are the key structural aspects of labor in the contemporary U.S. and what are
the consequential characteristics of human nature in this time and place?

How, if at all, do individuals and cultures in the postindustrial period apply the
means–end nature of labor to other spheres of life that produce additional forms of
alienation outside the realm of labor?
What is the effect of that on individuals and on cultures?

Fetishism of
commodities
And
Reification
Weber
Simmel
Rationalization & the
Iron Cage
Money/reification


Value float free of commodity
Objects & market have appear to have
independent existence

Labor acquires exchange value that is
separate from us.
•
Thingification”

Reification=Creations perceived as
External to and
Coercive over us
Rationalization=two key types

Subjective effects of formal rationality

Bureaucracy w/ legal authority
o Efficiency
o Predictability
o Calculability
o Control

Over-rationalization= goals lost

Focus becomes Efficiency
Predictability, Calculability
Control fir its own sake

People become complicit in their own
imprisonment/ see rationalization as
imposed on them from without (reified)

Subjective effects: “specialists without
spirit, sensualists without heart”

Money= larger problem of alienation of
subj. and obj.

Value a function of distanceMost value= not too easily attained but not
too impossible

Money creates distance between ind. &
object & provides means to bridge the
distance.

Money essential to modern capitalism.
o Reification
o Rationalization
o Quantitative>qualitative
o Intellectuality

<Significance of individual as >reified
structures expand.
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1.
What structural aspects of the postindustrial world intensify the apparent
independent existence of commodities?
What are some contemporary example of cultural reification in the U.S.?
What developments in contemporary society have furthered this inevitable
(according to Weber) over-rationalization in which means supersede goals?
What strategies or alternatives can you propose for opposing, supplanting , or
ameliorating the objective structure of bureaucracy and its over-rationalization
What strategies or alternatives can you propose for opposing, supplanting , or
ameliorating the subjective effects?
How have credit cards in the contemporary U.S. functioned in terms of Simmel’s
key theoretical points about money?
Money, reification,
rationalization

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Tragedy of culture

Devaluation of the non-rational-that which
is most meaningful to us (love, faith,
feeling, )
Increase in cynicism and blasé attitude,
calculating character
Decrease in personal relations
Individual enslavement-atomized and
isolate
Everything reduced to causal connections to
be comprehended intellectually but not
emotionally.
>ability to create components of the whole
< sense of the whole

>objective culture < individual culture
?impoverished ind. culture

>language <individual ability

>technology < ind. skills

> knowledge < intellectuals

>mechanical world < spirituality

> impersonal relationships

>meaningless consumption

< uncertainty < natural rhythm / > leveling
> freedom (of a sort)

>relativistic mode- money allows for
disparate things to be compared
UPSIDE

> # of people to interact

< obligations
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> gratification

develop individuality

protect subjective center

> freedom from productive forces

> freedom from constraints of social
group
2.
How is the devaluation of the non-rational perpetuated in contemporary society?
3.
What evidence do you see in contemporary U.S. society that we are experiencing
this tragedy of culture?
What evidence do you see that people are beginning to resist and oppose this
tragedy?
4.