Rules of Sociological Method
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Chapter 12, “The rise and future demise of the world capitalist system” Wallerstein,I. (2012).The rise and future demise of the world capitalist system. In, Longhofer, W. & Winchester, D. (Eds.), Social theory re-wired. (pp.143-152). New York, NY: Routledge. I believe this to be about the global economy and capitalism, going through the history of societies frameworks and what they consisted of (core, periphery, semi-periphery). “The tendency of the Capitalist mode of production to become worldwide is manifested not only through the constitution of a group of national economies forming a complex and hierarchal structure, including an imperialist pole and a dominated one, and not only through the antagonistic relations that develop between the different ‘national economies’ and the different states, but also through the constant ‘transcending’ of ‘national limits’ by big capital (the formation of ‘international big capital’, ‘world firms’, etc.” pp. 147 I am not sure what this is really saying, unfortunately it is one of the chapters I haven't read enough to really comprehend it and did not have someone to really move it through and explain it. I can understand small sections of it, but putting it all together is difficult still. Even at the very beginning it discusses priori and posteriori and after re-reading that paragraph I still do not understand what a priori is.
Section 13 Castells, M. (2012). Materials for an exploratory theory of the network society. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory re-wired (pp. 153-167). New York, NY: Routledge. Network Society - overview Social structure and morphology - networks to info networks “Network society is a specific form of social structure, identified by empirical research of the Information age” pg. 153 Social structure - organization of humans in relation to production, consumption, experience, power - interactions in culture. Discusses the ‘conceptualizing of social structure’. Layers of the structure; production as in consumption, and experience as in power. Production - “action of humankind on matter (nature) to appropriate it and transform it, consuming part of it and accumulating surplus for investment” pg. 154. Organized into class relationships Experience - “action of humans on themselves, determined by their biological and cultural identities, in relation to their social and natural environment” pg. 154 Experience is structured around sexual/gender relationships Power - “the action of humans on other humans to impose their will on others, by the use, potential or actual, of symbolic or physical violence.” pg.. 154 Power is founded upon the ability to exercise violence. Technology - “the use of scientific knowledge to specify ways of doing things in a reproducible manner” pg.155 Embodied in technical relationships which are socially conditioned. Action that ultimately produces and modifies social structure. “New technological paradigm - microelectronics-based, information/communication tech, genetic engineering.” pg. 156 “New economy has 3 features; informational - capacity of generating knowledge and processing info ; global - activites have the capacity to work on a planetary level; networked - economic organization, network enterprise” pg. 156-157. Network enterprise is a network of firms, segments (businesses connected together for projects, etc.). work/employment are transformed by new economy. New economy is capitalist. Gender changes in economy - flexible woman instead of organization man. Labor division into self-programmable and generic labor. Media and politics. Time, space and flow. Shift toward NATO/IMF/World Bank, UN agencies, World Trade Organization. Chapter 14, “The forms of Capital” Bourdieu, P. (2012)The forms of capital. In Longhofer, W., & Winchester, D. (Eds.), Social Theory re-wired (pp. 168-181). New York, NY: Routledge. “Capital is accumulated labor (in its materialized form or its “incorporated”, embodied form) which, when appropriated on a private, i.e., exclusive, basis by agents or groups of agents or groups of agents, enables them to appropriate social energy in the form of reified or living labor.” pp.169 Cultural capital exists in 3 forms: embodied state, objectified state, institutionalized state. “Embodied state- accumulation of cultural capital in the embodied state, i.e., in the form of what is called culture, cultivation, Building, presupposes a process of embodiment, incorporation, which, insofar as it implies a labor of inculcation and assimilation, costs time, time which must be invested personally by the investor.” pp.170 “The objectified state. Cultural capital in the objectified state, has a number of properties which are defined only in the relationship with cultural capital in its embodied form.The cultural capital objectified in material objects and media, such as writings, paintings, monuments, instruments, etc., is transmissible in its materiality.” pp.172 “The institutionalized State. The objectification of cultural capital in the form of academic qualifications is one way of neutralizing some of the properties it derives from the fact that, being embodied, it has the same biological limits as its bearer.” pp. 173 As with most of this book, although this seems quite obvious and easy to figure out, the depth goes over my head. I understand that he describes the different types of capital and how they affect their surroundings. I think much like Marx discusses capital, this delves into the detail of capital more so the marx discusses. Social Theory Rewired, Chp. 16 Weber, M. (2012). The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory re-wired (pp. 209-236). New York, NY: Routledge. It is true that the greater relative participation of Protestants in the ownership of capital, in management, and the upper ranks of labour in great modern industrial and commercial enterprises, may in part be explained in terms of historical circumstances which extend far back into the past, and in which religious affiliation is not a cause of the economic conditions, but to a certain extent appears to be a result of them. pp. 209 “The puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so” pg. 223- Max Weber; The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism - work ethic based on religious ideas that a good work ethic would confirm faith in god. The work ethic is thought to have promoted the kick off of the capitalist society. Although now many people may not follow the work ethic for religious reasons, the strict work ethic from the past holds true to become a good, professional at your job. Catholic Protestant inherited wealth education positioning in society Time is money, credit is money , need money to make money Money borrowing accumulated credit/interest. Being punctual with repayment is key. (beget - to give rise to, bring about) Ben Franklin
inherited wealth and education determined your position in society. education was determined by your religion and the environment you grew up in for finding future jobs “they make tallow out of cattle and money out of men” - pg.213 F. Kurnberger recognized that credit/duty of individual toward increasing his caital (ethos ethic) ethos - character, describes beliefs/ideals that characterize a community, nation, ideology. “pusillanimous” - .cowardliness spirit of capitalism - “working to make as much money as possible is modern capitalism”
ultimate purpose is to make money, man is controlled by making money forced to live in a capitalistic society you will adapt or be eliminated. piece rates - attempted to motivate workers to work hard when offerred more money but they produced labor to equal regular pay, when piece rate lowered, labor went down instead of up - motivation to make only what is socially necessary to survive. pre-capitalist labor - working to earn what will satisfy needs ( by NATURE, man does not want to earn more, society does this to him). “people only work because and so long as they are poor” - pg. 216
Social Theory rewired, chp. 17 Weber, M. (2012) Basic sociological terms. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory re-wired (pp. 237-249). New York, NY: Routledge.
Foundations Meanings Social Action Points: Explains what sociology consists of, the difference between it and real sciences, what meanings, and other terms are that qualify social action as social action, etc. “Sociology is interpretive understanding of social action and thereby with a causal explanation of its course and consequences.” pg. 236 (causal = relating to or acting as a cause). 2 types of meaning: Actual meaning (concrete, pure type) & Theoretical / subjective meaning (hypothetical)- neither is “objectively correct or true” Meaningful action and reactive behavior Basis for certainty - rational (logical and mathematical): Meaning (may) be immediately clear/obvious. Way we understand what a person is doing by choosing the certain ends by means of basic facts of a situation that we have been taught to understand ( 2 x 2 = 4 ). empathetic ( artistically appreciative) Irrational affects - feelings - anger, love, jealousy, ambition, etc. These are a deviation from ‘conceptually pure type of rational action. Pure rational action = merit of clear understandability and lack of ambiguity (ambiguous - doubtful,uncertain). 2 types of understanding: Direct observational of subjective meaning - 2 x 2 = 4 because we see and hear it. Facial expressions show irrational emotional reactions. - physical! explanatory understanding - MOTIVE “understand what makes man do something at the exact time in the situation its occurring” - motive Motive - acts are placed into a sequence of events for motivation, treated as an explanation of behavior. Meaning:
1. Historical approach (actual, intended meaning, individual action) 2. Cases of sociology mass phenomena (average or approx.. to meaning). 3. Meaning appropriate to scientific pure type.
verification of subjective interpretation by comparison with concrete course is indispensable. Gresham’s Law “ rationally clear interpretation of human action under certain conditions assuming those actions will follow a purely rational course” - pg. 242 course of action - defined as being verified by statistical evidence. Motive - complex of subjective meaning Social action - includes failure to act and passive acquiescence. Past, present of future. not every kind of action is social; overt action is not social. Not every type of contact has social character. Social action is not identical (crowd mentality, motions, etc.) Imitation - reactive. behavior of others can be imputed into actor unconsciously and is considered “influenced”. Types of social action: instrumentally rational - expectations to behave as the objects in environment, conditions and means for the attainment of actors own ends and means. value-rational - conscious belief in the value for its own sake of some ethical aesthetic religious behavior independent of its prospects of success. effectual- emotional - determined by actors specific affects and feelings traditional - ingrained habitualization (reactive type of imitation). (uncontrolled reaction to exceptional stimulus). (persons who act to put into practice their convictions of what seems to them to be required of duty no matter what it consists of.) (action is instrumentally rational- when the end, the means and the 2nd results are all rationally evaluated.) (finding concrete examples of social action is rare) I could somewhat follow this section, although it is called basic terms, some of the chapter was difficult to understand after re-reading over and over. worth trying to decipher again if using these terms later. Social Theory rewired, chp. 21 Marcuse, H. (2012). One dimensional man. In W. Longhofer & D. Winchester (Eds.), Social Theory re-wired (pp. 283- 291). New York, NY: Routledge. Suppression of individuals in society, the advanced industrial society Requirements if individuals wanted to liberate Rights and liberties for people are losing their original meanings in the new society. Non-conformity/opposition of the new society is socially useless (threatens the smooth operation). if individuals werent compelled to prove himself (on market) as free economic subject, that would disappear. structure of human existence would change! this would allow for individual to have self autonomy. Totalitarianism - individual controlled by the state ; strict control over all aspects of life. New industrial society is totalitarian Machines - man makes machines, but machines have power that exceed man, however machines have power from man, therefore machines are a potential freedom for man. Economic freedom, political freedom and intellectual freedom - can not happen due to needs and satisfactions of individuals Needs - depend on if it can be desirable and necessary for prevailing societal institutions and interests. False needs - those needs superimposed upon an individual by social interests (relaxation, having fun, loving and hating what others love and hate). True - nourishment, clothing, shelter The judgement of needs involves priority. Liberation - depends on consciousness of servitude. The consciousness of this is hampered by the ‘needs and satisfactions’. Equalization of class distinction is NOT the disappearance of class ( upper class and lower classes have similar needs and satisfactions). Advanced industrial society:
“transplantation of social into individual needs is so effective that difference between them seems to be purely theoretical” pg. 286 example: difference between the media being an instrument for education or entertainment. 2. “Rational character of its irrationality productively and efficiency (capacity to increase and spread comforts) the extent to which this civilization transforms the object world into an extension of mans mind and body” pg. 287 people see themselves in their stuff (commodities). Introjection - suggests variety of spontaneous processes by which a self transpose the outer into the inner. Alienation is questionable since individuals identify themselves with the existence that is imposed on them. the identification is now reality. Absorption of ideology into society. scientific method - operational = physical science and behavioral = social science concept is the operation (of something) -> the concept of length is determined by the operation to determine length. “concept is synonymous with the set of operations” pg. 288 “to adopt the operational point of view involves much more than a mere restriction of the sense in which we understand ‘concept’, but means a far-reaching change in all our habits of though, in that we shall no longer permit ourselves to use as tools in our thinking concepts of which we cannot give an adequate account in terms of operations’ P.W. Bridgman pg. 288 I believe this section is talking about the fetishism of commodities in the new society that is causing individuals to not care about liberation because they are identifying with their reality and society, therefore they are no longer a threat to the industrial society for wanting to be ‘free’ because their wants and needs are clouding their vision. Social theory rewired, chp. 22 Habermas, J. (2012). Toward a rational society. In Longhofer, W., & Winchester, D. (Eds.), Social Theory re-wired (pp 292-298). New York, NY: Routledge.
C.P. Snow Science - strictly empirical sciences Literature - methods of interpretation and cultural sciences Aldous Huxley Literature makes statements about private experiences. Science about intersubjectively accessible experiences. Public versus private Juxtaposes: Social life world & wordless universe of facts Separate but need each other to comprehend facts A scientist lives in a world of “inferred fine structures and quantified regularities”. pg. 292 The world of literature is where humans love, live, die, have fun, have despair, share language, etc” pg. 292 “Knowledge is power” pg. 293 “Literature should assimilate scientific statements as such, so that science can take on ‘flesh and blood’” pg. 293 “Understand that cosmos as a while yields norms of individual human behavior, and it is through the actions of the philosophically educated that theory assumes a positive form” pg. 294. - those who want to understand human behavior must understand science and technology first. scientific transformation of medicine (all other areas of social labor “have to assume the form of technical control of objectified processes” pg. 294). Direction of the progress of technology is dependent on social interests. This is a short section, and I still didnt understand it. We reviewed a few quotes in class, but since I was not allowed to keep the paper I am not sure which ones and what they mean, so even after the explanation Im still unsure. Social theory rewired, chp. 23 Foucault, M. (2012). Discipline and punish. In Longhofer, W., & Winchester, D. (Eds.). Social Theory re-wired (pp. 299- 309). New York, NY: Routledge. Economy of punishment - the change from public punishment to private surveillance Old style of punishment (1757) -drawn and quartered in public description from pg. 299-300 (1830 ies) Punishment for “House of young prisoners in Paris” described - vigorous, long days of hard work. pg. 300-301 Disappearance of torture as punishment in public. Panopticon - building design by Bentham - circular building with a tower in the center for observation of inner rooms/cells all around the periphery. This can be used for “madman, patient, condemned man, worker or schoolboy” pg. 302 Those in cells/rooms can be seen by the supervisor in the tower, but can not see the supervisor, “he is seen, but he does not see; he is the object information, never a subject in communication” pg. 302 . This design can limit riots, spread of disease, copying/cheating, theft and promote work. “Automatizes bad dis-individualizes power” pg. 303 Dyad - two pieces ( see and be seen) Anyone can control it Homogenous effects of power Julius Since old society was public, new society had turned to a more private way of life. Society was now about surveillance. Main point is that modern society has created the need (?) for constant surveillance, however we have made it so that we never know who and when we are being watched, if at all. My thought (maybe it is addressed in this section, not sure because half of it I didnt understand), the constant surveillance, or the thought of being watched all the time creates a semi-comfort level with surveillance that we forget its there and therefore dont care if it is, allowing for constant privacy breaches (NSA). Social theory rewired, chp. 24 Giddens, A. (2012). The consequences of modernity. In Longhoefer, W., & Winchester, D. (Eds.) Social Theory re-wired. pp. 310-322. New York, NY: Routledge. Capitalism, industrialism, surveillance, control of the means of violence - giddens states these are all separate (Foucault states they are all due to capitalism). Pre Modern- humans see themselves as continuous with nature (indigenous peoples) Modern- shaped by the alliance of science and technology, transforms the world of nature (become separate from it). use science and technology to control nature. Must trust systems and people we do not know in order to survive. Ways to separate traditional society from modern - pace of change, scope of change, nature of modern institutions. “capitalism - system of commodity production, centered upon the relation between private ownership of capital and propertyless wage labor. industrialism - use of inanimate sources of material power in the production of goods, coupled to the central role of machinery in the production process.” pg. 311 Capitalistic societies are a sub category of modern society. Development of surveillance - may direct or indirect industrialization of war “capitalism involves the insulation of the economic from the political against the backdrop competition labor and product markets. surveillance is fundamental to all the types of organization associated with the rise of modernity, in particular the nation-state. Substantive connections between the surveillance operations of nation-states and the altered nature of military power. The successful monopoly of the means of violence on the part of the modern state rests upon the secular maintenance of new codes of criminal law, control of deviance. Relationship between military and industrialism is the industrialization of war. Industrialism and capitalism are related.” pg. 313 Abstract systems - provide security for day to day life. Surrounding knowledge. (examples: getting on a plane and flying to another city/country, turning on the lights, getting cash from an ATM). Trust in abstract systems is not psychologically rewarding. transformation of intimacy. Acceleration of globalization links things originally thought unrelated as now related (example: nursing a child and a reactor incident in the Ukraine). pg. 316 Globalization - pg. 316-319 “Low probability, high-consequence risks will not disappear in the modern world” pg. 319 Susan Sontag - “a permanent modern scenario: apocalypse looms- and it doesnt occur. And it still looms. ... Apocalypse now is a long-running serial: not ‘Apocalypse Now’, but ‘Apocalypse from now on’.” pg. 320 “local knowledge” risks can be ignored during daily life - eating healthy when food is laced with poison from surrounding sources. “Trust and risk, opportunity and danger” pg. 321 Social theory rewired, chp. 25 Du Bois, W.E.B. (2012). The souls of black folks. In Longhofer, W., & Winchester, D. (Eds.) Social Theory re-wired. pp. 331-336. New York, NY: Routledge. Directory: 2013 2013 -> Annual InStructional unit plan 2013 -> The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2013 -> #1 a lifesafer of virginia inc 2013 -> Name(s): your name here team or Group #(if applicable): Professor’s name 2013 -> Alcott Local School Council (lcs) Meeting Minutes 2013 -> Table Of Contents introduction 2 2013 -> Supplemental demographic information 2013 -> 【Education&Working Experience】 Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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