-Perspective on the causes of social change
Gerhard Lenski- Technology
Sociocultural evolution- The changes that occur as societies gain new technology
i. Societies range from simple to complex (technological)
ii. Societies simple in technology tent to resemble one another and change quickly.
iii. Complex societies tend to change simply and are culturally diverse.
Hunting and gathering societies
i. Use simple tools to hunt and gather
ii. Tend to be small and nomadic
iii. Strong division of labor but very little social hierarchy
Mainstreaming, industrialization, assimilation
Horticultural and pastoral societies
i. Domestication of animals (pastoral) and uses tools to raise crops (horticulture)
ii. Have a material surplus
iii. Have more social inequality.
i. Large scale civilization using plows/animals or more powerful energy sources
ii. Large food surpluses and occupational specialization led to social inequalities
iii. Experience cultural advancement and gender inequality (grater)
iv. Home and work are the same place
i. The production of goods using advances sources of energy to drive large machinery
ii. “industrial revolution” late 1700s to early 1900s
iii. Factory work drives the economy
iv. Period where sociology was born
v. Home and work are completely separate
vi. Major shifts associated with industrialization
People (men) left the farm to work in a factory
Occupation and specialization became important
People moved more often (more cultural diversity)
Family decline (family change)
Need family less for protection, food
Overall standers of living increases (debatable)
Status of women further declined.
i. Economy is based on information and technology
ii. Production is based on computers and stuff that creates, processes and stores information.
Produces ideas, not goods
iii. Changes to occupational structure
Factory workers decrees in number and status
Clerical/managerial jobs increase in number and status
Many cultures are a mix of these subcultures
-Karl Marx- Social Conflict
Struggle between segments of society over limited valued resources.
Capitalists- people who own and operate factories and business in pursuit of profits (the haves)
Proletariat- People who sell their productive labor for wages to work in factories ( the have nots)
To keep profits high, wages are kept low, so conflict is inevitable between the two. (exploitative relationship)
Alienation- the experience of isolation and misery resulting from powerlessness
Capitalism alienates workers in specific ways
i. From the act of working
Workers have no say in production work is tedious and repetitive
Not able to change the quality or safety or products
ii. From the products of work
Workers have no ownership of the product
Only see a fraction of the profit
Work is competitive rather than cooperative.
Marx was critical of false consciousness
i. The expectation of social problem as the shortcoming of individuals rather that the flaws of society
ii. According to Marx, Capitalism what the source of most social problems.
Social conflict drives social change
i. The only way out of capitalism is to remake society
ii. Replace false consciousness with class consciousness
Workers recognition of themselves as a unified class that opposes capitalists and capitalism itself.
iii. Marx advocated socialism
A system that can provide for the social needs of all.
-Max Webber- Ideas- Societies differ based on how they view society
Traditional- people are guided by the past and sentiments/beliefs are passes from generation to generation.
Modern- Favors rationality or deliberate circulation of the most efficient means to accomplish a task
Rationalization- the historic change from tradition to rationality as the main type of human thought (linked to capitalism)
Claimed capitalism emerged because of Protestantism
Protestants interpreted posterity as a sign god was happy with you
Poverty was a sign of gods rejection
i. They didn’t share their wealth with those in need.
i. Traditional societyies evolve to be modern.
Distinctive social institutions
Large-scale organizations
ii. Bureaucracy- organization based on hierarchies, offices, duties, and policies.
iii. Have the seven characteristics
iv. Key element or rationalized societies.
-Emile durkheim- Traditional vs modern
Society is more than just individuals
i. Society has a life of it’s own, beyond our own personal experiances
Patterns of human behavior exist in established structures and are independent “social facts”
i. They existed before you came into the world, and they will exist after you leave.
Warned the modern society creates anomie- a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to its individuals
People are unsure how to act because of unclear , absent or conflicting norms.- leads to personal and/or social upheaval.
Common during the industrial revolution
Division of labor has decreased throughout history
i. Mechanical solidarity- social bonds are based on common ideas and shared moral values
ii. Organic solidarity- social bongs are based of specialization and interdependence.
One of the founding fathers of structural functionalism
i. Social harmony and cohesiveness are maintained by the interdependence of different roles or takes
ii. Rely on each other to perform these roles.
