American and European Sociological Theories

Discuss the historical context where sociological ideas emerged and developed in 19th century Europe and in the 20th century the United States of America. During the nineteenth century up until the early twentieth century, various social and intellectual factors had tremendously impacted the development of sociological theorizing. Such social factors referred to the rise of socialism, feminism, urbanization, religious changes and the political and industrial revolutions that occurred in France. As for the intellectual factors, these referred to the major contributions that various theorists from different countries, such as France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy, had on the advancements of sociological theories.

The drastic changes that were brought by these social and intellectual factors caught the attention of the theorists due to the immense effect it had on the societies. Coming from the Middle Ages, wherein times were more peaceful and orderly, many theorists had hoped to return to olden times whilst the others have accepted the circumstances in which they were in and aimed to create social order within the society once again.

With these drastic changes occurring, theorists such as Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel were greatly immersed and preoccupied with creating solutions to these societal issues. Thus, through the creation of sociological theories, this led to the advancement of the field of sociology which we use up to this day.

Present the main research questions that defined the works of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx, and examine the ways these questions influenced sociology in their time and in contemporary sociological thinking.

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(15 points) DODI

Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx were the pioneers and the most influential sociologists in the field of sociology. Emile Durkheim’s entire work revolved around the study of culture. He prioritized the study of social aspects over the individual which lead him to study society in a scientific way and thus the conception of social facts which was one of his most important contributions to sociology. Durkheim was greatly interested in the aspects or things that hold society together as a whole, which are the experiences that are shared, perspectives, values, belief, and behaviors that people do to make them feel part of a community and how they work together to maintain the functionality of their said community for their common interest. Also, with his works about suicide in which he gave 4 types (egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic), he changed the perspective people have about the said practice.

Max Weber’s work revolved around the connection between culture and the economy. Throughout his professional career, he combined history and sociology with the use of Verhesten, the German word for comprehension. He was also intrigued by how people and institutions come to have authority and how they keep it (Cole, 2019). Weber also tackled bureaucracy and how the idea of the “Iron Cage” would shape people’s lives throughout history. That is why the most important parts of Weber’s work lie on the social level of society. While Karl Marx focused on the materialism of history and the importance of tackling the struggle of the classes which is between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. His works also delved into how capitalism affects people in which he coined the term “Alienation”.

Durkheim, Weber, and Marx’s contribution to the field of sociology has stood the test of time. Even until now, in our current society, we are still trying to understand their works about society, the individual, and multiple institutions that have an impact on the lives of people. With the help of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx, future sociologists were able to construct different theories that are somehow related to their work. As we have learned throughout the term, most sociological theories that we created during the 19th and 20th century are somehow connected with each other since it talks about how people interact with each other and how they make sense of the world they live in. Social inequalities are still evident in society today the same goes for capitalism, suicides, bureaucracies, religion and many more which these classical theories were able to explain. These theories are indeed a great help not only for sociologists but also for students like us who are studying and trying to help our society be a better place.

Discuss the premises of the following contemporary theories: 

• Structural Functionalism (including the contributions of Parsons, Davis, and Moore, and Robert Merton) DODI

Structural Functionalism is a theory that tries to explain the structures of society and how it functions with retrospect to the relationships between social institutions that are part of society. Davis and Moore studied social stratification to learn how it could be used as a system in society and emphasized that it is both universal and necessary. While Parsons studied structural-functional theory and his approach to the dynamism and social change, in which AGIL (adaptation, goal-attainment, integration, and latency) the four functional imperatives of all action systems were established. But the most important work came from Merton who developed a paradigm that criticized certain positions in structural functionalism. He created a functional paradigm that tackled the relationship between social structure and culture and anomie and deviance.

• Neo-Marxist theories (including the contributions of Lukacs, Gramsci, Habermas, and Wallerstein) MARIA

Due to reaching the peak of early capitalism and the booming economy during that time period, many Marxists led to believing in predictions about the eventual demise of the economy. Hence, the Marxists who believed in economic determinism utilized Marxism for it was capable of creating reliable scientific theories of the breakdown of capitalism they all had anticipated. Some of the notable Marxists during those times were Georg Lukacs, Antonio Gramsci, Jurgen Habermas, and Immanuel Wallerstein. Lukacs aimed to broaden and extend the ideas of previous Marxist thinkers through his main concepts of reification and class and false consciousness. Moreover, Gramsci’s work centralizes on the concept of hegemony for it helped further understand the domination within capitalism. On the other hand, Habermas focuses on reconstructing historical materialism. Throughout his works, he significantly distinguishes work and interaction. Unlike other Marxist thinkers, Wallerstein chose to focus on broader economic entities which eventually lead him to discover the concept of world-systems.

• Symbolic Interactionism (including the contributions of Mead, Blumer, and Goffman) MARIA

Symbolic interactionism is mostly associated with the works of George Mead, Herbert Blumer and Erving Goffman. Mead developed his sociological orientation by basing it on the philosophy of pragmatism and psychological behaviorism. Out of everyone’s theory, Mead’s symbolic interactionism theory is the most commonly referenced theory throughout time. However, this does not mean that other symbolic interactionists are no longer relevant. The works of Blumer on differentiating the three types of objects and Goffman’s work on the concepts of the self and work have also greatly contributed to the advancement of symbolic interactionism.

• Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel)

Ethnomethodology emphasizes on studying the everyday practices of that people have in order to deal with their day-to-day lives. Under this theory, the most noted ethnomethodologist is Harold Garfinkel. Garfinkel’s social facts are very much different from Durkheim’s social facts for in ethnomethodology, it is more concerned with the organization of everyday life. In Garfinkle’s work, he focuses on concepts such as accounts and the practices of accounts. His works pertains to more conventional means utilized by actors in explaining certain situations. Accordingly, ethnomethodologists use these accounts and their ways of being offered and accepted in analyzing people’s conversations.

• Macro-micro integration (including the contributions of Giddens, Bourdieu, and Habermas)

Macro-level studies the large scale social processes, while micro-level studies smallscale interactions between individuals. Anthony Giddens studies about the structuration theory. It is the duality and dialectal interplay of agency and structure are emphasized. Giddens rejected the idea of having a theory that focuses on either only the individual/agent or the society/structure, thus, this theory of his is a theory that emphasizes the relationship between agent and structure. With its focus on social practices, it shows the intertwined connection of agency and structure to human practices.

Bourdieu studied habitus and field, Through this theory, Bourdieu focused on the dialectal relationship between objective structures and subjective phenomena. According to Bourdieu, objectivist theories often eliminate agency and the agent. Whilst the subjectivist theories ignore the structures. With such polar opposites, he labeled his own orientation as constructivist structuralism for it was his goal to bridge these two. As habitus pertains to the cognitive structures and the field pertains to the network of relations among objective positions, his position was sought as the relationship between social and mental structures. Lastly, Jurgen Habermas looked into the lifeworld and systems. The lifeworld is a concept that looks at society through everyday life which makes it more personal. The interactions we have with friends, family, co-workers, etc. It is something shared with people close to us, thus the actions that we do are easily understood by these people and is a way of communicating. While system is an observer’s view or an external perspective on society. It is connected with lifeworld but it tends to control it rather than have an understanding.

Compare and contrast the above five perspectives (structural functionalism, neo-Marxism, symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, and micro-macro integration) (15 points)

Structural Functionalism is a theory that tries to explain the structures of society and how it functions with retrospect to the relationships between social institutions that are part of society making it a macro perspective. While symbolic interactionism studies how individuals interact with each other, meaning it focuses on the micro-level perspective. Making Symbolic interactionism and Ethnomethodology similar to each other because of the fact both analyze the individual and how they go about their daily lives. While Structural Functionalism and Neo-marxism both share the idea that the environment or structure that surrounds humans is what shapes them. From the interactions with different people or classes to how people interact with institutions are what makes them similar. Finally, Micro-macro integration and functionalism both talk about the structures and institutions that are connected to the lives of individuals which makes them similar.

Draw your reflections on the following:

• What contributions can sociological theory provide in your study of behavioral sciences? (15 points)

Behavioral sciences observes and analyzes the activities of humans and the effects that these interactions have within the society. Given that behavioral sciences studies deals with human behavior, many of the other disciplines that deal with various aspects of human behavior tend to be interconnected. These disciplines include psychology, anthropology, sociology, and many more. Especially in the context of sociology, such concepts that lie under this field help further explain certain aspects of humans that need deeper analysis. Considering how complex and diverse humans are, there is a necessity to rely on other fields such as sociology in order to entirely comprehend and explain various human behaviors that currently exist within our society.

• Choose one sociological theory to explain one of the following social phenomena in the Philippines: 

Here in the Philippines, social inequality is greatly evident in our society today. One theory that could explain this is Marxist Theory and its view on social stratification. Social Stratification is a system of hierarchies in society. According to Marx, it is when the economic capacity of the people is not enough to purchase the products made by capitalists. In the Philippines, workers are being exploited by companies because these companies know that these people need money in order to survive and they have nothing left to offer but their labor. With that being said, they also suffer from “Alienation” which is when workers lose their humanity. They just work and work until they don’t find any satisfaction in doing their jobs anymore. An example here in the Philippines is the use of contractualization in different fields of work. From SM worker to Jollibee service crew, they face low salaries, harsh working conditions and even risk losing their job just because they do not have contracts. Due to the exploitation that is happening, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider as we speak and these capitalists/bourgeoisie don’t really care about it because it makes them richer.