Sociology Foundations and Concepts

Introduction to Sociology for Business and Public Life (EMA1313)

• Course code: EMA1313
• Course title: Introduction to Sociology for Business and Public Life
• Intended for: B.COM 1st Year students
• Notes provided by ASCS
• ASCS does not author or guarantee the quality of past papers.
• Past papers are supplementary materials, not replacements for lectures or lecturer guidance.
• Past papers may be outdated.
• Sharing papers with third parties is prohibited.
• Students should check syllabus, lecturer notes, and class notes for the most up-to-date information.

Organisational Behaviour

• Employability: Employment types include employed, underemployed, and participating in the underground economy.
• Types of employment: Professions, and self-employment.
• Dual labour market: Distinction between primary (high income, interesting work) and secondary (low income, repetitive work).
• Orientations to work: Instrumental (job for living), bureaucratic (career-focused), and solidaristic (beyond money).
• Marxist perspective: Alienation from product of labour, human potential, coworkers, and the final product. Conflict at work includes low productivity, absenteeism, health and safety issues, and discrimination.
• HR Management: Focus on employee development as the most valuable resource to achieve business objectives, including vertical (linking HR strategy and practices) and horizontal (linking various HR practices) integration.

Organisational Development

• 3 E's of management: Efficiency, Economy, and Effectiveness
• Uniformity / Standardisation: Homogenisation of products and common procedures.
• Max Weber: Emphasis on rationality, rules, and bureaucracy.
• Functional vs. Dysfunctional conflict: Positive (e.g., motivation) and negative (e.g., sabotage) forms of conflict in organizations.
• Perspectives of conflict:
  • Unitary model: Single source of leadership
  • Pluralistic model: Dispersed power.

Culture

• Culture: The collective programming of the mind, differentiating groups.
• Culture involves: Espoused values (stated values and behaviours) and artefacts (physical surroundings, style, mission statements).
• Dimensions of culture:
  • Power distance
  • Uncertainty avoidance
  • Individualism vs. collectivism
  • Masculinity vs. femininity.

Force Field Analysis

• A strategic tool for change management
• Lewin's three step model: Unfreezing, Changing, Refreezing

Industrial Societies

• Industrial Revolution: Economic, technological, and social changes related to factories and steam power.
• Stages of Industrial Revolution: Two stages: cotton and metal production.
• Key figures: Fernand Braudel, James Watt
• Industrialism: Economic system based mechanised industry (Characteristics: factories, mechanisation, division of labour, bureaucracy, and urbanisation)
• Key figures: Adam Smith, August Comte, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber

Industrial societies, cont.

• Industrialism: Economic system based on mechanised industry.
• Industrialism characteristics: Factories, mechanisation, division of labour, bureaucracy, and urbanisation

Liberal Democracy

• Democracy: Rule by the people
• Types of democracy: Classical, protective, developmental, people’s, and liberal.
• Liberalism: Distinction between the State and civil society; safeguard of rights.
• Democratic rule: Representative democracy and universal suffrage.
• Fukuyama's theory: History has ended as liberal democracy has been achieved.
• History of Liberal Democracy: Its development and challenges.

Postmodernity

• Post modern Societies: Cultural and ideological configuration have replaced modernity.
• Characteristics: Globalisation, post-industrial, post-capitalist, post-enlightenment, Post-modern societies depend less on manufacturing, focusing more on production, consumption, and leisure industries.
  • Technological factors influencing change.

Capitalism

• Capitalism: Economic system based on market exchange.
• Capitalist mode of production: Capital, labour contract, production of commodities, profit, and accumulation of capital.
• The Wealth of Nations: Key text in Capitalism by Adam Smith.
• Mercantilism: Economic philosophy focused on wealth extraction (16-18th century).
• Key figures: Adam Smith
• Marxian perspective: Focus on conflict between social classes.
• Invisible Hand: Market force that guides resources and goods in a free market.

Dialectical Change

• Hegel's dialectic: Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
• Marx's dialectical materialism: A perspective on history as material (economic) forces determining social development.
• Stages of Societal Development (Marx): Primitive communism, ancient civilization, feudalism, capitalism, socialism.
• Alienation: A result of capitalist systems - distancing workers from their labor, product, their humanity

Socialisation and Stratification

• Socialisation: Process by which individuals learn the norms and values of a society.
• Stratification: Social hierarchy based on inequality; includes slavery, caste, estates, and class.

Culture and Religion

• Culture: Learned behaviors, values, beliefs in a society.
• Religion: Complex social institution viewed through conflict, functionalist, and symbolic interactionist perspectives.

Economic Growth and Inequality

• Economic Inequality: Measured by the Gini coefficient, and is also influenced by inflation
• Poverty: Lack of basic needs, and also relative poverty (living beneath standards of living), and material deprivation.
• Economic Growth: Increases in production, income, employment etc

Migration and Multiculturalism

• Migration: Movement of individuals or groups between countries or regions.
• Multiculturalism: Coexistence of diverse cultures, encompassing the concept of cultural pluralism where various groups exist without abandoning their customs.

Work, Identity, Family, and Work-Life Balance

• Work Identity: The self-image and role as a worker.
• Family Context: Various forms and dynamics of family life across different historical periods and contexts.
• Work-Life balance: Issues related to the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities.
• Agrarian vs Industrial and Post-industrial society: Shift in family dynamics, work structure.

Globalization and Neoliberalism

• Globalization: Interconnectedness of people, ideas, cultures and organizations throughout the planet
• Neoliberalism: Economic philosophy supporting a global free market with minimal government regulation.
• Transnational corporations: Involvement in international production and trade, and its impact on local economies.
• Regional agreements: Trading blocs.

Gender Equality and the Labour Market

• Gender inequality: Social differences created by societal expectations.
• Feminism: Perspectives on gender equality.
• Race and Ethnicity: Prejudice, discrimination, and racism in societal structures.
• Critical Race Theory: Focus on unequitable relationships between ethnic groups.

Theorizing Social Class

• Marxist perspective: Social class based on economic divisions (capitalist vs. proletariat).
• Weber's perspective: Social class incorporating economic status, status, and power.
• Social mobility: Movement of individuals or groups among social classes.

Test your knowledge on foundational sociological concepts and theorists. This quiz covers key ideas from Durkheim, Tonnies, Braudel, and Marx, as well as the societal shifts from pre-industrial to industrial times. Challenge your understanding of social solidarity, anomie, and industrialism.