Sociological Theory 9th Edition PDF

The ninth edition of Sociological Theory by George Ritzer, one of the foremost ninT h ediTion...

The ninth edition of Sociological Theory by George Ritzer, one of the foremost ninT h ediTion ninTh e diTion authorities on sociological theory, gives readers a comprehensive overview of the major theorists and schools of sociological thought. Key theories are integrated with biographical sketches of theorists, and theories are placed in their historical and intellectual context. This helps students to better understand the original works of classical and modern theorists as well as to compare and contrast the latest substantive theories. NeW tO the NINth edItION: Sociological A new focus in chapter 6 on identity, consumption, globalization, and science Sociological Theory and technology. The section on Immanuel Wallerstein in chapter 8 now includes his most recent work on the global fnancial crisis that began in 2008. A new section on the Sociology of Emotion has been added to chapter 9. A new section on Charles Taylor that includes discussions of the self, the modern social Theory imaginary, and religion has been added to chapter 14. Chapter 17 includes more on queer theory and the relationship between actor-network- theory and technology studies. A new section on afect theory has been added to chapter 17. What INStRUCtORS aRe SayINg abOUt SOCIOlOgICal theORy: MD DALIM #1223203 1/14/13 CYAN MAG YELO BLK “ The best coverage of any text of a full range of classical and modern theorists in a concise and superbly documented manner.” – Diane Kayongo-Male, South Dakota State University “ Ritzer’s Sociological Theory is the only choice for teaching social theory; none of the other texts on the market can match its comprehensiveness and accessibility.” – Matthew E. Wilkinson, Coastal Carolina University “Sociological Theory provides a sweeping, comprehensive, overview of sociological theory to the present. The text is analytical as well as descriptive. It should be on every serious student’s bookshelf. I would recommend this survey of sociological theory for students at any level.” – Eleanor A. LaPointe, Rutgers University “ It’s a wonderful, easy to understand, encyclopedic overview of sociological theory.” – Melanie Hildebrandt, Indiana University of Pennsylvania George riTzer | Jeffery STepniSky STepniSky riTzer  Sociological Theory rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd i 23/01/13 4:51 PM rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd ii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Ninth Edition Sociological Theory George Ritzer University of Maryland Jeffrey Stepnisky Grant MacEwan University rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd iii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY, NINTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020. Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2011, 2008, and 2004. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 DOC/DOC 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 ISBN 978-0-07-802701-7 MHID 0-07-802701-2 Vice President, General Manager, Products & Markets: Michael Ryan Executive Director of Development: Lisa Pinto Managing Director: Gina Boedeker Brand Manager: Courtney Austermehle Marketing Specialist: Alexandra Schultz Managing Development Editor: Sara Jaeger Editorial Coordinator: Adina Lonn Project Manager: Jessica Portz Buyer: Nicole Baumgartner Cover Designer: Studio Montage, St. Louis, MO Cover Image: Corey Holms/Getty Images RF Typeface: 10/12 Times Roman Compositor: Cenveo® Publisher Services Printer: R. R. Donnelley All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ritzer, George. Sociological theory / George Ritzer. — 9th ed. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-07-802701-7 (alk. paper) 1. Sociology. 2. Sociologists—Biography I. Title. HM585.R57 2013 301.01—dc23 2012044197 The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill, and McGraw-Hill does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites. www.mhhe.com rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd iv 23/01/13 4:51 PM  About the Authors George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. Among his awards: Honorary Doctorate from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Honorary Patron, University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin; American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award. He has chaired four Sections of the American Sociological Association—Theoretical Sociology, Organizations and Occupations, History of Sociology, and was the first Chair of Global and Transnational Sociology. Among his books in theory are Sociol- ogy: A Multiple Paradigm Science (1975/1980) and Metatheorizing in Sociology (1991). In the application of social theory to the social world, his books include The McDonaldization of Society (7th ed., 2013), Enchanting a Disenchanted World (3rd ed., 2010), and The Globalization of Nothing (2nd ed., 2007). He is also the author of Globalization: A Basic Text (Blackwell, 2010). He edited the Wiley-Blackwell Com- panion to Sociology (2012), The Blackwell Companion to Globalization (2008), and co-edited the Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Classical and Contemporary Major Social Theorists (2011) and Handbook of Social Theory (2001). He was founding editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. He also edited the eleven-volume Ency- clopedia of Sociology (2007), the two-volume Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2005), and the five-volume Encyclopedia of Globalization (2012). He co-edited a special double issue (2012) of American Behavioral Scientist on prosumption. His books have been translated into over twenty languages, with over a dozen translations of The McDonaldization of Society alone. Jeffrey Stepnisky is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he teaches classical and contemporary social theory. He has published in the area of social theory, especially as it relates to ques- tions of subjectivity. This includes a series of papers on the topic of antidepressant medications and contemporary selfhood. He is co-editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Com- panion to Major Social Theorists (2011) and has served as the managing editor for The Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2005) and Journal of Consumer Culture. In addi- tion to this text he is co-author, with George Ritzer, of Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots (2013). v rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd v 23/01/13 4:51 PM  To David, With Love – GR For Michelle and Nora – JS rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd vi 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Brief Contents Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches xvi Preface xviii PART I Classical Sociological Theory 1 CHAPTER 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years 1 CHAPTER 2 Karl Marx 43 CHAPTER 3 Emile Durkheim 76 CHAPTER 4 Max Weber 112 CHAPTER 5 Georg Simmel 158 PART II Modern Sociological Theory: The Major Schools 189 CHAPTER 6 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Later Years 189 CHAPTER 7 Structural Functionalism, Systems Theory, and Conflict Theory 237 CHAPTER 8 Varieties of Neo-Marxian Theory 278 CHAPTER 9 Symbolic Interactionism 332 CHAPTER 10 Ethnomethodology 377 CHAPTER 11 Exchange, Network, and Rational Choice Theories 402 CHAPTER 12 Contemporary Feminist Theory 440 vii rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd vii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  viii Brief Contents PART III Integrative Sociological Theory 487 CHAPTER 13 Micro-Macro and Agency-Structure Integration 487 PART IV From Modern to Postmodern Social Theory (and Beyond) 539 CHAPTER 14 Contemporary Theories of Modernity 539 CHAPTER 15 Globalization Theory 571 CHAPTER 16 Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Postmodern Social Theory 602 CHAPTER 17 Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century 642 Appendix A-1 References R-1 Credits C-1 Name Index I-1 Subject Index I-15 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd viii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Contents Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches xvi Auguste Comte (1798–1857) 15 Preface xviii Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) 19 The Development of German Sociology 21 PART I Classical Sociological Theory 1 The Roots and Nature of the Theories of Karl Marx (1818–1883) 21 CHAPTER 1 A Historical Sketch of The Roots and Nature of the Theories Sociological Theory: The of Max Weber (1864–1920) and Georg Simmel (1858–1918) 26 Early Years 1 The Origins of British Sociology 32 Introduction 2 Political Economy, Ameliorism, and Social Forces in the Development Social Evolution 34 of Sociological Theory 5 Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) 36 Political Revolutions 5 The Key Figure in Early Italian The Industrial Revolution and the Rise Sociology 39 of Capitalism 5 Turn-of-the-Century Developments The Rise of Socialism 6 in European Marxism 40 Feminism 6 Urbanization 7 CHAPTER 2 Karl Marx 43 Religious Change 7 The Growth of Science 8 Introduction 43 Intellectual Forces and the Rise The Dialectic 45 of Sociological Theory 8 Dialectical Method 46 The Enlightenment 8 Fact and Value 46 The Conservative Reaction to the Reciprocal Relations 46 Enlightenment 9 Past, Present, Future 47 The Development of French No Inevitabilities 47 Sociology 11 Actors and Structures 48 Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) 11 Human Potential 48 Claude Henri Saint-Simon Labor 52 (1760–1825) 14 ix rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd ix 23/01/13 4:51 PM  x Contents Alienation 53 Why Primitive? 100 The Structures of Capitalist Totemism 100 Society 56 Sociology of Knowledge 101 Commodities 57 Collective Effervescence 102 Fetishism of Commodities 58 Moral Education and Social Capital, Capitalists, and the Reform 103 Proletariat 59 Morality 104 Exploitation 60 Moral Education 105 Class Conflict 62 Occupational Associations 106 Capitalism as a Good Thing 64 Criticisms 107 Materialist Conception of History 65 Functionalism and Positivism 107 Cultural Aspects of Capitalist Other Criticisms 108 Society 67 Ideology 67 Religion 70 CHAPTER 4 Max Weber 112 Marx’s Economics: A Case Study 70 Methodology 113 Communism 73 History and Sociology 113 Criticisms 73 Verstehen 116 Causality 118 Ideal Types 119 CHAPTER 3 Emile Durkheim 76 Values 121 Introduction 76 Substantive Sociology 124 Social Facts 77 What Is Sociology? 124 Material and Nonmaterial Social Facts 79 Social Action 125 Types of Nonmaterial Social Facts 80 Class, Status, and Party 127 The Division of Labor in Society 84 Structures of Authority 128 Mechanical and Organic Solidarity 85 Rationalization 136 Dynamic Density 88 Religion and the Rise of Repressive and Restitutive Law 89 Capitalism 146 Normal and Pathological 90 Criticisms 154 Justice 91 Suicide 92 CHAPTER 5 Georg Simmel 158 The Four Types of Suicide 93 Primary Concerns 158 Suicide Rates and Social Reform 96 Levels and Areas of Concern 159 The Elementary Forms of Religious Dialectical Thinking 162 Life 97 Early and Late Durkheimian Theory 97 Individual Consciousness 164 Theory of Religion—The Sacred and the Social Interaction (“Association”) 165 Profane 98 Interaction: Forms and Types 166 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd x 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Contents xi Social Structures 171 Radical Sociology in America: C. Wright Mills 214 Objective Culture 172 The Development of Conflict The Philosophy of Money 174 Theory 215 Money and Value 175 The Birth of Exchange Theory 216 Money, Reification, and Dramaturgical Analysis: The Work of Rationalization 176 Erving Goffman 218 Negative Effects 178 The Development of Sociologies of The Tragedy of Culture 179 Everyday Life 219 Secrecy: A Case Study in Simmel’s The Rise and Fall (?) of Marxian Sociology 181 Sociology 220 Secrecy and Social Relationships 182 The Challenge of Feminist Theory 221 Other Thoughts on Secrecy 184 Structuralism and Criticisms 185 Poststructuralism 223 Late-Twentieth-Century Developments in Sociological Theory 223 PART II Modern Sociological Theory: Micro-Macro Integration 223 The Major Schools 189 Agency-Structure Integration 224 Theoretical Syntheses 225 CHAPTER 6 A Historical Sketch of Theories of Modernity and Sociological Theory: The Postmodernity 226 Later Years 189 The Defenders of Modernity 226 Early American Sociological The Proponents of Theory 190 Postmodernity 227 Politics 190 Social Theory in the Twenty-First Social Change and Intellectual Century 228 Currents 192 Theories of Identity 229 The Chicago School 199 Theories of Consumption 231 Women in Early Sociology 205 Theories of Globalization 232 W.E.B. Du Bois and Race Theory 206 Theories of Science, Technology, and Society 233 Sociological Theory to Midcentury 207 The Rise of Harvard, the Ivy League, and Structural Functionalism 207 CHAPTER 7 Structural Functionalism, Systems Theory, and Developments in Marxian Theory 212 Conflict Theory 237 Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Knowledge 213 Structural Functionalism 238 Sociological Theory from The Functional Theory of Stratification Midcentury 214 and Its Critics 239 Structural Functionalism: Peak and Talcott Parsons’s Structural Decline 214 Functionalism 242 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xi 23/01/13 4:51 PM  xii Contents Robert Merton’s Structural Post-Marxist Theory 320 Functionalism 253 Analytical Marxism 321 The Major Criticisms 259 Postmodern Marxian Theory 324 Systems Theory 261 After Marxism 327 System and Environment 262 Criticisms of Post-Marxism 329 Autopoiesis 263 Differentiation 265 CHAPTER 9 Symbolic Conflict Theory 266 Interactionism 332 The Work of Ralf Dahrendorf 266 The Major Criticisms and Efforts to The Major Historical Roots 332 Deal with Them 270 Pragmatism 332 A More Integrative Conflict Theory 271 Behaviorism 334 Between Reductionism and Sociologism 335 CHAPTER 8 Varieties of Neo-Marxian Theory 278 The Ideas of George Herbert Mead 336 Economic Determinism 278 The Priority of the Social 336 Hegelian Marxism 279 The Act 337 Georg Lukács 280 Gestures 340 Antonio Gramsci 282 Significant Symbols 341 Critical Theory 283 Mind 342 The Major Critiques of Social and Self 342 Intellectual Life 283 Society 347 The Major Contributions 287 Criticisms of Critical Theory 291 Symbolic Interactionism: The Basic Principles 348 The Ideas of Jurgen Habermas 292 Capacity for Thought 349 Critical Theory Today: The Work of Axel Honneth 295 Thinking and Interaction 349 Later Developments in Cultural Learning Meanings and Symbols 350 Critique 297 Action and Interaction 352 Neo-Marxian Economic Sociology 298 Making Choices 352 Capital and Labor 299 Groups and Societies 352 Fordism and Post-Fordism 304 The Self and the Work of Erving Historically Oriented Marxism 306 Goffman 355 The Modern World-System 306 The Self 356 Neo-Marxian Spatial Analysis 314 The Sociology of Emotions 365 The Production of Space 314 What Is Emotion? 365 Trialectics 317 Shame: The Social Emotion 366 Spaces of Hope 318 The Invisibility of Shame 367 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Contents xiii Emotion Management and Emotion Stresses and Strains in Work 368 Ethnomethodology 398 Feeling Rules 370 Synthesis and Integration 399 Commercialization of Feeling 371 Ethnomethodology and the Micro- Criticisms 372 Macro Order 400 The Future of Symbolic Interactionism 373 CHAPTER 11 Exchange, Network, and Rational Choice Theories 402 CHAPTER 10 Ethnomethodology 377 Exchange Theory 402 Behaviorism 402 Defining Ethnomethodology 377 Rational Choice Theory 403 The Diversification of Ethnomethodology 381 The Exchange Theory of George Homans 406 Studies of Institutional Settings 381 Peter Blau’s Exchange Theory 413 Conversation Analysis 382 The Work of Richard Emerson and His Some Early Examples 383 Disciples 417 Breaching Experiments 383 Network Theory 423 Accomplishing Gender 385 Basic Concerns and Principles 424 Conversation Analysis 386 A More Integrative Network Theory 426 Telephone Conversations: Identification Network Exchange Theory 427 and Recognition 386 Structural Power 428 Initiating Laughter 387 Strong and Weak Power Generating Applause 388 Structures 429 Booing 389 Rational Choice Theory 430 The Interactive Emergence of Sentences Foundations of Social Theory 431 and Stories 390 Criticisms 437 Integration of Talk and Nonvocal Activities 391 Doing Shyness (and Self- CHAPTER 12 Contemporary Feminist Confidence) 392 Theory 440 Studies of Institutions 393 Feminism’s Basic Questions 440 Job Interviews 393 Historical Framing: Feminism, Executive Negotiations 393 Sociology, and Gender 443 Calls to Emergency Centers 394 Varieties of Contemporary Feminist Dispute Resolution in Mediation Theory 445 Hearings 394 Gender Difference 447 Criticisms of Traditional Sociological Theories: Institutional and Sociology 396 Interactionist 450 Separated from the Social 396 Gender Inequality 452 Confusing Topic and Resource 397 Gender Oppression 456 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xiii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  xiv Contents Structural Oppression 460 The Juggernaut of Modernity 541 Feminism and Postmodernism 472 Modernity and Its Consequences 543 Feminist Sociological Modernity and Identity 546 Theorizing 475 Modernity and Intimacy 547 A Feminist Sociology of The Risk Society 548 Knowledge 476 Creating the Risks 549 The Macro-Social Order 477 Coping with the Risks 550 The Micro-Social Order 479 The Holocaust and Liquid Subjectivity 482 Modernity 551 A Product of Modernity 551 PART III Integrative Sociological The Role of Bureaucracy 552 Theory 487 The Holocaust and Rationalization 553 CHAPTER 13 Micro-Macro and Liquid Modernity 555 Agency-Structure Modernity’s Unfinished Project 556 Integration 487 Habermas versus Postmodernists 560 Micro-Macro Integration 488 Self, Society, and Religion 561 Micro-Macro Extremism 488 Modernity and the Self 562 The Movement toward Micro-Macro Modernity’s Social Imaginary 563 Integration 489 Religion in a Secular Age 565 Examples of Micro-Macro Integration 490 Informationalism and the Network Back to the Future: Norbert Elias’s Society 566 Figurational Sociology 500 Agency-Structure Integration 510 Major Examples of Agency-Structure CHAPTER 15 Globalization Integration 511 Theory 571 Major Differences in the Agency- Major Contemporary Theorists on Structure Literature 534 Globalization 573 Agency-Structure and Micro-Macro Anthony Giddens on the “Runaway Linkages: Fundamental World” of Globalization 573 Differences 536 Ulrich Beck, the Politics of Globalization, and Cosmopolitanism 574 PART IV From Modern to Postmodern Social Theory (and Beyond) Zygmunt Bauman on the Human 539 Consequences of Globalization 576 Cultural Theory 577 CHAPTER 14 Contemporary Theories Cultural Differentialism 577 of Modernity 539 Cultural Convergence 580 Classical Theorists on Modernity 539 Cultural Hybridization 585 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xiv 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Contents xv Economic Theory 588 The Heterosexual/Homosexual Transnational Capitalism 588 Binary 650 Empire 589 Performing Sex 652 Critiques 654 Political Theory 592 Neoliberalism 595 Actor-Network Theory, Posthumanism, and Postsociality 655 Critiquing Neoliberalism 598 Other Theories 600 Affect Theory 661 Basic Concepts 663 The Affective Field 665 CHAPTER 16 Structuralism, The Ethics and Politics of Affect 668 Poststructuralism, and Postmodern Social Theory 602 APPENDIX Sociological Metatheorizing and a Metatheoretical Structuralism 603 Schema for Analyzing Roots in Linguistics 603 Sociological Theory A-1 Anthropological Structuralism: Claude Lévi-Strauss 604 Metatheorizing in Sociology A-1 Structural Marxism 605 Pierre Bourdieu’s Reflexive Sociology Poststructuralism 606 A-5 The Ideas of Michel Foucault 608 The Ideas of Thomas Kuhn A-7 The Ideas of Giorgio Agamben 618 Sociology: A Multiple-Paradigm Postmodern Social Theory 625 Science A-11 Moderate Postmodern Social Theory: The Social-Facts Paradigm A-11 Fredric Jameson 629 The Social-Definition Paradigm A-11 Extreme Postmodern Social Theory: The Social-Behavior Paradigm A-12 Jean Baudrillard 633 Toward a More Integrated Sociological Criticisms and Post-Postmodern Social Paradigm A-12 Theory 636 Levels of Social Analysis: An Overview A-13 CHAPTER 17 Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century 642 References R-1 Critical Theories of Race and Racism Credits C-1 643 Name Index I-1 Queer Theory 648 Subject Index I-15 What Is Queer Theory? 648 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xv 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches Abdel Rahman Ibn-Khaldun 4 Alexis de Tocqueville 12 Auguste Comte 16 Sigmund Freud 33 Herbert Spencer 38 Karl Marx 50 Emile Durkheim 86 Max Weber 114 Georg Simmel 160 Thorstein Veblen 196 Joseph Schumpeter 198 Robert Park 202 W.E.B. Du Bois 208 C. Wright Mills 216 Talcott Parsons 240 Robert K. Merton 254 Immanuel Wallerstein 307 George Herbert Mead 338 Erving Goffman 356 Harold Garfinkel 378 George Caspar Homans 404 Peter M. Blau 412 Richard Emerson 418 xvi rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xvi 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches xvii James S. Coleman 432 Dorothy E. Smith 462 Patricia Hill Collins 468 Jeffrey C. Alexander 492 Randall Collins 498 Norbert Elias 502 Pierre Bourdieu 518 Anthony Giddens 542 Jurgen Habermas 558 Michel Foucault 610 George Ritzer A-8 rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xvii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Preface This new edition of Sociological Theory, like its eight predecessors, offers a compre- hensive overview of the history of sociological theory from its inception to the latest theoretical developments. As with previous editions, our goal is to combine a discus- sion of the major classical theorists (Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel) with the most important contemporary theories and theorists. In one convenient volume, this book offers students a handy overview of much of what they need to know about sociological theory, both past and present. In-depth discussions of theories (often enlivened with examples) are accompa- nied by informative and—we believe—engaging biographical sketches of many of the most important thinkers in the history of sociology. Once again, Sociological Theory offers two historical chapters surveying the early history of the field (Chapter 1) and recent developments (Chapter 6). These chapters provide an over- view that allows students to put the work of each theorist in its historical, social, and political context. A New Coauthor A major change to this edition is the addition of Jeffrey Stepnisky as coauthor. Jeff is a former student of George Ritzer’s and an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada. Jeff brings a fresh voice, and his involvement ensures that the text will continue into the future. As a teacher of undergraduate social theory classes, Jeff is enthusiastic about making theory relevant and accessible for students. Changes in the Ninth Edition As is always the case, we faced difficult decisions about what to add and what to cut. There are some important additions to this edition. In order to ensure that the text did not become too lengthy and cumbersome, we also removed or rewrote some sections. These decisions reflect the changing face of sociological theory. Among the major changes/additions are the following: The final section of Chapter 6, “Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century,” has been rewritten to focus on four themes of recent theoretical interest: identity, consumption, globalization, and science and technology. xviii rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xviii 23/01/13 4:51 PM  Preface xix In Chapter 8, the section on Henri Lefebvre has been rewritten to provide a more accessible version of the theory. In Chapter 8, the section on Immanuel Wallerstein has been updated to include his most recent work, including analysis of the global financial crisis that began in 2008. Chapter 9 on systems theory has been removed, but the important work of Niklas Luhmann has been incorporated into Chapter 7. The section on neofunctionalism has been removed from Chapter 7. A substantial new section on the sociology of emotion has been added to the chapter on symbolic interactionism (Chapter 9). Chapter 9 has been reorganized to accommodate this addition. A substantial new section on Charles Taylor that includes discussion of the self, the modern social imaginary, and religion has been added to the chapter on modernity (Chapter 14). Chapter 17 has been reorganized and rewritten to include substantial new material. This includes greater detail on the key concepts of queer theory and a discussion of the relationship between actor-network theory and science and technology studies. Chapter 17 also includes a substantial new section on affect theory. The text has been refreshed throughout, especially with the addition of new citations to the most recent work on various theories. Thus, the text is much as it always has been but is renewed once again. The wonderful things about theory are both its continuity and its ever-changing character. We have tried to communicate those and other joys of sociological theory to readers in the early stages of their exposure to it. Acknowledgments We want to thank Patricia Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge for revising Chapter 12, their pathbreaking chapter on contemporary feminist theory. Their chapter not only has made this book much stronger but also has had a strong influence on theorizing independent of the book. We also thank Matthias Junge for his contribution to the section on Niklas Luhmann (in Chapter 7) and Mike Ryan for his contribution to the section on queer theory (in Chapter 17). We also thank Doug Goodman (coauthor of the sixth edition) for his contributions, many of which continue to be found in this text. Thanks, as well, to those at McGraw-Hill who have provided continuing support throughout these revisions Thanks also go to a panel of reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped to make this a better book: James J. Chriss, Cleveland State University Rebecca Jean Emigh, University of California, Los Angeles David Allan Ford, University of Central Oklahoma William J. Haller, Clemson University rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xix 23/01/13 4:51 PM  xx Preface Diane Kayongo-Male, South Dakota State University Eleanor A. LaPointe, Rutgers University Darek Niklas, Rhode Island College Fabio Rojas, Indiana University George Ritzer and Jeffrey Stepnisky rit27012_fm_i-xx.indd xx 23/01/13 4:51 PM  P A R T I Classical Sociological Theory C H A P T E R 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years Chapter Outline Introduction Social Forces in the Development of Sociological Theory Intellectual Forces and the Rise of Sociological Theory The Development of French Sociology The Development of German Sociology The Origins of British Sociology The Key Figure in Early Italian Sociology Turn-of-the-Century Developments in European Marxism A useful way to begin a book designed to introduce the range of sociological theory is with several one-line summaries of various theories: The modern world is an iron cage of rational systems from which there is no escape. Capitalism tends to sow the seeds of its own destruction. The modern world has less moral cohesion than earlier societies had. The city spawns a particular type of personality. In their social lives, people tend to put on a variety of theatrical performances. The social world is defined by principles of reciprocity in give-and-take relationships. People create the social worlds that ultimately come to enslave them. People always retain the capacity to change the social worlds that constrain them. 1 rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 1 23/01/13 11:28 AM  2 Part I Classical Sociological Theory Society is an integrated system of social structures and functions. Society is a “juggernaut” with the ever-present possibility of running amok. Although it appears that the Western world has undergone a process of liberalization, in fact it has grown increasingly oppressive. The world has entered a new postmodern era increasingly defined by the inauthentic, the fake, by simulations of reality. Paradoxically, globalization is associated with the worldwide spread of “nothing.” Nonhuman objects are increasingly seen as key actors in networks. This book is devoted to helping the reader better understand these and many other theoretical ideas, as well as the larger theories from which they are drawn. Introduction Presenting a history of sociological theory is an important task (S. Turner, 1998), but because we devote only two chapters (1 and 6) to it, what we offer is a highly selec- tive historical sketch (Giddens, 1995). The idea is to provide the reader with a scaf- folding that should help in putting the later detailed discussions of theorists and theories in a larger context. As the reader proceeds through the later chapters, it will prove useful to return to these two overview chapters and place the discussions in their context. (It will be especially useful to glance back occasionally to Figures 1.1 and 6.1, which are schematic representations of the histories covered in those chapters.) The theories treated in the body of this book have a wide range of application, deal with centrally important social issues, and have stood the test of time. These criteria constitute the definition of sociological theory used in this book.1 A number of the theorists who are briefly discussed in Chapter 1 (for example, Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte) will not receive detailed treatment later because they are of little more than historical interest. Other theorists (for example, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim) will be discussed in Chapter 1 in their historical context, and they will receive detailed treatment later because of their continuing importance. The focus is on the important theoretical work of sociologists or the work done by individuals in other fields that has come to be defined as important in sociol- ogy. To put it succinctly, this is a book about the “big ideas” in sociology that have stood the test of time (or promise to)—idea systems that deal with major social issues and that are far-reaching in scope. We cannot establish the precise date when sociological theory began. People have been thinking about, and developing theories of, social life since early in history. 1 Such a definition stands in contrast to the formal, “scientific” definitions (Jasso, 2001) that often are used in theory texts of this type. A scientific definition might be that a theory is a set of interrelated propositions that allows for the systematization of knowledge, explanation, and prediction of social life and the generation of new research hypotheses (Faia, 1986). Although such a definition has a number of attractions, it simply does not fit many of the idea systems that are discussed in this book. In other words, most classical (and contemporary) theories fall short on one or more of the formal components of theory, but they are nonetheless considered theories by most sociologists. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 2 23/01/13 11:28 AM  France Enlightenment Conservative Reaction rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 3 SOCIAL Montesquieu (1689–1755) de Bonald (1754–1840) Saint-Simon Comte Tocqueville Durkheim FORCES Rousseau (1712–1778) de Maistre (1753–1821) (1760–1825) (1798–1857) (1805–1859) (1858–1917) Political Germany Economic revolutions Hegel (1720–1831) Young Hegelians Marx (1818–1883) Determinists Hegelian Marxists Feuerbach Kautsky ´ Lukacs (1804–1872) (1854–1938) (1885–1971) Kant (1724–1804) German Historicism Weber Industrial Dilthey (1833–1911) (1864–1920) Revolution and the rise Nietzsche Simmel of capitalism (1844–1900) (1858–1918) Italy Rise of socialism Pareto (1848–1923) Mosca (1858–1941) Feminism Great Britain Political Economy Urbanization Smith (1723–1790) Ricardo (1772–1823) Evolutionary Theory Spencer (1820–1903) Religious United States change Veblen (1857–1929) DuBois (1868–1963) Schumpeter (1883–1950) Growth of science 3 FIGURE 1.1 Sociological Theory: The Early Years 23/01/13 11:28 AM  4 Part I Classical Sociological Theory A BDEL R AHMAN I BN -K HALDUN A Biographical Sketch There is a tendency to think of sociology as exclusively a comparatively modern, Western phenomenon. In fact, however, scholars were developing sociological ideas and theories long ago and in other parts of the world. One example is Abdel Rahman Ibn-Khaldun. Ibn-Khaldun was born in Tunis, North Africa, on May 27, 1332 (Alatas, 2011; Faghirzadeh, 1982). Born to an educated family, Ibn-Khaldun was schooled in the Koran (the Muslim holy book), mathematics, and history. In his lifetime, he served a variety of sultans in Tunis, Morocco, Spain, and Algeria as ambassador, chamberlain, and member of the scholars’ council. He also spent two years in prison in Morocco for his belief that state rulers were not divine leaders. After approximately two decades of political activity, Ibn-Khaldun returned to North Africa, where he undertook an intensive five-year period of study and writing. Works produced during this period increased his fame and led to a lectureship at the center of Islamic study, Al-Azhar Mosque University in Cairo. In his well- attended lectures on society and sociology, Ibn-Khaldun stressed the importance of linking sociological thought and historical observation. By the time he died in 1406, Ibn-Khaldun had produced a corpus of work that had many ideas in common with contemporary sociology. He was committed to the scientific study of society, empirical research, and the search for causes of social phenomena. He devoted considerable attention to various social institu- tions (for example, politics, economy) and their interrelationships. He was inter- ested in comparing primitive and modern societies. Ibn-Khaldun did not have a dramatic impact on classical sociology, but as scholars in general, and Islamic scholars in particular, rediscover his work, he may come to be seen as being of greater historical significance. But we will not go back to the early historic times of the Greeks or Romans or even to the Middle Ages. We will not even go back to the seventeenth century, although Olson (1993) has traced the sociological tradition to the mid-1600s and the work of James Harrington on the relationship between the economy and the polity. This is not because people in those epochs did not have sociologically relevant ideas, but because the return on our investment in time would be small; we would spend a lot of time getting very few ideas that are relevant to modern sociology. In any case, none of the thinkers associated with those eras thought of themselves, and few are now thought of, as sociologists. (For a discussion of one exception, see the biographical sketch of Ibn-Khaldun.) It is only in the 1800s that we begin to find thinkers who can be clearly rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 4 23/01/13 11:28 AM  Chapter 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years 5 identified as sociologists. These are the classical sociological thinkers we shall be interested in (Camic, 1997; for a debate about what makes theory classical, see R. Collins, 1997b; Connell, 1997), and we begin by examining the main social and intellectual forces that shaped their ideas. Social Forces in the Development of Sociological Theory All intellectual fields are profoundly shaped by their social settings. This is particularly true of sociology, which not only is derived from that setting but takes the social set- ting as its basic subject matter. We will focus briefly on a few of the most important social conditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, conditions that were of the utmost significance in the development of sociology. We also will take the occasion to begin introducing the major figures in the history of sociological theory. Political Revolutions The long series of political revolutions that were ushered in by the French Revolution in 1789 and carried over through the nineteenth century was the most immediate fac- tor in the rise of sociological theorizing. The impact of these revolutions on many societies was enormous, and many positive changes resulted. However, what attracted the attention of many early theorists was not the positive consequences but the nega- tive effects of such changes. These writers were particularly disturbed by the resulting chaos and disorder, especially in France. They were united in a desire to restore order to society. Some of the more extreme thinkers of this period literally wanted a return to the peaceful and relatively orderly days of the Middle Ages. The more sophisticated thinkers recognized that social change had made such a return impossible. Thus they sought instead to find new bases of order in societies that had been overturned by the political revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This interest in the issue of social order was one of the major concerns of classical sociological theorists, especially Comte, Durkheim, and Parsons. The Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Capitalism At least as important as political revolution in shaping sociological theory was the Industrial Revolution, which swept through many Western societies, mainly in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Industrial Revolution was not a single event but many interrelated developments that culminated in the transformation of the Western world from a largely agricultural to an overwhelmingly industrial system. Large numbers of people left farms and agricultural work for the industrial occupations offered in the burgeoning factories. The factories themselves were transformed by a long series of technological improvements. Large economic bureaucracies arose to provide the many services needed by industry and the emerging capitalist economic system. In this economy, the ideal was a free marketplace where the many products of rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 5 23/01/13 11:28 AM  6 Part I Classical Sociological Theory an industrial system could be exchanged. Within this system, a few profited greatly while the majority worked long hours for low wages. A reaction against the industrial system and against capitalism in general followed and led to the labor movement as well as to various radical movements aimed at overthrowing the capitalist system. The Industrial Revolution, capitalism, and the reaction against them all involved an enormous upheaval in Western society, an upheaval that affected sociologists greatly. Four major figures in the early history of sociological theory—Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Georg Simmel—were preoccupied, as were many lesser thinkers, with these changes and the problems they created for society as a whole. They spent their lives studying these problems, and in many cases they endeavored to develop programs that would help solve them. The Rise of Socialism One set of changes aimed at coping with the excesses of the industrial system and capitalism can be combined under the heading “socialism” (Beilharz, 2005g). Although some sociologists favored socialism as a solution to industrial problems, most were personally and intellectually opposed to it. On one side, Karl Marx was an active supporter of the overthrow of the capitalist system and its replacement by a socialist system. Although Marx did not develop a theory of socialism per se, he spent a great deal of time criticizing various aspects of capitalist society. In addition, he engaged in a variety of political activities that he hoped would help bring about the rise of socialist societies. However, Marx was atypical in the early years of sociological theory. Most of the early theorists, such as Weber and Durkheim, were opposed to socialism (at least as it was envisioned by Marx). Although they recognized the problems within capital- ist society, they sought social reform within capitalism rather than the social revolution argued for by Marx. They feared socialism more than they did capitalism. This fear played a far greater role in shaping sociological theory than did Marx’s support of the socialist alternative to capitalism. In fact, as we will see, in many cases socio- logical theory developed in reaction against Marxian and, more generally, against socialist theory. Feminism In one sense there has always been a feminist perspective. Wherever women are subordinated—and they have been subordinated almost always and everywhere—they seem to have recognized and protested that situation in some form (Lerner, 1993). While precursors can be traced to the 1630s, high points of feminist activity and writ- ing occurred in the liberationist moments of modern Western history: a first flurry of productivity in the 1780s and 1790s with the debates surrounding the American and French revolutions; a far more organized, focused effort in the 1850s as part of the mobilization against slavery and for political rights for the middle class; and the mas- sive mobilization for women’s suffrage and for industrial and civic reform legislation in the early twentieth century, especially the Progressive Era in the United States. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 6 23/01/13 11:28 AM  Chapter 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years 7 All of this had an impact on the development of sociology, in particular on the work of a number of women in or associated with the field—Harriet Martineau (Vetter, 2008), Charlotte Perkins Gilman (J. Allen, 2011), Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida Wells-Barnett, Marianne Weber, and Beatrice Potter Webb, to name a few. But their creations were, over time, pushed to the periphery of the profession, annexed, discounted, or written out of sociology’s public record by the men who were organizing sociology as a professional power base. Feminist concerns filtered into soci- ology only on the margins, in the work of marginal male theorists or of the increasingly marginalized female theorists. The men who assumed centrality in the profession—from Spencer, through Weber and Durkheim—made basically conservative responses to the feminist arguments going on around them, making issues of gender an inconsequential topic to which they responded conventionally rather than critically in what they identi- fied and publicly promoted as sociology. They responded in this way even as women were writing a significant body of sociological theory. The history of this gender politics in the profession, which is also part of the history of male response to feminist claims, is only now being written (for example, see Deegan, 1988; Fitzpatrick, 1990; Gordon, 1994; Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998; R. Rosenberg, 1982). Urbanization Partly as a result of the Industrial Revolution, large numbers of people in the nine- teenth and twentieth centuries were uprooted from their rural homes and moved to urban settings. This massive migration was caused, in large part, by the jobs created by the industrial system in the urban areas. But it presented many difficulties for those people who had to adjust to urban life. In addition, the expansion of the cities pro- duced a seemingly endless list of urban problems—overcrowding, pollution, noise, traffic, and so forth. The nature of urban life and its problems attracted the attention of many early sociologists, especially Max Weber and Georg Simmel. In fact, the first major school of American sociology, the Chicago school, was in large part defined by its concern for the city and its interest in using Chicago as a laboratory in which to study urbanization and its problems. Religious Change Social changes brought on by political revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, and urbanization had a profound effect on religiosity. Many early sociologists came from religious backgrounds and were actively, and in some cases professionally, involved in religion (Hinkle and Hinkle, 1954). They brought to sociology the same objectives they espoused in their religious lives. They wished to improve people’s lives (Vidich and Lyman, 1985). For some (such as Comte), sociology was transformed into a religion (Wernick, 2000, 2005a, 2005b). For others, their sociological theories bore an unmis- takable religious imprint. Durkheim wrote one of his major works on religion. Moral- ity played a key role not only in Durkheim’s sociology but also in the work of Talcott Parsons. A large portion of Weber’s work also was devoted to the religions of the world. Marx, too, had an interest in religiosity, but his orientation was far more critical. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 7 23/01/13 11:28 AM  8 Part I Classical Sociological Theory The Growth of Science As sociological theory was being developed, there was an increasing emphasis on science, not only in colleges and universities but in society as a whole. The techno- logical products of science were permeating every sector of life, and science was acquiring enormous prestige. Those associated with the most successful sciences (physics, biology, and chemistry) were accorded honored places in society. Sociolo- gists (especially Comte, Durkheim, Spencer, Mead, and Schutz) from the beginning were preoccupied with science, and many wanted to model sociology after the suc- cessful physical and biological sciences. However, a debate soon developed between those who wholeheartedly accepted the scientific model and those (such as Weber) who thought that distinctive characteristics of social life made a wholesale adoption of a scientific model difficult and unwise (Lepenies, 1988). The issue of the relation- ship between sociology and science is debated to this day, although even a glance at the major journals in the field, at least in the United States, indicates the predominance of those who favor sociology as a science. Intellectual Forces and the Rise of Sociological Theory Although social factors are important, the primary focus of this chapter is the intel- lectual forces that played a central role in shaping sociological theory. In the real world, of course, intellectual factors cannot be separated from social forces. For exam- ple, in the discussion of the Enlightenment that follows, we will find that that movement was intimately related to, and in many cases provided the intellectual basis for, the social changes discussed above. The many intellectual forces that shaped the development of social theories are discussed within the national context where their influence was primarily felt (Levine, 1995; Rundell, 2001). We begin with the Enlightenment and its influences on the development of sociological theory in France. The Enlightenment It is the view of many observers that the Enlightenment constitutes a critical develop- ment in terms of the later evolution of sociology (Hawthorn, 1976; Hughes, Martin, and Sharrock, 1995; Nisbet, 1967; Zeitlin, 1996). The Enlightenment was a period of remarkable intellectual development and change in philosophical thought.2 A number of long-standing ideas and beliefs—many of which related to social life—were over- thrown and replaced during the Enlightenment. The most prominent thinkers associ- ated with the Enlightenment were the French philosophers Charles Montesquieu 2 This section is based on the work of Irving Zeitlin (1996). Although Zeitlin’s analysis is presented here for its coher- ence, it has a number of limitations: there are better analyses of the Enlightenment, there are many other factors involved in shaping the development of sociology, and Zeitlin tends to overstate his case in places (for example, on the impact of Marx). But on the whole, Zeitlin provides us with a useful starting point, given our objectives in this chapter. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 8 23/01/13 11:28 AM  Chapter 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years 9 (1689–1755) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) (B. Singer, 2005a, 2005b). The influence of the Enlightenment on sociological theory, however, was more indirect and negative than it was direct and positive. As Irving Zeitlin puts it, “Early sociology developed as a reaction to the Enlightenment” (1996:10). The thinkers associated with the Enlightenment were influenced, above all, by two intellectual currents—seventeenth-century philosophy and science. Seventeenth-century philosophy was associated with the work of thinkers such as René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. The emphasis was on producing grand, general, and very abstract systems of ideas that made rational sense. The later thinkers associated with the Enlightenment did not reject the idea that systems of ideas should be general and should make rational sense, but they did make greater efforts to derive their ideas from the real world and to test them there. In other words, they wanted to combine empirical research with reason (Seidman, 1983:36–37). The model for this was science, especially Newtonian physics. At this point, we see the emer- gence of the application of the scientific method to social issues. Not only did Enlightenment thinkers want their ideas to be, at least in part, derived from the real world, they also wanted them to be useful to the social world, especially in the critical analysis of that world. Overall, the Enlightenment was characterized by the belief that people could comprehend and control the universe by means of reason and empirical research. The view was that because the physical world was dominated by natural laws, it was likely that the social world was too. Thus it was up to the philosopher, using reason and research, to discover these social laws. Once they understood how the social world worked, the Enlightenment thinkers had a practical goal—the creation of a “better,” more rational world. With an emphasis on reason, the Enlightenment philosophers were inclined to reject beliefs in traditional authority. When these thinkers examined traditional values and institutions, they often found them to be irrational—that is, contrary to human nature and inhibitive of human growth and development. The mission of the practical and change-oriented philosophers of the Enlightenment was to overcome these irra- tional systems. The theorists who were most directly and positively influenced by Enlightenment thinking were Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx, although the latter formed his early theoretical ideas in Germany. The Conservative Reaction to the Enlightenment On the surface, we might think that French classical sociological theory, like Marx’s theory, was directly and positively influenced by the Enlightenment. French sociology became rational, empirical, scientific, and change-oriented, but not before it was also shaped by a set of ideas that developed in reaction to the Enlightenment. In Seidman’s view, “The ideology of the counter-Enlightenment represented a virtual inversion of Enlightenment liberalism. In place of modernist premises, we can detect in the Enlightenment critics a strong anti-modernist sentiment” (1983:51). As we will see, sociology in general, and French sociology in particular, have from the beginning been an uncomfortable mix of Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment ideas. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 9 23/01/13 11:28 AM  10 Part I Classical Sociological Theory The most extreme form of opposition to Enlightenment ideas was French Catholic counterrevolutionary philosophy, as represented by the ideas of Louis de Bonald (1754–1840) and Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) (Reedy, 1994; Bradley, 2005a, 2005b). These men were reacting against not only the Enlightenment but also the French Revolution, which they saw partly as a product of the kind of thinking characteristic of the Enlightenment. Bonald, for example, was disturbed by the revo- lutionary changes and yearned for a return to the peace and harmony of the Middle Ages. In this view, God was the source of society; therefore, reason, which was so important to the Enlightenment philosophers, was seen as inferior to traditional reli- gious beliefs. Furthermore, it was believed that because God had created society, people should not tamper with it and should not try to change a holy creation. By extension, Bonald opposed anything that undermined such traditional institutions as patriarchy, the monogamous family, the monarchy, and the Catholic Church. Although Bonald represented a rather extreme form of the conservative reaction, his work constitutes a useful introduction to its general premises. The conservatives turned away from what they considered the “naive” rationalism of the Enlightenment. They not only recognized the irrational aspects of social life but also assigned them positive value. Thus they regarded such phenomena as tradition, imagination, emo- tionalism, and religion as useful and necessary components of social life. In that they disliked upheaval and sought to retain the existing order, they deplored developments such as the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, which they saw as dis- ruptive forces. The conservatives tended to emphasize social order, an emphasis that became one of the central themes of the work of several sociological theorists. Zeitlin (1996) outlined ten major propositions that he sees as emerging from the conservative reaction and providing the basis for the development of classical French sociological theory. 1. Whereas Enlightenment thinkers tended to emphasize the individual, the conservative reaction led to a major sociological interest in, and emphasis on, society and other large-scale phenomena. Society was viewed as something more than simply an aggregate of individuals. Society was seen as having an existence of its own with its own laws of development and deep roots in the past. 2. Society was the most important unit of analysis; it was seen as more important than the individual. It was society that produced the individual, primarily through the process of socialization. 3. The individual was not even seen as the most basic element within society. A society consisted of such component parts as roles, positions, relationships, structures, and institutions. Individuals were seen as doing little more than filling these units within society. 4. The parts of society were seen as interrelated and interdependent. Indeed, these interrelationships were a major basis of society. This view led to a conservative political orientation. That is, because the parts were held to be interrelated, it followed that tampering with one part could well lead to the undermining of other parts and, ultimately, of the system as a whole. This meant that changes in the social system should be made with extreme care. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 10 23/01/13 11:28 AM  Chapter 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years 11 5. Change was seen as a threat not only to society and its components but also to the individuals in society. The various components of society were seen as satisfying people’s needs. When institutions were disrupted, people were likely to suffer, and their suffering was likely to lead to social disorder. 6. The general tendency was to see the various large-scale components of society as useful for both society and the individuals in it. As a result, there was little desire to look for the negative effects of existing social structures and social institutions. 7. Small units, such as the family, the neighborhood, and religious and occupational groups, also were seen as essential to individuals and society. They provided the intimate, face-to-face environments that people needed in order to survive in modern societies. 8. There was a tendency to see various modern social changes, such as industrialization, urbanization, and bureaucratization, as having disorganizing effects. These changes were viewed with fear and anxiety, and there was an emphasis on developing ways of dealing with their disruptive effects. 9. While most of these feared changes were leading to a more rational society, the conservative reaction led to an emphasis on the importance of nonrational factors (ritual, ceremony, and worship, for example) in social life. 10. Finally, the conservatives supported the existence of a hierarchical system in society. It was seen as important to society that there be a differential system of status and reward. These ten propositions, derived from the conservative reaction to the Enlighten- ment, should be seen as the immediate intellectual basis of the development of soci- ological theory in France. Many of these ideas made their way into early sociological thought, although some of the Enlightenment ideas (empiricism, for example) were also influential.3 The Development of French Sociology We turn now to the actual founding of sociology as a distinctive discipline— specifically, to the work of four French thinkers: Alexis de Tocqueville, Claude Saint- Simon, Auguste Comte, and especially Emile Durkheim. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) We begin with Alexis de Tocqueville even though he was born after both Saint-Simon and Comte. We do so because he and his work were such pure products of the Enlight- enment (he was strongly and directly influenced by Montesquieu [B. Singer, 2005b], especially his The Spirit of the Laws ) and because his work was not part of 3 Although we have emphasized the discontinuities between the Enlightenment and the counter-Enlightenment, Seidman makes the point that there also are continuities and linkages. First, the counter-Enlightenment carried on the scientific tradition developed in the Enlightenment. Second, it picked up the Enlightenment emphasis on collectivities (as opposed to individuals) and greatly extended it. Third, both had an interest in the problems of the modern world, especially its negative effects on individuals. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 11 23/01/13 11:28 AM  12 Part I Classical Sociological Theory A LEXIS DE T OCQUEVILLE A Biographical Sketch Alexis de Tocqueville was born on July 29, 1805, in Paris. He came from a prominent though not wealthy aristocratic family. The family had suffered during the French Revolution. Tocqueville’s parents had been arrested but managed to avoid the guillotine. Tocqueville was well educated, became a lawyer and judge (although he was not very successful at either), and became well and widely read especially in the Enlightenment philosophy (Rousseau and Montesquieu) that played such a central role in much classical social theory. The turning point in Tocqueville’s life began on April 2, 1831, when he and a friend (Gustave de Beaumont) journeyed to the United States ostensibly to study the American penitentiary system. He saw America as a laboratory in which he could study, in their nascent state, such key phenomena to him as democracy, equality, and freedom. He traveled widely throughout much of the then-developed (and some undeveloped) parts of the United States (and a bit of Canada), getting as far west as Green Bay (Wisconsin) and Memphis (Tennessee) and New Orleans (Louisiana), traveling through large parts of the northeastern, middle Atlantic, and southern states, as well as some midwestern states east of the Mississippi River. He talked to all sorts of people along the way, asked systematic questions, took copious notes, and allowed his interests to evolve on the basis of what he found along the way. Tocqueville (and Beaumont) returned to France on February 20, 1832, having spent less than a year studying the vast physical and social landscape of the United States as it existed then. It took Tocqueville some time to get started on the first volume of Democracy in America, but he began in earnest in late 1833 and the book was published by 1835. It was a great success and made him famous. The irony here is that one of the classic works on democracy in general, and American democracy in particular, was written by a French aristocrat. He launched a political career while putting the finishing touches on volume two of Democracy, which appeared in 1840. This volume was more sociological (Aron, 1965) than the first, which was clearly about politics, particularly the American political system and how it compared to other political systems, especially the French the clear line of development in French social theory from Saint-Simon and Comte to the crucially important Durkheim. Tocqueville has long been seen as a political scientist, not a sociologist, and furthermore many have not perceived the existence of a social theory in his work (e.g., Seidman, 1983:306). However, not only is there a social theory in his work, but it is one that deserves a much more significant place in the history of social theory not only in France but in the rest of the world. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 12 23/01/13 11:28 AM  Chapter 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years 13 system. (In general, Tocqueville was very favorably disposed to the American system, although he had reservations about democracy more generally.) Volume two was not well received, perhaps because of this shift in orientation, as well as the book’s more abstract nature. Tocqueville continued in politics and, even though he was an aristocrat, was comparatively liberal in many of his views. Of this, he said: People ascribe to me alternatively aristocratic and democratic prejudices. If I had been born in another period, or in another country, I might have had either one or the other. But my birth, as it happened, made it easy for me to guard against both. I came into the world at the end of a long revolution, which, after destroying ancient institutions, created none that could last. When I entered life, aristocracy was dead and democracy was yet unborn. My instinct, therefore, could not lead me blindly either to the one or the other. (Tocqueville, cited in Nisbet, 1976–1977:61). It is because of this ambivalence that Nisbet (1976–1977:65) argues that unlike the development of Marxism flowing from Marx’s intellectual certainty, “at no time has there been, or is there likely to be, anything called Tocquevilleism.” Tocqueville lived through the Revolution of 1848 and the abdication of the king. However, he opposed the military coup staged by Louis Napoleon, spent a few days in jail, and saw, as a result, the end of his political career (he had become minister of foreign affairs but was fired by Louis Napoleon). He never accepted the dictatorship of Napoleon III and grew increasingly critical of the political direction taken by France. As a way of critiquing the France of his day, Tocqueville decided to write about the French Revolution of 1789 (although he believed it continued through the first half of the nineteenth century and to his day) in his other well-known book, The Old Regime and the Revolutions, which was published in 1856. The book focused on French despotism but continued the concerns of Democracy in America with the relationship between freedom, equality, and democracy. Unlike the second volume of Democracy in America, Old Regime was well received and quite successful. It made Tocqueville the “grand old man” of the liberal movement of the day in France. Tocqueville died at age 53 on April 16, 1859 (Janara, 2011; Mancini, 1994; Zunz and Kahan, 2002). One can gain a great deal of insight into the man and his thinking though The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville (Tocqueville, 1893/1959), his posthumously published memoirs of the Revolution of 1848 and his role in it. Tocqueville is best known for the legendary and highly influential Democracy in America (1835/1840/1969), especially the first volume, which deals, in a very laudatory way, with the early American democratic system and came to be seen as an early contribution to the development of “political science.” However, in the later volumes of that work, as well as in later works, Tocqueville clearly develops a broad social theory that deserves a place in the canon of social theory. rit27012_ch01_001-042.indd 13 23/01/13 11:28 AM  14 Part I Classical Sociological Theory Three interrelated issues lie at the heart of Tocqueville’s theory. As a product of the Enlightenment, he is first and foremost a great supporter of, and advocate for, freedom. However, he is much more critical of equality, which he sees as tending to produce mediocrity in comparison to the higher-quality outcomes associated with the aristocrats (he himself was an aristocrat) of a prior, more inegalitarian, era. More important, equality and mediocrity are also linked to what most concerns him, and that is the growth of centralization, especially in the government, and the threat centralized government poses to freedom. In his view, it was the inequality of the prior age, the power of the aristocrats, that acted to keep government centralization in check. How- ever, with the demise of aristocrats, and the rise of greate