Class 4 - introduction to sociology + start of Part II - shorter.pdf

CLASS 4 / Part I: introduction to sociology and basic notions + start of Part II Ø SUMMARY: Ø The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Culture as wholes or parts Ø Part II: Historical and scientific foundations of sociology Ø The Enlightenment and the birth of social science Ø Introduction...

CLASS 4 / Part I: introduction to sociology and basic notions + start of Part II Ø SUMMARY: Ø The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Culture as wholes or parts Ø Part II: Historical and scientific foundations of sociology Ø The Enlightenment and the birth of social science Ø Introduction Ø The Enlightenment paradigm CLASS 4: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultures as wholes or parts? Ø Symbols must be shared to constitute a culture, but they don’t have to be shared by every single member of a social group Ø Cultures are usually not integrated wholes: Ø division and conflict Ø Fragmentation and hierarchy of sets of cultural beliefs CLASS 4: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultures as wholes or parts? Ø Cultures are usually not integrated wholes: Ø Example: pro-life vs pro-abortion discussion: Ø From a culturalist perspective, this is not simply about individual options, but social configurations Ø Debate rests upon conflicts between symbolic codes and narratives, i.e. ‘life’ vs. ‘freedom’ (etc.) Ø Reflection point: how natural is division and conflict, fragmentation and hierarchy? In what senses? In how far? CLASS 4: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultures as wholes or parts? Each society has a distance between the systems of symbols constituting culture and the concrete social behaviours: attitudes vs. behaviour Ø This distance provides for change: it makes social life “creative” and “unpredictable”. Ø Inconsistence between attitudes and behaviour may be a reflection of internal cultural schisms: Ø Ø People’s values tend to be manifest or public, whereas their symbolic schemes tend to be latent and private CLASS 4 – The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Bibliography: Ø “Chapter 3” Ø A Contemporary Introduction to Sociology. Culture and Society in Transition.; 3rd Edition; Routledge (2018), by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Kenneth Thompson, Laura Desfor Edles, Moshoula Capous-Desyllas (eds.) CLASS 4 / Part II: Historical and Scientific Foundations of Sociology Ø Reminder: Ø context sensitive account of the emergence of sociology as an academic project directed at replacing theology, philosophy and law in solving the problems of modern societies. Ø discussion of the nature and also the limitations of scientific truth claims in the social sciences. CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø Introduction: Ø Sociology emerged as a distinctively modern form of thought about the social / society Ø Roots to be found in the 16th and 17th century in authors like Bacon, Hobbes or Locke Ø mid -18th century Enlightenment constituted however the real point of departure for sociological thought CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø Introduction: Ø Baron de Montesquieu – De L’Esprit des Lois – starting point for a modern understanding of the relation between sociology of politics and the structure of society Voltaire: critical rationalism and secularism in writings on justice, freedom of thought, science Ø David Hume: theory of human nature enabling modern empirical research in psychology and sociology Ø Adam Ferguson: theory of “civil society” prefiguring modern comparative sociology Ø CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø Introduction: Ø during the Enlightenment, society started to be seen as something over and above the individual, as a sui generis social fact People thought about society as a realm open to change and transformation – positively valorising such change and transformation Ø les philosophes of the Enlightenment most likely to be described as sociologists nowadays, concerned with a “science of society” Ø CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø Introduction: Ø Enlightenment ideas were carried on in the 19th century into the beginnings of sociology proper, with Henri de Saint-Simon (1760 – 1825) and August Comte (1798 – 1857). Ø Comte’s positive sociology – “positive science of society” - is the continuation of the Enlightenment. Ø Comte was the inventor of the word “sociology” Ø The concerns and ideas of Saint-Simon and Comte prefigure those of modern sociology, especially of Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917). CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø Introduction: Ø the essential link between the Enlightenment and the birth of social sciences (specifically sociology): Ø critical rationalism as a particular mode of thought: it combines the application of reason to social, economic, political issues with a concern for progress, emancipation, and improvement, and is consequently critical of the status quo. Ø Reflection point: the limits of critical rationalism ? CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø The Enlightenment paradigm: Ø Paradigm: set of interconnected ideas, values, principles, and facts which provide both an image of the social and natural world, and a way of thinking about it CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø The Enlightenment paradigm: Ø Reason: objective knowledge; rationalism and empiricism. Ø Rationalism: rational thought based on innate ideas independent of experience Ø Empiricism: all thought and knowledge is based on empirical facts, things that all human beings can apprehend through their sense organs Ø Reflection point: tension between rationalism and empiricism? CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø The Enlightenment paradigm: Science: scientific knowledge, based on the experimental method as developed in the 17th century scientific revolution, was the foundation and even considered the only valid type of all human knowledge Ø Universalism: reason and science are universal constants; science produces general laws that govern the universe, without exception Ø Progress: the natural and social condition of human beings could be improved by the application of science and reason, and would result in ever-increasing levels of happiness and well-being Ø CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø The Enlightenment paradigm: Individualism: individual is the starting point of all knowledge and action; individual reason cannot be subjected to a higher authority; society is the sum or product of the thought and action of its individuals Ø Toleration: all people are the same; beliefs of other races or civilizations are not inherently inferior to those of European Christianity Ø Freedom: opposition to traditional constraints on beliefs, trade, communication, social interaction, sexuality and ownership of property Ø CLASS 4: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science Ø The Enlightenment paradigm: Uniformity of human nature: the principal characteristics of human beings are always and everywhere the same Ø Secularism: a form of virulent anti-clericalism; opposition to religious authority stressed the need for a ‘secular’ knowledge free of religion Ø CLASS 4 – The Enlightenment and the Birth of the Social Science Ø Bibliography: Ø “Chapter 1” Ø Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies; Wiley- Blackwell (1996),by Stuart Hall, David Held, Don Hubert, Kenneth Thompson (eds.);