Sociological Theory PDF

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ownload all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com ownload all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Sociological Theory Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd i 4/14/10 3:12:51 PM Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com This page intentionally left blank Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Eighth Edition Sociological Theory George Ritzer University of Maryland Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd iii 4/14/10 3:12:51 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY, EIGHTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2008, 2004, and 2000. 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 2 1 0 ISBN: 978-0-07-811167-9 MHID: 0-07-811167-6 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President EDP/Central Publishing Services: Kimberly Meriwether David Senior Sponsoring Editor: Gina Boedeker Executive Marketing Manager: Pamela S. Cooper Managing Editor: Nicole Bridge Project Manager: Erin Melloy Design Coordinator: Brenda A. Rolwes Cover Designer: Studio Montage, St. Louis, Missouri Lead Photo Editor: Alexandra Ambrose Cover Credit: Farinaz Taghavi/Getty Images Buyer: Nicole Baumgartner Compositor: Glyph International Typeface: 10/12 Times Roman 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.—8th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-07-811167-9 (alk. paper) 1. Sociology. 2. Sociologists—Biography I. Title. HM585.R57 2010 301.01—dc22 2010006523 www.mhhe.com Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd iv 4/14/10 3:12:58 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com About the Author George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and received a Teaching Excellence Award. In 2000, he received the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award of the American Sociological Association, and in 2004, he received an honor- ary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Ritzer has served as Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Sec- tions on Theoretical Sociology and Organizations and Occupations. He held the UNESCO Chair in Social Theory at the Russian Academy of Sciences and a Fulbright- Hays Chair at York University in Canada, and he received a Fulbright-Hays award to the Netherlands. He was Scholar-in-Residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study and at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences. Professor Ritzer’s main theoretical interests lie in metatheory and in applied social theory. In metatheory, his contributions include Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science (1975, 1980), Toward an Integrated Sociological Paradigm (1981), and Metatheorizing in Sociology (1991). George Ritzer is perhaps best known, however, for The McDonaldization of Society (5th ed., 2008), translated into more than a dozen languages, and for several related books (also with a number of translations), includ- ing Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society (1995), Enchant- ing a Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption (2nd ed., 2005), The Globalization of Nothing 2 (2007), and the forthcoming (with Craig Lair) Outsourcing: Globalization and Beyond. He edited the two-volume Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2005), the eleven-volume Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007), and The Blackwell Companion to Globalization (2007), and he is the founding editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2010, McGraw-Hill published the third edition of Professor Ritzer’s Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classic Roots: The Basics. Also in 2010, McGraw-Hill published the sixth edition of Classical Sociological Theory. The latter text, as well as this one, have been translated into a number of languages. v Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd v 4/14/10 3:13:05 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Sociological Theory Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd i 4/14/10 3:12:51 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com To David, With Love Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd vi 4/14/10 3:13:06 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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, Neofunctionalism, and Conflict Theory 236 CHAPTER 8 Varieties of Neo-Marxian Theory 277 CHAPTER 9 Systems Theory 331 CHAPTER 10 Symbolic Interactionism 351 CHAPTER 11 Ethnomethodology 391 CHAPTER 12 Exchange, Network, and Rational Choice Theories 416 CHAPTER 13 Contemporary Feminist Theory 454 vii Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd vii 4/14/10 3:13:06 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com viii Brief Contents PART III Recent Integrative Developments in Sociological Theory 499 CHAPTER 14 Micro-Macro and Agency-Structure Integration 499 PART IV From Modern to Postmodern Social Theory (and Beyond) 547 CHAPTER 15 Contemporary Theories of Modernity 547 CHAPTER 16 Globalization Theory 574 CHAPTER 17 Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Postmodern Social Theory 605 CHAPTER 18 Cutting-Edge Developments in Contemporary Theory 645 Appendix A-1 References R-1 Credits C-1 Name Index I-1 Subject Index I-13 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd viii 4/14/10 3:13:06 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Contents Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches xvi Claude Henri Saint-Simon Preface xviii (1760–1825) 14 Auguste Comte (1798–1857) 15 Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) 19 PART I Classical Sociological The Development of German Theory 1 Sociology 21 CHAPTER 1 A Historical Sketch of The Roots and Nature of the Theories Sociological Theory: The of Karl Marx (1818–1883) 21 Early Years 1 The Roots and Nature of the Theories of Max Weber (1864–1920) and Introduction 2 Georg Simmel (1858–1918) 26 Social Forces in the Development of The Origins of British Sociology 32 Sociological Theory 5 Political Economy, Ameliorism, and Political Revolutions 5 Social Evolution 34 The Industrial Revolution and the Rise Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) 36 of Capitalism 5 The Key Figure in Early Italian The Rise of Socialism 6 Sociology 39 Feminism 6 Turn-of-the-Century Developments in Urbanization 7 European Marxism 40 Religious Change 7 The Growth of Science 8 CHAPTER 2 Karl Marx 43 Intellectual Forces and the Rise of Introduction 43 Sociological Theory 8 The Dialectic 45 The Enlightenment 8 Dialectical Method 46 The Conservative Reaction to the Enlightenment 9 Fact and Value 46 Reciprocal Relations 46 The Development of French Sociology 11 Past, Present, Future 47 Alexis de Tocqueville No Inevitabilities 47 (1805–1859) 11 Actors and Structures 48 ix Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd ix 4/14/10 3:13:06 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com x Contents Human Potential 48 Early and Late Durkheimian Theory 97 Labor 52 Theory of Religion—The Sacred and the Profane 98 Alienation 53 Why Primitive? 100 The Structures of Capitalist Society 56 Totemism 100 Commodities 57 Sociology of Knowledge 101 Fetishism of Commodities 58 Collective Effervescence 102 Capital, Capitalists, and the Moral Education and Social Proletariat 59 Reform 103 Exploitation 60 Morality 104 Class Conflict 62 Moral Education 105 Capitalism as a Good Thing 64 Occupational Associations 106 Materialist Conception of History 65 Criticisms 107 Cultural Aspects of Capitalist Functionalism and Positivism 107 Society 67 Other Criticisms 108 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 CHAPTER 3 Emile Durkheim 76 Ideal Types 119 Values 121 Introduction 76 Substantive Sociology 124 Social Facts 77 What Is Sociology? 124 Material and Nonmaterial Social Social Action 125 Facts 79 Class, Status, and Party 127 Types of Nonmaterial Social Facts 80 Structures of Authority 128 The Division of Labor in Society 84 Rationalization 136 Mechanical and Organic Solidarity 85 Religion and the Rise of Dynamic Density 88 Capitalism 146 Repressive and Restitutive Law 89 Criticisms 154 Normal and Pathological 90 Justice 91 CHAPTER 5 Georg Simmel 158 Suicide 92 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 Individual Consciousness 164 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd x 4/14/10 3:13:06 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Contents xi Social Interaction (“Association”) 165 Structural Functionalism: Peak Interaction: Forms and Types 166 and Decline 214 Radical Sociology in America: C. Wright Social Structures 171 Mills 214 Objective Culture 172 The Development of Conflict Theory 215 The Philosophy of Money 174 The Birth of Exchange Theory 217 Money and Value 175 Dramaturgical Analysis: The Work of Money, Reification, and Erving Goffman 218 Rationalization 176 The Development of Sociologies of Negative Effects 178 Everyday Life 219 The Tragedy of Culture 179 The Rise and Fall (?) of Marxian Secrecy: A Case Study in Simmel’s Sociology 220 Sociology 181 The Challenge of Feminist Theory 222 Secrecy and Social Relationships 182 Structuralism and Poststructuralism 223 Other Thoughts on Secrecy 184 Late-Twentieth-Century Developments Criticisms 185 in Sociological Theory 224 Micro-Macro Integration 224 Agency-Structure Integration 224 PART II Modern Sociological Theory: Theoretical Syntheses 226 The Major Schools 189 Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity 226 CHAPTER 6 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The The Defenders of Modernity 226 Later Years 189 The Proponents of Postmodernity 227 Early American Sociological Theory 190 Theories to Watch in the Early Twenty-first Century 228 Politics 190 Multicultural Social Theory, Queer Social Change and Intellectual Theory, and Critical Theories of Race Currents 192 and Racism 228 The Chicago School 199 Postmodern and Post-Postmodern Social Women in Early Sociology 205 Theories 230 W.E.B. Du Bois and Race Theory 206 Theories of Consumption 231 Sociological Theory to Theories of Globalization 231 Midcentury 207 Actor-Network Theory 233 The Rise of Harvard, the Ivy League, Practice Theory 233 and Structural Functionalism 207 The Chicago School in Decline 211 CHAPTER 7 Structural Functionalism, Developments in Marxian Theory 212 Neofunctionalism, and Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Conflict Theory 236 Knowledge 213 Structural Functionalism 237 Sociological Theory from Midcentury The Functional Theory of Stratification 214 and Its Critics 238 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xi 4/15/10 10:39:15 AM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com xii Contents Talcott Parsons’s Structural Postmodern Marxian Theory 323 Functionalism 240 After Marxism 326 Robert Merton’s Structural Criticisms of Post-Marxism 328 Functionalism 252 The Major Criticisms 258 CHAPTER 9 Systems Theory 331 Neofunctionalism 260 Sociology and Modern Systems Conflict Theory 265 Theory 331 The Work of Ralf Dahrendorf 265 Gains from Systems Theory 331 The Major Criticisms and Efforts to Some General Principles 332 Deal with Them 269 Applications to the Social World 333 A More Integrative Conflict Theory 270 Niklas Luhmann’s General System Theory 335 CHAPTER 8 Varieties of Neo-Marxian Autopoietic Systems 336 Theory 277 Society and Psychic Systems 338 Economic Determinism 277 Double Contingency 339 Hegelian Marxism 278 Evolution of Social Systems 341 Georg Lukács 279 Differentiation 342 Antonio Gramsci 281 Luhmann’s Sociology of Knowledge 347 Critical Theory 282 Criticisms 348 The Major Critiques of Social and Intellectual Life 282 CHAPTER 10 Symbolic Interactionism The Major Contributions 286 351 Criticisms of Critical Theory 290 The Major Historical Roots 351 The Ideas of Jurgen Habermas 290 Pragmatism 351 Critical Theory Today: the Work of Axel Behaviorism 352 Honneth 294 Between Reductionism and Later Developments in Cultural Sociologism 354 Critique 296 The Ideas of George Herbert Mead 355 Neo-Marxian Economic Sociology 297 The Priority of the Social 355 Capital and Labor 297 The Act 356 Fordism and Post-Fordism 303 Gestures 359 Historically Oriented Marxism 305 Significant Symbols 360 The Modern World-System 305 Mind 362 Neo-Marxian Spatial Analysis 310 Self 362 The Production of Space 311 Society 367 Trialectics 314 Symbolic Interactionism: The Basic Spaces of Hope 315 Principles 369 Post-Marxist Theory 317 Capacity for Thought 369 Analytical Marxism 318 Thinking and Interaction 370 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xii 4/14/10 3:13:07 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Contents xiii Learning Meanings and Symbols 371 Dispute Resolution in Mediation Action and Interaction 372 Hearings 408 Making Choices 372 Criticisms of Traditional The Self and the Work of Erving Sociology 410 Goffman 373 Separated from the Social 410 Groups and Societies 382 Confusing Topic and Resource 411 Criticisms 384 Stresses and Strains in Toward a More Synthetic and Ethnomethodology 412 Integrative Symbolic Synthesis and Integration 413 Interactionism 385 Ethnomethodology and the Redefining Mead 385 Micro-Macro Order 414 Micro-Macro Integration 387 The Future of Symbolic CHAPTER 12 Exchange, Network, Interactionism 388 and Rational Choice Theories 416 CHAPTER 11 Ethnomethodology 391 Exchange Theory 416 Defining Ethnomethodology 391 Behaviorism 416 The Diversification of Rational Choice Theory 417 Ethnomethodology 395 The Exchange Theory of George Studies of Institutional Settings 395 Homans 420 Conversation Analysis 396 Peter Blau’s Exchange Theory 427 Some Early Examples 397 The Work of Richard Emerson and His Disciples 431 Breaching Experiments 397 Accomplishing Gender 399 Network Theory 437 Basic Concerns and Principles 438 Conversation Analysis 400 A More Integrative Network Theory 440 Telephone Conversations: Identification and Recognition 400 Network Exchange Theory 441 Initiating Laughter 401 Structural Power 442 Generating Applause 402 Strong and Weak Power Structures 443 Booing 403 Rational Choice Theory 444 The Interactive Emergence of Sentences Foundations of Social Theory 445 and Stories 404 Criticisms 451 Integration of Talk and Nonvocal Activities 405 Doing Shyness (and Self-Confidence) 406 CHAPTER 13 Contemporary Feminist Studies of Institutions 407 Theory 454 Job Interviews 407 Feminism’s Basic Questions 454 Executive Negotiations 407 Historical Framing: Feminism, Calls to Emergency Centers 408 Sociology, and Gender 457 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xiii 4/14/10 3:13:07 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com xiv Contents Varieties of Contemporary Feminist PART IV From Modern to Postmodern Theory 460 Social Theory (and Beyond) Gender Difference 461 547 Sociological Theories: Institutional and Interactionist 464 CHAPTER 15 Contemporary Theories Gender Inequality 466 of Modernity 547 Gender Oppression 470 Classical Theorists on Modernity 547 Structural Oppression 475 The Juggernaut of Modernity 549 Feminism and Postmodernism 485 Modernity and Its Consequences 551 Feminist Sociological Theorizing 488 Modernity and Identity 554 A Feminist Sociology of Modernity and Intimacy 555 Knowledge 488 The Risk Society 556 The Macro-Social Order 490 Creating the Risks 557 The Micro-Social Order 492 Coping with the Risks 558 Subjectivity 495 The Holocaust and Liquid Modernity 559 A Product of Modernity 559 PART III Recent Integrative The Role of Bureaucracy 560 Developments in Sociological The Holocaust and Rationalization 561 Theory 499 Liquid Modernity 563 Modernity’s Unfinished Project 564 CHAPTER 14 Micro-Macro and Habermas versus Postmodernists 568 Agency-Structure Integration 499 Informationalism and the Network Society 569 Micro-Macro Integration 500 Micro-Macro Extremism 500 The Movement toward Micro-Macro CHAPTER 16 Globalization Theory 574 Integration 501 Examples of Micro-Macro Major Contemporary Theorists on Integration 502 Globalization 576 Back to the Future: Norbert Elias’s Anthony Giddens on the “Runaway Figurational Sociology 510 World” of Globalization 576 Agency-Structure Integration 520 Ulrich Beck, the Politics of Globalization, and Cosmopolitanism 577 Major Examples of Agency-Structure Integration 521 Zygmunt Bauman on the Human Consequences of Globalization 579 Major Differences in the Agency- Structure Literature 542 Cultural Theory 580 Agency-Structure and Micro-Macro Cultural Differentialism 580 Linkages: Fundamental Cultural Convergence 583 Differences 544 Cultural Hybridization 588 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xiv 4/14/10 3:13:07 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Contents xv Economic Theory 591 Queer Theory 645 Transnational Capitalism 591 What Is It? 646 Empire 592 Where Did It Come From? 648 Political Theory 595 Critiques and Potential Solutions 651 Neoliberalism 598 Critical Theories of Race and Critiquing Neoliberalism 601 Racism 652 Other Theories 603 Actor-Network Theory, Posthumanism, and Postsociality 656 Practice Theory 661 CHAPTER 17 Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and APPENDIX Sociological Metatheorizing Postmodern Social and a Metatheoretical Theory 605 Schema for Analyzing Structuralism 606 Sociological Theory A-1 Roots in Linguistics 607 Anthropological Structuralism: Claude Metatheorizing in Sociology A-1 Lévi-Strauss 607 Pierre Bourdieu’s Reflexive Sociology Structural Marxism 608 A-5 Poststructuralism 609 The Ideas of Thomas Kuhn A-7 The Ideas of Michel Foucault 611 Sociology: A Multiple-Paradigm The Ideas of Giorgio Agamben 621 Science A-11 Postmodern Social Theory 628 The Social-Facts Paradigm A-11 Moderate Postmodern Social Theory: The Social-Definition Paradigm A-11 Fredric Jameson 632 The Social-Behavior Paradigm A-12 Extreme Postmodern Social Theory: Toward a More Integrated Sociological Jean Baudrillard 637 Paradigm A-12 Postmodern Social Theory and Levels of Social Analysis: An Overview Sociological Theory 639 A-13 Criticisms and Post-Postmodern Social Theory 640 References R-1 CHAPTER 18 Cutting-Edge Credits C-1 Developments in Name Index I-1 Contemporary Theory 645 Subject Index I-13 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xv 4/14/10 3:13:07 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 Jeffrey C. Alexander 262 Immanuel Wallerstein 306 George Herbert Mead 356 Erving Goffman 374 Harold Garfinkel 392 George Caspar Homans 418 Peter M. Blau 426 xvi Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xvi 4/14/10 3:13:08 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches xvii Richard Emerson 432 James S. Coleman 446 Dorothy E. Smith 476 Patricia Hill Collins 482 Randall Collins 508 Norbert Elias 512 Pierre Bourdieu 528 Anthony Giddens 550 Jurgen Habermas 566 Michel Foucault 612 George Ritzer A-8 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xvii 4/14/10 3:13:08 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Preface This new edition of Sociological Theory, like its seven predecessors, offers a compre- hensive overview of the history of sociological theory from its inception to the latest theoretical developments. My goal is to combine a discussion of the major classical theorists (Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel) with the most important contempo- rary 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. As in previous editions, in-depth discussions of theories (often enlivened with examples) are accompanied by informative and—I 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 overview that allows students to put the work of each theorist in its historical, social, and political context. The social world is a complex and difficult subject, and so are many of the theories about it. I have striven to make theory interesting, relevant, and as clear and accessible as possible. Changes in the Eighth Edition As is always the case, I faced difficult decisions about what to add and what to cut. There are some important additions to this edition, but I took care to be sure that the text did not grow long and cumbersome. Among the major changes/additions are the following: The discussion of Marx’s economic theory (Chapter 2) has been restored in this edition. A substantial discussion of work of the contemporary critical theorist Axel Honneth has been added to Chapter 8 following a discussion of his mentor, Jurgen Habermas. The discussion of Zygmunt Bauman’s work on modernity (Chapter 15) now includes a discussion of both his thinking on the Holocaust and on “liquid modernity.” Coverage of the political approach to globalization (Chapter 16) has been enhanced, and there is a new section on neoliberalism. xviii Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xviii 4/14/10 3:13:08 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com Preface xix In Chapter 17, following an overview of the work of Michel Foucault, a major discussion of the work of the Italian social thinker Giorgio Agamben has been added. There is a new biographical sketch on Joseph Schumpeter in Chapter 6. The text has been refreshed in many places, especially with the addition of citations to the most recent work on various theories. Cuts were made in various places, but no major theories or theorists were elim- inated. 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. I have tried to communicate those and other joys of sociological theory to readers in the early stages of their exposure to it. Acknowledgments Once again, I want to thank Patricia Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge for revising Chapter 13, 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. I also thank Matthias Junge for his contribution to the section on Niklas Luhmann (in Chapter 9) and Mike Ryan for his on queer theory (in Chapter 18). Thanks also to Jillet Sam for her assistance in the preparation of this edition. Unfortunately, Doug Goodman, coauthor of the previous edition, was unable to participate in this new edition. However, many of his contributions continue to be found in this text. Thanks, as well, to those at McGraw-Hill including Gina Boedeker, Nicole Bridge, and Craig Leonard. Thanks also go to a panel of reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped to make this a better book: Chris Faircloth, Xavier University of Louisiana Diane Kayongo-Male, South Dakota State University Mike Ryan, University of Maryland–College Park Brian Lowe, SUNY College at Oneonta Brenda Chaney, Ohio State University at Marion Robert Carrothers, Ohio Northern University Kimberly Alexander, Lock Haven University Walter Harper, University of Rhode Island John Bartkowski, University of Texas at San Antonio David Gibson, University of Pennsylvania Jason Jimerson, Franklin College Larry Ridener, Pfeiffer University George Ritzer Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_fm_i-xx.indd xix 4/14/10 3:13:08 PM Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com This page intentionally left blank Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 1 4/14/10 3:01:24 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 I devote only two chapters (1 and 6) to it, what I offer is a highly selective historical sketch (Giddens, 1995). The idea is to provide the reader with a scaffolding which 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 use- ful 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 my definition of sociological theory.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 These three criteria constitute my definition of sociological theory. 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 2 4/14/10 3:01:27 PM rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 3 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com France Enlightenment Conservative Reaction 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 4/14/10 3:01:28 PM FIGURE 1.1 Sociological Theory: The Early Years 3 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 (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 socio- logical 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 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 4 4/14/10 3:01:28 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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. I 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. I 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 Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 5 4/14/10 3:01:36 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 6 4/14/10 3:01:36 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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, 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, dis- counted, or written out of sociology’s public record by the men who were organizing sociology as a professional power base. Feminist concerns filtered into sociology only on the margins, in the work of marginal male theorists or of the increasingly marginal- ized 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 identified and publicly promoted as sociology. They responded in this way even as women were writ- ing 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; L. 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. For others, their sociological theories bore an unmistakable religious imprint. Durkheim wrote one of his major works on religion. Morality 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 7 4/14/10 3:01:37 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 8 4/14/10 3:01:37 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 9 4/14/10 3:01:37 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 10 4/14/10 3:01:38 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 being 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 11 4/14/10 3:01:38 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 12 4/14/10 3:01:38 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 nineteen 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 (Mancini, 1994; Zunz and Kahan, 2002). One can gain a great deal of insight into the man and his think- ing 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. Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com rit11676_ch01_001-042.indd 13 4/14/10 3:01:39 PM  Download all form :- www.UPSCPDF.com 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 greater equality, there are no groups capable of countering the ever-present tendency toward centralization. The mass of largely equal people are too “servile” to oppose this trend. Furthermore, Tocqueville links equality to “individualism” (an important concept that he claimed to “invent” and for which he is credited), and the resulting individualists are far less interested in the well-being of the larger “community” than were the aristocrats who preceded them. It is for this reason t