Chapter 4 Introducing Western Sociologists

The Context Of Sociology

Sociology is often referred to as the product of the 'age of revolution' because it emerged in 19th-century Western Europe following profound social transformations.

Three major revolutions paved the way for sociology by fundamentally changing people's lives and ways of thinking:

The Enlightenment

This intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries brought radically new philosophies, placing the human being at the center and championing rational thought. Reason was seen as the defining human characteristic, making individuals capable of producing and using knowledge. This shift promoted secular, scientific, and humanistic attitudes, displacing traditional reliance on nature, religion, and divine acts as primary explanations for the world.

The French Revolution

This revolution (1789) was a political upheaval that asserted the idea of political sovereignty residing in individuals and the nation-state. It championed the equality of all citizens, challenging inherited privileges and emancipating individuals from feudal and religious oppression (e.g., freeing serfs from landed aristocracy, cancelling feudal taxes). Citizens were granted rights and were equal before the law. The concept of the nation-state as a sovereign entity with a centralised government emerged, embodying the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. It also led to new distinctions between the public realm of the state and the private realm of the household (e.g., religion and family became more private, education more public).

The Industrial Revolution

Beginning in Britain in the late 18th/early 19th centuries, this revolution laid the foundation for modern industry and capitalism. It involved two main aspects:

• Application of Science & Technology: Systematic use of science and technology in production, leading to inventions (Spinning Jenny) and new power sources (steam engine), enabling large-scale manufacturing (factory system, mass production).
• New Organisation of Labour & Markets: Factories required new ways of organising labour (workers moving from rural areas to cities for work) and markets (producing goods for distant global markets, sourcing raw materials globally).

These changes led to profound social consequences: rapid urbanisation (cities dominating settlements, housing large and unequal populations), harsh working conditions (low wages, long hours, dangerous environments for men, women, and children), and the rise of social problems (poverty, squalor in slums). Modern governance structures emerged to manage these issues, creating a demand for new knowledge, which partly led to the development of social sciences like sociology.

Sociology thus emerged as a science to analyse the trends and challenges of the new industrial society, using scientific information generated by the state to reflect on social conditions.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Karl Marx was a German social thinker and revolutionary, exiled to Britain for his radical political views. While trained in philosophy, he was primarily concerned with analysing and criticising capitalist society to end oppression and exploitation, believing in scientific socialism as the means to achieve this.

Marx's work involved a critical analysis of society, particularly its economic aspects. He saw human history as progressing through different stages or modes of production: primitive communism, slavery, feudalism, and capitalism. He believed capitalism, though progressive, would be overthrown by the working class and replaced by socialism.

Marx's understanding of society was based on the concept of the mode of production, seen as the fundamental system of production in a historical epoch, defining an entire way of life.

A mode of production consists of:

• Base (Economic Base): The primary foundation, comprising:
  • Productive Forces: Means of production like land, labour, technology, energy sources.
  • Production Relations: Economic relationships and labor organization forms involved in production, including property relations (ownership/control of means of production).
• Superstructure: Social, cultural, and political institutions (religion, art, law, beliefs, ideas) built upon the economic base.

Marx argued that people's ideas and beliefs (superstructure) are shaped by the economic system (base) they are part of; material life determines consciousness ("material life shaped ideas, ideas did not shape material life").

He focused on economic structures as the foundation of social systems throughout history, believing that understanding economic change was key to changing society in the future, primarily through class struggle.

Class Struggle

Marx classified people into social groups based on their position in the production process and property relations. People in the same position form a class, sharing common interests.

Classes are formed historically through changes in productive forces and production relations. Conflicts develop between existing classes, leading to struggles.

In the capitalist mode of production, the destruction of the feudal system created two main opposing classes:

• Bourgeoisie (Capitalists): Owners of the means of production (capital, factories, land).
• Proletariat (Working Class): Owners of nothing but their own labour power, forced to sell it for wages to survive.

Marx believed class struggle was the primary force driving social change. He argued that the history of all societies is the history of class struggle between oppressors and oppressed classes in different historical epochs.

For objective class opposition to lead to conflict and potential revolution, classes must become subjectively aware of their shared interests and identities ("class consciousness") through political mobilization.

Marx argued that economic contradictions in capitalism generate class conflict. However, revolution requires social and political processes, including overcoming the dominant ideology promoted by ruling classes (which justifies their dominance and the existing order, often portraying inequality as fate or natural). If the working class develops its own worldview and achieves class consciousness, conflict can culminate in revolution, overthrowing the ruling class and establishing a new social order (socialism).

Alienation

Marx extensively used the concept of alienation to describe the dehumanising effects of capitalism, where humans become separated from various aspects of their lives:

• Alienation from nature.
• Alienation from other human beings (relationships become market-mediated).
• Alienation from the product of their labour (workers don't own what they produce).
• Alienation from the work process (management controls how work is done, unlike skilled craftsmen).
• Alienation from their own human potential or 'species-being'.

Despite this, Marx saw capitalism as a progressive stage because it created the conditions (mass production, working class) for a future egalitarian society free from exploitation.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

Emile Durkheim is considered a founder of formal sociology. He was the first to hold a professorship in sociology in Paris. From a religious background, he developed a secular approach to studying society.

Durkheim viewed society as a social fact, a moral community existing above the individual, exerting pressure and constraint on individual behaviour through social ties and solidarities. These social constraints limit individual variation, making behaviour patterned and predictable.

By studying these patterns of social behaviour, Durkheim believed sociologists could empirically identify the underlying, invisible social facts like norms, values, and social solidarities. For Durkheim, moral codes were manifestations of social conditions and could be studied scientifically as 'moral facts', observable through rules of action.

This approach aimed to establish sociology as a rigorous scientific discipline akin to the natural sciences.

Durkheim’s Vision Of Sociology

Durkheim's vision of sociology had two defining features:

• Subject Matter: Social Facts: Sociology studies 'emergent' phenomena – things that arise from collective life and are larger than (and different from) the sum of individuals (e.g., institutions, values). While not directly observable like physical objects, social facts are real and belong to a different level of reality than individuals.
• Method: Empirical Discipline: Despite dealing with abstract social facts, Durkheim demonstrated that sociology could be an empirical science based on observable, verifiable evidence. Social facts are indirectly observable through patterns of social behaviour, particularly aggregated patterns across large numbers of people (e.g., suicide rates as a social fact, not just individual acts).

Division Of Labour In Society

In this work, Durkheim analysed the evolution of society by classifying societies based on the type of social solidarity (cohesion) present.

• Mechanical Solidarity: Characterises simpler, primitive societies with low population and little division of labour. Cohesion is based on the similarity of members, shared beliefs, and collective consciousness. Such societies have repressive laws to punish deviations, as individual identity is submerged in the collectivity.
• Organic Solidarity: Characterises modern societies with large populations and high division of labour. Cohesion is based on the interdependence of diverse members due to specialisation. Social relationships are more impersonal. Laws are 'restitutive', aiming to correct wrongs rather than just punish. Modern society allows individuals more autonomy and distinct identities based on their roles and functions, although interdependence is essential for survival. Voluntary associations with specific goals are also characteristic of modern society.

This analysis laid the foundation for sociology as a science studying social ties and societal evolution through empirical observation of social facts.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

Max Weber was a leading German social thinker who contributed significantly to sociological theory despite facing periods of ill health. His work focused on interpretive sociology, social action, power, domination, rationalisation, and the sociology of world religions.

Max Weber And Interpretive Sociology

Weber argued that social sciences aim for an ‘interpretive understanding of social action’. Social action is human behaviour to which individuals attach subjective meaning. Unlike natural sciences seeking objective laws, social sciences must interpret these subjective meanings.

To understand social action, sociologists must employ ‘empathetic understanding’ – imaginatively putting oneself in the actor's place to grasp their subjective meanings and motivations. This is 'feeling with' (empathy), not just 'feeling for' (sympathy).

Weber discussed the complex 'objectivity' required in social science. While social reality is based on subjective meanings, studying it must be done objectively. This requires ‘value neutrality’ – the sociologist must neutrally describe others' subjective values and worldviews without letting their own beliefs interfere. This demands significant self-discipline.

Weber also proposed the ‘ideal type’ as a methodological tool. An ideal type is a logical model highlighting significant characteristics of a social phenomenon, not meant to be an exact replica of reality. It exaggerates key features to aid analysis and understanding, judged by its analytical utility, not its descriptive accuracy.

Weber used ideal types to analyse the relationship between 'world religions' and rationalisation (e.g., Protestant ethics and capitalism) and to define types of authority (traditional, charismatic, rational-legal).

Bureaucracy

Weber saw bureaucracy as the epitome of rational-legal authority in modern society and a key mode of organisation.

Bureaucracy is based on the separation of the public from the domestic sphere and regulation by explicit rules. It restricts officials' power, making them accountable within their responsibilities.

Key features of bureaucratic authority:

• (i) Functioning of Officials: Fixed areas of official jurisdiction governed by rules/laws. Duties are regular, requiring specific qualifications. Positions are independent of the individuals holding them.
• (ii) Hierarchical Ordering of Positions: Offices are arranged in a hierarchy, with supervision by higher officials and avenues for appeal.
• (iii) Reliance on Written Document: Management is based on written files preserved as records, ensuring consistency and public accountability separate from private life.
• (iv) Office Management: A specialised activity requiring trained personnel.
• (v) Conduct in Office: Officials' public conduct is governed by exhaustive rules, separating it from private behaviour. Legal recognition of these rules ensures accountability.

Weber's analysis of bureaucracy illustrated how modern political authority combines recognition of individual skills with legally defined responsibilities and accountability, constraining arbitrary power.

Activity 4 encourages evaluating whether different groups/activities fit Weber's model of bureaucratic authority, prompting discussion on the application and limitations of this ideal type in understanding real-world organisations.