SOCI 1002H Lecture 1: SOCI 1002 Lecture 1
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 1
Looking Back at SOCI 1001
Society as Object of Study:
• European context: rise of natural sciences
• Systematic study of an observable reality
• Opposed centralized authority of Church (change of power)
• Traditional authority and beliefs
• Industrial Revolution: rise of capitalism
• Impacts upon social relations, new forms of power
Social Physics:
• To develop a systematic approach to investigating and explaining “the social”
• Life is not random or arbitrary, nor is it predetermined or natural
• Society as an organism to be studied scientifically
• Learn how the social world is organized and constructed, and our role in that process
Social Structure and Interaction:
• Social structure made up of institutions that organize/manage/discipline our interactions
• Culture is the content that fills up the structure
• Rules of engagement: norms, values, language
Relations of Power:
• Ability to achieve your will despite resistance of others (privilege)
• Power is achieved through the control of resources of value
• 2 fields: material and micro (status)
The unquiet ghost of Marx:
• Social impacts of waged labour system (capitalism)
• Competition over scarcity of work leads to exploitation of workers
• Uprising of workers
• Marx did not anticipate middle class
• Class structure of capitalism: economic structure and control of access to health
• Today: deep inequality
Emile Durkheim:
• First book: Suicide
• No such thing as individual, only society
• Increased solidarity increased suicide rates
• Hyper Individualism is toxic
• Anomie: lack of norms
1002: What’s Different?
• Time: matter of management, to judge of character
Theorizing Freedom:
• Types of freedoms:
• Legal freedoms: due process
• Free market: work, consume, sell
Document Summary
Society as object of study: european context: rise of natural sciences, systematic study of an observable reality, opposed centralized authority of church (change of power, traditional authority and beliefs. Impacts upon social relations, new forms of power. Social structure and interaction: social structure made up of institutions that organize/manage/discipline our interactions, culture is the content that fills up the structure, rules of engagement: norms, values, language. Relations of power: ability to achieve your will despite resistance of others (privilege, power is achieved through the control of resources of value, 2 fields: material and micro (status) Emile durkheim: first book: suicide, no such thing as individual, only society. Increased solidarity increased suicide rates: hyper individualism is toxic, anomie: lack of norms. 1002: what"s different: time: matter of management, to judge of character. Theorizing freedom: types of freedoms, legal freedoms: due process, free market: work, consume, sell, academic freedom: expression, democratic freedom: vote, sociological approach:
