SOC 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Mountains Beyond Mountains, Lymphadenopathy, Schisma
Document Summary
Agency and action: not so much at individual level in terms of societal change but at collective level. The organization of contemporary social life: how our lives are structured and organized; how we understand and experience social order. Includes both material dimensions (institutions) and cultural ones (beliefs, motivations, worldviews) Constraining and empowering (compare to unit 1 micro level) If and to what extent, it an be intentionally modified, improved. How the world as we know it got to be that way; Agency here in terms of collective action. One of the ironies or complexities about modern life: all about change (progress, improvement, growth; need to distinguish regular change from social improvement) The most stable thing in society is how sporadic change is. Economy as the driver of much social change in modern world: feudalism as example. Key elements: rationality, objectivity, scientific thought, bureaucratization (large institutions), individualization and overlapping affiliations.
