SY101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Tabula Rasa, Montesquieu, Philosophes

• School: WLU
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SY101
• Professor: Jeff Klaehn

Document Summary

Living in this state would be a brutal existence. Everyone would be in direct competition w each other constant fear: wants > what was available. Contribution = advocacy of individual freedom and autonomy built the foundation upon which democracy and the us. Suggested that ppl had never existed outside or without society: humans defined and created by society, wrote as someone outside his own culture. Employed ideal types classic or pure forms of a given social phenomenon. Forms that are closest to the perfect form to categorize 3 types of gov from the infinite variations that existed: republic (democracy and aristocracy) underlying social principle = virtue, monarchy, despotism. Underlying social principle = fear: true spirit of society is what it wants to become. Contribution = appreciation for cultural diversity and comparative methodology: allowed social scientists to analyze various social phenomena cross-nationally. Ppl can aspire to their individual pursuits and be protected from others on the basis of socially defined rules.