SOC231H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Social Change, Economic Determinism, French Revolution
Document Summary
Method/perspective for understanding social change: understanding how structures are created in society and how they change. Not a formula for predicting the future. Marx (1859): the mode of production of material life determines the general character of the social, political and spiritual processes of life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of their development, the material forces of production in society come in conflict with the existing relations of production. From forms of development of the forces of production these relations turn into their fetters. Then occurs a period of social revolution : abstract formulation that can help us understand how social change happens. Material context is important i. e. listening to ideas in a lecture but it becomes material when you write it down.
