SOC 1300 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Social Theory, Economic Surplus, Social Revolution
19 Jan 2019
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What is social theory: enables us to see the social world in different ways, encourages us to pay more attention to something we had ignored, encourages us to ask new or unusual questions, central to the sociological imagination. Classical social theory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: four key transitions: Max weber: motives of individual behavior, change over time. Interpretative sociology: the study of the meanings individuals ascribe to their actions: social actions are differentiated by the motivations (rationales) that guide them: Individuals are shaped and constrained by their social system: the social system contains powerful norms, values, and institutions, these arise and persist because they prove to be good ways of maintaining social order. Inequalities of wealth and power persist because powerful individuals and groups go to great lengths to protect them. Inequality inevitably produces tensions between groups and individuals over who gets what: too vague to be the basis for a new social theory.
