What is the promise of historical sociology?
1. Introduction
Historical sociology is a discipline which combines the past and the present in order to find the implications of the things happening today, for the future. This practice was born along with the emergence of sociology in the 16th century with the rise of the era that sociology aimed to explain. Modernity brought multiple historical changes that have transformed Europe; sociology was created in order to explain these changes, their origins and their potential effects on the future of the continent. Consequently, with this kind of process in mind, we can see that the role of historical sociology was to paint a wholesome picture of the major social changes taking place in society.
…show more content…
The case narrative approach appears to be the more linear out of the two with a fluid structure concerned with cause and effect relationships. Historical sociology takes into account that we are not entirely free, autonomous actors; instead, we are constrained by the actions and circumstances that were created for us by our ancestors and therefore analyses the past. It then differentiates between mundane everyday activity and events which are of transformative importance in society and localises the origin and cause of the major change. Finally, through the understanding of the past, causes of social change and the current circumstances, historical sociologists are able to consider the implications on the future due to the current social condition. An additional feature of the discipline is using counterfactual analysis that considers alternate scenarios in order to find “the causal power of different social forces” (Lachmann, 2013, p.128). This kind of analysis has been known to aid the making of predictions about the future as well as better informing future decisions. For example, the counterfactual analysis done by Kunz (1997) on the topic of J.F. Kennedy’s assassination stressed the importance to clarify the role of the …show more content…
For example Marx, who has created master concepts, looked at the hierarchal and exchange systems from history and considered the similarities between them in order to explain what kind of change lead to the times he was living in. This kind of analysis allowed him to notice similarities as well as changes in the systems and classes. As a result, Marx was able to predict the downfall of capitalism and the rise of communism however, these predictions were subject to very specific conditions such as class consciousness and the organisation of forces of the proletariat in order to revolt (McLellan, 2000). His analysis includes all of the elements required to constitute it as historic so why did his predictions fail to become reality so far? As Elias (1987) has pointed out the dynamic motions of society are constantly at work so elements such as population size, technological use and efficiency as well as the means of social control we have in place are subject to change at all times. This is something that Marx, when he was writing in 1848, could not predict to the scale that it happens on today therefore, a demand for new, updated social theory is formed. If historical sociology was a more common practice today, it would have the potential to close the gap between the large amount of empirical research and the lack of new social theory as the consideration of the dynamic society combined
This essay will be explaining the definition of sociology, the sociological factors of obesity using Symbolic Interactionism Theory and the Functionalism Theory and a description of the medical condition obesity and how it may affect individuals suffering from it.
Emile Durkheim is largely credited as the man who made Sociology a science. As a boy, he was enraptured by the scientific approach to society, but at that time, there was no social science curriculum. Vowing to change this, Durkheim worked scrupulously to earn his “degree in philosophy in 1882”. (Johnson 34) Unable to change the French school system right away, Emile traveled to Germany to further his education. It was there that he published his initial findings and gained the knowledge necessary to influence the French education system. Emile Durkheim is a distinguished and well versed man who, through his work, established a platform for other sociologist to build on.
There are many views and perspectives of sociology that help us to better understand how social forces, social institutions, and social structures impact someone’s life, as well as help us to develop a sociological imagination. Social forces and social institutions played a major role in events such as the Holocaust and the Great Depression, and still continue to play a role in everyday life today. It is important that we understand how these factors contributed to these events so we can understand why these events occurred.
Sociology is described as “looking at the world a particular way” (Matthewman & West-Newman, 2013) When opening your mind to this, it is then easier to discover the reasons why we do certain things and why things are the way that they are. There are three main schools of sociological theorising, which are conflict theory (creating a social hierachy), Micro Interactionism (studying social interactions), and Functionalism (how social events contribute to social order). These ideas are defined by sociologists Karl Marx, Max Weber, Durkheim, Irving Goffman, and ---- in an effort to reveal the inner functioning’s of the world.
Marx views history as being determined by economics, which for him is the source of class differences. History is describe in The Communist Manifesto as a series of conflicts between oppressing classes and oppressed classes. According to this view of history, massive changes occur in a society when new technological capabilities allow a portion of the oppressed class to destroy the power of the oppressing class. Marx briefly traces the development of this through different periods, mentioning some of the various oppressed and oppressing classes, but points out that in earlier societies there were many differentiations of social classes. Marx sees the modern age as being distinguished from earlier periods by the simplifications of the class conflict, splitting up society into two great hostile groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
One of the sociological theories is conflict theory. The conflict theory deals with people's level on wealth, or class. The conflict theory says that social change is beneficial, contrary to focuses on social order. In the story of the woman and her children, the conflict theory plays a big role on the situation. Police of higher class are threatening the homeless woman. The conflict theory is a constant struggle of people of higher class over powering people of lower class, or the weaker. The police are trying to over power the woman by telling her to leave. Even though the woman and her children were doing nothing wrong, the police used their power to tell her to leave. Also the people of the area showed their conflict theory by telling the police officers to come. They must have felt embarrassed to have a woman of such lower class to be around them. They used their power of class to have the woman removed from their community. The woman wants to be there because she has no home and it is a good community to be in, but the people look at it as an embarrassment to them because it makes their area look bad for someone of such lower class to be around them. The conflict theory is unique to all other theories because it separates people into categories determined by their wealth and standards. Their status is the element that categorizes them, weather it is class, race, or gender. The conflict theory do not always use class, race, and gender all at once. In this situation race and gender is not a main issue, although gender could be a reason, but it would fall under the feminist theory. This story is mainly dealing with class. Through all this conflict the woman feels over powered and domina...
Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, two of the leading figures in sociology, may be considered the founding fathers for the ideas of the “modern family” and the “male-breadwinner family.” Collectively, their work has influenced how Americans analyze families and has sparked new ideas regarding the American family from sociologists such as Stephanie Coontz and Arlie Hochschild. However, when studying the American family, Parsons and Bales fail to understand that the “ideal” family may not be so ideal for everyone. They neglect to consider societal influences and economic changes when discussing patriarchal social norms as the most optimal family structure. Their description of the male-breadwinner family consists of the father being the “instrumental leader” within the home, providing economically for his family based on his occupational earnings. Meanwhile, the mother is considered the manager of the household, providing for her husband and children physically, emotionally, and mentally.
1 Most sociologists interpret social life from one of three major theoretical frameworks or theories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, or conflict theory. Describe the major points and key concepts of each framework. List at least one sociologist who is identified with each of these three frameworks.
After reviewing the article titles given for this first assignment, I believe they indicate that Sociology, generally speaking, is not only a study of diversity or commonality in traits among people; it is also a science about factors in a person’s life and how these factors culminate responses. Interestingly enough, its topics of concern seem to be directly determined by current and common events of the world. Through the invention and expansion of new ideas, popular trends and fashions through time, Sociology adapts to responsibly to service the very subjects of interest it studies; for, even the slightest change of a person’s daily experience can have an insurmountable impact on attitude, personal growth, family dynamics and basic group behavior.
The social conditions that people lived in, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were of the greatest significance of the production of sociology, the different problems and social disorder that resulted from the series of political revolutions escorted in by the French Revolution in 1789 distressed many early social theorists, when they eventually came to the conclusion that it was impossible to return to the old order , they wanted to find new sources of order in societies that had been disturbed by the different dramatic political changes.
Mills emphasizes the importance of the relationship between sociology and history, as he felt history shaped people’s individual and collective lives. As men try to understand the world around them, the “sociological imagination” helps identify the public issues of social structure and the personal troubles of the milieu. Mills states that personal or private troubles lie within the individual as a biographical entity as the individuals feel their own cherished values threatened, and try to sol...
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper
Sociology and psychology is the study of the mind and the environment around us which makes us who we are. These theories assist us to understand behaviour from individual and societal levels.
Politics and many aspects of society today have been heavily influenced by political thinkers and scholars from ages before our time. Whether their ideas were implemented or avoided, society today has learned and grown from these influenced; there has been societal adaptions and changes with every success and failure. One important philosopher that is still widely talked about today is Karl Marx. His theories and ideas are still studies, discussed and utilized today. Some aspects of Marxism is relevant to modern day but there are still some major critiques to his opinions that prove there in inconsistencies with the relevance of Marxism. This is a result of his failure to predict how advanced and revolutionized society would be in modern day.
The early developments of sociology date back to the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. Sociology’s development was driven by a shift in three main factors; social, economics and politics. All the major philosophers in the early years of sociology thought about the great transformation from “simple, preliterate societies to massive, complex, industrial societies” (Asanet.org, 2014). This paper will discuss and evaluate how the Industrial revolution, French revolution and the dissolution of feudal social order to influenced the creation of sociology as an academic discipline.