Sociologists and their theories
1. Max Weber
Rationalization – how societies are organized around ideas of rationality (practical rationality – means-ends
organization, formal rationality – impersonal calculation and the implementation of universal rules)
a. Social Stratification - is usually applied to studies of structured social inequality; that is, studies of any
systematic inequalities between groups of people, which arise as the unintended consequence of social
processes and relationships. Derives from privilege: social or economic, opportunities to groups or
individuals.
Example: Ethnicity in Israel leads to unequal citizenship between Arabs, Jews and Druze (?)
Weber’s point: agreeing with Marx, the structure of society is stratified according to class. However, unlike
Marx, Weber considers other non-economic factors that are called dimensions of social stratification
Dimensions:
1) Social class - is a group of people who have similar life chances; that is chances of being successful (or
otherwise) in life and opportunities in education, health and so on. What effects class – occupation
(income); skills and qualifications person hold; relative wealth that comes from the skills.
4 main social classes: property owners, professionals, petty bourgeoisie, working class
2) Status – how much prestige or social standing a group or an individual has. It is important as it effects our
life chances
Point: Different groups have different levels of status; status is not tied to class or income. Political power
doesn’t come from economic power only, but also authority.
Example: politicians who are in high class, but with low status
3) Power (and authority) – ability to exercise one’s will over others, how it affects the life chances of other. 3
types of authority: traditional, rational-legal, charismatic
Criticism: Weber does not consider how does gender, ethnicity and geographical differences influence the life
chances, and thus shape social inequalities.
b. Symbolic interaction theory (connected to social action) - it is a perspective that sees society as the
product of human interactions, and the meanings that individuals place on those interactions.
acknowledging that humans have agency and are not swept away by forces outside their control and create
their own meanings.
- Symbolic Interactionism - A leading American social psychological theory which focuses upon the ways in
which meanings emerge through interaction
- Social action- is an action behind which an individual attaches meaning and one with may affect other.
Weber believed that people and their interactions with others contribute to the shaping of society. Precisely,
the meanings we attach to our actions and how they may affect others.
Types of social action:
1) Instrumentally rational action – performed to achieve a goal efficiently (Ex: microwaving food)
2) Value rational action – it is desirable or expresses a value (Ex: enlisting as a soldier)
3) Traditional action – out of a custom or habit (Ex: “bless you”)
4) Affectional action – express emotion (Ex: laughing at a funny jok
Question: What type of social action do you think an Instagram post would be?
Weber (The Protestant Ethic): it is the religion that leads to economy. There is not direct causality as Marx
suggests, there are many feedback loops. Nevertheless, he maintains that society leads to the economy.
The Catholic Church was corrupt: it relied on donations to build its culture (churches, objects, wealth).
This led to corruption: using money to free oneself from their sins.
, Protestantism – Martin Luther, 14th century to reacts to Catholic corruption. Principles: frugality,
austerity, self-improvement.
John Calvin: predestination – a small number of people have been preordained by God to enter
Heaven; thus, the majority will not.
o This leads to uncertainty: you cannot not if you are predestined, but there are clues: you are
seen by others as competent, you naturally exude frugal, austere, self-improving behaviour.
o Rather than donating money to the Church, you invest it in self-improvement. Positive
feedback loop: the more you adopt this mindset and dedicate to your improvement, the greater
the ability to be predestined.
Weber: religion is the context for social action and is shaped by it.
2. Karl Marx
Context: Industrial Revolution
Main: Conflict theory – societies are in the constant state of conflict, as they are in competition.
Historical Materialism by Marx - as technological development continued over time, the tensions between
groups become more differentiated, and the interests between the two groups becomes tense until the point of a
revolution The revolution will lead to a new superstructure
Marx: power comes from control over the material means of production
a. Production in a capitalist society
- Mode of production – the way goods are made: the means of production and the social relations of
production
b. Social classes under capitalist society
1) The bourgeoisie – those who own the means of production (1% of population)
2) The proletariat – the workers who make up most of society’s labour force, they must sell labour to survive.
3) …The petite bourgeoisie – small business owners
4) …The lumpenproletariat – underclass, the unemployables who make up the lowest level of society
c. Class Struggle – exploitative relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
- Exploitation – the basis of the relationship
- The gap between classes constantly grows
- The class differences which develop would exacerbate class conflict
The only way for the proletariat to truly free themselves from oppression is to bring about a revolution and
replace capitalism with communism.
d. False Consciousness
FC - Perception of one’s relationship to social and economic systems of an individual nature, and a failure to
see oneself as a party of a class with particular class interests relative to the economic order and social system
- Class consciousness – awareness by a social or economic class of their position and interests within the
structure of the economic order and social system in which they leave
- The capitalist system only functions if the workers did not recognize their unity as a class of laborers, their
shared economic and political interests, and the power inherent in their numbers
e. Division of Labour = exploitation
Alienation - this concept describes the estrangement of individuals from one another, or from a specific situation
or process (Marxist sociology)
It is impossible to extricate Marx's ideas about alienation from his wider sociological discussion of
the division of labour, the evolution of private property relations, and the emergence of conflicting classes. In
the Marxian terminology, alienation is an objectively verifiable state of affairs, inherent in the specific social
relations of capitalist production
f. Criticism:
1) Weber – does not agree that class divisions are primarily based on economic factors.
1. Max Weber
Rationalization – how societies are organized around ideas of rationality (practical rationality – means-ends
organization, formal rationality – impersonal calculation and the implementation of universal rules)
a. Social Stratification - is usually applied to studies of structured social inequality; that is, studies of any
systematic inequalities between groups of people, which arise as the unintended consequence of social
processes and relationships. Derives from privilege: social or economic, opportunities to groups or
individuals.
Example: Ethnicity in Israel leads to unequal citizenship between Arabs, Jews and Druze (?)
Weber’s point: agreeing with Marx, the structure of society is stratified according to class. However, unlike
Marx, Weber considers other non-economic factors that are called dimensions of social stratification
Dimensions:
1) Social class - is a group of people who have similar life chances; that is chances of being successful (or
otherwise) in life and opportunities in education, health and so on. What effects class – occupation
(income); skills and qualifications person hold; relative wealth that comes from the skills.
4 main social classes: property owners, professionals, petty bourgeoisie, working class
2) Status – how much prestige or social standing a group or an individual has. It is important as it effects our
life chances
Point: Different groups have different levels of status; status is not tied to class or income. Political power
doesn’t come from economic power only, but also authority.
Example: politicians who are in high class, but with low status
3) Power (and authority) – ability to exercise one’s will over others, how it affects the life chances of other. 3
types of authority: traditional, rational-legal, charismatic
Criticism: Weber does not consider how does gender, ethnicity and geographical differences influence the life
chances, and thus shape social inequalities.
b. Symbolic interaction theory (connected to social action) - it is a perspective that sees society as the
product of human interactions, and the meanings that individuals place on those interactions.
acknowledging that humans have agency and are not swept away by forces outside their control and create
their own meanings.
- Symbolic Interactionism - A leading American social psychological theory which focuses upon the ways in
which meanings emerge through interaction
- Social action- is an action behind which an individual attaches meaning and one with may affect other.
Weber believed that people and their interactions with others contribute to the shaping of society. Precisely,
the meanings we attach to our actions and how they may affect others.
Types of social action:
1) Instrumentally rational action – performed to achieve a goal efficiently (Ex: microwaving food)
2) Value rational action – it is desirable or expresses a value (Ex: enlisting as a soldier)
3) Traditional action – out of a custom or habit (Ex: “bless you”)
4) Affectional action – express emotion (Ex: laughing at a funny jok
Question: What type of social action do you think an Instagram post would be?
Weber (The Protestant Ethic): it is the religion that leads to economy. There is not direct causality as Marx
suggests, there are many feedback loops. Nevertheless, he maintains that society leads to the economy.
The Catholic Church was corrupt: it relied on donations to build its culture (churches, objects, wealth).
This led to corruption: using money to free oneself from their sins.
, Protestantism – Martin Luther, 14th century to reacts to Catholic corruption. Principles: frugality,
austerity, self-improvement.
John Calvin: predestination – a small number of people have been preordained by God to enter
Heaven; thus, the majority will not.
o This leads to uncertainty: you cannot not if you are predestined, but there are clues: you are
seen by others as competent, you naturally exude frugal, austere, self-improving behaviour.
o Rather than donating money to the Church, you invest it in self-improvement. Positive
feedback loop: the more you adopt this mindset and dedicate to your improvement, the greater
the ability to be predestined.
Weber: religion is the context for social action and is shaped by it.
2. Karl Marx
Context: Industrial Revolution
Main: Conflict theory – societies are in the constant state of conflict, as they are in competition.
Historical Materialism by Marx - as technological development continued over time, the tensions between
groups become more differentiated, and the interests between the two groups becomes tense until the point of a
revolution The revolution will lead to a new superstructure
Marx: power comes from control over the material means of production
a. Production in a capitalist society
- Mode of production – the way goods are made: the means of production and the social relations of
production
b. Social classes under capitalist society
1) The bourgeoisie – those who own the means of production (1% of population)
2) The proletariat – the workers who make up most of society’s labour force, they must sell labour to survive.
3) …The petite bourgeoisie – small business owners
4) …The lumpenproletariat – underclass, the unemployables who make up the lowest level of society
c. Class Struggle – exploitative relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
- Exploitation – the basis of the relationship
- The gap between classes constantly grows
- The class differences which develop would exacerbate class conflict
The only way for the proletariat to truly free themselves from oppression is to bring about a revolution and
replace capitalism with communism.
d. False Consciousness
FC - Perception of one’s relationship to social and economic systems of an individual nature, and a failure to
see oneself as a party of a class with particular class interests relative to the economic order and social system
- Class consciousness – awareness by a social or economic class of their position and interests within the
structure of the economic order and social system in which they leave
- The capitalist system only functions if the workers did not recognize their unity as a class of laborers, their
shared economic and political interests, and the power inherent in their numbers
e. Division of Labour = exploitation
Alienation - this concept describes the estrangement of individuals from one another, or from a specific situation
or process (Marxist sociology)
It is impossible to extricate Marx's ideas about alienation from his wider sociological discussion of
the division of labour, the evolution of private property relations, and the emergence of conflicting classes. In
the Marxian terminology, alienation is an objectively verifiable state of affairs, inherent in the specific social
relations of capitalist production
f. Criticism:
1) Weber – does not agree that class divisions are primarily based on economic factors.
