3. Marx Historical materialism Material conditions push history “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” From earth to heaven Both a general theory of history and a methodology Totalizing theory
4. Marx Base-superstructure model Society is defined by its productive forces and the social relations contained in the production of its material life
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6. Marx Only through historical materialism and the base-superstructure model is empirical observation possible Ideas of the ruling class “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.”
7. Marx Historical change Forces of production adequately developed Social relations sufficiently strained Capitalism Way of life and mode of production Consists of both technologies and social relations Creation of the market and privatization of formerly communal property forces the laborer to see his labor power
8. Marx Use value Actual attributes of the object Exchange value Determined by supply and demand The only thing all commodities have in common “The product of labor is labor which has been embodied in an object and turned into a physical thing; this product is an objectification of labor.”
9. Marx Where does profit come from? Exploitation of the laborer “The worker becomes poorer the more wealth he produces and the more his production increases in power and extent. The worker becomes an even cheaper commodity the more goods he creates. The devaluation of the human world increases in direct relation with the increase in value of the world of things.”
10. Marx Consequences of capitalism Shows us what we can do Gives birth to the proletariat “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat”
11. Marx Modernity and the Bourgeoisie “The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.”
12. Marx “All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.”
13. Marx Alienation Process of labor “Work is external to the worker…it is not a part of his nature…consequently, he does not fulfill himself in his work but denies himself, has a feeling of misery rather than well-being, does not develop freely his mental and physical energies but is physically exhausted and mentally debased.” “He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous and most easily acquired knack that is required of him.”
14. Marx Alienation Product of labor “The object produced by labor, its product, now stands opposed to it as an alien being, as a power independent of the producer.”
15. Marx Alienation Fellow workers “The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labor. Wage-labor rests exclusively on competition between the laborers.”
16. Marx Alienation Species being “The worker puts his life into the object, and his life then belongs no longer to himself but to the object.” “It makes species-life into a means of individual life.”
17. Marx “His work is not voluntary but imposed, forced labor. It is not the satisfaction of a need, but only a means for satisfying other needs. Its alien character is clearly shown by the fact that as soon as there is no physical or other compulsion it is avoided like the plague.”
18. Marx Time for a change… Class consciousness Pauperization of the proletariat Face to face with our material conditions “What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.”
21. Weber Understanding historical relationship between systems of ideas and collective action “Elective affinity” between ideas, interests and ways of life “The influence of certain religious ideas on the development of an economic spirit.”
22. Weber The ghost of Marx “The path of human destiny cannot but appall him who surveys a section of it. But he will do well to keep his small personal commentaries to himself.” “Naïve historical materialism.” Seeks to show an interdependence between the economic base and a concept Marx placed in the superstructure
24. Weber Capitalism A symptom of the increasing rationalization of the world Application of reason to economic behavior Bureaucratic organization of labor Modern society is bureaucracy
25. Weber Bureaucracy Increasing efficiency by eliminating idiosyncrasies Separate of personal and public The Files “Seeks to operate without regard for persons”
26. Weber We were NOT dragged violently into capitalism We went voluntarily
27. Weber Protestant Reformation Martin Luther The Calling – the work a person does is determined by God Imbues worldly activity with religious significance Calvin Predestination – salvation is predetermined by God
28. Weber Monitoring one’s state of grace Success in business “Works are not the cause, but only the means of knowing one’s state of grace, and even in this only when they are performed solely for the glory of God.” Willingly work more than we had to Reinvest rather than indulge
29. Weber “Christian asceticism…had, on the whole, left the naturally spontaneous character of daily life in the world untouched. Now it stroke into the market-place of life, slammed the door of the monastery behind it, and undertook to penetrate just that daily routine of life with its methodicalness.”
30. Weber Disenchantment “Elimination of magic from the world” “There are no mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather that one can, in principle, master all things by calculation. This means that the world is disenchanted.”
31. Weber Bureaucracy “should only lie on the shoulders of the ‘saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment’” Iron cage from which the spirit escapes
32. Weber Capitalism is mechanical No long need the religious root “Today the spirit of religious-asceticism – whether finally, who knows? – has escaped from the cage. But victorious capitalism, since it rests on mechanical foundations, needs its support no longer.” The individual has no choice but to participate “The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so.” Protestant ethic becomes the secular work ethic
33. Weber Solution None Those not able to handle disenchantment may hide in religion “Entirely new prophets may arise” “Mechanized petrification” of society may continue
35. Durkheim Functionalism “If it is as it is at any given moment, it is because the conditions in which men are living at that time do not permit it to be otherwise.” Natural selection
36. Durkheim Individuals are a product of society Social permeates and shapes individual consciousness Society is the source of human capabilities Constraints imposed are limiting and enabling Society is a reality sui generis The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
37. Durkheim Society is defined by social solidarity Function of the division of labor “is to create between two or more people a feeling of solidarity” Society is above all a moral universe and a universe of meaning Most important function is to develop and impose a definition of reality, a moral organization of the world
38. Durkheim Collective conscience “The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own. It can be termed the collective or common consciousness.” Gives individuals a sense of dealing with a solid and meaningful reality Purpose of society “is to eliminate or at least to moderate warfare among men, by subjecting the physical law of the strongest to a higher law”
39. Durkheim “It is not human nature which can assign the variable limits necessary to our needs. They are thus unlimited so far as they depend on the individual alone. Irrespective of any external regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss. But if nothing external can restrain this capacity, it can only be a source of torment to itself. Unlimited desires are insatiable by definition…Inextinguishable thirst in constantly renewed torture.”
40. Durkheim Social order of society is a moral order “Since the individual has no way of limiting them, this must be done by some force exterior to him.” “Truces imposed by violence are never anything other than temporary, and pacify no one. Men’s passions are only stayed by a moral presence they respect.”
41. Durkheim “Can be halted only by a limit that they recognize as just. Men would never consent to restrict their desires if they felt justified in passing the assigned limit. So they must receive it from an authority which they respect, to which they yield spontaneously. Society…is the only moral power superior to the individual, the authority of which he accepts.”
42. Durkheim Mechanical Solidarity Organic Solidarity Primitive society Based on resemblance Minimal division of labor based on sex and age Little interdependence between social units Modern society Protect by dividing Based on division of labor Interdependence between social units Consensus
43. Durkheim Deviance Mechanical solidarity Repressive, punitive law needed to heal the wound made by the deviant in the collective conscience Organic solidarity Restitutive law needed to reintegrate the deviant into society
44. Durkheim Shift was so quick that equilibrium between natural ability and social function was not reached
45. Durkheim Anomie Forced division of labor People feel without direction Repeating “the same movements with monotonous regularity, but without having any interest or understanding of them.” “No more than a lifeless cog, which an external force sets in motion and impels always in the same direction and in the same fashion.”
46. Durkheim Anomie “The division of labor does not produce these consequences through some imperative of its own nature, but only in exceptional and abnormal circumstances.” System is dysfunctional where some people have power to cause a mismatch of natural ability and social function
47. Durkheim Solution Match natural ability to social function Requires a set of rules and a regulating body Family is insufficient Need for an elected body that regulates based on the moral order Locational constituency won’t work Professional groups
