Sociology.

2023-2024
Prof. Álvaro Luna García
alvaro.luna@urjc.es
 Thematic unit 1. The
nature of
sociological
research
Course 2023-2024
 Chapter 1. Origins and
nature of the sociological
perspective
Course 2023-2024
 Table of contents

Chapter 1. Origins and nature of the sociological

perspective.

 The origins of sociology: a historical background. 4

 The sociological imagination: the social and the study of social problems.
 Sociology and its “founders”: the object and purpose of sociology.
 What is Sociology? (I)

“Scientific study of social groups, whole societies, and

the human world as such” (Giddens & Sutton, 2021: 4).
5

Understanding the complex and profound ways in which

our individual lives reflect the context of our social
experience.

Understanding how our social context influences our

social behaviour.
 What is Society? (I)

Group of people living in a bounded territory who share

common cultural features such as language, values and
basic norms of behaviour.
6

Ex. We can therefore discuss differences between:

• South-Korean society
• Nigerian society
• Spanish society
• Global society??
 What is Society? (III)

Society also includes institutions such as particular types

of government, educational systems, sanitary systems,
penitentiary systems, family forms, with relatively stable
relationships between them.
7

What is an institution?

Humanly devised structures of rules and norms that

shape and constrain individual behaviour.
Jupille, J., & Caporaso, J. (2022). Introduction: Theories of Institutions.
In Theories of Institutions (pp. 1-15). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. doi:10.1017/9781139034142.001
What is Society? (III)

The enduring patterns formed by relatioships among

people, groups and institutions form the basic social 8

structure of Society
 The origins: historical background

The origins of systematic studies of social life are the result of

important social changes influenced by:
• Industrialization
• French Revolution (1789). • Modernization
• The Industrial Revolution in Europe in the mid 1800s. • Urbanization
• Democratization
• Scientific Revolution
9

These events meant a radical change in traditional ways of life

leading to the development of the modern world.

Founders of sociology looked to analyze and understand these

radical changes through the development of systemic and
scientific ways of looking at the social and natural worlds which
challenged conventional religious believes.
 The sociological imagination
The sociological imagination demands that we “think
ourselves away” from the familiar routines of our daily
life in order to build a new way of looking at them.

This means making a distinction or a link between:

“Troubles that “occur within the character of the

individual and within the range of his or her immediate
10
relations with others; they have to do with one's self
and with those limited areas of social life of which one
is directly and personally aware.” PERSONAL
TROUBLES

“Issues have to do with matters that transcend these

local environments of the individual and the range of
her inner life. An issue is a public matter.” PUBLIC
ISSUES/STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS

Ex. Getting divorced or losing our Jobs can be personal

troubles but also public issues. HOW?
 The sociological imagination
APPLYING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION MEANS
ASKING OURSELVES THREE SORTS OF GENERAL
QUESTIONS:

a) What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its
essential components, and how are they related to one another? How
does it differ from other varieties of social order? Within it, what is the
meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its
11
change?

b) Where does this society stand in human history? What are the
mechanics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its
meaning for the development of humanity as a whole? How does any
particular feature we are examining affect, and how is it affected by, the
historical period in which it moves? And this period - what are its
essential features? How does it differ from other periods? What are its
characteristic ways of history-making?
 The sociological imagination
APPLYING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION MEANS
ASKING OURSELVES THREE SORTS OF GENERAL
QUESTIONS:

c) What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society

and in this period? And what varieties are coming to prevail? In 12
what ways are they selected and formed, liberated and repressed,
made sensitive and blunted? What kinds of `human nature' are
revealed in the conduct and character we observe in this society
in this period? And what is the meaning for 'human nature' of
each and every feature of the society we are examining?
 The sociological imagination
APPLYING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION MEANS
ASKING OURSELVES THREE SORTS OF GENERAL
QUESTIONS:

What are the major issues for

publics and the key troubles of 13

private individuals in our time?

Ex. Rise of populism. Democratic

crisis in western countries.
 The sociological imagination
APPLYING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION MEANS
ASKING OURSELVES THREE SORTS OF GENERAL
QUESTIONS:

1. When people cherish some set of values and do not

feel any threat to them, they experience well being
2. When they cherish values but do feel them to be
14
threatened, they experience a crisis -- either as a
personal trouble or as a public issue. And if all their
values seem involved, they feel the total threat of
panic.
3. Suppose people are neither aware of any cherished
values nor experience any threat? That is the
experience of indifference, which, if it seems to
involve all their values, becomes apathy.
4. Finally, they are unaware of any cherished values,
but still are very much aware of a threat?
 The sociological imagination
APPLYING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION MEANS
ASKING OURSELVES THREE SORTS OF GENERAL
QUESTIONS:

Ours is a time of uncertainty, rapid

change, indifference, interdependence,
perpetual crisis. COMPLEXITY 15

We have to look at social problems in a

complex way? There are no simple
answers.
 The sociological imagination
EXERCISING THE SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION
The act of drinking a cup of coffee as a social activity
and its rituals

What could Sociology have to say about such a

commonplace and uninteresting act? 16
 The sociological imagination
EXERCISING THE SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION
• Drinking Coffee is a personal routine: wake-up; but
also drinking coffee with others at work: social
interaction/socializing routine. What do people talk
about when they have a coffee at work?
17
• LEGAL DRUG that stimulates the brain and is used
to give us that lift we need to study or work long
days.

• SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIPS AROUND

THE PLANET:
• Consumed mainly in relatively rich countries but
grown in poor ones: 125 million workers depend
on coffee trade to earn a living.
• Many are poorly paid.
• Child labour abuse recognized by some Big
 The sociological imagination
EXERCISING THE SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION

• Coffee is also one of the most traded agricultural

commodities globally:
• South and Central América
• México
Largest source of Foreign Trade 18
• Africa
• Asia
• Production, transportation and distribution happens
miles away from coffee drinkers.

• Historically coffee has been widely consumed from

the late 1800s although it was fashionable among
social elites before that.

• Originated in the Middle East but made popular after

Western Colonial Expansion: Most coffee comes from
SA and Africa.
 The sociological imagination
EXERCISING THE SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION

• BRANDING AND POLITIZATION OF COFFEE:

• International fare trade
• Human Rights
• Environmental Damage
19

• Some people only drink organic coffee or fair traded

coffee in order to pay full market price for the
product in developing countries.

• Independent coffee houses Vs. Corporate ones

 Sociological thinking

• Sociology has many different theories. It has never had a single

body of ideas that is accepted or valid by everyone.

• Sociologists often disagree about how to study human 20

behaviour and how research findings should be interpreted.

• In order to understand why things happen we need to build

theories to explain.

• Theorizing means constructing abstract interpretations of

events using a series of logically related statements that
explain a wide variety of empirical or “factual” situations.
 Sociological thinking

EXAMPLE:
INTERNET AND SOCIALL MEDIA IS USED BY MILLLIONS OF PEOPLE
AROUND THE WORLD, BUT ITS VERY RECENT DEVELOPMENT ARISES SOME
QUESTIONS:

• Why did the internet use spread so rapidly? 21

• How did online social media come about and why do so many people get
involved with them?
• Why are younger people more likely to use social media than older
people?
• What impact are social media having on earlier forms of communication?

To answer these questions and build a theory around social media we might
need to identify how ICTs developed over time and what factors contributed
to this success.
Sociology and its founders

22

The Dutch Proverbs

Pieter Brueguel the Elder. 1559
 Sociology and its founders

23

Industrial America Archive. Murberry Street, New York City. Source: Library of Congress
 Sociology and its founders

24

This print shows the four stages of pork packing in nineteenth-century Cincinnati. This centralization of production made meat-packing an innovative industry, one of great
interest to industrialists of all ilks. Association at the International Exposition in Vienna, Austria. 1873
Sociology and its founders

25

Robert Steiler. 1881. BASF Ludwigshafen Plan. Rhein. Germany

 Sociology and its founders

The focus and key ideas of the early sociologists was mainly focused
on understanding the MODERN WORLD or what we call Modernity:
this radical shift from traditional to modern societies, and its main
consequences.

This means Modernity was primarily focused on Europe and North 26

América and developed by European and North American

sociologists.

Over the last twenty years there is a new movement focused on

POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVES that have challenged this modern
vision:
• Exploitation-colonialism.
• Eurocentrism.
 Sociology and its founders

MODERN PERSPECTIVES
The first sociological currents, and many later ones, could not be understood
without acknowledging the influence natural sciences has had on the scientific
approach to the social.

• Applying the scientific method to the analysis of society focusing only on

27
what can be measured or quantified: POSITIVE SCIENCES OR
POSITIVISM.

• POSITIVISM is a doctrine which says science should only be concerned

with observable entities that are known directly to experience. This
means we can build scientific laws to explain and build relationships in a
casual way, through observation, comparison and experimentation.

• Society and its components could be studied, comparatively, as if they

were a living organism (ORGANICISM), functional, balanced, etc.
Influenced by DARWINISM. Society and progress evolve like a living
organism. Once upon a time life
 Sociology and its founders
Auguste Comte
(1798-1857)
French Social Scientist. Father of Sociology (1840)

Considered the creator of Positivism applied to

Sociology=1839. Cours de Philosophie Positive.

Sociology as Social Physics= Will be the first to use this 28

term to define this social science.

Father of Functionalism: current of sociological thought

that structures and analyses society according to its
functions, using biology and the human body as an
analogy, and conceiving society as a perfectly organic
and integrated system.

Application of the Scientific Method to the analysis of

social reality.
 Sociology and its founders
Auguste Comte
(1798-1857)
 He conceives society and its development in an
evolutionary way and believes that this
development has gone through three main
stages, no matter the society. ETNOCENTRIST
VISION OF PROGRESS 29
• Theological Stage: society as an expression of
God’s will LAW OF THE
THREE
• Metaphysical Stage: Society seen in natural terms STAGES

• Positive stage: Rationality and Science.

THEOLOGICAL POSITIVE

METAPHYSICAL
 Sociology and its founders
Emile Durkheim
(1858-1917)

 French sociologist influenced by A. Comte but

will have a greater impact on sociological
theory.
30

 SOCIOLOGY= new science that turns traditional

philosophical questions into sociological ones
through empirical analysis.

 SOCIOLOGY= study of social life based on the

same objectivity as natural sciences. ¿?
 Sociology and its founders
Emile Durkheim
 Study social facts as THINGS. This means studying
(1858-1917)
institutions as objects of social life.

 SOCIAL FACT= those institutions and rules of action

which constrain or channel human behaviour.
31
 For the individual=social facts can feel as an
external pressure though most of the time they are
simply taken for granted as normal or natural parts
of life. They exist independently of the individual, but
they influence our course of action.

 Ex. Monetary System. A system that exists before

us, but we are forced to use to take part in society.
We are subject to its rules when we ask for a loan or
make an economic decision.
 Sociology and its founders
Durkheim was also interested in the moral and social changes transforming Emile Durkheim
society. Rapid change meant rapid disappearance of old values and norms
typical of traditional societies, leading to ANOMIE. Ex. MIGRATION (1858-1917)
 What is that binds society together?

 Concept of SOLIDARITY: explains why individuals are integrated into

social groups and regulated by a set of shared values and customs.
32
 The advent of the Industrial Revolution led to a new type of
Solidarity.
 The process of industrialization and rapid urbanization of cities led
to an expanding division of labour based on new capacities.
 This led to the emergence of organic solidarity: based on the
education and technical capacities of modernity, each person
becomes dependent of one another. Each person needs goods and
services that other occupations supply. Like the human organic
body, each organ depends on the others.
 Modern societies=New Social Division of Labour based on a new
social bond.
 Different than mechanical solidarity of traditional societies where
similar occupations meant different values that bonded together by
 Sociology and its founders
Emile Durkheim
Organic Solidarity: (1858-1917)
 Society based on functional interdependence arising from the
social division of labor.

 There are differences between the beliefs and actions of

individuals who are coordinated with each other through the
33
social division of labor and the link with their society.

 It liberates the individual progressively through the process of

individual differentiation. Rising INDIVIDUALISM requires new
set of values and norms that bind society together. Need for a
new EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

 Greater differentiation but also greater interdependence.

 It is reinforced during capitalism and will progressively break

and transform the old institutions: Church, Family, rural
community, through a process of social secularization
 Sociology and its founders
Emile Durkheim
Remoralization of society and social life through a new educational (1858-1917)
system:

 The forced division of labor is based on two concepts: the

specialized distribution of talents and abilities, and moral
conscience and professional duty.
34
 Equal opportunities will lead to each person taking their place
according to their capacity, yet the rules of the market, the free
play between supply and demand, only impose chaos in
production, distribution and consumption.

 We must build a science of morality that stops the dominant

utilitarian individualism, from the containment of individual
interests, through its regulation from the construction of strong
institutions: MARKET, WORK, FAMILY, STATE, EDUCATION, etc.

 New normative bonds that structure society together.

 Sociology and its founders
Emile Durkheim
(1858-1917)
 The study of SUICIDE as another example of social
fact.

 Suicide rates (% of suicides per 100,000 population)

can explain why some countries have higher rates
35
than others.

 Durkheim analyzed how social facts such as religion,

marriage, divorce or social class influence these
rates.

 Examining statistics in France, certain social groups

were more likely to commit suicide than others:
 More men than women.
 More Protestants than Catholics.
 Wealthy more than poor.
 Single more than married.
 Sociology and its founders
DURKHEIMS EXPLANATION OF SUICIDE Emile Durkheim
(1858-1917)
 People who were strongly integrated in social groups,
and whose desires and aspirations were regulated by
social norms were less likely to commit suicide.

 Different types of suicide:

36
 EGOISTIC SUICIDE: low integration and occur when
the individual becomes isolated or when ties to a
social group are weakened or broken. Ex. Catholics
vs. Protestants (personal and moral freedom, stand
alone before God).

 ANOMIC SUICIDE: lack of social regulation leads to

ANOMIE (when people are rendered normless as a
result of rapid change or economic instability). Loss
of a fixed point of reference. Ex. Crack 1929.
 Sociology and its founders
Emile Durkheim
(1858-1917)
DURKHEIMS EXPLANATION OF SUICIDE

 Different types of suicide:

 ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE: Individual is overintegrated 37

and comes to value the group more than him or
herself. Sacrifice for the greater good. Ex. Kamikaze
pilots or Islamic suicide bombers.

 FATALISTIC SUICIDE: when the individual is

overregulated by society. Ex. Oppression in
dictatorial regimes leading to powerlessness or
hopelessness.
 Sociology and its founders
 German economist and sociologist who saw the Karl Marx (1818-
history of economic systems and social relations
as a conflict between:
1883)

 Dominant class: owners of the means of

production (material infrastructure), but also
owners of the norms and values (ideology) that 38

legitimize their dominance (superstructure)

 Inferior class: dispossessed from these means.

 This conflict was the motor of history:

 Primitive Communist Societies: hunters and

gathers.
 Ancient slave-owning systems
 Feudal systems: landowners and peasants.
 Sociology and its founders
 MARX starts from the Hegelian concept of Karl Marx (1818-
Historical Dialectic. History as a process of 1883)
dialectical change = history has been a constant
struggle that has manifested itself in two ways:

 FORM: model or logic of the historical process

39
 SUBSTANCE: the agents that move this model

 WHAT IS THE AGENCY THAT MOVES HISTORY FORWARD?

• Religion?
• Nature?
• Human beings?
 Sociology and its founders
 MARX accepts this dialectic but renounces the notion of GEIST (spirit) in
Hegelian logic. Who moves history?

• For Hegel, history was moved by the GEIST, by the notion of spirit (spirit of the
times); idealization of GOD; idealization of humanism, etc.

• MARX history is made by the human being, by human activity. This DIALECTIC 40
process is not spiritual but EARTHLY AND MATERIAL and is based on PRAXIS.

 The DIALECTIC course is based on three basic assumptions:

• That history is directional, ascending and progressive.

• It is not linear but disruptive and conflictive.

• It is not gradual but radical and disruptive.

 Sociology and its founders

Karl Marx (1818-

 History is build by the human being through PRAXIS:
1883)
THROUGH HUMAN WORK AND ACTION. Not by
religious beliefs.

 Capitalism: owners of capital are the ruling class vs.

mass population of waged workers= proletariat. 41

 Proletariat sell their work for a wage, but the

product of their work is owned by capitalists
(bourgeoise) paying them less than their labour is
worth.

 Weak and strong points in his theory?

 Are western democratic values and western
capitalism in crisis? Why?
 Sociology and its founders
German sociologist who set out the basic
characteristics of modern industrial societies by Max Weber(1864-
identifying key issues that remain central to sociology 1920)
today.

 Sociologists should study SOCIAL ACTION through

the meanings people attribute to their actions. 42
SUBJECTIVE MEANING.

 Social actions are the actions that people orient

towards others.

 Comprehensive perspective to analyse society

through the use of ideal types.

 IDEAL TYPES= models that don’t perfectly exist in

reality but helps us classify and understand social
phenomena. Hypothetical constructions. Ex. Terrorist
 Sociology and its founders

Max Weber(1864-
1920)

‘Sociology is a science concerning

itself with interpretive understanding 43

of social action and thereby with a

causal explanation of its course and
consequences.’ (Economy and Society,
1920).
 Sociology and its founders

Three key points in his work:

Max Weber(1864-
 Firstly he argued that ‘Verstehen’ or empathatic
1920)
understanding is crucial to understanding human
action and social change, a point which he
emphasised in his classic study ‘The Protestant 44
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ (1903)

 Secondly, he believed we could make generalisations

about the basic types of motivation for human action
(there are four basic types).

 Thirdly, he still argued that structure shaped human

action, because certain societies or groups
encourage certain general types of motivation (but
within these general types, there is a lot of variation
possible).
 Sociology and its founders
Four ideal types of motivation for Human Action: Max Weber(1864-
1920)
 Traditional Social Action: actions controlled by
traditions, “the way it has always been done”.

 Affective Social Action: actions determined by one’s

specific affections and emotional state, you do not 45
think about the consequences.

 Value Rational Social Action: actions that are

determined by a conscious belief in the inherent
value of a type of behaviour (ex: religion; being
member of a political party).

 Instrumental-Rational Social Action: actions that are

carried out to achieve a certain goal, you do
something because it leads to a result.
 Sociology and its founders
Max Weber(1864-
RATIONALIZATION OF MODERN SOCIETIES 1920)

 Modern societies encouraged ‘Instrumental-

Action’ – that is we are encouraged to do things in
the most efficient way. 46

 Weber believed that modern societies were obsessed

with efficiency – modernizing and getting things
done, such that questions of ethics, affection and
tradition were brushed to one side – this has the
consequence of making people miserable and
leading to enormous social problems.
 Sociology and its founders

Industrial society = rationalisation of social life leading Max Weber(1864-

to individual choices. 1920)
 Means the emergence of capitalism, science, modern
technology, and bureaucracy led to the organisation
of social life principles of efficiency and technical
knowledge. 47

 Rationalisation of politics, economics, rule of law

and norms.

 Feared that bureaucracy, which is the most efficient

form of administration and organization, would stifle
creativity and imprison individuals in a steel hard
cage.

 MODERN STATE: max. expression of rationalism, has

 Sociology and its founders

Max Weber(1864-
1920)

WHAT IS THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POWER

48
AND AUTHORITY?
 Sociology and its founders

Three ideal types of domination: Max Weber(1864-

1920)
 Charismatic domination, or power based on the exceptional
qualities of an individual, such as his or her heroism or
sanctity. Ex. Ghandi, Steve Jobs, Cult liders, etc.
49
 Legitimate domination is traditional domination, or power
that is justified by a belief in long-standing customs. Ex.
Monarchy, religion.

 Rational–legal domination, or authority based on rules.

Rational–legal domination is based on the legality or
acceptability of rules and laws that outline appropriate
courses of action. Put simply, it is when we follow rules
because we believe in the process, regardless of who is
giving us the order. Ex. Modern State, Rule of Law.
 Sociology and its founders

Modern institutions: Max Weber(1864-

1920)
 Organizations characterized by bureaucracy,
surveillance and discipline.

 Vigilance and control of space and time in the most

efficient way: 50

 The architecture and rhythm of the schedules of an

organization or institution is directly related to its
social structure and its system of authority.

 Supervision of the activities carried out in the

institutions. In modern societies it is extreme. The
ideas of SELF-SURVEILLANCE and DISCIPLINE
stand out.
 Sociology and its founders
MICHEL FOUCALT:
Control of Space and Time. Bentham’s Panopticon

51
 Sociology and its founders

52

Industrial assembly line early XXs Iphone factory in China

Sociology and its founders

53

Iphone factory in China

 Sociology and its founders

54

XXIst century call center

1980s regular office

Sociology and its founders

55
 Sociology and its founders
Class and Status: Max Weber(1864-
 Much like Marx, Weber had a lot to say about how societies 1920)
were stratified along class lines.

 However, whereas Marx argued that class and status were

both derivative of who owns the means of production, and
56
classes are therefore lumped into two “hostile camps” of
workers and owners, Weber suggested that class and
status are distinct from one another.

 Whereas class is an objective position based on economic

power and life chances, social status is more subjective.

 According to Weber, a “status situation” is based on the

honor or respect paid by others, oftentimes regardless of
money. Status can be based on things like lifestyle,
prestige, or education. In our society,
 Sociology and its founders
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism’ (1903).
 Marx argued that ideas stemmed from our material
relations and, in particular, the ruling class. Weber thought
this conclusion was naïve and that ideas could indeed spur
new forms of economic relations.
57
 In ”The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” he
argues that certain features of Western culture, in
particular its religious underpinnings, created cultural
conditions for the rise of modern capitalism.

 Religious ideas were responsible for the emergence of

Capitalism in Northern Europe in the 16-17th century.

 Protestants in Northern Europe in the 16-17th centuries

seem to participate in a higher percentage with respect to
the total population of: Capital, successful businesses,
specialized and technical training and jobs.
 Sociology and its founders
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism’ (1903).
 The ethos or “spirit” of capitalism was a particular orientation toward
economic life that incorporates a sense of duty or responsibility. Ex.
ESG policies and Corporate Responsibility.

 The “spirit” urged social actors to work hard, remain frugal, and to
58
make money for its own sake.

 The “spirit” was related to the spread of Protestantism in Western

Europe. In particular, Weber highlighted the importance Martin
Luther’s idea of the calling and John Calvin’s doctrine of
predestination in developing the Protestant work ethic that
eventually transformed itself into the animating spirit of capitalism.

 Calvinism precisely considers business success as proof of

predestination by God to eternal salvation. A proof of having been
able to respond to a vocation=divine call. An Ascetic and productive
life where making money and being rich is not bad if we follow our
predestined vocation and moral ethic.
 Three theoretical traditions

 FUNCTIONALISM: society as a perfectly ordered and functional

system. Use of quantitative methodologies such as statistics
to analyze and study society. (A. Comte, H. Spencer, E.
Durkheim, T. Parsons, R. Merton)
59
 CONFLICT THEORY: society and social change as a set of
social relations in conflict (gender studies, feminism studies,
social movements, historic materialism). (K. Marx, T. Adorno, M.
Horkheimer, H. Arendt, J. Habermas)

 SYMBOLIC INTERATIONISM: study of society through the

symbolic meaning of norms, values, beliefs, language, etc.
Verbal but also non-verbal communication (signals). Use of
qualitative analysis such as focus groups, focal interviews,
 Three levels of analysis

 MACROSOCIOLOGY: focus on big structures and

institutions that influence social relations.

 MESOSOCIOLOGY: focus on the intermediate social

relations that impact on everyday life: families, social 60

groups, communities, neighbourhoods, etc.

 MICROSOCIOLOGY: focus the basis of face-to-face

interaction as the basis of all forms of social organization.
Ex. Analyzing organizational behaviour of a corporation.