TyroCity: Sociology Notes

Introduction to Cases of growth of Self and Social Heritage

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

A feral child is a human child who has lived away from human contact from a very young age, and has little or no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language. Feral children are confined by humans (often parents), brought up by animals, or live in the wild in isolation. There have been over one hundred reported cases of feral children, and this is a selection of ten of them.

Effects of the social contract

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Hobbes: People will live in peace but without rights except for the right to self-defense
Locke: The three natural rights which exist in the State of Nature will be easier to enforce by the government. Those who have given express consent will be bound by the contract; those who have given tacit consent can opt out and leave.
Rousseau: Life will be fair for all if we employ the general will and set aside our personal interests.
Kant: The people will be fairly represented by the Sovereign without actually having to participate.
Rawls: We will have decided on a system that is fair for everyone, using the “Veil of Ignorance.”

Detail Theories of Thomas Hobes

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Believed that life in the state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.
His most famous work is Leviathan.
Believed that humans are inherently bad because everyone is self-interested.
Hobbs felt it was best to submit to the will of a Sovereign without question.
Man entered into government for Safety.
The main role of government is to protect its citizens.
Rights and liberty always come after safety and protection.
Never overthrow the government because doing so creates anarchy and then there is no safety.

Westernization

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

‘Cultural homogenization, Americanization, westernization, the global village even modernity itself are all variants of myth-a cultural narrative to use the terms of this study-whereby the West imagines its own being and becoming and that of the rest of the world.’ - BOOK Suitably Modern: Making Middle-class Culture in a New Consumer Society

By Mark Liechty

Historically Western civilization is European civilization. In the modern era, Western civilization is Euroamerican or North Atlantic civilization. Europe, America and the North Atlantic can be found on a map; the West cannot. The name “the West” has also given rise to the concept of Westernization and has promoted a misleading conflation of westernization and modernization: it is easier to conceive of Japan “Westernizing” than “Euroamericanizing”. European-American civilization is however, universally referred to as Western civilization and that term despite its serious disabilities will be used here…In the earlier phases of change, Westernization thus promotes modernization. In the later phases modernization promotes de-Westernization and the resurgence of indigenous culture…’-Samuel Phillips Huntington (BOOK: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order)

Features or characteristics of Westernization

Anglicization
- Prominence and dominance of English language
- Though the term is westernization but the linguistice dominance is that of English
- Language of study, entertainment
Rationalization
- Westernization is based on rationalization
- Modernization and westernization are both based on rationalization.
Individualism
- Individuals are given more importance than the family or group.
Weakening of religious values
- Westernization means weakening of religious values
- Dominance of scientific and rational.
Weakening of family ties
- The westernization means people have less attachment with their family
Nuclear family
Flexibility in marriage
- Seriousness of marriage will be in decline.
Relaxation in sexuality
- Sex is no longer viewed as evil, impure or dangerous.
- Sexual relationship outside marriage is seen as natural
Prominence of western education
- Westernization means use of western education in non western societies.
Dominance of western perspective of the world
- History and philosophy of the west gets prioritized
Dominance of western art and culture
Deification of the west

Westernization in Nepal

Westernization in Nepal began before 1950s but it was only after 1950 that when Nepal was finally opened to foreign tourists that westernization began in Nepal with more force.
The western tourists who came to Nepal began westernization in their own small way.
In 1970s Nepal and India’s Goa became the center outside California for Hippie youths of America who were spiritual, rebellious, anti-government, and anti-war.
- Kathmandu was popular for marijuana and hashish which was not illegal till then.
- Hippies came in large number in Kathmandu and settled in Jhose which till this date is called freak street.
- Hippie did not directly bring westernization but they showed Nepali youths that western culture was different.
- Youths were attracted to them.
The culture of sending the children of upper and middle class to westernized schools in India (Darjeeling, Kalingpong, Dehra Dun) also started after 1950s.
In 1990 Nepal overthrew autocracy and accepted the multiparty democracy.
The multi-party democratic system uplifted all the restrictions on foreign literatures, and medias.
The foreign medias and influx of large number of foreigners to Nepal started westernization in Nepal among youths.
The upper and middle class began to send their children to expensive westernized private school within Nepal.
The post 2000 Nepal saw the explosion of internet and internet related subculture (facebook, chat etc).

Meaning, characteristics and origin of stratification

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

ANTHONIO GIDDENS: ‘The existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. While all societies involve some forms of stratification, only with the development of state based systems do wide differences in wealth and power arise. The most distinctive form of stratification in modern societies involves class divisions’.

‘The term stratification in sociology 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. When we ask why there is poverty why Black people or women in United States are disadvantaged vis-à-vis (respectively) Whites and men or what chances someone born into the working class has of achieving a middle class position we are posing questions about social stratification. ’ Oxford Dictionary of Sociology

Meaning of social stratification

Social stratification refers to existing social inequality in a society
This inequality is caused by the way wealth, power, and prestige are distributed
Social stratification exists in all societies

Types of social stratification

1. Open stratification system:

The type of stratification system in which merit and not inheritance (ascribed characteristics) determines social rank of a person.
For example Mrs A is the manager of a company and not Mr B because Mrs A is good in management (achieved status) and not because of her caste or gender.
In this type of stratification achieved status is given importance.

2. Closed stratification system

Stratification system in which inheritance (ascribed status) and not merit determines social rank
A wife is considered as inferior to her husband because of the ascribed status.

Characteristics of social stratification

1. Power: Capacity to impose your will on others, regardless of any resistance
2. Material wellbeing: Involves access to economic resources required to pay for necessities of life and other possessions and advantages
3. Prestige: Average evaluation of occupational activities and positions arranged in a hierarchy

Sociology and other Social Sciences and Its Relation

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Relationship of Sociology with other Social Science

1. With Political Science

Sociology studies with social relationship, political science studies political relationship. e.g.; relationship between government & opposition in parliament.
Sociology studies social structure e.g.; family, community, society and its interrelationship and political science studies political structures, such as state, political parties, constitute, political Ideology , ruler etc.
Sociology studies social rules, norms & values. Political science studies political rules like rules relating to formation of government, election. Vote, protest , political events and its influence

2. With History

Sociology studies social relationship at present.
History studies social relationship in the past.
Sociology studies social facts.
History studies historical facts.
Historical Sociology studies impact of historical facts in social relationship.
History is informative & descriptive in nature and it keeps record / human experience, link between future & present.
History is the past sociology and sociology is the present history.

3. With Economics

Sociology studies social relationship. Economics studies economic relationship and activities.
Economy says people are wealth gather & wealth disposer.
Sociology studies impact of economic structure in social relationship eg; study of relationship between rich & poor, industrialist and labor.
Economic studies scarce means and unlimited end of society.
Economics studies conversion of resources into goods or serves for social use. That means it studies production & distribution relationship of society.

4. With Psychology

Sociology studies social behavior.
Psychology studies human or behavior.
Psychology studies the way in which personality and behavior are influenced by the social context e.g.; Impact of religious behaviors in human psychology. Peoples love for non-violence being guided by Buddhism.

5. Relation between Sociology & Law

Sociology of Law looks at law and legal system as a part of society and also as social institutions related to other institutions and changing with them .It regards law as one means of Social Control.

Sociology studies society.
Law function (operates) in society.
Sociology studies relationship between crime and society (criminals).
Law controls crime and punishes retribution criminals.
Law provides compensation (restitution) to the victim.
Sociology studies social institutions such as marriage.
Law governs social institutions such as marriage registration.
Sociology studies relationship of society or an individual with property.

Law governs relationship of society with property eg; ownership or right upon property.

Modernization

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

‘…modernization involves change in the basic values of society. In particular it means the gradual acceptance by groups within the society of universalistic and achievement-based norms, the emergence of loyalties and identifications of individuals and groups with the nation-state, and the spread of the assumption that citizens have equal rights against the state and equal obligations to the state.’

-Samuel P. Huntington

Features of modernization

Dominance of Rational culture
Use of science and reasoning in lifestyle work and education
From traditional to democratic nation state
Highest loyalty to the nation state than to religion, tribe, ethnic group or political organization.
Goal achievement based culture
State laws are more powerful and dominant than religious and tribal laws.
Use of meritocracy in recruitment (education or employment).
From family based management of organization to professional based management.
Use of science and technology in economic, political and cultural sectors of society:

Economic sector: Use of technology in agriculture.
Politics: Use of electronic voting system during elections or use of mass media for election campaign
Cultural sector: The use of internet to study Vedas, Quran or Torah or Bible etc.

Dominance of this life and this world attitude.

Modernization in Nepal

Modernization of the state
- From absolute monarchy to military dictatorship
- Military dictatorship to Panchayat dictatorship
- Panchayat dictatorship to democratic state
Modernization of education
- Religious and tribal education to formal education
- From propaganda based state led Panchyat education to facts based education
- From facts based to more reasoning and critical thinking based education.
Modernization of culture
- From belief in caste system to the belief in the equality of everyone
- From belief in male superiority to the belief that men and women are equal.
- Mono-cultural tendency to multicultural
Modernization of economy
- From agricultural to trade, service and industry based economy
- From use of traditional equipment to the use of modern technologies.
Modernization of infrastructure
- Traditional roads to roads that are planned by engineers and sociologists.
- Traditional transportation system (horse, elephants) to modern motors, planes etc.
- Traditional source of light to electricity and solar based electricity.
Modernization of Law
- Law based on religion to law based on human rights and democratic principals.
Modernization of health
- From use of shamans to the use of doctors
- Hospital services in village level

Alfred Schutz : Phenomenology

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Typification is the process in which the people make sense of the world. Typification is well explained in First Order and Human Action.

Making sense of the world.

First Order
First Order deals with how consciousness is developed in individuals.

Experience of different events. Experience have been defined by Schutz as “Knowledge at hand”.
Classification of experience (good action, bad action, efficient action, ineffective action).
Choosing relevant experience to achieve one’s goal. This process is called “SYSTEM OF RELEVANCE”.
Perception: Perception involves the use of previous knowledge and use of imagination to understand a situation. For example: If I see a something that looks like a book then I use my past experience of seeing books and then also imagine that what I am now seeing could be book. The imagination part involves guess work. When the guess is tested ( falsified or proven ) then perception takes place. Perception is:

Use of past experience
Use of imagination
Test of guess
Falsified or proving of the guess work we did in our mind.

5. Interpretation: The experience may be same but interpretation of the experience is different among different people. For example: Mr. X and Mrs. Y were both bitten by a dog. Mr. X. when he saw a dog near his house he interpreted it as a a danger and was afraid. Mrs. Y on the other hand when she saw a dog outside her house she thought that the dog that bit her in the past and the dog outside her house is different hence she gave food to the dog without being afraid. Experience may be the same (bitten by a dog ) but interpretation people make will be different.

6. The plan of future action is defined by Schutz as “Purpose at hand”.

Second Order
Understanding the process of ‘First Order’ during research.

Social Science and Phenomenology

‘Research Objects’ or people being studied for the research are themselves ‘interpreting’ and making sense’ of the world in their own way. Researcher must understand this.
The research becomes more complex because the process of ‘making sense’ among the research object is ongoing/continuous.
Researcher needs to understand the individual and social experience of ‘research objects’. This is again an ongoing process.
Schutz argues that researcher needs to also study the ‘meaning’ that actions have for the ‘research objects’.
Unlike other research the phenomenology guided research sees the world as not something ‘concrete, fixed and real’ but as something that has ‘always changing meanings and meaning with diversity’.
There is a danger that the researcher may use his own experience to understand the views of the ‘research objects’. This will not help the researcher to understand the world in a proper manner. To address this problem A. Schutz argues that the researcher needs to use ‘Bracketing’. Bracketing’ is a process in which the researcher suspend his knowledge. Not to forget that knowledge comes from experience.

Ideal Citizen (Also called well-informed citizen)

Ideal Citizens are those imaginary citizens who are well-informed about
- Politics
- Economics
- And above all their constitutional rights.
The Ideal Citizens studies the sources of their information and the information itself to be better informed so that they can fully participate in democratic process of their country.
Ideal Citizen’s power lies in her access to information.
Schutz compares this Ideal Citizen with other people. In this comparison he finds that normal human beings are in many ways like his Ideal Citizen because:

Every person seeks as much information as she can have access with.
For example a car mechanic will try to get as much information about car maintenance as possible.
Mechanic will get information from different source but he will only collect those information that are from the relevant and reliable source.
Mechanic like the Ideal Citizen will study the information in such a way that he will classify it into useful and useless category.
Among the useful category of information he will further extract the essential information.

Human Action
Human Action according to Schutz takes places by following the pattern given below:

1. Motives: a person thinks of achieving something (for example students wants to pass exam).
2. Project: This is called the rehearsal of action. In project the person mentally imagines of performing the future action. For example a boy friends imagines that when he meets his girlfriend then he will tell her a joke to impress her.
3. Project testing: When the boyfriends meets his girlfriend he tells her the joke but she instead of being impressed with the boy gives a tight slap to him. This is called falsified project. If she had smiled then it would have been called successful.
4. Repetition: If the project testing is successful then the person will repeat the same action and this repetition becomes what Schutz calls Common sense.

Confusion: Schutz argued that common sense has its own limitations because no two events are exactly the same. The success in one event does not guarantee the success in the similar other events. For example the joke that caused the girlfriend of Mr. X to slap him in 1999 does not guarantee that it will also cause every girl to react in the same way. Because of this the people who think deeply will not always trust their ‘experience’. This is confusion.

Ralph Dahrendorf & Karl Marx: conflict theory

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

What is Conflict Theory?

Conflict theory generally surrounds the idea that most struggles in society happen because of conflicts between different social classes or groups
Each group struggles to attain more resources and because resources are scarce, they must struggle with other groups
Groups try to protect their own interests, therefore blocking the progress of other groups
From conflict comes social change

Ralf Dahrendorf’s (1929-present) Conflict Theory

Society is always in tension between :

consensus and coercion
function and conflict

The central questioned of all social thought

How do societies stay togather? Two well established positions:

The Utopians (Functional Theory)
- Represented by the Functional Theory
The Rationalists (Conflict Theory)
- Represented by Conflict Theory

Conflict between the two positions is old.

Hobbes vs. Rousseau
Kant vs. Hegel

Utopians are represented by the Functional theory of society
Rationalists are represented by the Conflict theory of society
The two positions are mutually exclusive in most fields and people, but not is sociology.
Good Sociology uses one in A, another in B and both in C. but does not exclude any.
Every Society is at every point subject to the processes of change. Change is everywhere.
Conflict is everywhere
Every Element in a society contributes to its disintegration and change
Every Society is based on coercion of some members by others.
In society there is division of labor but in a division of labor, not every occupation based status is equal.

Dahrendorf’s key concepts : the authority conflict

Different people have different occupation
The different occupation have different status
People’s status increases or decreases according to the link it has with authority.
In society there are many organizations.
Each organization contains two groups
- super-ordinates (order-givers) with authority
- sub-ordinates (order-takers) without authority
In authority relations there is a fundamental conflict between:
- those who have power
- and those who do not have power

Dahrendorf’s key concepts Conflict of interest

The conflict is fundamentally based on two type of interest
- Those With Authority: Their INTEREST is to maintain status quo
- Those Without Authority: Their INTEREST is to change status quo

Dahrendorf’s key concepts : difference between power and authority

Power is essentially tied to the personality of individuals
Authority is always associated with social positions or roles
Dahrendorf was most interested in studying authority
When someone has authority in one setting, that authority does not extend to other social arenas: a boss holds legitimate authority at work but outside of the work setting they cannot legitimately tell people what to do.
Dahrendorf is only concerned in his presentation with authority

Dahrendorf’s key concepts: The Three Types groups

Quasi groups
Groups that are not well organized because they have latent or natural interest but are well conscious of their group interest.

Interest groups
When the latent interest becomes manifest interest then the group becomes conscious about their group interest. Due to this they are organized and can put pressure on the rival groups.

Conflict group
When interest group evolved into an organized group to overthrow the rival group then it is a conflict group.

Dahrendorf’s key argument

Higher the group interest consciousness among quasi groups the more possibility of intergroup conflict between super ordinate and subordinate groups.
More there is a link between organizational authority and the distribution of rewards the more possibility for conflict.
If the movement of subordinate group to higher position is made more difficult the more there is conflict.
If the economic, political or social goals of the organizations are less met then more there is conflict.
More intense the conflict the more possibility of change.

Karl Marx
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a socialist theoretician and activist, a major figure in the history of economic , sociological and philosophical thought, and a great social prophet.

“There must be something rotten in the very core of a social system which increases in wealth without diminishing its misery, and increases in crime even more than its numbers.” -Marx, K. (1859). Population, crime and pauperism.Collected Works, (16).

The main argument of Karl Marx can be summarized as follows:

The purpose of philosophy is to reconstruct the world and not to explain the origin of the universe.
That the force which shapes the course of history are primarily economic.
That society is divided into two classes: owners and workers.
That there is always a class conflict going on between the two classes.
That the workers are exploited by the owners who misappropriate the surplus value, which is the result of the workers’ labour.
That this exploitation can be put an end to by nationalisation of the instruments of production i.e. abolition of private property.
That this exploitation is leading to greater and greater impoverishment of the workers.
That this growing impoverishment of the workers is resulting in a revolutionary spirit among the workers and the conversion of the class conflict into a class struggle.
That as the workers outnumber the owners, the workers are bound to capture the State and establish their rule, which he called the dictatorship of the proletariat.
These factors are irresistible and therefore socialism is inevitable.

Detailed Study of Karl Marx

Fundamental Concepts (derived from Marx):

1. The “Mode of Production”: Basic system of production ? Impacts all other social relations

“Mode of production” describes the economic base of politics.
Societies are assumed to have developed through a series of “modes” of production.
Marx was particularly interested in explaining the transition from the feudal mode of production to Capitalism and, eventually to Socialism.

2. The “Relations of Production”:

On top of the economic base of society, or mode of production, Marxists assume that there is a political and social superstructure, or “relations of production” which is deeply influenced by the mode of production.
The “social superstructure” is society’s laws, politics, culture and ideology
Determined by mode of production (?) Contentious issue:
Relations of production were actually determined by political struggle between different groups in society over the control of the mode of production.
- E.g. For example, despite the fact that feudalism was based on aristocratic control over land and agricultural labour, this did not simply determine that there would always be a feudal set of relations of production. Rather, capitalists, emerging industrial entrepreneurs, were able, through political struggle to alter the relations of production in way that eventually led to the emergence of a dominant capitalist mode of production.
- Best way to say it . . . : Marx and history – the dominant group in the dominant mode of production . . . But people make their own history, just . . . .
Marx also argued that societies could simultaneously have multiple modes of production and in particular that during times of transition, such as from feudalism to capitalism, that competing modes of production could coexist for quite some time; thus, Marxists argue for the importance of examining the Social Formation.

3. The importance of history: Specific historical & geographical settings have different modes/relations of production

Each society may have a different balance, or mix, of modes of production and thus the actual social formation of the society must be closely examined before we make assumptions about the relations of production in that society.
The reason studying the historical social formation of a society is so important to Marxists is that underling all modes and relations of production is a basic set of social classes.
- Class, and class analysis is the single most important concept in socialist analysis.
- Where liberalism focuses on individuals as the basic unit of analysis, socialist political economy lumps individuals into broad social groupings and attempts to understand those groups, or classes, as the basic unit of analysis.

4. Class:

Each mode of production organizes individuals into classes:
- Those who own and control the means of production; and
- Those who sell their labour

Key points:
Classes are social collections of individuals that have shared interests in the distribution of benefits emerging from the mode of production.

5. They often share a similar ideology and values

E.g. in the capitalist mode of production: Capitalists (the bourgeoisie – in traditional Marxist terminology) have a shared set of interests in promoting liberal political economy, a liberal ideology that supports their ability to generate profits and a legal system that ensures their continued private ownership of the means of production. Workers (the proletariat) have an interest in collectively advancing their own claims to a greater share of the profits emerging from production – whether that be through the collective seizure of capitalist private property, progressive/redistributive tax laws or through unionization and collective bargaining to increase wages.
These opposed interests are the basis of the “class struggle”

Class Struggle

While Marx argued that modes of production play a role in determining the superstructure of politics (what laws there will be, or, what the state will do), ultimately all Marxists agree that the real driving force in this process, is class struggle and indeed Marxists see “politics” as a struggle between productive classes for the control of production.
- This “Drives” history
Since several modes of production may exist simultaneously, often political struggles in each society are very complex. Different factions struggle for political dominance; however, the basic divergence in interests produced by the process of production creates a tension which plays a determining role in political struggles.

Marxist Economics:

The starting point for all Socialist analyses is Karl Marx’s Capital which offers an alternative “Marxist economics” of capitalism to that provided by liberal economics. Marx developed a number of important points in his analyses of capitalism. Firstly, much like the classical political economists, (Smith and Ricardo) . . . .

1. Labor the basis of all value

Total direct & indirect labor in production determines “true price” of product. Marx argued that the value or “true price” of any good, over the long run was determined by how much labour went into producing that good.

[What is indirect and direct labour?] The total direct and indirect labour used to produce a good determines the value of a good.

Secondly, much like the classical political economists, Marx argued that profits were the engine of growth in capitalist economies, but he argued that profits were based on surplus value.

2. Profits based on “surplus value” Occurred when capitalists kept the difference between how much the labor cost them in producing a good, and how much they could sell that good for

Even though capitalists and workers need each other in the process of production, Marx argued that because workers had no choice but to sell their labour (or otherwise starve) while capitalists could choose not to invest their savings (without facing the prospect of immediate starvation) that capitalists had a kind of advantage over workers to artificially reduce their wages.

= This artificial reduction of wages created surplus value.

Furthermore since the extraction of this surplus value is the basis of profit, and since profit is the engine of growth in capitalism,
- Capitalism always exploitative Workers had to be exploited or the system would not work.

3. Increases in profit only achieved by increasing extraction of surplus value Marx argued that the employment of capital (or investment) itself produced no surplus value. Over the long term, the only way that investors could make profits was by employing people. The only way profit levels could be increased was by increasing the extraction of surplus value from workers. This could be done either by increasing:

Relative surplus value (which would mean increasing the productivity of workers by forcing workers to work harder or more efficiently), Or by increasing the:
Absolute surplus value (by forcing workers to work longer hours for less money).

Marx argued that once created,

4. Capitalism was dynamic – would spread. Efficiency in organizing production and extracting surplus value made it superior

It is important to understand this – Marx and those influenced by Marx assumed that capitalism was extremely efficient – it was much better than any mode of production that had come before; however, unlike liberals, they were deeply concerned about the levels of inequality that capitalism produced. Capitalism based on fundamental “tensions”:

Once Marx developed this understanding of how Capitalism “worked” he went on to argue that the inherent logic of Capitalism created basic tensions that would lead to crises and even, eventually a complete collapse of the system. Marx argued that the economic competition between capitalists, at the core of the system, created three main problems:

1. Economic concentration: Competitive markets produced “concentration”

E.g. monopolies Eroded market efficiency assumed by neoclassical liberal economics

2. “Falling rate of profit” Competition forced firms to continually expand their investments in new technology and machinery to remain competitive. Because profits came only from exploiting workers, these investments on their own did not create higher rates of profit.

As the ratio of indirect labour (machinery) grew in relation to direct labour, there would be a steady decline in the rate of profit. The only way to reverse this trend was by increasing the exploitation of workers – making them work longer or harder, or for less money.

3. Growing exploitation of workers: Falling rate of profit required greater exploitation of workers Gradually, workers would earn less money with which they could buy goods. Falling rate of profit led to greater exploitation

Produced “crisis of under-consumption” = Recessions and unemployment

Marx thought that this trend towards under-consumption would ultimately undermine Capitalism – that capitalism would have to be replaced by some sort of socialism in which consumption was ensured, possibly by abandoning Capitalism’s competitive markets for direct state ownership of the means of production.

Bottom Line: Capitalism prone towards crises and collapse

Capitalism, although volatile, has proven to be extremely flexible and dynamic, and has somehow avoided the complete crises predicted by Marx.

The Syrian Gazelle Boy

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Jean-Claude Auger, an anthropologist from the Basque country, was traveling alone across the Spanish Sahara (Rio de Oro) in 1960 when he met some Nemadi nomads, who told him about a wild child a day’s journey away. The next day, he followed the nomads’ directions. On the horizon he saw a naked child “galloping in gigantic bounds among a long cavalcade of white gazelles”. The boy walked on all fours, but occasionally assumed an upright gait, suggesting to Auger that he was abandoned or lost at about seven or eight months, having already learnt to stand. He habitually twitched his muscles, scalp, nose and ears, much like the rest of the herd, in response to the slightest noise. He would eat desert roots with his teeth, pucking his nostrils like the gazelles. He appeared to be herbivorous apart from the occasional agama lizard or worm when plant life was lacking. His teeth edges were level like those of a herbivorous animal. In 1966 an unsuccessful attempt was made to catch the boy in a net suspended from a helicopter; unlike most of the feral children of whom we have records, the gazelle boy was never removed from his wild companions.

Traian Caldarar

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Another recent case of a feral child, Traian Caldarar (found in 2002) is often referred to as ‘the Romanian Dog Boy’ or ‘Mowgli,’ after the main character in the Jungle book. He had lived apart from his family for 3 years since the age of 4. When he was found at the age of 7 he was said to be the size of an average 3 year old due to a lack of proper nutrition. His mother was a victim of domestic violence who left her husband. It is believed that Traian also ran away from the home sometime afterwards. Traian lived in the wild and when he was found in 2002 in Brasov, Rom?nia. He found shelter in a cardboard box covered with a sheet. Traian had a severe case of rickets, poor circulation, and infected wounds. Because of his age, those who discovered Traian believed that stray dogs helped to keep him alive.

Traian was only found because a car belonging to a shepherd named Manolescu Ioan broke down and he had to walk through pastures, during which he spotted the boy. When he was found, the body of a dog was found nearby and many assume that he was eating the dog as a way to stay alive. Once he was taken into care, he would sleep under his bed instead of on it and would often want to eat. When he didn’t have food he became very irritable and often slept right after meals.

In 2007, it was reported that Traian was doing well under the care of his grandfather and in grade 3 at school. When asked about his school, he said “I like it here, coloring, play and learn to write and read. We have toys, cars, teddy bears, and the food is very good,” (translasted from Romanian newsite

Erving Goffman: Symbolic interactionism

Sociology BA LLB — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:41:42 +0000

Theory One: Basic Requirements for Social Interactions

Goffman argued that a normal person required to have four basic skills to have a normal interaction in society. These four rules are :

One. Situational Propriety
Goffman argued that for a normal interaction to take place a person should have knowledge on how to act and react spontaneously in different social situations. They must know how to perform appropriate action. For example Mr. J was dancing in a club and laughing but suddenly his not very close friend came to him and told him ‘you know J my uncle pass away 10 minutes ago due to heart attack’. After this if Mr .J reacts by saying ‘that is so bad’ and if he keeps on dancing then this is his absence of ‘situational propriety’. Due to it his relationship with his friend could be permanently damaged.

Two. Involvement
While in interaction the people involved in it must show that they are fully involved in the interaction. If they project that they are not fully involved in the interaction then this could prevent a development of a good social relationship. For example while in conversation if a person constantly uses mobile phone and constantly cuts short the talk then such behavior project the lack of involvement. For example.

Mrs. A: Hi W, how are you ? Do know I got a job in World Bank

Mrs. C : Really ? Please wait I need to pick up this call (she talks in mobile for 5 minutes then she looks at Mrs. A and says) which bank ?

Mrs. A: Its world bank.

Mrs. C: So your husband got job in world bank?

Mr. A: No its me.

Mrs. C : You should start working to. By the way do you know where to find a cab. Oh look there is a cab. I need to go. Bye and please make sure that you look for a job. I can help you in that.

In the above conversation Mr.s C failed to show her full involvement in the social interaction and as result will not develop a good relationship with Mrs. A in the future.

Three. Civil inattention

Sometimes during social interaction there are situations in which we need to act in such way that it looks like as if we didn’t see/hear/touch what we saw/heard/touched. For example in a party a guest accidently drops a wine glass and breaks it. In such situation a host will act as if he didn’t see it or if he sees it then he will act as if it didn’t matter to him. This action of not paying attention to the event so that social relationship is maintained is called ‘civil-inattention’. Civil inattention is also used while interacting with strangers. For example when strangers comes and talk to Mrs. L then she will give full attention to him and give him her phone number, email, home address and ask him to take care and so on. What she will do is to politely listen to the stranger and pay as little attention to him as possible.

Four. Accessible

To have a good social relationship the people involved in the interaction must be accessible. That means they must not be difficult to contact. If they become difficult to contact and get involved in conversation then there is very little possibility for the development of a good social relationship.

Five: Felicity Condition

‘Felicity Condition’ is a verbal or bodily gestures or both that makes other people feel that they are not having a conversation with ‘strangers’ but with a person they can trust and rely on. For example if a Mr. X. comes to Mr. Y. and tells him that ‘I couldn’t get admission in HHH college because I was ten minutes late’. Hearing this if Mr. Y. replies that ‘We know each other for only two days but you seem to be a hardworking person. I will get you in HHH college. Don’t worry about how I am going to do this. My father owns this college’. This gesture of Mr. Y will help to build a good relationship with Mr. X.

Theory Two: Dramaturgy

For Erving Goffman (1922–1982), the metaphor of life as theater is rich in meaning. He sees all human interaction as, in some ways, very much like a drama on stage. The brilliant insight that makes Goffman’s book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) so significant is that this process, which he believes lies concealed deepwithin every interaction, is familiar to all of us in the form of the theater. In a play, actors try to convey to an audience a particular impression of the world around them. Through the use of scripted dialogue, gestures, props, costumes, and so on, actors create a new reality for the audience to consider. It is Goffman’s claim that if we understand how a contemporary American actor can convey an impression of a vampire in a horror movie then we can also understand how a businessman / banker / policeman / teacher / students tries to act like a professional operating with a combination of expert knowledge and goodwill. If we can understand how two paid actors convince us that they are madly in love in Romeoand Juliet, we can understand how flight attendants manage and use their emotions for commercial gain.

The role

The role is the particular image that a single actor wants to convey. It is the sense of self, that the individual wants to project to the world. For example, to effectively sell car, one must adopt the role of the dedicated and knowledgeable professional who knows a lot about car and who is trustworthy to sell people these expensive commodities (car). Being perceived as a “professional” is an ideal way to provide car agents with the credibility they so desperately need. The aspiring car agent must understand that his ‘role’ as a car agent involves not only selling car but also to maintain a ‘reliable’ character so that people not only like and trust him but also ‘recommend’ others to buy from him.

Script

Theater as we know it relies on scripts. Goffman claims that scripts are imnportant to interpersonal interaction but are more so in formal interaction (office for example) . Most interpersonal communication is reasonably improvisational—we make it up as we go along. In everyday life, however, some elements of conversation are pretty well scripted. If a person asks a us how we are, we are most likely to answer “Fine, and what about you?” rather than a sincere ,well-thought-out description of what he or she is really thinking or feeling at the moment. This is a script based (preplanned) conversation that we are so used to employing that it feels automatic. Thus, scripts can allow us a great deal of convenience.

Business houses often make use of increasingly formalized scripts, which can provide distinct advantages to all parties. Often, store managers write scripts that are passed down to the store keeper who must actually go about making sales. One extreme example of this is provided by the Disney company, which, as Kraft (1994) discovered in her research, gives staffers (or “Cast Members,” in their words) a set of rigidly prescribed scripts:

These scripts offer verbatim responses Disney Store executives would like to hear used by Cast Members. . . . Frequently, a Cast Member becomes dependent on the scripts and mindlessly repeats the same message to every guest he or she encounters. The greeting traditionally offered at the front of the store is an example of how closely the scripts are followed.When a Cast Member was trained in 1991, he or she received a handout [which included the statement] “When you are greeting, the exact script is ‘Hi! Welcome to the Disney Store!’There are to be no variations of this script used . . . ever.”

In this case, a script is used to control and limit employee autonomy. The management has a particular role that it wants employees to adopt: friendly, cheerful, and helpful, but somewhat aloof, like a cartoon character. Disney corporate officials have concluded that the best way to ensure that employees actually adopt this role is to force it on them. It should also be noted that the scripts sometimes have advantages for the clerks. Kraft noted that Cast Members frequently become reliant on the scripts, using them as convenient crutches. Similarly, many telephone solicitors use obviously scripted messages when they call people; reading scripts is a simple process that requires little training or thought and thus makes the solicitor’s job much easier. Script use in direct sales is in no way limited to controlling employees or providing a convenience in place of more sophisticated kinds of training. Frequently, scripts are used to control customers, to compel them to buy a given product.

Stage

common in many social interactions is the division between front and back stages. The front stage is what confronts the audience—what they see. The back stage, by contrast, is a place where all the support activities necessary

for maintaining the performance on the main stage will go on. In theater, the back stage is where actors who are not involved in the scene going on at the moment mill about; where props that will be used at other times are stored; and where the counterbalances, lights, and so on that make the scenery convincing to the audience are hidden. Goffman (1959) points out that the crucial element that allows the back stage to be useful for these purposes is that “the back region will be the place where the performer can reliably expect that no member of the audience will intrude”. Thus, most back regions are clearly divided from the public fronts so that only team members have access.

Goffman claims that houses are divided along these front stage/backstage lines as well: guests are frequently confined to living and dining rooms and rarely invited to see bedrooms or bathrooms or kitchen. Similarly, many houses have front doors that are used primarily for more formal situations; family members often use back or side doors for day-to-day admission.

Backstage regions have two major purposes, both related to the maintenance of the proper persona or atmosphere on the front stage. They must serve as a storing ground for physical items that cannot be on the front stage, and they must also provide employees a place to regroup, a place where they take care of their emotional needs. The physical requirements of backstage may not be particularly surprising. Most retail shops, for instance, try not to clutter the stage with too much stuff. A storeroom, then, is crucial. Shoe stores offer perhaps the best example of this; most of them leave one pair of each style of shoe on display, but because they need several pairs of each size of shoe in each style to satisfy customers, they have a need for a well-organized back stage, where piles of shoe boxes can sit without being observed.

Back regions are also helpful for storing things not sold by the business but that are vital to the maintenance of the proper atmosphere on stage. Retail stores are almost uniformly clean; this means that vacuum cleaners, mops, glass cleaners, and so on must be kept where they can be accessed regularly, but because cleanliness usually mandates a lack of visible cleaning supplies, the equipment must be hidden from public scrutiny.

Self

Before directly reviewing Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis of social interaction, we must briefly consider his rather unique conception of selfhood because it is crucial to his method of analysis. Goffman does not believe in a “self” in the traditional sense; he does not think that we can discuss people’s selves abstracted from their social situations. He writes, “This self itself does not derive from its possessor, but from the whole scene of his action . . . this self is a product of a scene that comes off, and not a cause of it”. Goffman is arguing here that the self is something that arises in the very process of performance.

Goffman argued that the self is a product of human interaction which means that only during social interaction with others can the self be created.

Because self can only be created during human interaction hence there is always a possibility that during social interaction the type of self Mr. X wants to project may not be fully able to express itself. For example Mr. X wants to project himself as very intelligent by quoting a text from Max Weber’s book but Mr. Y is not letting him speak. In this situation the ‘self’ of Mt. X is disrupted.

Impression management:

Every individual wants to project to others a type of ‘self’ or identity which is acceptable in the eyes of the other. For example Mr. X wants to present himself as intelligent in the eyes of Mr. Y.
Mr. X wants to present himself as intelligent because MR. Y is his boss. If Mr. X can present himself as intelligent then he will get a job promotion.
The process in which an actor presents the ‘self’ in such a way that the ‘others’ might do(give job promotion) as they want they to do is in Goffman’s word ‘Impression management’.
If a married man acts as a bachelor to win friendship with a beautiful girl then this is also impression management. If a shop keeper speaks politely to his customers so as to sell his goods then this is also impression management. Social actors wants to prevent any unintended gestures or conversations that may offend their audience. This is called impression management.

Many people are involved in different ways to maintain impression management:

Fostering high in-group loyalty
Not getting too involved or attached with audience
Changing audience often so as not to mistakenly reveal one’s own weaknesses.
Maintain facial, bodily and verbal gesture to sympathize with the audience.
How to perform in emergencies.
The degree of alertness that is required for each authors.
Preventing oneself from being too emotional so as not to let audience have access to personal secrets.

Front stage

Front stage is a social interaction that is fixed . For example for a student the school is a front stage where he interacts with his teacher, friends etc.
Setting: Within the ‘Front stage’ the ‘Setting’ is a place where the performer/actor must be present. For example for a student a classroom is a setting where he acts. For a taxi driver it is a cab. For a priest it is a temple.
Appearance: Those equipment’s and items that tell us about the social-actor-performers’ social status and role. For example a school dress helps us to know that the actor we are dealing with are school children/students. Doctors’ white robe indicates that the personal I am dealing with his a medical doctor or a person with long hair and a beard helps me recognize that the person I am dealing with is someone who enjoys music.
Manner: The actions that a social actor performance which makes the audience guess/assume the social role he her she may play is known as manner. For example if a person wearing a doctors’ robe starts talking that HIV-AIDS spreads through overdrinking of coca-cola then such manner helps us to identify that he is not a doctor but a imposter. Or if a man with a long hair, long beard, dirty pants and torn jackets is seen in seminar halls where major physicists of the world are present then we would judge him to be a scientists from his manner rather than from his appearance.

Hiding of facts

The process of ‘Hiding’ in front stage performance/social acting:

Hide what gives them pleasure. When a boy B while talking with his girlfriend may hide the fact that he enjoys life when he is in conversation with other beautiful girls
Concealment of errors committed during social acting/ performance. Boy B might mistakenly keep staring at a beautiful girl in front of him while talking with his teacher. He may try to hide this fact by looking at other places when he comes to realize that his teacher is aware of his error.
Reveal the end product but hide the process. A person may have made the report for his boss working for 17 hours a day but he will try to hide this fact so that his boss might think that he is a intelligent person who could do his task easily
Concealment of ‘dirty-work’ involved in making the end product. A person may hide the things that may have involved physically dirty or morally unacceptable acts. For example when a boy D brought a gift for his girlfriend with the money from which he was supposed to buy medicine for his father then he will hide this face.
Performance that compromised other standards. A Prime Minister of a country might hide the fact that he was once working in a company that was involved in cheating people by selling them fake products.
Hide ‘insults, deals and compromises that the social actor made to perform that act. A good new police chief may have got the current position by telling the Home Minister that he would not arrest criminals affiliated with his political party. He would like to hide this fact.

The social actors have a vested interest in hiding such information.

Closer to audience

The Social Actor wants to interact in such a way that their interaction should be thought as important and sincere. Even saying hello/good morning or Namaste to a normal friend the performer wants to give a impression that they have complete good will towards the audience. If this performance fail then then even the normal good morning will carry no emotional weight was it once did. In this sense in every interaction the social actor wants to project themselves in such a way that their audience feel that the social actor is indeed a well-wisher.

Mystification

To create some type of awe in audience the social actor tries her/his best to reduce as much social interaction as possible. This is because the frequency of interaction could involve serious question answer where the mysterious environment the actor created may be demystified. For example a boss may try to show that he is a very rational and unemotional person. By projecting himself as such the office runs efficiently because the staffs fear the boss. However if the boss becomes to close with the subordinates then the subordinates may find out that the boss is not as unemotional as they think he is. This process of demystification will cause discipline problem in the office. In that sense the mystification is in the interest of the social actor and to protect the mystification the social actor will reduce social interaction process.

Team

A team involves several social actors who have a common interest but who sees other team members as audience. This is a very tough situation because in this the mystification of social actors are risked.

Role Distance

Goffman argued that every social actors are involved in a ‘role’ in society. For example a doctor’s role is to identify illness are cure it. Goffman however identified that people who are not comfortable with their ‘role’ in society often exhibited their distaste for the ‘role’ they were involved in. For example a toilet clear may perform his work in a very uninterested manner to show to his audience that he is superior to his work. This is ‘role distance’. It is usually the people who are not happy with their work that show role distance. On the other hand a person who is happy with his work will not show the role distance. For example a CEO of DM BANK will not hide the fact that he is a CEO. Even in conversations in which he is not required to present himself as a CEO he somehow finds a way to tell his audience that he is a CEO of a bank(Low role distance). However if the same bank is in news for default or tax evasion then this very CEO will do his best to hide his work in the bank or show his extreme displeasure in his work(high role distance).

Stigma

What a person should /ought to be is ‘virtual social identity’. What a personal actually is defined by Goffman as ‘actual social identity’. The person having the difference between ‘virtual social identity’ and ‘actual social identity’ are labeled as ‘stigma’ or ‘stigmatized’ by Goffman.

Discredited stigma: In this situation a person who is different from the ‘virtual social identity’ is clearly seen by the audience. For example a Asian person in a predominantly white neighborhood. A person without a leg in a party where the rest have both legs. The social actor with discredited stigma is aware that they are different than the audience. This difference causes a tension in their interaction hence their challenge is to reduce the tension.

Discreditable stigma: In this situation a person who is different from the ‘virtual social identity’ is not perceived or known by the audience. The difference is hidden. For example a person who is homosexual is not identified as such by the audience unless he/she expresses the orientation of his sexuality. Or a Hindu in a Muslim majority country or a Christian in a Hindu majority city or a Jew in a Christian majority town. In all these cases the audience are not aware that the social actor is different from ‘virtual social identity’. In this discreditable stigma the person’s challenge is to hide the information that shows that she/he/actor is different from the audience so as to maintain a healthy social interaction.

Frame Analysis

Goffman published a book Frame Analysis in 1974. The core argument of this book is that through social dialogues and interactions people create a certain rules which he called as ‘frame’. This ‘frame’ according to him were created by people but after being established then these very ‘frames’ start to influence people’s action. For example people created the ‘frame’ in which younger people do Namaste to elder ones. However this frame has dominated people’s life so much that whenever a young person forgets to do Namaste to his elders then he is tagged as rude. This is because according to the frame the process of Namaste is an action that shows respect.

Sometimes an action can have a conflict between different frames. For example when a westerner without knowledge of other religion invites a Hindu guest and offers her a beef stake then from that Hindu’s frame this is an act of insulting a Hindu but from the frame of that westerner it is a gesture of hospitality he showed to an Asian guest.

Goffman believed that to understand society it was important to understand how frames were created and how it was reshaped and resisted.