- Zur Geschichte
der Handelgesellschaften im Mittelalter (The History of Medieval
Business Organizations) (original - 1889)
- Die Römische
Agrargeschichte in ihrer Bedeutung für das Staats- und Privatrecht(Roman
Agrarian History and its Significance for Public and Private Law) (original
- 1891)
- Die Verhältnisse
der Landarbeiter im ostelbischen Deutschland
(original - 1892) (Condition of Farm Labor in Eastern Germany)
- Die Börse
(original - 1894 to 1896) (The stock exchange)
- Der Nationalstaat
und die Volkswirtschaftspolitik. (original - 1895) (The National
State and Economic Policy)
- Gesammelte Aufsatze
zur Religionssoziologie (Collected Essays on Sociology of Religion)
(original - 1920 to 1921)
- Gesammelte Politische
Schriften (Collected Political Miscellanies) (original - 1921)
- Die rationalen
und soziologischen Grundlagen der Musik (Rational and Sociological
Foundations of Music) (original - 1921)
- Gesammelte Aufsätze
zur Wissenschaftslehre (Collected Essays on Education) (original
- 1922)
- Gesammelte Aufsätze
zur Soziologie und Sozialpolitik (Collected Essays on Sociology
and Social Policy) (original - 1924)
- Wirtschaftsgeschichte
(Economic History) (original - 1924)
- Wirtschaft und
Gesellschaft (Economy and Society) (original - 1925)
- Staatssoziologie
(Sociology of the State) (original - 1956)
- Great attention
to the character of Sociology and its structure was given by Russian-American
sociologist P. Sorokin. In theoretical sociology he differentiated
three parts: social analysis, social mechanics and social genetics.
He developed theory of social stratification and social-cultural dynamics.
Karl Marx as a sociologist
- Capitalism, like
previous socioeconomic systems, will inevitably produce internal tensions
which will lead to its destruction.Just as capitalism replaced feudalism,
socialism will, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless,
classless society called pure communism.
- This would emerge
after a transitional period called the "dictatorship of the proletariat":
a period sometimes referred to as the "workers state" or "workers'
democracy"
- Argued for a systemic
understanding of socio-economic change: that the structural contradictions
within capitalism necessitate its end, giving way to communism:
- On the other hand,
Marx argued that socio-economic change occurred through organized revolutionary
action. He argued that capitalism will end through the organized actions
of an international working class
- While Marx remained
a relatively obscure figure in his own lifetime, his ideas began to
exert a major influence on workers' movements shortly after his death.
This influence gained added impetus with the victory of the Marxist
Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution in 1917, and few parts
of the world remained significantly untouched by Marxian ideas in the
course of the twentieth century
Contemporary Western Sociology
- Various schools
of Sociology are equally represented in contemporary western sociology.
School of structural functional analysis (T. Parsons and R Merton):
society is a social system interaction of its elements ensure social
balance
- Empiric direction
of the Sociology comes begins with the work by U, Thomson and F Znanetski
“Polish farmer in Europe and America” (1918-1920).
- Empiric studies
also developed by Chicago school. Symbolic interactionalalis, urban
theory. E Burgess, R. Mackenzie, R. Park – distinctive
urban theory . Practical goal of empiric sociology – information,
predicting, management. In 1934 the Institute of Gallup Institute (Institute
of Public opinion) – based on empiric research broadcasts the results
of election campaigns and makes influences on public opinion
Sociology in Kazakhstan
- In Kazakhstan sociology
as a science – with independence, Institute of Strategic sociological
research at National Academy of Sciences. Sociology was included in
higher education curriculum. Association of Sociologists and political
scientists. Kazakh sociologists Aitov N, Beisenbayev D, Gabdulina K.
Main problems studied are social structure of society, sociology of
gender, poverty and unemployment, formation of Kazakhstanian patriotism
etc.
Practical implications of
Sociology
Sociological approach
¨Sociology
and social marginality (outsiders in the USA, marginal groups)
- Sociology and crisis
(rational thinking when people understand that their persons problems
are results of social processes)
- Sociology, politics
and professions (knowledge for politicians – acceptance of laws; preparation
to the labor activities; work of sociologists in other areas –psychology
etc
- Sociological knowledge
helps to be rational, to assess one’s abilities and obstacles, by
active members of society, to live in a world of diversity
Social theory and paradigms
- Theory explain
how various facts are interconnected;
- Social theory aims
at explanation of social behavior in real world. Durkheim’s Theory
of suicide
- Paradigm
(Kuhn, 1970) – general ways of seeing the world, which dictate what
kind of scientific work should be done and what kinds of theory are
acceptable. Meta theories.
3 main paradigms in Sociology
1) Structural-functional
paradigm (popular until XX c)
Social structure (any stable
sample of social behavior from shaking hands to religious rituals) è
social functions of structures (latent functions; social disfunction)
Limits: macro approach; society is seen as stable, sustainable
unit
2) Paradigm if social
conflict
Inequity
in society that creates conflicts (race, class, age, ethnicity, gender,
religion è
power, education, social prestige). Dominating and privileged and suppressed;
rich-poor; white-non-white; men-women etc)
Limits: macro approach (class, family etc); political
implication
3) Paradigm of symbolic
interactionism
Micro-level
orientation, social interaction in concrete situations, society as a
product of everyday interaction between; personal experience – social
reality – through symbols, reality consists of symbols
Limits: rejection of such structures as ‘family’ and
‘social classes’, only focus on interaction between individuals;
links with post-modernism
Levels of sociological knowledge
- Fundamental sociological
research. It is a:
2/ Study of social development, processes of integration, disintegration
in the society
4/ Study of models, methods, techniques of sociological research) )
- Medium level theories
study
Social institutes: sociology of family, sociology of education,
sociology of science,
sociology of religion, sociology of art, sociology of army, sociology
of politics,
Social commonalities/communities: sociology of small groups, sociology
of
organizations, sociology of strata, layers, classes, sociology of professional
categories,
sociology of crowds, sociology of territorial communities;
Special social processes: sociology of processes of disorganization
of society/crimes,
drug addicts, alcohol addicts, sociology of conflicts, sociology of
mobility and
migration, sociology of urbanization, sociology of communication processes,
sociology
- Empiric research
(conduction of empiric research in social groups and institutions)
Three methodological approaches
Three paradigms correspond
to 3 approaches
1) Scientific (Positivist)
– society is perceived as an objective reality, which can be studied
based on scientific methods and conclusions can be tested
2) Interpretative – social
reality is not objective, it exists in our minds, therefore we can just
interpret it (Marx Weber’s understanding theory – theory of VERSTEHEN)
3) Critical – society can
be studied, but the main aim of the study is to change it (Karl Marx)
Interpretative Sociology
- Interpretative approach
- Interpretative sociology
- study of society focused on various meanings that humans ascribe to
their social world
- Meaning are important,
but not actions
- People construct
their reality, reality is not objective
- Qualitative, but
not quantitative (quantitative is good at laboratories, qualitative
in outside laboratories)
Critical Sociology
- The study of society
with the aim of changing social reality
- Founder is Karl
Marx
- Practical implication
of sociological research – to improve life of children and women
- Active political
approach
All theses three approaches
are important
Scientific Sociology
(Postivist)
Scientific: Concepts and
variables
- Objective reality
that can be revealed by certain methods
- Scientific sociology
- Concepts
– ‘society’, ‘family’, ‘economy’ – imaginary construct
reflecting parts of the world in simplified form
- Variable
– Any quantity which varies in value (prices of goods; social class;
individuals: height, weight, color of eyes etc).
Sociological variable – social constructs (social classes,
ethnicity, childhood). They are constructed in such a way that they
can be measured and used in numerical analysis.
- Measurement
– process of determination of the meaning of the variable. There can
be more than one measurement (how to measure belongingness to high class?
to high income è
high class; but sale of cars can give high income, but seller does not
belong to high class; so high class can be measured by income, profession,
education).
- Statistics
data are used in measuring mass data
- Operationalization
– to operationalize a concept is to provide a way of measuring and
quantifying it so that it may be tested. In this process a relatively
abstract theory is turned into a set of more concrete propositions.
E.g., the concept of extended family may be operationalized by counting
the number of times adults see their parents in any one week, or by
measuring the financial flows among members of an extended family.
- Races in USA: since
1977 - white, black, Spanish, Asians, Ocean area - in 2000: one can
use several categories at once.
Reliability and Validity
- The reliability
of any test employed in research is the extent to which repeated measurements
using it under the same conditions produce the same results (same results
of several tests). Constancy or regularity of results of tests.
- Validity
is a success of a test in measuring correctly what it is designed to
measure: accuracy of measurement (how to measure the religiousness of
a person? How many times he goes to mosque? Many other factors!)
Correlation between variables
- Causes and consequences
– when change of one variable results in a change of another
- Dependant and independent
variables
- In sociological
accounts of the relationship between variables, a phenomenon that
is explained or caused by something else is called a dependent variable,
while the causal or explanatory variable is referred to as independent.
- (IndVar “study”è
DepVar “scores”)
- False correlation
relations are causal: in January least number of marriages and high
level of mortality, both are caused by cold period)
Example. Crime level among
the youth
- Density of population èç
level of crime.
- We operationalize
the criminal youth as a numbers of arrests of young people under 18
= ‘overpopulated districts’: number of square meter per person
- First conclusion
is that overpopulated places lead to increase of criminality
Third factor
- Who live at overpopulated
places?
1) poor people with
low income, those
who cannot choose other districts
2) poor peoples’ children
are more
often registered by policemen
So, POVERTY is the third factor
CONTROL over the Variable
“income” – limiting this Var. only to those having equal income.
Comparison of young people
with low income of this area with those in other areas: correlation
between density and crime rate will disappear
Objectivity; Limits of Scientific
Sociology
The goal of scientific investigation
is to gain objective knowledge that is free of bias or prejudice. Researcher
must hold neutral position
What is the best restaurant
in the city?
Objectivity – objective knowledge
is Max Weber: research must be free of values
- sociological judgments
are subjective, being controlled by actors’ own experiences
- all propositions
are limited in their meaning to particular languages context,
- all sociological
theories are produced by and limited to particular social groups
- societies have different
values that impact on views of sociologists
- all observations
are theory-laden
LIMITS
a) behavior of human beings is too complex
b) presence of observer can impact on behavior
c) social rules can change over time
d) sociologists are part of the society
How
to be ‘objective’?
- Reproduction of
the research by other scholars