These summary notes provide a streamlined and accessible overview of the key themes and discussions from the Sociology of Social and Institutional Change course. They outline major sociological theories and concepts that explain societal transformations, such as globalization, technological advance...
Recently many new forms of cooperation arose, such as:
Couch surfing, über, open source, etc.
Why?
- Some scholars argue: result of more sociality (we need a new model of man)
➔ Might be true, but very hard to check. Also: this says we changed behavior
because we simply wanted to = too simplistic.
- Sociological explanation: the environment we live in has changed! Change in
people is the consequence of the increase in cooperation.
o Example: internet has made cooperation much easier through facilitating
new institutions!
Definition institutions: “Rules of the game in a society or, more formally, the
humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction” (Douglas North,
1990)
Key aspects:
- Institutions are rules (sanctions, taboos, customs, traditions, codes of conduct,
law, etc.)
- Devised by humans
- Creating constraint for individual decision making (certain ‘wrong’ behavior is
costly)
LECTURE 2:
Core problem of sociology: Micro - Macro Problem
- Core methodological arguments about how to tackle the micro-macro problem
- Concept of Emergence
- Examples of Emergence from various fields
- Schellings model of residential segregation
Founder of Sociology (1838): Augustus Comte (1798-1857)
Father of the field, despite limited contribution to it.
2nd Founding Father: 1st Professor of Sociology: Émile Durkheim
“Sociology is the study of social facts”
Social fact:
- is any way of acting, whether fixed or not, capable of exerting over the individual
an external constraint.
- Or: Which is general over the whole of a given society whilst having an existence
of its own, independent of its individual manifestation.
Social facts = macro phenomena = describes collectives of individuals (groups,
societies, organizations) rather than individuals (=micro)
,Some of these facts are external to the individual
We didn't necessarily plan them, they just happen.
To influence them, it is very important to know whether it is planned or not! (for
instance, if you wanna prevent a revolution)
Conventions (like drive left or right) or Norms (sitting on the toilet)
Social movement, Residential Segregation (black and white neighborhoods) can be
consequences of these facts.
Other examples:
• opinion polarization (i.e. in politics)
• inequality (gender, economics, etc)
Micro - Macro distinction:
Discipline Micro Macro Example Example
physics atoms matter Particle Temperature
movement
Biology animal herd Birds fly Flocking
behavior
Economics trader market Buying/selling Prize
Sociology human collective moving segregation
Why sociology to study the collective, when economy and psychology already study the
individual? (collective is made up of individuals)
Durkheim: The whole does not equal the sum of its parts: it is something different,
whose properties differ from those of the parts from which it is formed.
Sometimes studying individual behavior will not help explaining collective
phenomena.
= sometimes a good understanding of the micro is not enough to explain macro-
phenomena.
Structural approach of sociology: collective phenomena can and should only be
explained with other collective phenomena
Example of Durkheim's theory of differentiation:
, Now: The Structural-Individualistic Research Program (SIP)
Collective phenomena can and should be explained by drawing on the micro-level.
Basic model: The Coleman Boat
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