Introduction to sociological theory
Introduction. Sociological theory: a vibrant, living tradition.
Sociological theory: the body of concepts and conceptual frameworks used to make sense of the
multilayered, empirical patterns and underlying processes in society.
Concepts: specific ideas about the social world defined and elaborated by a given theorist/school of
thought.
Conceptual frameworks: the relatively coherent and interrelated set of ideas or concepts that a given
theorist or a given school of thought uses to elaborate a particular perspective on things; a particular
way of looking at, framing, theorizing about, social life.
Analyzing everyday social life
Immersion in theory
Sociological theory provides a pluralistic and varied though comprehensive resource by which we can
understand and explain social life.
Pluralistic: simultaneous coexistence of, and mutual engagement across, diverse strands (of thought,
of research, of people).
Sociological theory focuses on both macro- and micro dynamics.
Macro: analytic focus on large-scale social structures (e.g., capitalism) and processes (e.g., class
inequality).
Social structures: forms of social organization (e.g., capitalism, democracy, bureaucracy, education,
gender) in a given society that structure or constrain social behavior across all spheres of social life,
including the cultural expectations and norms (e.g., individualism) that underpin and legitimate social
institutional arrangements.
Micro: analytic focus on small-scale, interpersonal, and small group interaction.
Sociological theorists emphasize the constraining force exerted by social structures on individual,
group, organizational, and collective behavior, as well as on the culture(s).
Culture: beliefs, rituals, ideas, worldviews, and ways of doing things. Culture is socially structured,
that is, individuals are socialized into a given culture and how to use it in everyday social action.
Sociological theorists affirm, moreover, the agency that individuals exert personally and collectively
in responding to, reworking, creatively resisting and transforming (highly stable) social structures and
social processes.
Agency: individuals, groups, and other collectivities exerting autonomy in the face of social
institutions, social structures, and cultural expectations.
Classical and contemporary theory
Classical theory: the ideas, concepts, and intellectual framework outlined by the founders of
sociology (Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Harriet Martineau).
,Marx’s, Durkheim’s and Weber’s writings produced what sociologists acknowledge as the classic or
foundational texts in sociology; their ideas constitute the canon or body of conceptual knowledge
that all sociologists are expected to know.
Canon: established body of core knowledge/ideas in a given field of study.
Contemporary theory: the successor theories/ideas outlined to extend and engage with the classical
theorizing of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Martineau.
Societal transformation and the origins of sociology
Sociology is a relatively recent discipline, it’s origins are in the nineteenth century.
Enlightenment: eighteenth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the centrality of individual
reason, scientific rationality, and human-social progress; and the rejection of nonrational beliefs and
forms of social organization (e.g., monarchy).
- The Industrial Revolution
- The French Revolution 1789
- U.S. Declaration of Independence 1776
The enlightenment: the elevation of reason, democracy, and science
Democracy: political structure derived from the ethos that because all individuals are endowed with
reason and created equal they are entitled (and required) to participate in the political governance of
their collective life in society.
Although Enlightenment thinkers came from different countries and different family backgrounds
and wrote about different things, they all emphasized the importance of reason and rationality.
Reason: Human ability to think about things; to create, apply, and evaluate knowledge; and as a
consequence, to be able to evaluate one’s own and others’ lived experiences and the socio-historical
contexts that shape those experiences.
Rationality: emphasis on the authority of reason in deliberating about, and evaluating explanations
of, the nature of reality/social phenomena.
Reason gives the individual inalienable rights (human rights) that no external authority can strip
away.
Inalienable rights: Enlightenment belief that all individuals by virtue of their humanity and their
naturally endowed reason are entitled to fully participate in society in ways that reflect and enrich
their humanity (e.g., freedom of speech, of assembly, to vote, etc.).
In the Enlightenment view, individuals should use reason the determine their destiny and to achieve
the political freedom and social progress worthy of their humanity.
The individual and society
The complex relation of the individual to society is an underlying theme of both classical and
contemporary sociology. Sociologists examine the autonomy of the individual in relation to social
institutions, social relationships, and other social forces.
,Utilitarianism: idea from classical economics (Locke’s philosophy) that individuals are rational, self-
interested actors who evaluate alternative courses of action on the basis of their usefulness (utility)
or resource value to them.
Scientific reasoning
A corollary of Enlightenment’s emphasis on human rationality was the elevation of science –
scientific reasoning – as the canon of truth, that is, as the only valid explanatory logic in a modern
society.
Scientific reasoning: emphasis on the discovery of explanatory knowledge through the use of
empirical data and their systematic analysis rather than relying on philosophical assumptions and
faith/religious beliefs.
One important influence was the emphasis placed on empiricism.
Empiricism: use of evidence or data in describing and analyzing society.
The establishment of sociology as science: Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau
Topic box: Post-truth society: a term that has gained currency amid the whirl of misinformation and
false statements disseminated on social media and by partisan news outlets; it conveys that
objectively validated, evidence-based statements are displaced by distorted or contrary assertions
adjusted to suit the interests of the individual or group making particular, untruthful claims.
Auguste Comte, the figure most associated with the initial establishment of sociology, embraced the
Enlightenment’s scientific approach and adapted it to the study of human society.
Evolutionary progress and Auguste Comte’s vision of sociology
Comte believed that sociology could be the science of humanity. He envisioned a positivist sociology.
Positivist: the idea that sociology as a science is able to employ the same scientific method of
investigation and explanation used in the natural sciences, focusing only on observable data and
studying society with the same objectivity used to study physical/biological phenomena.
Objectivity: positivist idea (elaborated by Comte) that sociology can provide an unbiased (objective)
analysis of a directly observable and measurable, objective social reality. This approach presumes
that facts stand alone and have an objective reality independent of social and historical context and
independent of any theories/ideas informing how we frame, look at, and interpret data.
Harriet Martineau: sociology as the science of morals and manners
Harriet Martineau, “the first woman sociologist”, saw sociology as the scientific study of morals and
manners. Martineau was committed to sociology as an observation-based science. At the same time,
however, she recognized, unlike Comte, that the subject matter of sociology is different to what is
studied by natural scientists. Given the relevance of the human-emotional element in the study of
social life, Martineau thus emphasized the need for sociologists to adopt an attitude of empathy and
understanding towards those they were observing.
Interpretive understanding
With this empathic approach, Martineau articulated the second strand of research methodology in
sociology: the emphasis on interpretive understanding elaborated by the German philosopher
Wilhelm Dilthey.
, Interpretive understanding: Verstehen; task of the sociologist in making sense of the varied
motivations that underlie meaningful action; because sociology studies human lived experience (as
opposed to physical phenomena), sociologists need a methodology that enables the to empathically
understand human-social behavior.
Sociology is characterized by two dominant methodological approaches to the study of society: (1) a
positivist tradition that focuses on the explanation of social reality using various measures as
indicators of particular social phenomena and demonstrating the statistical relations between them;
and (2) an interpretive tradition that focuses on explaining social phenomena through understanding
the everyday contextualized reality of individuals/groups and organized cultures.
Sociological inquiry can be used to advance emancipatory knowledge.
Emancipatory knowledge: the use of sociological knowledge to advance social equality.
Sociological theory provides intellectual and analytical resources for critical thinking.
Social inequality and contextual standpoints: Du Bois, De Tocqueville, and Martineau
A pioneer in articulating inequality’s variously intersecting contours was William E.B. Du Bois.
William E. B. Du Bois: slavery and racial inequality
William Du Bois is among the most influential pioneers in black sociology, though he was
marginalized within sociology for many decades. Du Bois argued that slavery produced a black
double-consciousness.
Double-consciousness: the alienation of black people’s everyday identity/consciousness as a result of
slavery such that black people invariably see themselves through the eyes of (superior) white people,
the dominant race.
Racial and gender equality
Du Bois was emphatic that democracy required equality for all discriminated groups, and hence the
project of claiming equality for black people entailed not just equality for black men, but for black
and white women too.
Alexis De Tocqueville: culture and social institutions
Alexis De Tocqueville was among the first observers to highlight the dynamic relation between
cultural ideas and individual and institutional practices.
Harriet Martineau: cultural values and social contradictions
Martineau commented approvingly on the honesty and kindness of Americans, but unlike
Tocqueville, she was also very critical of many of the things she observed. She took particular note of
the contradictions she witnessed between American ideals of democratic equality and everyday
practices.
De Tocqueville conveyed a praising (and highly idealized) view of the status of women in America,
while Martineau was especially critical of the contradictions between democratic ideals of equality
and women’s inequality.
The subjects addressed by Du Bois, Martineau, and De Tocqueville, and their interpretations,
highlight how an observer’s social background and theoretical questions influence the content/social
processes that are observed/critiqued.
