Introduction to sociological theory
This book will introduce you to the major theorists whose writings and conceptual frameworks
inform sociological thinking.
Immersion in theory
Sociological theory allows us to try and make sense of virtually any aspect of social behavior we
might be interested in. Sociological theory provides a pluralistic view by which we can understand
and explain social life. It focuses on macro social structures such as capitalism; the organizations that
shape our social environment; how these structures constrain the choices and opportunities
available to any individual, family or larger collectively. Theorists also pay attention to micro
dynamics of individual experience. Sociological theorists emphasize the constraining force exerted
by social structures on individual, group, and collective behaviour, as well as on the culture(s). At the
same time, they are attentive to the impact of culture. In shaping social structures and institutions.
Sociological theorists affirm the agency that individuals exert personally and collectively.
Classical and contemporary theory
Classical theory is primary focused on the writings of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.
Their ideas constitute the canon or body of conceptual knowledge that all sociologists are expected
to know. Contemporary theory is more open ended and recent. Their ideas are still relevant in
helping us understand contemporary society.
Societal transformation and the origins of sociology
Sociology is a recent discipline with it’s birth in the nineteenth century. Why is this the case?
Sociology is about analysing social structures, for this to happen social structures first have to be
seen as having a social existence- they have to be seen as human-social creations and thus amenable
to criticism and change. Thus it is not accidental that the seeds allowing sociology to emerge as a
discipline were sown during the eighteenth century, the era of the Enlightenment and democratic
revolution.
The enlightenment: the elevation for reason, democracy, and science.
The ideas about the will of people and the authority of democracy over monarchy came from
enlightenment thought. Enlighted thinkers emphasized the importance of reason and rationality.
Reason gives the individual inalienable rights (human rights) that no external authority can strip
away.
The individual and society
Given the innate human ability to reflect on and reason about things, enlightenment thinkers argued
that humans should be able to use reason to govern themselves as individuals and in their relations
with others. Collective life should be based on principles of reason rather than deference to
nonrational forces such as those exemplified by the traditional power of monarchy. 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.
Individual rights. Thomas Hobbes said individuals are necessarily selfish and, if left to their own
devices, would produce social chaos and disorder. John Locke said humans are born basically good
,and therefor should not have to surrender their rights to a strong monarch in order to survive.
Individuals should make a contract with he government is responsible to them and that performs
functions that maintain social order.
Utilitarianism. Locke’s philosophy was utilitarianism. Rational self-determining individuals act on
their own rational self-interests and by doing so, they simultaneously ensure their own well-being
and that of society as a whole.
Social contract. Rousseau focused on the larger community rather than individual self-interests. The
best way to regulate individuals’ different interests was through the voluntary coming together of
individuals as citizens committed to the common good.
Socially situating the individual. Sociological theory fully affirms the enlightenment view of individual
rationality and the related belief that political and social structures emerge from society rather than
being divinely prescribed. At the same time, sociologists depart from the enlightenment emphasis
that the self-determining, rational individual alone is largely responsible for his or her destiny.
Sociologists thus examine how particular social circumstances and forms of social organization
produce particular social outcomes.
Scientific reasoning
Another corollary of its 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. An
important influence was empiricism by Francis Bacon. The Enlightenment was of critical importance
for sociology. Its emphasis on reason meant that reason could be applied not only to reflect about
he self but also to reflect about and study the self in society, and the social structures that
characterize any given society.
The establishment of sociology as science: Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau
Auguste Comte embraced the enlightenment’s scientific approach and adapted it to the study of
human society. He believed that a science of society was not only possible but necessary to social
progress.
Evolutionary progress and auguste Comte’s vision of sociology
He envisioned a positivist sociology. Sociology would only focus on observable data: it would
approach its subject matter with the same objectivity and impartiality of physical scientists, with the
same systematic attention to processes and causes, just like biologists studying plants. In Comte’s
sociology would represent a progressive advance on all other disciplines. He believed in an
evolutionary view of progressive social change: changes that occur in society are not simply changes,
but are changes that are better than what existed previously. Sociology would be the science of
humanity, the science of society. He believed that once sociology discovered the scientific laws of
humanity/society and thus demonstrated how society works or how it functions, humans could then
move society progressively forward and impose some order on its organization and development.
Harriet Martineau: sociology as the science of morals and manners
Comte’s vision of scientific sociology was translated into English by Harriet Martineau, the ‘’first
woman sociologist.’’ She recognized, unlike Comte, that the subject matter of sociology is different
from what is studied by natural scientists because it includes the study if human emotions and
values. Martineau emphasized the need for sociologists to adopt an attitude of empathy and
understanding towards those they where observing.
,Interpretive understanding
With this empathic approach, Martineau articulated the second strand of research methodology in
sociology: the emphasis on interpretive understanding. She saw a distinction between the natural
and the human sciences and requires a method of empathic understanding (Verstehen). This was
consolidated in Max Weber’s sociology, who emphasized the importance of tracing and
understanding the meanings underlying individual, group and institutional behavior.
Sociology, therefor, 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 relation
between them 2) an interpretive tradition hat focuses in explaining social phenomena through
understanding the everyday contextualized reality of individual groups and organizational cultures.
Sociological inquire van be used to advance emancipatory knowledge.
Social inequality and contextual standpoints: Du Bois, de Tocqueville and Martineau
The different lenses of these scholars alert us to how an observer’s social identity and background
prompt attentiveness to different dimensions of a given reality and/or to a different framing or
interpretation of it
William E. B. Du Bois: slavery and racial inequality
William Du Bois was a prolific ethnographic researcher who devoted much attention to slavery’s
legacy on black racial inequality and identity. Du Bois argued that slavery produced a black double-
consciousness, meaning that black ex-slaves must invariably see themselves through the eyes of the
white master. He argued that the legal emancipation of slaved did not ensure their economic and
social emancipation. Their ‘’freedom’’ was followed by the economic and political enslavement, their
new-found legal freedom competed with he economic goals of white landowners, labourers and
small farmers. Du Bois thus gives particular emphasis to the economic sources and consequences of
racial inequality and elaborates on the significance of slavery in the creation of capitalist profit
through the exploitation of blacks. The economic exploitation of the freed slaved underscored the
deep racial wedge of division between ex slaves and their white ex masters. He envisioned a
democracy in which ‘’al labour, blacks as well as white, became free,’’ free of capitalist exploitation.
He believed that the inequalities produced by the colour line were exacerbated by capitalism.
Racial and gender equality
Du Bois also emphasized the ways in which social class, race, and gender intersect in the
reproduction of inequality.
Alexis de Tocqueville: culture and social institutions
Alexis de Tocqueville travelled across America in the 1830s and made extensive notes based on what
he observed about everyday habits and learned from conversations of the ordinary Americans.
Tocqueville was especially interested in the way in which democracy, and its ideals of freedom, took
hold and were expressed in American society. He argued that institutions provide the backbone of
American community-civic activities precisely because they allow individuals a great deal of freedom
and autonomy. These freedoms and opportunities produced an order in America that
simultaneously allowed for both individual fulfilment and strong institutions amidst the turmoil of
economic transformation and social change.
, Harriet Martineau: cultural values and social contradictions
Harriet Martineau visited America. She was very critical of many of the things she observed,
especially the contradictions she witnessed between American ideals of democratic equality and
everyday practices. She wrote about slavery- the division of society- and criticized the oppression
and degradation to which slaves were subjected. She also noted the prejudices against ‘’people of
colour.’’ She commented n the mass conformity, apathy, and timidity in political opinion. De
Tocqueville commented approvingly that Americans believe in a democratic equality which
recognizes ‘’natural differences’’ between men and women. Martineau was especially critical of the
contradictions between democratic ideals of equality and women’s inequality. She underscored the
‘’political non-existence of women.’’
