Summary Sociological theories, 2e Bachelor sociologie (19/20)

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION & HISTORICAL SCETCH
Concept = a tool that allows you to form a theory ⇒ paintbrush
Theory = a process in which you collectively or individually use concepts to
generate knowledge ⇒ painting a wall

THE ARCHIPELAGO OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
an ensemble of islands (=eilandengroep)
visual metaphor ⇒ useful for understanding history and
interconnectedness of main sociological theories
 Isle of the Canon = the founding fathers of
sociology
 The yellow islands originate from, are related
to the Isle of the Canon
 Macro Meridian = large-scale sociological
phenomena ⇒ institutions, the state, etc
 Micro Meridian = small-scale sociological phenomena ⇒ communication,
everyday interactions, etc.
 Objective Tropic = the era when sociological phenomena were seen as
objective
 Subjective Tropic = the period when people realized these phenomena
are subjective
 Forgotten Isle = the neglected topics that were historically overlooked ⇒
race and gender ⇒ from here emerged the Race and Colonialism island
and the Contemporary Feminist Theory island (different lens, non-
western, woman)
 Everything that falls below the Macro and Micro Meridians can no longer be
strictly divided into macro or micro theories (where the solid line becomes
a dotted one)  “post”

= the structure of the course is dependent on this archipelago
THE “STORY” OF THE BIRTH OF SOCIOLOGY
the development of sociology is often associated with the modern period in
Europe ⇒ late 18th century and early 19th century
 The term modernity refers to the social, economic, and political
developments that took place largely in Europe and North America from
the 18th to the 20th century
 Sociological theory emerged as a mix of ideas that sought to explain and
understand the social forces arising during the modern era
 The theories developed during this period are considered classical
sociological theories because they are seen as the foundation of the
discipline

SOCIAL FORCES AT BASE OF DEVELOPMENT

,The context in which different social forces defined the time in which sociology
arises in scientific disciplines
= A time of major transformation, which led to disorder in society Sociologists
aimed to restore order.
⇒ Some sociologists took a conservative stance, resisting modernity =
they viewed modernity as a beast that needed to be tamed

⇒ Others recognized that these changes were inevitable and believed that
a new kind of order needed to be found and developed.

Political Revolutions
- How should society be rebuilt?
- Societal congealing towards independent democracies and republics
 E.g. French and American Revolution
 New structures of social order
The Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Capitalism
- New jobs were created
- Expansion of monolithic economical model
- Agricultural work was abandoned in favour of city jobs
- The rise of capitalism led to the emergence of bureaucracy (salaries,
contracts, managers, bosses, administrative staff...)
Urbanization
- A direct consequence of the Industrial Revolution
- Led to a higher concentration of people in cities
- The problem of urbanity  housing, pollution, social conflicts
The rise of socialism
- Competing hegemonic models of social governance  Different powerful
ideas about how society should be organized are in competition.
- Karl Marx believed that socialism could bring a new kind of order.
- However, there were also sociologists who opposed socialism and believed
that capitalism could create and maintain social order. (More on this in the
next class.)

Religious change and the growth of science
- Enlightenment thinking driving scientific interpretation of the social 
encourages people to use science and reason to understand society
- Society moved away from a world where religion was a dominant force.
- Since the Enlightenment, secularization and the growth of technology
gained momentum.
- This happened as large investments were made in technological
innovation, which led to technology gaining great prestige.

These shifts influenced how some sociologists developed their theories.
THE STORY OF THE BIRTH OF SOCIOLOGY
The Foundational moment is most often defined as a necessity due to the
problems of modernity
Connell, mandatory reading

,WHAT IS “CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY”?
- R.W. Connell (1997), “Why is Classical Theory Classical”, American Journal
of Sociology, Vol. 102, No. 6, pp. 1511–1557
- This is not one of the required readings, but it is important background.



Connell presents two major challenges to the traditional story of classical theory:
Two anomalies about this story:
1. They Weren’t Actually the Most Cited
- If you look at who was actually cited in early sociological works, the
so-called "four founding fathers" were not the most frequently cited
sociologists.
2. Modernity wasn’t the main concern
- If you examine the topics of early publications, modernity was not
the central theme In fact, much of modern sociology ignores
classical theory in practice.

So why do we still tell this story?
And why are these four figures considered the “founding fathers” of sociology?
You have to look at the historical and geopolitical context

CONNELL’S CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE “STORY” OF CLASSICAL THEORY
Looking at the historical context:
= Imperialism & colonialism:
 The world was divided into “the west” vs. “the other”
 Western nations claimed to be more advanced, rational and evolved
- A period where "the West" was seen as more evolved or superior,
while others were considered "behind" or "primitive"
= The idea of “progress” was key — and it assumed that Western society was the
endpoint or model for everyone else

Looking at the topics:
= The central topic: The idea/concept of progress was central to early
sociological thinking
 Questions like: “How did western societies become modern? How do we
explain progress and social evolution within our society?”
 This led to sociology being treated as “science of progress”  Sociology at
the “summit” of the hierarchy of sciences
 But this created a lens which is: Eurocentric & elusive
the concern with progress was constitutive of sociological
knowledge

But again to be understood in this Western/other dynamic:
= only the west could create social theories, the white elite
 “ the canon” wasn’t chosen based on intellect, but it was shaped by:
- White, Western, elite man in powerful institutions
- A desire to justify imperialism  a civilizing mission

, - An uncritical repetition of these ideas by Western academic centres
But uncritical development of canon among liberal bourgeoisie of
the metropole

sociology as “grand ethnography” and the “science of progress”
- a way to observe and explain “Others,” while reinforcing the West’s
superiority
How do you justify imperialism and conceal its brutality (and the criticism of it)?



THE CRISIS OF SOCIOLOGY: WAR AND PROGRESS
Legitimacy crisis:
= after World wars, the belief in the concept of progress collapsed  crisis:
 Empires collapsed
 movements for independence
 Sociology lost legitimacy as a global theory

Institutional stagnation of sociology as a discipline  Sociology revived in the
mid-20th century
= The U.S. emerged as the new center of sociology (1920–1950)
= the only place where sociology flourished in that time

THE CRISIS OF SOCIOLOGY: EPISTEMOLOGICAL BREAK
New enterprises of sociology
= “epistemological break”
 The discipline was revived in the U.S. during this period (1920-1950)
 New topics:
- With a new focus: Not on colonial territories, but on social
differences and social disorder within the Metropolitan context (i.e.
in Western societies themselves)
- With new methods: Replacing grand ethnographies with statistical
analysis and local research
- With new sources of funding: Sociology increasingly funded by
governments and corporates
- With a new institutional approach: one science among a range of
social sciences

This all led to the “creation of the canon”  the founding fathers became part of
curriculum, textbooks and institutional sociology
THE MAKING OF THE “CANON”
Crisis of legitimacy left a Conceptual gap/void
● Sociology emerged as a theory of action  We study what people do and
what systems do
= This distinguishes sociology from disciplines like psychology, history, etc.
● Building legitimacy in relation to other disciplines by creating a theory of
action