Social and cultural theory concepts and frameworks

Social and Cultural Theory Study Guide

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a prolific German social philosopher who is renowned for his exceptional theories related to modern socialism and communism. Marx strongly believed that the recent times have changed the value of man. According to Marx, people are no longer valued for who they are, but they are categorized assessing their importance and participation in the production of products/goods. In the present time, money has become so much more important than it was in the past.

His economic theory of labor refers to the value of money as compared to the value of laborers who use up their energies in generating it. Marx's labor theory of value and the idea of surplus value hold significant importance in social science studies. According to Marxism, it is supposed that the value of a product is eventually derived by the amount of labor that is required for the manufacturing of that product. He suggests that the working class is being exploited by the bourgeois class since they do not produce the commodities for themselves but for those whom they work for. He also says that the wages given to the workers are far less than the worth of product they manufacture with their hard work and manual effort. For instance, if the workers work for six hours, they are paid for the value of three hours which is total exploitation by the capitalists. The masters keep the value of the three additional hours of work which is in fact a surplus value. Surplus value can be defined as the difference between the value of the product at the time of sale and the amount of material, especially labor, used in the production of the commodity ("Marxism," 2009).

The value of money always increases with the passage of time and the clever capitalists know this fact too. This is why money has immense value in the present capitalistic times.

Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer, the famous English philosopher, has categorized society into militant and industrial. He suggests that an industrial type of society is founded on the basis of preferred collaboration and mutual aid along with individual self-restrain. Alternatively, compulsion is the basic factor that gives birth to a militant society.

England can be characterized as an industrial society where every individual enjoys same level of freedom. The society in England is based on voluntary cooperation through the utilization of which all the multiform activities of the society are carried out. The structure of state in England is decentralized. The dominant function of this society is to carry out individual service via peaceful mutual cooperation. Thus, England can be truly acknowledged as an industrial society because the state exists for the benefit of its citizens and not for its own good. On the other hand, Iraq, Mexico and Haiti are the examples of militant societies they represent a governmental structure where all the units are forced to complete various combined actions. The citizens of these three mentioned countries are to surrender their wills before government just as a soldier is bound to become an agent of his officer's will in every matter. In a militant society, the government overrules the private and public transactions of the individual. A militant society does not exist on the basis of mutual cooperation but on compulsory cooperation (Coser, 1977).

The societies were classified by Spencer due to their different social organizations. He suggests that the industrial and militant societies bring specific changes in the life of individuals through various forms of social regulation. According to him, a militant society's life is always on the brink of war whereas an industrial society is always anxious about advancement and prosperity by means of peaceful production.

Emile Durkheim

Emily Durkheim, the famous French sociologist, has done extensive research and study on suicide and has shown the importance of anomie, the loss of self-esteem. He suggests that the loss of morale decline one's social identity and such an individual is very likely to be a victim of deviance. Durkheim considers suicide as a sociologically determined act. He emphasizes that too much or too little integration or regulation makes an individual to decide to commit suicide (Krey, 2002).

There are four different types of suicide that have been described by Durkheim. They are altruistic suicide, egoistic suicide, fatalistic suicide and anomic suicide. If an individual is too strappingly integrated into his/her group, he can easily give up his life for the sake of that group. Such a sacrifice of life is known as altruistic suicide. On the other hand, if a person spends a lonesome life where he has no integration with any group and has no social support in the time of need, he sacrifices his life as a result and this is called egoistic suicide. Fatalistic suicide occurs when an individual is unable to influence the social norms and regulations under which he/she is forced to live. The excessive social regulation makes him to attempt suicide. Alternatively, when there is no influential regulation in the society, the individual is likely to attempt anomic suicide. The weak or inadequate social regulations give birth to unreasonable desires, fears and unclear futuristic thoughts which result in the bewilderment and puzzlement of an individual and thus lead him/her to anomic suicide (Krey, 2002).

The mentioned types of suicide can be combined and related with the society's affects on the individual. Suicidal attempts are sometimes the results of problematic personal affairs but in most of the cases, the individual attempting it is disheartened by the society's unequal treatment.

Max Weber

Weber was a famous German economist, political scientist and sociologist who developed a theory relating to the close association between the Calvinistic abstinent ideal and the rise of industrialist organizations. Weber has been successful in tracing the foundation of the capitalistic work ethic back to Protestant religious convictions and to the medieval Reformation movement in Europe. He argues that it is not human greed that has given rise to a materialistic approach. Instead, the capitalist enterprises are driven toward material gains because of "the outcome of a force of internal disciplining peculiar to the secularizing West" (Chow, 2002, p. 43).

Weber has observed a correspondence between being a Protestant and being drawn in business. By implicating Protestantism, Weber has investigated religion as a likely origin of the contemporary economic conditions. He suggests that modern spirit of capitalism has given profit the status of a closing stage of business and the capitalists consider pursuing profit as an honorable and upright act (Weber & Parsons, 2003). The Protestant Ethic can still be observed in the workplaces today as the people have developed a linkage with this trait to display hard work and self-discipline. The socialization today depends on the materialistic progress of an individual or institution. However, the Protestant ethic has been strongly endorsed by the middle-class who is more vulnerable to this ethic than the other classes of the modern society.

The middle-class has been able to practice and preach the Protestant ethic to the fullest and has maintained its presence by following the ethics that help to advance and progress socially in an assiduous, respectable and virtuous manner.

Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen, an American economist and social critic is popularly known for his sociological understanding of relative deprivation in industrial society. Relative Deprivation is the "tendency among people to compare their situation adversely with another group which results in a feeling of deprivation" (Subberwal, 2009). This relative deprivation affects all the different classes of the society i.e. upper, middle and lower individually. Not only this, it also affects the relationships between these classes.

Relative deprivation affects the behaviors of the classes towards each other. The social inequality that prevails in the society gives rise to changing attitudes towards each other. For instance, when a person from upper or middle class has a certain valuable thing that cannot be possessed by a person belonging to the lower class, this person feels socially deprived as he doe not have enough financial means to own that thing. In the same way, people belonging to middle class feel the same 'socially deprived' feeling when they see an upper-class-related-individual enjoying the valuable material things that they could not have. This means that people do not compare themselves with the whole society. Instead, they compare their lifestyles with some other groups present in the same society. The income is the main source of possessing commodities. People who earn low incomes always compare themselves with people who earn a lot more than them. This relative deprivation results in negative feelings towards a certain group existing in the society (Yitzhaki, 1979).

In short, people always measure their satisfaction level with their income. When they see someone earning more than them, they generally feel dissatisfied with their monetary conditions instead of being grateful by observing those who are poorer than them.

Charles Horton Cooley

The American sociologist, Charles Horton Cooley, presented the idea of the "looking-glass self." In this concept, he puts emphasis on the social determination of the self along with the primary groups and the secondary groups in the society ("Cooley, Charles Horton," 2009). The phrase 'looking-glass self' was used by Cooley to present the idea that "what we think of ourselves depends on what we think others think of us" ("Charles Horton Cooley,").

The human beings are living in groups, both large and small. The concern shown by the members of the groups towards each other differentiates the primary and secondary groups. Thus, a primary group is one in which the members share personal relationships that are permanent and long-term and family being the most important one. This group of prime importance plays a significant role in the life of an individual. Members of this group spend a lot of time with each other, display real concern for each other's welfare and understand each other really well. It links a person to the larger society that is composed of different secondary groups such as educational institutions or working places. Secondary groups are those which offer impersonal relationships that are temporary and short-term ("Charles Horton Cooley,").

Thus, the primary group is one from where an individual starts socializing with others. It shapes, nurtures and moulds a child's mind-set, conduct, values, and social identity. This makes it obvious that the looking-glass self materializes from within the primary group as children learn the ways of living and surviving from his closest relations. In short, primary groups have a remarkable effect on the personality and character of its members and creates a looking-glass self that is crystal-clear for a member to look into ("Charles Horton Cooley,").

Robert Ezra Park

According to the Dictionary of Sociology (Subberwal, 2009) "a social process refers to the kind of relationship that exists between interacting persons and groups." Robert Ezra Park presented four major social processes that are Competition, Conflict, Accommodation and Assimilation.

Competition is an essential type of struggle that takes place when supplies are less and demand is high. It is a social process that is mainly found in modern complex societies. Conflict is also a type of interaction and struggle that can be related to the competition. Whereby competition is unconscious and unplanned, conflict is personal, conscious, deliberate and irregular. It is important to consider that conflict occurs when competition is personalized. Accommodation is the adjustment of aggressive and belligerent individuals or groups present in a society. It asks for the mutual working of the conflicted individual or groups despite the number of differences among them. On the other hand, assimilation can be defined as the course of action in which the cultural life of various groups interpenetrates (Subberwal, 2009).

At present, these social processes fit really well into the social evolution of society and industrialization. Not only are these processes continuing today but can be observed in the various European and Asian societies. In United States, for instance, people from all over the world migrate and settle. Society in USA is a modern complex society where various groups of different origins and cultures live together, compete, conflict, accommodate and assimilate. Thus, for a continued survival, it is necessary for these social processes to take place. No group can exist alone without the assistance of another group. Similarly, no individual can survive without the help of another individual. It is exceedingly important to socialize in today's world.

Vilfredo Pareto

Vilfredo Pareto has discussed actions and has divided them into two types; logical and non-logical. According to him, logical actions are those actions which make sense both subjectively and objectively. On the other hand, non-logical actions are those that do not reflect wisdom, knowledge, understanding or insight.

When we talk about decision-making, there are always conditions to make a choice between alternatives. Leaders or people in power make decisions and justify their actions according to their logics. All those in power have different preferences and take decisions following their approaches that always vary. When logic is used to make decisions, emotions are to be excluded. People are always good at giving justifications for their actions and defending themselves. Leaders, while making decisions, always take time to think. Once they make the decision, they always stand by it in all circumstances. Their determination is the result of the logical mind they use not allowing their decisions to be affected by the emotions. In making logical decisions, they also look at all the angles of the situation. They always see the pros and cons of the decision they are likely to make. Also, once they decide something, such people do not feel any reluctance in letting others know about it. They know how to make people see the sense and logic behind a certain decision taken by them.

Thus, a person who does not make emotional decisions always uses logic during the cognitive process of decision-making. Almost every human being uses his/her emotions while making decisions. However, those who ponder over the pros and cons of a decision, always make a good, reasonable and logical choice.