Sociological Thinkers

Answer : The sense of self is defined as a collection of beliefs that we hold, while self-socialization is defined as a developmental process that allows you to reflect upon yourself. This process begins in early childhood and has many influencing factors. Some of the influences on self-socialization process include the family, peers, teachers, and the media. Cooley´s concept of the ‘looking glass self’, states that a person’s self grows out of a person´s social interactions with ....

Answer : Social equilibrium, a theoretical state of balance in a social system referring both to an internal balance between interrelated social phenomena and to the external relationship the system maintains with its environment. It is the tendency of the social system, when disturbed, to return to its original state, because any small change in a social element is followed by changes in other related elements that work toward diminishing the first disturbance.

American sociologist Talcott Parsons postulated ....

Answer : Merton’s theory on deviance stems from his 1938 analysis of the relationship between culture, structure and anomie. Merton defines culture as an “organized set of normative values governing behavior which is common to members of a designated society or group”. Social structures are the “organized set of social relationships in which members of the society or group are variously implicated”.

Anomie, the state of normlessness, arises when there is an acute disjunction between the cultural ....

Answer : Durkheim’s primary purpose in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life was to describe and explain the most primitive1 religion known to man. He seeks to show that society is the soul of religion – that society is the foundation of all religious belief. Durkheim set out to do two things, establish the fact that religion was not divinely or supernaturally inspired and was in fact a product of society, and he sought to identify the ....

Answer : Karl Marx’s theory of ‘Alienation’ and Durkheim’s theory of ‘Anomie’ isabout study of relationship among the people in the society.

The main differences between the concepts of alienation and anomie rest upon the views of man in a ‘state of nature’. Marx’s concept of alienation is founded upon the belief that man is ‘naturally’ good, but has been corrupted by society. Durkheim’s theory of anomie, by contrast, stems from the assumption that man is ‘naturally’ a ....

Answer : An ideal type is an analytical construct that serves the investigator as a measuring rod to ascertain similarities as well as deviations in concrete cases. It provides the basic method for comparative study. “The ideal type involves determining the features of a social institution that would be present if the institution were a logically consistent whole, not affected by other institutions, concerns and interests.

Weber identified in bureaucracies a rational-legal authority in which legitimacy is seen ....

Answer : Durkheim in his study defined religion as “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them”.

Durkheim in his study of religion in primitive society of totemic ritualistic practice in Australian tribe, he observed religion as mutual co-presence, common emotional mood, common understanding ....

Answer : Historical Materialism is that perspective of society which traces the ultimate cause of all important events to the economic development of society. According to Marx, this materialism is dialectic in nature i.e. clash of thesis and antithesis to give synthesis. Initially man tried to control the nature for food and shelter. In the process he developed the forces of production. With the cooperation between the members of society there developed relations of production. This productive ....

Answer : Division of labor refers to the system of relationships among the individuals of society which help them to carry out their day to day activities. Despite their differences, both Marx and Durkheim admitted that division of labor is an integral part of modern industrial society. Largely, their studies were a response to the consequences of industrialization witnessed by them.

For Durkheim, division of labor is the basis of society. It is only because of division of ....

Answer : Symbolic interactionism is a branch of sociology which focuses on the micro level interactions. Interactionists explain the social action in terms of meanings which actors attach to the situation. In this way they come closer to the Weber’s position and stand opposite to Durkheim’s position of social determinism.

Mead through his concept of “self” explains how thoughts and actions of an individual are shaped by the society and how the society regulates the individual and, thus, ....

Answer : Weber defined bureaucracy as, “a hierarchical organization rationally designed to coordinate work of many individuals in the pursuit of large scale administrative tasks and organizational goals.”

He regarded bureaucracy as one of the rational structures of modern society which is superior to any other structure in terms of precision, stability, reliability and technical superiority. He considered bureaucracy as an efficient way to achieve large scale organizational goals and, therefore, inevitable in a modern industrial society.

Works in ....

Answer : American sociologist Talcott Parson in his theory of social system presented the concept of pattern variables. According to him, role is main component of social pattern and tension is created from its performance. Degree of tension depends on the fact that how role-expectation has been institutionalized in society. Parson has said pattern variables to these patterns or values of behavior in social performance of role for which there is option before actor to change. Parson ....

Answer : Marx has explained the social change on the basis of his theory “Historical Materialism”. Marx on the basis of changes between means of production and relation of production divided the different eras into following 5 categories:

1. Primitive communism era
2. Slave era
3. Feudal era
4. Capitalist era
5. Socialist era

According to Marx, primitive communism was most elementary era. In this era, means of production was not particular but of whole community.

There was no differentiation in society and all collectively belonged to an ....

Answer : French sociologist Emile Durkheim gives important place to providing scientific base to sociology and define and determining its limits of subject matter. Durkheim is of opinion that sociologist in the form of methodology should develop an objective method of empirical research of social facts as a thing. To prove explanatory method of sociology different from psychology Durkheim has suggested that sociology should pay attention on micro level analysis of society and beside causal explanation, sociology ....

Answer : Karl Marx presented the theory of alienation to reveal the inhuman condition of labor in capitalistic society. Alienation is a socio psychological condition of a person in which he feels alienated from basic aspects of life, his work and also from himself.

This concept is seen firstly in the work of Hegel but Marx has explained in detail as a sociological theory. According to Marx, inhuman condition of capitalist system has alienated the worker from their ....

Answer : Assumptions related with capitalism were different from methodological perspective of Marx and Weber. Marx has explained the historical development of capitalism on the basis of his own materialism theory, whereas Weber explained this on the basis of historical comparative method.

Historical materialism, history and social change are complex theories proposed by Marx which explain all historical, cultural and social changes on the basis of material value based production system which is opposite to idealism.

For Marx, ....

Answer : Power is that capability or ability of an individual or group on the basis of which he is able to realize their own will in communal action, even against resistance of others. It means in a social relation when a person is in such a situation that he can realize his own will even against resistance of others then it is power and when this power is legalized in the form of institution then it ....

Answer : Durkheim has presented the concept of sacred and profane in his sociological system of religion. Durkheim presented this concept after his sociological study of Arunta tribes of Australia. He was of the opinion that society is the real base of every religion and every religion unites every society into a community. In reality, religion is only a transformation of assumptions of society. If society is rational and scientific then religion will be like such.

Religion ....

Answer : C. W. Mills has given the concept of power elite. The power elite is a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth and political power.

The elite in modern society like USA consists of the highest ranking members of the corporate community, academic, politicians, media editors, military service personnel and high profile Journalist. They are like dominant groups share decisions having national consequences as the national events are decided by the ....

Answer : Protestantism is a religion of protest which arose in 16th century in Europe in the period known as reformation. Its founding father like Martin Luther King and John Calvin broke away from the catholic church because they felt that church has immersed in doctrines and rituals and has lost touch with common people. Greed, corruption and vices have gripped the church and priests had a lifestyle more suitable to princes. Thus the protestant sects spread ....

Answer : Class is the basis of stratification in modern Industrial society. Individuals engaged in similar activities in the process of production, having equal economic status and similar lifestyle belong to the same class. Generally class is associated with achieved status in present capitalist Industrial society. Sociologists have also considered family, property, prestige, residence in prestigious locality, school for children, membership of club or association for determining class status. Different scholars have also divided class in different ....

Answer : The term “ideal” means conception or a standard of something and the term “type” means a kind, class or group distinguished by a particular character. In other words ideal type can be defined as a kind, category, class or groups of objects with particular character that seems to be best example.

Weber has used ideal type in a specific sense. According to him, it is a mental construct like a model. He has used ideal type ....

Answer : Parsons as a structural functionalist, is the main exponent of system theory. According to him social system is not only the network of persons but also a set of patterned relation among structural elements. In a system all elements of social structure are linked to each other directly or indirectly and the linkage is such that a change in one part will affect other part also. In parsons concept of social system there are some ....

Answer : Division of labour refers to occupational differentiation and specialization aimed at increasing the efficiency and productivity of the professional unit. It is primarilyan economic phrase and used in the same vein by Marx while talking about work conditions in capitalism. On the other hand, Emile Durkheim tried to understand division of labour from social perspective i.e. as a process of social differentiation which renders society cohesive and integrated.

Marx studied Division of labour (DOL) as a ....

Answer : Class lies at the centre of Marxian sociology. He defines class as a social group whose members share the same relationship to the forces of production. For e.g., the two classes in feudalist society are nobility and serfs or bourgeoisie and proletariat in capitalism. According to Marx, “The history of all hitherto existing societies in the history of class struggle” i.e. class conflict is the driving force of history from ancient society to the present ....

Answer : Symbolic Interactionism is an American school of thought which was developed from the work of American philosophers like John Dewey, W.I. Thomas and George Herbert Mead. It is sometimes described as a phenomenological perspective because of its emphasis on the actor’s views and interpretations of social reality. Thus Movis and Meltzer state that symbolic interactionism is concerned with ‘the inner, or phenomenological aspects of human behaviour’.

G.H. Mead, one of the primary contributors, to this school ....

Answer : Two social behaviours are universal to every society: Conformity behaviour and Deviant behaviour. Conformity is the action of an individual that is oriented to social norms, values, etc. These norms and values are internalized as the part of personality. Mechanism of social control such as education, religion, state, etc. also forced the individual towards conformity.

However, deviance is opposite to conformity. It is the act of individual which does not follow the norms and expectation of ....

Answer : According to Karl Marx social change occurs as a sequel to class struggle and the seeds of class struggle originates within the economic infrastructure of the society. According to Marx at the dawn of human history when man used to live was a stage of primitive communism. In such societies conflict of interacts among classes were totally absent because the forces of production and products of labour were communally owned. But with the emergence of ....

Answer : According to Durkheim the subject matter of sociology should be the study of social facts. Social fact is that way of acting, thinking or feeling which is more or less general in a given society. Durkheim has treated social facts as things. These are real and exists independent of individual’s will or desire. True nature of social facts lie in the collective or associational characteristics inherent in society. For examples- Legal code, customs, moral rules, ....

Answer : Talcott Parsons basically a functionalist has talked about the evaluation of society from lower primitive to industrial stage. Parsons is famous for the theory of social system in which he advocated for stability and equilibrium. Parsons has often accused for maintaining status quo in social system but in his theory of social change he talked about change of system and change within the system. According to Talcott Parsons every social system is composed of some ....

Answer : Max Weber’s theory of religion explained correlation between the spirit of Protestantism and the rise of Capitalism in Europe. Weber studied six main religions of the world. These are Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Catholics and Islam. On the basis of his studies, he found that there is a direct link between the economic activity and ethics of religion. In his doctoral thesis, ‘Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism’, Weber argued that it was the code ....

Answer : Departing from Marx and Parson who advocated for deterministic and speculative theories, R.K. Merton advocated for realistic theory coming out of real social structure.

Merton criticized Grand Theory of Parson and advocated for ‘Middle Range Theory’, according to which small reality can be studied in its totality than studying total reality incompletely. Merton criticizing functional approach of Parson said that there are functions and dysfunctions of social reality. So the subject matter of sociology should be ....

Answer : Marxian analysis of capitalistic mode of production and class-struggle is very much related to what we called class and class structure. Before going to discuss class-struggle, we need to understand the periphery of capitalistic mode of production. Capitalistic mode of production is the fourth form of mode of production as discussed and elaborated by Karl Marx.

The development of capitalist mode of production presupposes the destruction of a feudal mode of production and a transformation of ....

Answer : Merton’s analysis of latent and manifest functions is mainly related to middle range theory. Merton’s theory of sociological functionalism is based on two types of functions which gives anticipation in sociology.

Manifest functions are those objective consequences contribution to the adjustment or adaptation of the system which are intended and recognized by the participants in the system; latent functions, correlatively, are those which are neither intended nor recognized.

As a major illustration of the value of ....

Answer : Parsons’ contribution in the field of social system has been considered as network of social relation and social actions. He attempts to develop a conceptual scheme that reflects the systemic inter-connectedness of social systems. Crucial to this conceptualization of the social system is the concept of institutionalization, which refers to relatively stable patterns of interaction among actors in statuses. Such patterns are normatively regulated and infused with cultural patterns.

This infusing of values can occur in ....

Answer : Max Weber conceived of Sociology as a comprehensive science of social action. Weber’s theory of social action is related to his methodological approach. Weber first developed the theory of social action in economy and society, which he wrote between 1911 and 1920.

The theory of social action proposed by Weber eventually embraced the question of ‘meaningful’ social action and attempted to incorporate the relevance of values in a theory of human action. In fact, Weber’s theory ....

Answer : Social Facts: Sociology, as Durkheim conceives it, is the study of essentially social facts and the explanation of these facts in a sociological manner. The Durkheimian conception of sociology is based on a theory of the social facts. The requirement for such a science is two-fold:

1. First, the subject matter of the science must be specific.
2. This subject must be such that it can be observed and explained in a manner similar to the way in ....

Answer : Emile Durkheim in his last major work, “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life,” describes and explains the essence of religion and its positive role in a simple society. His main focus was on the social control of social structures over the individual. He defined institutions as ‘beliefs and modes of conduct established by collective life’ and he made a special study of the institution of religion among the Australian tribes.

His purpose in studying these aborigine ....

Answer : According to Max Weber the ideal type is an analytical construct that serves the investigators as measuring rod to ascertain similarities as well as deviations in concrete cases. It is neither an statistical average nor a hypothesis. Rather it is a mental construct created by exaggerating certain essential features of given phenomena, so that no one case of that phenomena correspond exactly to the constructed type, every case of phenomena falls within a definitional framework. ....

Answer : Emile Durkheim’s theory on religion and society has been dealt in his famous book, ‘The Elementary forms of Religions Life’. The book deals a description and a detailed analysis of the clan system and of totemism in the Arunta tribe of Australian aborigines, elaborates a general theory of religion derived from a study of the simplest and most “Primitive” of religious institutions, and outlines a sociological interpretation of the forms of human thought which is ....

Answer : Bureaucracy is a rational organization of modern new capitalist economy. Max Weber was the first to give an elaborate account of the need, development and necessasity of bureaucracy. The term is used both to designate the tasks and procedures of administration as a collective word for a body of administrative officials.

Why bureaucracy is necessarily in new capitalist economic systems? Weber has explained and argued on the basis of following characteristics: fixed areas of official ....

Answer : The term ‘anomie’ was first used by the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, to refer to several aspects of social participation where the conditions necessary for man to fulfill himself and to attain happiness were not present. These conditions were that conduct should be governed by norms, that these norms should form an integrated and non-conflicting system, that the individual should be morally involved with other people so that ‘the image of the one who completes ....

Answer : Marx-has used both the terms for determination of class. By ‘class-in-itself’ he means the objective criteria of any social class. Objective criteria of class means people sharing the same relationship to the means of production. For example, all labourers have a similar relationship with the landowners. On the other hand all the landowners, as a class, have a similar relationship with the land and labourers. In this way, labourers on one hand and landowners on ....

Answer : Max Weber showed a deep interest in the link between religious ideas and economic institution in his famous work ‘The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of Capitalism’. It says that ascetic Protestantism fostered a spirit of modern capitalism marked by a ceaseless obligation to earn money and for reinvest profit. For this, Weber constructed ideal types of both, the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.

The basic points culled by weber from Franklin’s writing ....

Answer : The term "theory" refers to an abstract conceptual scheme which in itself may be little more than a number of definitions or it may have a systematic reference so that each abstract term is systematically relased to the others, rendering the categories exclusive of each other, but pointing to their articulation. If, from such a categorical system, laws may be derived possessing predictive values, then we may say that theoretical system has been evolved. Strictly ....

Answer : According to Durkheim the essence of religion is the division of the world into two kinds of phenomena-the sacred and the profane. The sacred refers to things human, being set apart, including religious belief, rites, duties or anything socially defined as requiring special religious treatment. Participation in the sacred order such as rituals and ceremonies, gives a special prestige, illustrating one of the social function of religion. The sacred things, wrote Durkheim, is par excellence ....

Answer : In his famous book "Rules of Sociological Method" (1895), Durkheim is concerned with the very fact 'social facts' as a subject matter of Sociology. He has defined social facts as ways of acting, thinking and feeling external to the individual and endowed with a power of coercion by reason of which they control him. Durkheim treats social facts as things which is real and exist independent of the individual will and desires. According to Durkheim ....

Answer : The “Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism” is one of the important works and doctoral thesis of Max Weber. Weber made his departure by rejecting the contemporary Marxian views on the development of capitalism which regarded economic substructure as the ultimate cause of social change. He also rejected Engel’s views that protestantism rose in Europe as legitimising ideology to nascent capitalism which has already come into existence, instead he emphasized the role of ideals as ....

Answer : A common basis for the growth of informal relationship of the clique type is the fact that the members of any organisation are also members of a variety of other groups. If these other groups, each have fairly strong in-group feeling, their members are likely to carry over their prepossessions and antipathies into the formal organisation. Sometimes these attitudes prevailing in the wider society are formally recognised in bureaucracy, in discriminatory practices with respect to ....

Answer : Emile Durkheim along with Max Weber must be credited with founding the modern phase of sociological theory. It begin with his first book 'Division of labour', submitted as a French Doctoral thesis. Durkheim established a broad framework for analysis of social system that has remained central to Sociology & Anthropology to the present day. The focus of his work was on the social system & the relation of that system to the personality of the ....

Answer : The 'ideal type' is an analytical construct, that serves the investigator as measuring rod to ascertain similarities as well as deviations in concrete cases. It is neither an statistical average nor a hypothesis. Rather it is a mental construct created by exaggerating certain essential features of a given phenomena, so that no one case of that phenomena correspond exactly to the constructed type, every case of phenomena falls within, a definitional framework. Thus 'ideal type' ....

Answer : The very word 'class' originated from the Latin term 'classis' which denotes a group or a division of people. In Marxian term, a social class is an aggregate of persons who perform the same function in the organisation of production. It is determined not by occupation of income but by the position, an individual occupies and the function he performs in the process of production. Secondly, he has also argued that it is the consciousness ....

Answer : According to R.K. Merton the term “function” refers to observable objective consequences not subjective disposition. It is those observed consequences which meets for the adaptation & adjustment of a given system. He has divided the entire social function in two categories. The first is the Manifest function & the second is the Latent function. Manifest function are those objective consequences which contribute to the adaptation of the system and which are intended and recognized by ....

Answer : The study of division of labour in society was Durkheim's doctoral thesis and his earlier work. Under the division of labour, Durkheim has responded to the rise of industrial society and has also highlighted the positive and negative sides of it. The rise of industrial society has been seen as a consequences of technological advancement which itself is regarded as a natural concomitant of increasing division of labour or specialisation. However, Durkheim is not first ....

Answer : According to Merton all members of the society share the same value. However, since the members of the society are placed in the different positions in the social structure, for example they differ in terms of class position, they do not have the same opportunity of realising the shared values. This situation can generate deviance. In Merton's word, the social and cultural structure generate pressure for socially deviant behaviour upon people variously located in that ....

Answer : Relative deprivation refers to the feelings felt and judgements reached when individuals or members of a group compare themselves adversely with some other individual within their group or with another group. For example, teachers in a university may feel relative deprivation when they compare their status, prestige and perks as compared to that of the bureaucrats. The notion is that it is not absolute standards which are important in making such judgement but the relative ....

Answer : According to Talcott Parsons social system involves the interaction of two or more individual in the social situation according to common value pattern. A social system is considered functional till it maintains the 'equilibrium' among the various mechanism. The dysfunction in the mechanism leads to disequilibrium. According to Parsons there are four functional prerequisites to maintain a social system alive. These are adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency. Besides others, goal attainment and integration are ....

Answer : Durkheim divides social differentiation into two types of societies. The first is the small scale type of society characterised by local division of labour based upon ascriptive criteria like age and sex. The second is the large scale industrialised society characterised by high division of labour based on specialised skills. In the former, the task to be performed is simple which almost all members can perform equally well. Due to similar activities being performed by ....

Answer : Karl Marx has comprehensively explained the men's productive nature, their consciousness and the mechanism of forming relationship. He assumes that man is a social being and productive or creative by nature. He has described their productive nature and social being in the historical perspective. It has been observed by Marx that during the long period of history, the sociability in the men have been gradually increasing. As the social nature of man becomes more intensive ....

Answer : Max Weber has propounded his theory of social action in his famous work "Economy and Society" which was written between 1911 and 1920. The term "Social action" is derived from the body of Weber's work which concerned itself with developing a theory for making valid judgement about the decisions, individual make in their action with others in a social environment. The theory of social action proposed by Weber eventually embraced the question of 'meaningful' social ....

Answer : Generally, the word "Social Change" refers to change in the social system, social structure, culture, social institutions and values of society. Just as evolution brings about change in the structure of the organism, similarly social evolution introduces change in the structure of social system and contributes to the growth of new stage of social organisation. The social change may be revivalistic and reversible. It is more so in the areas of cultural change. Development ....

Answer : In his analysis of the social system, Talcott Parsons has emphasised both the utilitarian and idealist approach. The utilitarian approach treated social system as product of rational impulses of human being (individual) to integrate their needs and urges as orderly systems. These systems are based on compatability of interest through contractual mutuality. For example, the system of government and the state which represent organised system of power. On the other hand, idealist approach places too ....

Answer : In his "Economics and Antiquity" (1908) Weber, first wrote on the subject of bureacracy. Later in "Economy and Society", he included a much larger section on bureacracy in which he looked more extensively into the question of the development and growth of the modern administrative apparatus. Formally, Weber's study of bureaucracy is a part of much larger study of the theory of domination which appeared in the part of “Economy and Society”. Nevertheless, his discussion ....

Answer : Talcott Parsons has identified change in two forms- one is called structural change and the other is called long term evolutionary change. Structural changes are the important changes in the organisation and functioning of the society, its sub-system by which the society moves from one social type to another. Transformation of traditional society to industrial, feudal and capitalist to socialist society are examples of structural change.

Sources of such change may lie in the variation ....

Answer : The concept of "social fact" has been propounded by Emile Durkheim, in his second major works "The Rules of Sociological Method" (1895). He has defined social facts as "Way of acting, thinking and feeling external to individual and endowed with power of coercion by reason of which they control him". Durkheim treats social facts as things which are real and exist independent of the individual will and desires. According to Durkheim social facts are ....

Answer : "abstract ....

Answer : "Way of acting, thinking and feeling external to individual and imposed, endowed with a power of coercion by reason of which they control himexternality, constraint, ....

Answer : The formal structure of bureaucracy, in the strict Webarian sense, refers to the organisational management which is strictly based on the written code of conduct. Impersonality, objectivity, hierarhcy of rank, fixed salary, strict duty hours, etc. are the chief features of the formal bureaucratic structure of the modern organisation. At every stage of decision making and monitoring organisational conduct, rules and order are strictly followed. On the other hand, the informal structure refers to the ....

Answer : Functionalism approach in sociology view society as a system of inter connected parts which work together for the maintenance of the whole. Thus social institutions such as religion is a part of the society rather than an isolated and independent institution. The early functionalists often drew an analogy between the society and an organism such as the human body. They argued that the understanding of any organ in the body, such as the heart or ....

Answer : R.K. Merton, an American sociologist, has developed the theory of Middle-Range. He defines "theories of middle-range" as theories that lie between the minor but necessary hypothesis and unified theories. They evolved in abundance during day today research and to all systematic efforts to develop a unified theory that will explain all the observed uniformities of social behaviours, social organisation and social change. By way of collaboration of his thesis, he further observes, "Middle range theories ....

Answer : Subjectivity and objectivity are two quite opposite terminology in Social and Natural Science. The former refers to the personal ideas, values, consciousness etc. of an individual about an existing reality or thing. Whereas the latter refers to the fact or thing as it is. Karl Marx has used both the concepts in his description of class antagonism in the society. He has pointed out several mechanism or perception of the man which leads to the ....