Soc 402: Sociological Theory

Outline for Durkheim Lecture

I. Biography: intellectual caught between liberalism and reactionaries

II. Sociological/Theoretical Approach

A. Perspective: Conservative

1. pessimistic about human nature

2. optimistic about existing institutions

B. Model: Functional

1. teleological

2. equilibrium

3. structural/systems

a. external constraint

b. "social facts"

c. macro

Functional Model

SocialStructure

Necessary andDesirableCondition

externalthreat

-

+

-

II. Sociological/Theoretical Approach (continued)

C. Focus: Culture--moral order versus material life;

consensus rather than conflict

III. Theory/Explanation of Social Change: Adaptation

A. Types of solidarity

1.mechanical: sameness

2.organic: interdependence

B. Increasing social density

C. Increasing social differentiation

Model of Social Change

UndifferentiatedEconomy andPunitive/CoercivePolitics

Mechanical SolidaritySense of Sameness

increasingsocial density

-

+

-

Social Density

• Social density is the number of social relations that link members of a population. In simple, traditional society, there was little social density.

Lord

peasant—wife

c1 c2 c3 c4

peasant—wife

c1 c2 c3 c4

peasant—wife

c1 c2 c3 c4

Social Density (continued)• Relations between households were limited and involved only

the patriarchs (the fathers), who arranged marriages.

• Even these relations were, in theory at least, indirect, since the lord approved the marriages and ultimately had the right to arrange the marriages himself.

• Outside of the peasant households the only routine social relationship was that which linked the peasant patriarch to his lord.

Social Density (continued)

• This society had relatively low social density, compared to the modern society, where children go to school and play together, and where men and women work and play outside the home.

• If social density increases rapidly and dramatically (through conquest, for example), social institutions may be incapable of adapting. Conflict and social disorganization may result in warfare, rebellion, and anarchy.

IV. Durkheim’s Analysis of Suicide

Durkheim’s Types of Suicide Classified by Too Much or Too Little Integration or Regulation

  Direction of Imbalance

Too Little Too Much

Source of Integration Egoistic Altruistic

Imbalance Regulation Anomic Fatalistic

  source: George Ritzer, Sociological Theory (McGraw-Hill, 2000), pp. 86-88, who relies on Whitney Pope, Durkheim’s Suicide: A Classic Analyzed (University Chicago Press, 1976, pp. 12-13)

 

Exploring Purdue with Durkheim

V. Durkheim Applied to Purdue University

1. general guidelines

2. beliefs and values

3. how these are sustained by structure

a. regulation

b. integration

4. consider your experience