IDENTITY AND CULTURESOC 462Asst. Prof. Dr. Fatma Altınbaş Sarıgülİstanbul Kemerburgaz UniversitySociology

IDENTITY• Baumann‘ with the collapse of apparently fixed and stable identities around gender, nation, etc., there is more fluidity and insecurity around identity. ‘

• No belief in stability of identity, because social changes such as the collapse of nation-states, globalization and shifts in the family form have made its instability obvious.

Founders of Sociology

•August Comte (1798-1857)•Karl Marx (1818-1883)

•Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)•Max Weber (1864-1920)

Sociology• The purpose of sociology was to understand how society

operates as a whole in order to help society itself to progress and develop further.

• The classical sociology founders had the following key features:

A belief in social progressAn image of society as a systemThe view that societies evolve through historyThe idea that sociology can understand and solve social

problems by scientific means

Role of Culture• According to Emile Durkheim;Culture bonds the individual to the wider group through thr socialization process

Culture keeps potentially disruptive individuality at bay.

A collective group identity is more important than an individual identity for society to ‘work’ in a state of consensus.

Collective identity and culture are necessary for social order to be established and maintained.

Role of Culture• According to Karl Marx; Culture is produced by a ruling group in order to justify its dominance over others

Culture acts as a constraint on the individual, leading to social order and control.

Individuals must realize their true class identity to enable them to break free from ruling class oppression

Class consciousness and identity lead to revolutionary social change and to the creation of a new social type and a new social culture.

The Similarities and Differences of Durkheim and Marx

• They saw society as a system made up of smaller parts• They saw society as characterized by the existence of order, control

and the constraint of inidividuals• Individuals were viewed as being less important than groups.• Individuals were seen as the ‘puppets’ of culture

Durkheim saw order as a necessary part of society, Marx believed that order was established through unequal power relations between the ruling class and the masses.

Durkheim saw individual identity as a ‘problem’ for the group to solve so that order and harmony could continue, whereas Marx thought that individual identity should be replaced by class identity so that class groups could overthrow the oppressive ruling elite

The fact that social structure controlled the individual through the socialization of values is a positive thing for Durkheim and negative for Marx.

FUNCTIONALISM• Founder: Emile Durkheim• Then, Malinowski, Talcott Parsons, Herbert Spencer

followed.

• Society is a living thing;Grows in sizeDevelops additional component parts over timeEach separate part of the whole develops and performs a

specific function or task for the wholeThe various parts are mutually dependent on each other.

FUNCTIONALISM• Social event occurred in France in Durkheim’s time give

us clues about his thoughts.

• Durkheim was trying to provide solution to the social problems; how is order possible, given that by nature humans are greedy, competitive and do not live in harmony with each other?

Culture socializes the individual into the group and in so doing creates social order.

• ‘conscience collective’

Durkheim and Identity• ‘The elementary forms of Religious life’ (1912)Groups rituals are essential for the socialization process to work.

• He argued that a ‘division of labour’ exists in modern social life, which has changed significantly as a result of industrialization.

Organic solidarity-Mechanic Solidarity

• Therefore social order is maintained in the industrial age through the creation of a whole range of identities, based on one’s position in the division of labor, but these identities are integrated into a common culture and a ‘value consensus’ because of increasing interdependence.

• Case of anomie- normlessness.

Durkheim and Individual• The individual is made up of 2 elements;The individual being with selfish- ‘natural’ desiresThe collective social being- the product of control by culture

and socialization, giving up natural desires in favour of collective moral sentiments.

Talcott Parsons saw society as a system of interrelated parts.It is culture that keeps the individuals who make up this

system in order, through the creation of ‘value consensus’ by socialization.

Our identity is affected by the value consensus that most in society share.

Parsons and ‘System’• This social system is made up of 4 key elements

to ensure the survival of the whole.1. Adaptation

2. Goal-attainment3. Integration

4. Latent pattern maintenanceAGIL

The strengthsand weaknesses of functionalism• It allows us to think about the nature of the social system as a whole• It explains the process of socialization and how culture can create

order in society..

It overemphasizes the role played by consensus in society at the expense of conflict

It treats humans as puppets or victims of their cultureIt is described as having an ‘oversocialized’ conception of the

individualIt treats society as a living thing, more important than the individualIt sees individuals passive, ignoring their active role in creating

culture through meaningful interaction.

MARXISM• For Marxists society is structured as a pattern of conflict,

even if the individuals who live in a society might not consciously recognize it.

MARXISM• According to ‘conflict structural’ perspective of Marxism, the

existence of conflict and power inequalities in society are caused by the existence of different classes and the struggle for power among these.

• Marx’s social theory is based on the prediction that class conflict would disappear after the fall of capitalism.

• Class- an economic category which refers to the amount of economic power and material wealth an individual has.

• Acc. To Marx, there are 2 classes; those who own ‘the means of production’ and those who do not.

Bourgeoisie and proletariat.

MARXISM• Marx divided human social history into 5 stages;

1. Primitive communism2. Slavery

3. Feudalism4. Capitalism

5. Communism

• Hegel – ‘dialectic’ – thesis+antithesis=synthesisOne idea+another idea= conflict/debate= new idea• MarxRuling class+subordinate class=class conflict=revolution

MARXISM• For Marx, the word ‘communism’ meant the collective or

communal ownership of the means of production.

• Marx argued that revolutionary change can occur only when the working classes become fully aware of the oppressive conditions in which they live.

• This revolutionary change occurs only as a result of a change in consciousness and identity on the part of the working class themselves.

• ‘true class consciousness’

MARXISM• Marx divided the social system into 2;1. The economic base2. The superstructure

• ‘means of production’: factories, machinery, raw materials, etc.

• ‘social relations of production’: the nature of the relationship between those involved in the productive process

• The economic base-’how production is organized’- shapes everything in the superstructure.

• This way of thinking is referred as ‘economic determinisim’, since economic forces determine everything, including the culture of the society.

MARXISM• Since those who control the economy also control the

society’s culture, they also control the dominant values of that culture, and the socialization process is a mechanism with which to ensure the control of the working class through the creation of false consciousness.

• This is a theory of culture that sees culture as a form of constraint, a form of control.

• Concept of ideology – refers to ideas, images, values and representations that justify a position of power.

Culture Industry• Cultural products lose their intellectual and critical value

and become cheap and disposable.

• Humans enter into a state of ‘fetishism’ and worship things as- money, wealth and status.

The strengthsand weaknesses of Marxism• Recognizes the role of conflict• Illustrates the unequal nature of social life• Attempts to create an awareness on individuals• Provides a way of overall thinking of the social system• Even though Marx’s prediction of the rise of class consciousness did not

happen, the working class began to choose to retain capitalism and it continued, because it does deliver the goods and products that people want.

It assumes that people live in a state of delusion about the world they live in

It resorts to alienation in order to explain how power inequality continuesIt sees society as a system made up of collectives and does not consider

the role of the individual

SO• The ‘modernist’ sociologies of Marx, Durkheim and their

followers tend to see humans as being manipulated by their cultures.

• They see identity as a by product of culture.• Identity is seen as something given by the group rather

than being created by the individual for him/herself.

Critical Thinking• Class• Superstructure• Means of production• Mode of production• Ideology• False class consciousness

Write 1 page essay about the Marxist view on the role of culture in society by using and explaining these words