Introducing Western Sociologists Notes in English Class 11 Sociology Chapter-2 Book-Understanding Society

 

Three revolutionary changes have played an important role in the emergence of sociology

1. Enlightenment/Science Revolution

2. French Revolution 

3. Industrial Revolution  

• This process also transformed the entire world not only because of European society but also because of its contact with Europe.

• Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, belonging to the classical tradition of sociology, laid the foundation of this subject.

1. Enlightenment/Science Revolution 

• Development of Enlightenment: Late 17th and 18th centuries  in Western Europe.  Beginning of a completely new and original way of thinking about the world.  Man was considered the centre of the universe.  Reason was considered the main characteristic of man  . The single human being now became a 'person'.  The individual human was also given the title of 'object of knowledge'. 

• Only those people were considered fully human who could think rationally.  Those who were not considered capable of this were not given the status of human.

• To define the human world it was made compulsory to reduce the importance of nature, religions and gods and goddesses.

• The ideological trends which we call 'secularism', 'scientific thinking' and 'humanistic thinking' have a hand in transforming enlightenment from a possibility into a reality.

2. French Revolution 1789

• The Declaration of Human Rights stressed the equality of all citizens and questioned the validity of innate privileges.

• Heralded the advent of political sovereignty at the level of the individual and the nation-state.

• It freed the individual from the tyrannical rule of the religious and feudal institutions which had dominated France before the French Revolution.

• The farmers were freed from the clutches of the elite class.

• The taxes that farmers paid to the landlords and the Church were abolished.

• As free citizens of the republic, the sovereign individuals became holders of rights and privileges and they also acquired the right to equality before the law and state institutions.

• The state had to respect the personal liberty of the individual and state laws could not interfere in the private life of any person.

• Much of 'religion' and 'family' were deemed fit for the private sphere while education was now considered fit for the public sphere.

• The nation-state was redefined as a country  with a centralized system of government. 
  

• The principles of the French Revolution—liberty, equality and fraternity—became the new slogans of the modern state.

3. Industrial Revolution 

Time: Late 18th century to early 19th century

Location: Europe and North America. 

Importance: It was a historical period in which economies transformed from agriculture and handicraft-based to industrialized and machine-controlled economies.

Important Changes 

• Technology Advancements

• Urbanization

• Economic Changes

• Social impact

• Global Impact

• Environmental Impact

• Cultural and intellectual change

There were two major aspects

1. Use of science and technology

2. Organized development of labor and market 

• Goods began to be produced on a large scale for markets all over the world. 

• The raw material required for manufacturing these products also started being procured from all over the world. 

• Thus large-scale modern industries spread all over the world.

• The demand for workers to run the industries was met by displaced people who left the rural areas and settled in the cities. 

• Because of low wages, men and women had to work long hours and in dangerous conditions to make ends meet.

Changes begin to happen  

• Now the government had to take responsibility for issues like health, sanitation, control over criminal activities and businesses and all-round development. 

• To fulfill these new responsibilities, new types of information and knowledge were needed.

• The emerging demand for new knowledge played an important role in the development of new disciplines like sociology

Karl Marx 

👉Social thinker and analyst

👉 Born on May 5, 1818 

👉 Location in the German province of Rhineland

👉 Important Writing 

• Manifesto of the Communist Party

• A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

• Capital

👉 Important work 

• Advocated elimination of oppression and exploitation.

• This goal can be achieved through scientific socialism.

• Critically analysing the capitalist society, he exposed its weaknesses

Marx argued that society has progressed through different stages.

Primitive communism
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slavery
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feudal system
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capitalist system
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latest stage
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It will be replaced by socialism.

creates a state of alienation in capitalist society 

1. In society, man finds himself quite isolated from nature.

2. Capitalism has individualized the collective form of social order

3. A large group of working people are deprived of the fruits of their hard work

4. Workers have no control over working methods.

Capitalist 

• Capitalism was a necessary and progressive stage in human history because it created the environment needed to advocate for equal rights in the future and to eliminate exploitation and poverty.

• Change in capitalist society will be brought about by the proletariat who are the victims of its exploitation

• Together, we will eradicate it through revolutionary change and establish a socialist society based on freedom and equality.

• To understand capitalism, Marx tried to understand its economic structure

• The economy depends on the factors of production 

• The basis of society  is the economy and  the means of production 

1. Forces of production = all factors of production  

2. Relations of production = control over resources  

class struggle 

• The main method of dividing people into social groups was considered to be the production process rather than religion, language, nationality or common identity 

• People who occupy similar positions automatically form a class. 

• According to their position in the production process and in property relations, they have similar interests and objectives

• As the means of production change, the conflict between classes increases. 

Example

Industrial Revolution 

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The destruction of the feudal system

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People started migrating to cities in search of jobs

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started working in industries and formed a class which had common interests

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started working in industries and formed a class which had common interests 

Émile Durkheim 

👉 Born on 15 April 1858 

👉 He belonged to an Orthodox Jewish family.

👉 His father and great-grandfather were Jewish priests.

Founder of sociology 

👉  Important Writing

The elementary forms of the religious life 

• In this, he expressed his views on religion.

• Developed secular views towards religion 

• Society was a social fact that existed above the individual as a moral community. 

• The bonds that bound human beings together as groups were vital to the survival of society. 

• These bonds or social solidarity put pressure on the individual to conform to group norms and expectations. 

• These restrict the behaviour patterns of an individual and variations are limited to a small range.

Means of limiting behaviors 

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Prediction of behavior is possible 

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looking at patterns of behaviour 

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Norms, social cohesion, and codes can be identified 

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Intangible things like ideas, values, etc. can be verified 

Division of Labor 

Book-  Division Of Labor In Society 

Division of society on the basis of social unity

1. Mechanical unity  

• Primitive society

• Low population in society  

• Personal relationships 

• Similarity in logos 

• Inequality was punished 

2. Organic unity

•  modern society 

• Overpopulation in society

• impersonal relationship 

• Disparity in logos

• people depend on one another 

• there is interaction with each other 

Max Bever 

👉 Born on 21 April 1864   in a Prussian family in Germany. His father was a magistrate and politician  who was a follower of monarchist Bismarck.

👉 Most of his writings were published only after his death.

1. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

2. From Max Weber-Essays in Sociology

3. Max Weber on the Methodology of Social Sciences

4. The Religion of India

5. Economy and Society

 ideas of max weber 

• The whole aim of the social sciences is to develop an 'interpretive thinking of social action'. 

• The aim of natural science is to discover the 'laws of nature' that govern this physical universe.

• The methods of social sciences will be different from those of natural sciences

• 'Social action' included all human behaviour that was meaningful, that is, those actions to which the subject associates some meaning. 

• The task of the sociologist in the study of social action was to find the meanings as understood by the actors

• The sociologist has to put himself in the place of the subject and imagine what these meanings are and could be.

• Sociology systematically focuses on 'empathy', that is, an understanding which is not based on 'feeling' but is 'with feeling'. 

• Value neutrality Keeping your own thoughts to yourself and expressing the feelings of others 

• The ideal model is to logically analyse the ideas of others and explain their importance 

Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy refers to a system of administration where decisions are made by state officials rather than elected representatives. 

• It involves a hierarchical structure where tasks are divided among specialized departments. 

• The goal of bureaucracy is to ensure efficiency, stability, and rule-following in government activities.

Features of bureaucracy 

• Functions of Officers

• Hierarchical order of posts.

• reliability of written documents

• Management of the office.

• Office conduct.