Foundational sociological theory from Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, including their core concepts and disagreements.
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- What is Durkheim's concept of mechanical solidarity?
- Social bonds based on shared beliefs, values, and traditions in pre-industrial societies.
- What is organic solidarity in Durkheim's theory?
- Social bonds based on interdependence and specialized roles in complex, industrial societies.
- Define anomie according to Durkheim.
- A state of normlessness where social ties weaken and individuals lack clear moral guidance.
- What is a social fact in Durkheim's definition?
- Patterns of behavior, beliefs, or values that exist outside individuals and constrain their actions.
- What is the collective consciousness according to Durkheim?
- The shared beliefs, values, and moral codes that bind members of a society together.
- Name the four types of suicide Durkheim identified.
- Egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic.
- What is egoistic suicide in Durkheim's typology?
- Suicide resulting from insufficient social integration, leaving individuals isolated and despondent.
- What is altruistic suicide in Durkheim's typology?
- Suicide resulting from excessive social integration, where the individual sacrifices self for the group.
- How does Durkheim view religion sociologically?
- As a social institution that creates solidarity and reinforces collective consciousness through shared rituals.
- What role does the division of labor play in Durkheim's theory?
- It creates interdependence in modern societies, replacing shared beliefs as the primary source of social cohesion.
- What is Marx's concept of class struggle?
- The central conflict between the bourgeoisie (owners of production) and the proletariat (workers).
- Define alienation in Marx's theory.
- Workers' estrangement from the products they make, the labor process, their own nature, and each other.
- What is historical materialism according to Marx?
- The theory that material conditions of production, not ideas or culture, determine social and historical development.
- What is the base-superstructure model in Marx's theory?
- The economic base (means and relations of production) determines the superstructure (law, politics, culture, ideology).
- Define surplus value in Marx's economics.
- The value produced by workers beyond their wages, which capitalists appropriate as profit.