Classical Sociological Theory

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Sinisa Malesevic. Classical Sociological Theory

Classical Sociological Theory

Contents

Acknowledgements

About the Authors

Introduction: The Rise of Social Thought

The Layout of Chapters

Notes

References

I Plato and Aristotle

Plato. Life and Intellectual Context

Peloponnesian War

The Ionian and Italian Schools of Natural Philosophy

Historical, Social and Political Context

The Restrictions of Citizenship in Greece

Slaves, Foreigners and Women in Athens

Against Democracy

Arguments and Ideas

The Ideal State and the Division of Labour

Criticism

Aristotle. Life and Intellectual Context

Historical, Social and Political Context

Arguments and Ideas. Metaphysics

The Nicomachean Ethics

The Politics

Criticisms

Contemporary Relevance

Conclusion

Note

References

II Confucius and Ibn Khaldun. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context. Confucius (551–479 bce)

Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)

Historical, Social and Political Context. Ancient China

Medieval North Africa

Arguments and Ideas. Confucian Social Philosophy

Discipline and Morality

Ibn Khaldun as the First Proto-sociologist

The Rise and Fall of Civilisations

Group Feeling

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

Note

References

III Tocqueville and Martineau. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context. Tocqueville

Harriet Martineau

Historical, Social and Political Context

Social Changes

Industrialisation

Arguments and Ideas. Democracy and Civil Society

The Social Origins of Revolution

Political Economy and Capitalism

Morals and Manners

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticism

Conclusion

References

IV Hegel

Life and Intellectual Context

Move to Jena

Intellectual Context

Historical, Social and Political Context

The Situation in Germany and the French Revolution

The Rise of Napoleon

Arguments and Ideas

Speculative Hermeneutics

Theory of the Absolute/God/Spirit

The Phenomenology of Spirit, the Social Self and Recognition

The Philosophy of History

The Philosophy of Right

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

V Marx. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context

Marx as a Communist

Intellectual Influences

Historical, Social and Political Context

Arguments and Ideas. Early Critique of Hegel

A Theory of Human Nature

Productive Activity and Alienation

The Materialist Theory of History

Class Struggle

The Role of Ideas and the State

Political Economy

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

VI Weber. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context

The Legacy of War

Historical, Social and Political Context

Reform and Empire

Cultural Values

Arguments and Ideas. Methodology

Historical Sociology

Religion and Capitalism

Power, Legitimacy and Bureaucracy

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

VII Durkheim. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context

The Durkheimian School

Educational Reforms and War

Historical, Social and Political Context

Political Divisions

The Dreyfus Affair

Arguments and Ideas

The Science of Sociology

Social Change

The Sociology of Deviance

The Sociology of Religion

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

VIII Simmel. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context

The Unpaid Lecturer

Public Intellectual

Historical, Social and Political Context

German Society and Cultural Change

Interactions and Urban Life

Arguments and Ideas. Methodology

Social Interactions

Modernity

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

IX Pareto, Mosca and Michels. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context. Vilfredo Pareto

Gaetano Mosca

Robert Michels

Historical, Social and Political Context

Social Divisions in Italy

War and Social Change

Arguments and Ideas. Pareto and the Circulation of Elites

Mosca and the Political Class

Michels and the Iron Law of Oligarchy

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

X Hintze, Gumplowicz, Ratzenhofer, Ward and Small. Introduction

Life and Intellectual Context. Otto Hintze

Ludwig Gumplowicz

Gustav Ratzenhofer

Lester Ward and Albion Small

Historical, Social and Political Context. The Legacy of German Unification

Cultural Difference and the Austro-Hungarian State

The United States and Social Change

Arguments and Ideas. Otto Hintze and the Historical Sociology of Coercive Power

Ludwig Gumplowicz and the Group Struggle

Gustav Ratzenhofer and the Conflict of Group Interests

Lester Ward and Social Synergy

Albion Woodbury Small and the Sociology of Conflict

Contemporary Relevance and Applications

Criticisms

Conclusion

References

XI Du Bois

Life and Intellectual Context

The Move to Atlanta

Intellectual Influences

Historical, Social and Political Context. Slavery as an Institution

The American Civil War

The Rise of Jim Crow

Conflicts over Political Strategy

Ideas and Arguments

The Philadelphia Negro

The Negro Problem and The Souls of Black Folk

Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880

Applications and Influences

Criticism

Conclusion

References

XII Mead

Life and Intellectual Context

Intellectual Influences

Historical, Social and Political Context

The Importance of Pragmatism

Ideas and Arguments. Mind, Self and Society

Mind, Self, and Society

Social Acts and the Conversation of Gestures

Significant Gestures

The Self

The ‘I’ and the ‘Me’

Society

Applications and Influences

Criticism

Conclusion

References

Index

Отрывок из книги

Steven Loyal

I would like to dedicate this book to my former teachers who served as exemplary academic role models, István Mészáros and Barry Barnes.

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Aristotle conceives ethics as part of what he calls the ‘practical sciences’ – which also include politics. These are separated from the theoretical and productive sciences in terms of their ends and objects. His aim in the Nicomachean Ethics is not to teach for the sake of knowing, which is the aim of the theoretical sciences, but a practical aim, so that men can lead good, happy, lives. It is to tell people how to act in the world, akin to providing a skill as in artistic production. The methodology and approach used in the practical arts must be also commensurate with the subject matter being dealt with. Here scientific precision and exact knowledge are, for Aristotle, impossible since ‘noble and just actions’ exhibit ‘much variety and fluctuation’ so that one can only ‘speak about things which “are only for the most part true” that is roughly and in outline’ (Aristotle, 2014: 1094b).

It was noted earlier how the principle of self-sufficiency was a central value in Greece. Drawing on his principle of hierarchy, Aristotle argues that the highest good must be wanted for itself, and not as a means to something else; it must be self-sufficient, and lack nothing. Although all actions aim at some purpose or good, some goods or ends are means for seeking higher goods or ends, of which one is the final chief good, ‘that for whose sake of everything else is done’ (Aristotle, 2014: 1097b).

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