Theoretical Perspectives

Theories
-are perspectives we use to explain
the world
-guide us to ask questions and
interpretations we make
The pioneers of Sociology

Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
Karl Marx
(1818-1883)
and the
Capitalist
Mode of
Production
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Max Weber (1864-1920)

Bio: Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_
C3%89mile_Durkheim Weber
 Karl Marx
Marx is concerned with “exploitation” and asks : “What
sorts of transformations are needed to eliminate
economic oppression and exploitation within capitalist
societies?”

• Marx saw two fundamental classes in 19th c. Western

societies- capitalists and workers
• Additional classes include managers, professionals,
and self-employed- who occupy contradictory class
positions
We live in a world of great economic prosperity
and opportunity yet it is also one of human misery
and thwarted lives – capitalist class exploits the
working class

Marx
-Wanted to eliminate the discrimination in the
society
-Hoped for a social revolution
-Actively supported the overthrowing of capitalism
QUESTION: So then what is capital and who is a capitalist?
☭For Marx, capital is used to buy something only in order to sell it
again to realize a financial profit, and for Marx capital only exists
within the process of economic exchange—it is wealth that grows
out of the process of circulation itself and forms the basis of the
economic system of capitalism.
☭So a capitalist is someone who controls the means of production
and who seeks to create wealth through the labour process
(generally by buying the labour of others).
 Mode of Production
• All societies can be classified on the basis of the
“mode of production”- a combination of the
“material forces of production” and the “social
relations of production”
• Social relations of production are based on social
classes and class exploitation.
• At some point the contradictions between forces
and relations of production produces a
transformation to a new mode of production
 The Commodity

Cotton

Corn
 Commodity

☭Marx says it’s an external object “through which its qualities

satisfies human needs of whatever kind” (Marx, 1971: 125).

☭Examples: Iron, Paper, Bananas, Wheat, Rice, Corn, Oil

☭Marx calls the usefulness of a thing “use-value”

 Means of Production
☭ Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs
used in production (factories, machines, tools, land).

☭ The means of production started to be rapidly concentrated in

the hands of capitalists.
 Use Value vs. Exchange Value
☭Use-values: are only realized in use or consumption. Marx says
“they constitute the material content of wealth, whatever its social
form may be”.
QUESTION: What is the use-value of cotton?

☭Exchange-values: start out as the proportion of one commodity

that it takes to exchange with someone else in order to receive a
proportion of another commodity.

LET’S CONTINUE WITH OUR EXAMPLE…

 Money: the Circulation of
Commodities
QUESTION: Why do we use money
to exchange commodities?
☭The circulation of commodities, for
Marx, expands rapidly after a number of
civilizations begin to use a single
commodity (gold + silver are the most
famous) to trade goods.
☭This gives rise to money lenders and
what Marx calls “finance capital”
 A (Short) Historical Interlude
☭Marx is especially interested in the transition from a feudal mode of
production to a capitalist mode of production.
☭In Capital, he gives a brief history of the rise of the merchant class and
links their power as being partially influenced by the era of colonialism.

QUESTION: How does

colonialism impact the rise
of capitalism? What is
the role of slavery in the
colonial process?
FEUDALISM CAPITALISM
 Selling Labour Power

Question: who exerts labour power? Why do they sell their

labour power instead of using it for their own benefit?
☭The enclosure of common space made it very difficult for most
peasants to continue to farm and herd without external support.
☭Many people lost control of their land – and no longer owned the
means of production. For those people they were forced to sell their
labour power on the open market.
 Relative Surplus Value
☭Marx wrote that worker’s labour was exploited by capitalists. This
exploited labour was called relative surplus value.
☭Example: If you need 5 hours per day to grow enough food for
your family, but a capitalist pays you just enough to feed your
family but makes you work 10 hours – the extra 5 hours is relative
surplus value!
 Marx’s Influence on the World
☭1848 Revolutions
☭ The labour movement
☭1917 Russian Revolution
☭1948 Chinese Revolution
☭1959 Cuban Revolution
☭A whole bunch of anti-colonial independence
movements
 Social Inequality in Bangladesh
Question: Are the Rich Getting Richer and the
Poor Getting Poorer?
How would Marx explain it?

Recommended reading:
Page 141, 147-152 of Anderson (2016)
 Emile Durkheim and Social facts

• Are we in control of our own decisions?

Are we in control of our own decisions?

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/dan_ariely_ask
s_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.ht
ml
Questions:
What is Ariey’s main point about human
behaviour and decision making?
Do you agree? Why?
 Social Facts
• According to Durkheim, social facts “consist of
manners of acting, thinking and feeling external to
the individual, which are invested with a coercive
power by virtue of which they exercise control over
him”
• “What constitutes social facts are the beliefs,
tendencies and practices of the group taken
collectively.”
• “a social fact exists separately from its individual
effects”
 Social facts
• “A social fact is
-identifiable
-the power of external coercion
-it exerts or is capable of exerting upon individuals.
-the presence of this power is in turn recognisable because
of the existence of some pre-determined sanction,
-through the resistance that the fact opposes to any
individual action that may threaten it.
-it can also be defined by ascertaining how widespread it
is within the group”.
 Max Weber: Social structure and agency

• There is a relationship between technology and economy

• This relationship is formed of and grow out of capitalist
production
• The outcomes of this relationship are the fundamental forces in
society.

He focuses on-
• Stratification
• Class
• Status
• Power
 What did Weber have to say about
Bureaucracy?
• At the turn of the 20th century Weber started to
study these new forms of social structure– new
bureaucracies - that were developed and used
to manage large numbers of people engaged in
widely dispersed and disparate activities
• Concluded that they were similar and set about
to define their essential features:
 Features of a Bureaucracy
– jurisdiction of each office is clearly delimited (no
interference);
– duties are delimited by general, unchanging rules (no
bias/emotion);
– officials have expert qualifications and training
(competency/expediency);
– work is based on written documents
(transparency/accountability);
– official activity is separate from private life of
bureaucrat (official interests are paramount);
– offices are permanent. The incumbents are not.
 Advantages of Bureaucracies
Weber thought that bureaucracies had advantages over other
forms of social structure because they make it possible to
conduct the affairs of an organization “according to calculable
rules”. Bureaucracies
-are the most efficient structures to handle large numbers of
tasks
-emphasizes the quantification of things- reducing performance
to a series of quantifiable tasks helps people gauge success
-are based on well entrenched rules and procedures – this means
that bureaucracies operate in a highly predictable manner
-exercise good control over individuals by replacing individual
judgments with dictates of rules, regulations and hierarchical
structures- especially by using trained managers specially
selected for their specific jobs
Weber felt that all bureaucracies are “rational”

–they are all dominated by: Efficiency, Predictability,

Calculability and Non-human technologies that control people .
BUT – he also thought that modern bureaucracies are a special
because they rely on formal rationality- the calculation of the
most efficient means to achieve an end.
For an example of the relentless pursuit of efficiency, predictability,
calculability and control by technology characteristic of modern
bureaucracies consider the comparison between the rationality behind
the early manufacturing of vehicles – the Ford assembly line – (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpTecAeYvGU&feature=related)
and the rationality behind today’s assembly line- the Toyota Camry (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82w_r2D1Ooo)
Weber was quite wary of what he termed “Irrationality of
rationality” and the “Iron Cage” of Bureaucracy

Modern bureaucracies based on formal rationality may be

efficient, but they suffer from the “irrationality of rationality”
• Bureaucracies can get so tangled up in red tape that their
attempts at being super-rational end up producing all
sorts of irrationalities
• What was meant to result in good work, produces shoddy
work
• George Ritzer uses the fast-food restaurant as an
example of irrationality of rationality. Here bureaucracy
is dehumanizing – both to workers and to customers
(hence the irrationality of rationality)
MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY

• According to Ritzer “...McDonaldization,...is

the process by which the principles of the fast-
food restaurant are coming to dominate more
and more sectors of American society as well
as of the rest of the world.” (Ritzer, 1993:1)
George Ritzer on McDonaldization
and the irrationality of
rationalization
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdy1AgO6
Fp4&NR=1
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyHvm03K
t_I
CrossTalk: McDonaldization (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOMom7m
EgsM
Similarities in Marx and Weber’s Approaches

• they both reject simple gradational definitions of

class;
• they are both anchored in the social relations
which link people to economic resources of
various sorts;
• they both see these social relations as affecting
the material interests of actors, and,
• they see class relations as the potential basis for
solidarities and conflict.
Differences in Marx and Weber’s Approaches
to Social Class
• Weber talks about market-determined “life
chances” , the “rationality of irrationality”and
the “iron cage of bureaucracy”
• Marx is concerned with “exploitation” and
asks : “What sorts of transformations are
needed to eliminate economic oppression and
exploitation within capitalist societies?”
• Marx sees class conflict and transition to a
new mode of production necessary and
inevitable
• Weber didn’t particularly like capitalism, but ..
• Best system available
• No interest in bringing about change
 The four basic principles of
McDonaldization are:
• Efficiency,
• Calculability,
• Predictability,
• Increased Control through the Replacement of Human by
Non-human Technology.
Concern about raising rates of obesity in American, Morgan
Spurlock made the documentary “Supersize Me”. See what
happened to him as he eats three meals a day at McDonald’s
for 1 month.
Film: Supersize Me (2003)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAnCOHCVjyU
 Homework
Compare and contrast the views
of three theorists
 Recommended readings
• Page 152 – 166 of Anderson (2016)
• Page 11-17 of Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum
and Carr (2018)