SOCIETY

I. Gerhard &
Jean Lenski
SOCIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION a change in
technology causes a change in society
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

HUNTERS & GATHERERS

13,000
HORTICULTURAL & PASTORAL 10,000
AGRICULTURAL
6,000
INDUSTRIAL
300
POST-INDUSTRIAL
present

As societies progress, they also:

Increase in/rate of technology (change)
Increase production (food & goods)
Increase in population (until agricultural)
Increase in surplus
Increase in ownership of property
Increase in social stratification (class)
Increase in permanent settlements
Ideology: increase in rational, decrease in
traditional thinking
I. Increase in specialization
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.

II. Karl Marx

Historical Dialectical Materialism
The base of history is the mode of production:
1. Forces of Production Means

2. The intercourse/relations of men who

owns what? Who has power over whom?

MEANS/FORCES OF PRODUCTION:
1. (THESIS) PRIMITIVE hunter and gatherer, simple tools that is
wielded by the hand manpower
Chief leader
Slaves lower group
Women & Children vulnerable group/less contribution

2. (ANTI-THESIS) FEUDAL advanced tools (wheel/plow) animal

power/beasts of burden
Feudal lords, nobility, the landed class leaders
Serfs, tenants lower group

3. (SYNTHESIS) INDUSTRIAL steam power machine power

Capitalist Leaders
Proletariat Lower group
The oppression is worldwide

The Capitalist Model

of Society
SUPERSTRUCTURE

INFRASTRUCTURE

 CLASS CONFLICT
FALSE CONSCIOUNESS
ALIENATION

Alienation
1. From the product of labour assembly
line-there is no connecting/pride to the
end product, instead of you controlling
your work, your work controls you.
2. From his own labour activity labour
becomes suffering instead of
gratifying
3. From his very humanity he starts
behaving like a creature
4. From other men no meaningful
interaction in the assembly line

MAX WEBER
THE IRRATIONALITY OF
RATIONALITY

III. Max Weber

1. Reformation - Protestantism
2. Enlightenment The emancipation of

3.
4.
5.
6.

the human consciousness from an

immature state of ignorance and error.
Scientific Age offshoot of
enlightenment
Age of Discovery The new & old worlds
French Revolution a secular society
Industrial Revolution societal change

Simply put
Life becomes more rational as
mystery, emotion, and tradition
recede and as technical efficiency,
mathematical and logical
calculation, and material and social
control increase.

Simply put
Over time, efficiency, calculation,
and control have increased in
tandem with technology, ethical
monotheism, early Protestantism,
bureaucratized government, and
rational capitalism.

THE PROTESTANT
ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT
OF CAPITALISM

THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE

SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
An ideal type of spirit of capitalism
A historical-comparative analysis to

determine how and when that kind of

capitalism came to exist.

Weber used verstehen to understand

the subjective orientation and
motivation of the actors

Why write this book?

1. Counter Marxs historical materialism.
2. Against structural force and argue for
cultural values affecting social action.
3. To explain why RATIONAL
CAPITALISM had risen in the west and
nowhere else.

THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND

THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
CHAPTER 1: Why is it in Germany, business
owners/owners of capital, technical/skilled

workers,. . . overwhelmingly Protestants?

Catholicism too focused on Ascetic idealsother-wordly, they do not care much in
establishing wealth (capitalism)
Protestants so secularized, they are
materialistic in nature

 CHAPTER 2: The Spirit of Capitalism

Exemplar Benjamin Franklin exudes a

protestant spirit, protestant ethic, the

earning more and more money, and the
avoidance of spontaneous enjoyment. High
standards, values of thrift-avoids waste, work
hard

SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
Spirit a particular cultural milieu or
mindset required for rational capitalism to
develop.
Morally infused an ethically-oriented
maxim for the organization of life. DUTY
Modern capitalism contains principles for
the way in which people organize or live out
their lives

SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
How you live your life is not simply a
matter of individual concern; the
culture of modern capitalism provides
us with certain principles, values,
maxims, and morals that acts a
guideposts telling us how to live.

3 Prescriptions of the
Spirit of Capitalism
1. Life is to be lived with a specific goal in mind. It
is good and moral to be:
a) Honest, trustworthy, frugal, organized, and rational
because it is useful for a specific end = making money
b) Making money has a its own end = the acquisition of
money, and more and more money.
c) The culture of modern capitalism says that money is to
be made but NOT TO BE ENJOYED. Immediate
gratification and spontaneous enjoyment should be put
off so that money can be RATIONALLY USED = invested
to make more money. THE MAKING OF MONEY
BECOMES AN END IN ITSELF AND THE PURPOSE TO
LIFE

3 Prescriptions of the
Spirit of Capitalism
2. Each of us should have a vocational calling
Emphasis on our attitude towards our job, the way in

which we carry out our work. 2 demands:

We are obliged/duty to pursue work work with a
moral attribute = WORK ETHIC ( hard worker good and
lazy worker bad)
We have duty within work our duty within work is to
organize our lives according to scientific vantage
points. We are morally obligated to live our lives
RATIONALLY (not to live our lives spontaneously)

3 Prescriptions of the
Spirit of Capitalism
3. The life and actions are legitimized on
the basis of strictly quantitative
calculations. The culture of capitalism
values quantitative legitimizations.
EXAMPLE: closing GM factories in Trent cost 3,000
jobs, but was rational financially responsible

These cultural directives find their roots

in Protestant doctrines and practice.
Portestantism didnt directly produce
capitalism but it did create a culture that
influenced the rise of capitalism.

 Chapter 3: Capitalism to Protestants to Ethic.

Where does this come from?
CATHOLICSIM - SOLA FIDE Faith alone
Reformation indulgences & simony

A lot of catholic faith is about ascetic and

monastic (separate themselves from the world;
withdrawal from temporal obligations). Salvation
is through faith alone

CALLING Martin Luther

To be called out of daily life (priests, nuns)
Called to do Gods will
CATHOLIC salvation was property of the Church
PROTESTANT every individual can have a
personal relationship with God
Every lay person is called to do Gods will. Carpenters
are called to do Gods work as carpenters. Each is a
religious service. One calling is no greater than the
other.
This doctrine leads to a MORAL ORGANIZATION of
life.

 Chapter4: Nature of Protestantism

Protestants God has already made up his mind
predestination, it makes no sense to do these
magical practices.
For the wonderfully purposeful organization and arrangement of this
cosmos is, according both to the revelation of the Bible and to natural
intuition, evidently designed by God to serve the utility of the human race.
This makes labour in the service of impersonal social usefulness appear to
promote the glory of God and hence to be willed by Him.

Hard work = useful makes it appear like you are

glorifying god/you are at his service/you are
promoting his will

PREDESTINATION John Calvin

Original Sin (Sin Nature)
Sin is in our nature - Nothing we

do can save us from hell

Salvation is utterly a work of

grace

CALVINISM
RESTLESS WORK IN A VOCATIONAL CALLING
recommended as the best possible means to
acquire the self-confidence that one belonged to
be saved
A. Good works does not get you to heaven but
they are natural fruits.

B. If God chose to save you, then your life will be

lived in relentless pursuit of his glory. AN
ENTIRE LIFE ORGANIZED FOR GODS GLORY.

CALVINISM
C. DILIGENT LABOR each individual is called

to a job and was to work hard at that job for

the Lord.
D. Everything was guarded, watched, and
recorded. Individuals kept journals of daily
life in order to be certain that they were
keeping good works. Their entire lives
became rational and systematically
recorded. (ACCOUNTING)

CALVINISM
E. Also, if you were truly chosen, God would bless
the individual = fruits of ones labor would

multiple (blessings). In response to your labor,

God will bless you economically.
F. AESTHETICISM - The world is sinful and lusts of
the flesh would only lead to damnation. The
pleasures of the world were to be avoided. So
the blessings of God were REINVESTED in the
work that God called you to.

PROTESTANT ETHIC:
Commits one to a worldly calling
Places upon him the responsibility

of stewardship
Promises world blessings
Demands abstinence

PROTESTANT ETHIC:
This religious doctrine proved to be
fertile grounds for rational
capitalism:
A money generating system that

values work
Values Rational management of life
Values delay of instant gratification
for future monetary gain

 Chapter 5: From Protestant Ethic to

Work Ethic
The ideal/pure form of capitalism is like a light cloak
which can easily be removed and set aside, instead

it has become an IRON CAGE means that

capitalism is only a means to conviction to
salvation. Unfortunately the spirit of salvation has
left the cage and now its all about the accumulation
of material goods.

Rationalization of
Society
A change in technology does not

automatically cause a change in society.

The acceptance of the technology is
dependent on the values and beliefs of the
society
2 World Views: Traditional versus Rational

Rational Social Organization

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy:
A. Distinctive Social Institutions
B. Large-Scale Organizations
C. Specialized Tasks

D. Personal Discipline
E. Awareness of Time
F. Technical Competence
G. Impersonality

IV. Emile Durkheim

Durkheims Focus:
1. RELIGION
2. SUICIDE
3.

SOCIETY: Division of Labor this

affects the kind of personality one
may expect to find. There are 2 types
of solidarity created:

2 Types of Solidarity
What Binds People Together?
Mechanical Solidarity in Pre-

Industrial Societies
Organic Solidarity in Industrial

Societies

Pre-Industrial vs Industrial
Feature
Morphological
(structural)
basis

Mechanical solidarity

Organic solidarity

Based on resemblances
(predominant in less advanced
societies)

Based on division of labor

(predominately in more advanced
societies)

Segmental type (first clan-based,

later territorial)

Organized type (fusion of markets

and growth of cities)

Little interdependence (social

bonds relatively weak)

Much interdependency (social

bonds relatively strong)

Relatively low volume of

population

Relatively high volume of

population

Pre-Industrial vs Industrial
Feature
Types of norms
(typified by law)

Formal features of
conscience collective

Mechanical solidarity

Organic solidarity

Rules with repressive

sanctions

Rules with restitutive

sanctions

Prevalence of penal law

Prevalence of cooperative
law (civil, commercial,
procedural, administrative
and constitutional law)

High volume

Low volume

High intensity

Low intensity

High determinateness

Low determinateness

Collective authority
absolute

More room for individual

initiative and reflection

Pre-Industrial vs Industrial
Feature
Content of conscience
collective

Mechanical solidarity

Organic solidarity

Highly religious
Transcendental (superior
to human interests and
beyond discussion)

Increasingly secular
Human-orientated
(concerned with human
interests and open to
discussion)

Attaching supreme value

to society and interests of
society as a whole

Attaching supreme value

to individual dignity,
equality of opportunity,
work ethic and social
justice

Concrete and specific

Abstract and general

Mechanical
(Pre-industrial Societies)
A. Individuals are little differentiated from each other.
B. Have the same set of beliefs and sentiments.

C. Have little autonomy (collective consciousness).

D. Greater pressure on individuals to conform (Therefore:

slower change)

E. Individuals are not as interdependent.

F. Minimal division of labor - little specialization (Therefore:

slower change)

G. Less awareness of the I as differentiated from the

We

Organic
(Industrial Societies)

A. Individuals are highly differentiated from each other.

B. Have conflicting set of beliefs and sentiments.
C. Exercise considerable autonomy.
D. Collective life tends to be abstract: there is less

pressure for individuals to conform.

E. Change is faster.
F. Individuals extremely interdependent.
G. Extreme division of labor great deal of specialization.

H. Awareness of the I in opposition to the We.

FUNCTIONAL
INTERDEPENDENCE