The Social Lens

by Allan, Kenneth D.

• ISBN13: 9781412914109
• ISBN10: 1412914108
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-20
• Publisher: Pine Forge Pr

Summary

The Social Lens: An Invitation to Social and Sociological Theory covers the key thinkers in Western thought for the past 200 years. Written in a conversational style that is both appealing and provocative, this text uses real life examples to draw readers in and invite them to consider the ideas that have shaped our understanding of society.

Table of Contents

Prelude: Imagine Society

Theory and Perspectives

Introducing This Book

Introduction: The Modern Agenda -Ninetheeenth Century Theorizing

Modern Thinking

Harriet Martineau-Theorist of Modernity

Gender in Modernity

Religion in Modernity

Education in Modernity

Building Your Theory Toolbox

Capitalism and Engines of Social Change-Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Seeing Further: The Effects of Capitalism

The Essential Marx

Marx's Perspective: Human Consciousness and History

Species-being

Material Dialectic

Concepts and Theory: The Basic Dynamics of Capitalism

Class and Class Structure

Industrialization, Commodification, and Overproduction

Value and Exploitation

Theory and Concepts: The Effects of Capitalism

Alienation, Private Property, and Commodity Fetish

Class Consciousness

Marx Summary

Looking Ahead

Building Your Theory Toolbox

Rationality and the Bureaucratic Society-Max Weber (1864-1920)

Seeing Further: The Effects of Bureaucratic Organization

The Essential Weber

Weber's Perspective: Cultural Sociology

Culture and Social Science

Weber's Method

Rationalization

Legitimation

Concepts and Theory: The Rise of Capitalism

The Religious Culture of Capitalism

Structural Influences on Capitalism

Concepts and Theory: Class, Authority, and Social Change

Class

Status and Party

Authority and Social Change

Concepts and Theory: The Process of Rationalization

Preconditions for Bureaucratic Organization

Effects of Bureaucratic Organization

Weber Summary

Looking Ahead

Building Your Theory Toolbox

Cultural Diversity and Social Integration-Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

Seeing Further: Social Integration and Cultural Diversity

The Essential Durkheim

Durkheim's Perspective: The Reality of Society and Collective

Organismic Analogy

Social Facts

Concepts and Theory: The Religious Roots of Society

Religion and Science

Defining Religion

Creating the Sacred

Concepts and Theory: Social Diversity and Morality

Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

The Division of Labor

The Problem of Modernity

Organic Solidarity and Social Pathology

Concepts and Theory: Individualism in Modern Society

Suicide

The Cult of the Individual

Durkheim Summary

Looking Ahead

Building Your Theory Toolbox

The Individual in Modern Society-George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) and Georg Simmel (1858-1918)

Seeing Further: The Individual in Society

George Herbert Mead

The Essential Mead

Mead's Perspective: American Pragmatism and Action

Human Action

Concepts and Theory: Symbolic Meaning

Symbols and Social Objects

Interaction and Meaning

Concepts and Theory: Living Outside the Moment

Creating a Self

Society and the Self

The I and the Me

Mead Summary

Georg Simmel

The Essential Simmel

Simmel's Perspective: The Individual and Social Forms

Concepts and Theory: Subjective and Objective Cultures

Concepts and Theory: The Self in Modernity

Urbanization

Money

Social Networks

Simmel Summary

Looking Ahead

Mead and Simmel's Theoretical Impact

The Self in Modernity: Bringing Mead and Simmel Together

Building Your Theory Toolbox

The Challenges of Gender and Race-Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) and W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

Seeing Further: Social Exclusion

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Essential Gilman

Gilman's Perspective: Evolution With a Twist

Critical-Functional Evolution

Concepts and Theory: Dynamics of Social Evolution

Self- and Race-Preservation

Gynaecocentric

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