Seeing the social world through the lens of social theories - Essay Example

?Seeing the social world through the lens of social theories Human beings have always reflected on life and its reason of existence. Such thoughts are the basis of religious, philosophical and ideological theories. Thus, the subject of sociology has surfaced as a scientific study of the origin of human society and the behavioral patterns of human beings. Sociology is essentially “a more systematic study of what people do in their daily lives and routines.” (Turner et al, 1998, p.1) Sociology became a popular concept only in the nineteenth century. More than considering it as a new revelation in the field of human reasoning, it was considered as an extension of Enlightenment. The term Enlightenment is concerned with shaping human intellectuality towards the direction where people believe that progress is inevitable (Turner et al, 1998, p.2). The sociological theories study the society and its impact on the lives of people since people’s personalities are shaped by the social structure. Sociologists strive to study the social world from a scientific perspective by applying principles of science in order to propose constructive changes in the society that will lead to a better society. In this respect the paper discusses two theories – the feminist theory with respect to Marx’s viewpoint and Marx’s theory of social class. Social Theory and Understanding the Social World Human beings when born are introduced into a pre-existing world with no previous notion of where and in what conditions they are born. People survive in a social world that shapes them independently of what they wish. Very soon they get adapted to their surroundings and other people who are their parents or siblings, and learn to grow sympathy or antipathy towards them. It is this social world, and how people in their daily life try to adjust is the subject of study for sociologists. People are bestowed with a driving force to walk the journey from birth till death and on the way they create their own social life. While some people have active control of their lives, there are others who are less skilled at it (Plummer, 2010, pp.2-3). From a sociological perspective, social life is a complex web of anger, frustration, pleasure, fascination, disappointment etc. Sociologists observe this awe-inspiring social world created by humans with all its joys and sufferings. People although get entangled in the complexity of social life, nonetheless encourages the good things in society and strives to remove the bad things. Thus, sociology “becomes the systematic, skeptical study of all things social.” (Plummer, 2010, p.3) Positivism as in sociological principle is a doctrine that states that scientific theories must be applied for the study of the social world in the same manner as is done during the study of natural sciences. There are several objectives of scientific theories applied to the study of social world. By scientific study of the social world, general laws can be made to understand connections between different social events. It can also be revealed with the help of conclusions derived from experiments that social events do not align with any particular assumption. Another objective is to use quantifiable and measurable data to explain the intricate relationship between human behavior and social structures. There is also the fourth objective that includes applying the principles of scientific theories of the social study to construct proposals for bringing positive changes in the society to achieve a better society (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p.17). The sociology of culture is the study of social life by understanding it as the amalgamation of a series of symbolic codes used by a society. These codes enable people to comprehend their personal lives and the role of external forces like the government, media, firms and other organizations. Cultural sociology is the study of people’s mode of thinking and acting, and all such material things that shape the lives of people (Back et al, 2012, p.38). An important element of sociological investigation is class. The sociological concept of social class generally indicates “a body of theory and evidence that is used to explain the structural reproduction of inequality within society.” (Back et al, 2012, p.48) The sociological idea of class is determined by the position that exists because of an individual’s economic condition which in turn is determined by his occupation, range of income and source of income among other things. It is an individual’s social class that establishes his power and privileges in the society and continues to do so for his future generations depending on their patterned socioeconomic status in the society (Back et al, 2012, p.48). Cultural complexity is further complicated by globalization which can be defined as “worldwide social condition” (Back et al, 2012, p.121) whereby anything that happens in one region of the world can have severe or mild consequences on many or all other parts of the globe. Thus, it can be said that every part of the world is connected to the other parts in myriad complicated ways, and also every person’s life is interconnected in sometimes apparent and more often in obscure, hidden and complicated ways. The most common example of obvious globalization effect is the economic crisis which has affected the social and economic condition of people in every country of this world because of crises in banking, finance and industry. Then, there is example of hidden globalization effects like the everyday items like food and clothing that people buy in supermarkets. The influence of globalization ranges from transportation of food and other items between different countries to clothes worn by people in Western countries made in factories in developing countries where the workers get meager wages. Globalization includes all these social, economic and political processes that shape the daily lives of people. Cultural sociology studies this complex nature of globalization that affects the lives of people (Back et al, 2012, p.122). The Feminist Theory with reference to Marx’ theory Historically, sociologists have been debating about the characteristics of a modern society. Till the 1960s, sociological theories have failed to explore the source of problems faced by the feminine gender which means half the global population was largely ignored by the sociologists. Only in the beginning of the twentieth century when feminine movements began to have significant voice regarding women’s power to vote, did the sociologists began to seriously consider feminist theories as an inseparable part of social studies. The purpose of feminism is to show how comprehending the “social conditions in which women live their lives opens up the opportunity to reconstruct their world and thereby offer them the prospect of freedom.” (Jones, 1993, p.91) According to liberal feminism the inferior condition in which the female gender lives is because of individual ignorance. For this purpose the need is to impose anti-discrimination laws against the prejudiced perpetrators and promote non-sexist attitudes. Thus, feminism is essentially a movement for re-educating the social world to provide the women their fundamental rights (Jones, 1993, pp.91-92). According to Marxists-feminists, it is the need of the capitalistic society to suppress the women. There are two Marxist-feminist approaches among which one is more economist than the other. In a capitalist society, the women stay at home and perform the duties of wife and mother. They serve the men and look after the household, and also give birth to future generation of labourers. Thus they play an important contributory role in a capitalistic society for free. They become an unpaid source of labour for the men in the society. For a capitalistic society it is more profitable to keep women engaged at home than to give higher wages to male laborers so that they can afford domestic services in the market place. In the era of nuclear family, even if women enter the labour market they are paid lower wages than men because of their economic dependency on men. The second Marxist-feminist approach studies the reason why women are equally subordinated in a non-capitalist society. Although women as a source of unpaid labour are profitable for a society, the question remains why men cannot play the role of domestic labour (Jones, 1993, pp.92-93). Radical feminism explains the universal oppression of women by applying the concept of patriarchy. Patriarchy means “the power of men over women.” (Jones, 1993, pp.93) Thus radical feminism says that it is men and not the economic system that is the reason behind women’s oppression. The dual system theory is an amalgamation of both Marxist-feminism and radical feminism which means both economic system and patriarchy are responsible for women’s oppression. According to Christian Delphy, there are two modes of production in the capitalistic society – industrial and domestic. In the industrial arena the working men are exploited, while in the domestic arena the women are exploited by the working men (Jones, 1993, pp.96-97). Marx’s theory of social class Karl Marx’s theory argues that social class is created by an individual’s contribution in the production process. An individual’s role in production process determines his or her social status. The political and ideological awareness is also determined by the class position (Parkin, 1979, p.8). According to Marx, in a communist society “exploitation and alienation will not exist because the division of labour will not be based on private ownership of property.” (Turner et al, 1998, p.124) Marx has said that in the social class hierarchy those who are owners of production process will always suppress the working class. Thus, in his view the old feudal form is substituted by the bourgeois society with a new type of oppression. Between the bourgeois classes who own the production processes and the proletariat class who are the working class always advocate opposite views. The bourgeois class holds the upper strata of the social ladder while the proletariat maintains reorganization of the society as it is through their contribution the production process benefits every sector of the society. Marx had argued that historically capitalism arose from feudalism. The rise of trade and exchange in the Middle Ages paved the way for new productive forces. Also with new cultural exposures, the noble class began to cultivate cash crops in their lands which needed new production process. With this kind of transition, the serfs were forced to arrive in the cities to find work. During this phase, the merchant class was born. Initially, the capitalists contributed largely towards trade and exchange thus serving the needs of the noble class. However, over time capital became the major force of production. With the rise of capitalism, there was a drastic change in the class structure with the oppressing class, the bourgeois, and the oppressed class, the proletariat. In capitalist society very often production exceeded the demand which resulted in reducing production by labour lay off. Marx made his second prediction when the proletarians began to believe that their conditions cannot be improved in a capitalist society. He predicted that the proletariats will be increasingly oppressed in capitalism, and this will awaken class consciousness among them and they will eventually overthrow the entire system (Turner et al, 1998, pp125-128). Conclusion A sociological theory is a systematic way of understanding the social world with a set of interrelated ideas. Since theories have definite perspectives based on selective data, they provide a prejudiced view of reality. Sociologists view the society as a major determinant factor of human character and behavior, and see the society as a product of human activities. Feminist theory is concerned with the position of women in the contemporary society. It analyzes the women power and accordingly uses the knowledge to improve the lives of women. Marxist theory sees society as a structure based on economic factors. It sees class divisions in society where there is an eternal possibility of conflicts between the classes. References 1. Back, L. et al (2012) Cultural Sociology: An Introduction, Wiley-Blackwell 2. Jones, P. (1993) Studying society: sociological theories and research practices, CollinsEducational 3. Macionis, J.J. & K. Plummer (2012) Sociology: A Global Introduction, Pearson 4. Parkin, F. (1979) Marx’s Theory of History: A Bourgeois Critique, Columbia University Press 5. Plummer, K. (2010) Sociology: the basics, Routledge 6. Turner, J.H., Beeghley, L. & C.H. Powers (1998) The Emergence of Sociology Theory: 4th ed, Wadsworth Publishing Read More