Chapter 2, The Nature and Types of Sociological Theory, p. 29 to 42

• theory can be useful in describing social life
• sociology-part of humanities or social sciences?
• should sociology stay clear of ideology?
• theory should promote critical self-understanding to change the world
• environment: experienced physically or socially
• changing environments: cope with symbolic blueprints
• human communication is arbitrary, reflective, and intersubjective.
• positivism: seeks universal laws to describe phenomenon
• Comte/Pareto: grasp the laws that determine human behavior for a better society
• natural sciences: technical theorizing
• human sign systems are learned
• Weber, understood limits of positivism
• symbols must be understood within culture
• a mechanical clock is only useful to Western-focused individuals
• humans interpret environments
  
• relations/authority are maintained by language: low-status groups-considered unclean
• hard-headed businessmen: thought to benefit everyone in the long run
• authority must be questioned
• critical theory: rigorous self-reflection
• Is our freedom and humanity compromised by low-wage labor in the Third World?

POSITIVISM

• commitment to (1) determinism, (2) empiricism
• scientific laws are applied to situations
• human relations are difficult to observe in a lab setting
• use senses to gain knowledge about the world
• assumes we can accurately interpret reality from our senses
• scientists then interpret the meaning of the data
• how to achieve desired ends in most effective way
• how to decrease a crime rate through social control...
• we should strive for the same standards of objectivity as the natural sciences
• does not give us a straight-forward, simple description of reality
• Science has worked on increasing America's military capacity not providing adequate nutrition for all Americans
• other types of inquiry besides Defense are possible!
• science can help us eliminate "bad" fetuses. SICK!
• Scientists have worked on increasing the destructive power of the state
• scientific knowledge does not invariably serve human ends. If it did, we would end poverty.
• politics drives science, that must be questioned!
• fight for the powerless, not the powerful!
• C. Wright Mills, understand laws within a historic period
• historical research is about the transmission of tradition
• common traditions/language help us understand history
• language is institutionalized
• communication must meet goal: order must be understood
• there is no sociological law that can be applied to all societies
• positivism vs. critical theory: objectivity vs. subjective look at human affairs
• critical theory: why do we do things in a certain way?
• positivism is morally neutral
• many feudal values were dispersed when modern technology was developed
• critical theory is holistic
• 1. look at language: how it creates reality
• 2. people aren't always aware of the rules by which they live. They could be harmful.
• 3. critique of the way people are confined within particular social institutions
• Hegel, the world is a reflection of the mind.
• 1. The world is not thought into existence
• 2. subjects have free will.
• 3. subjects do not have complete freedom to express themselves
• critical theory seeks to change the world
• Freud: neurotically disturbed individuals-insight into rigid, compulsive behaviors
• Marx: working class had to be freed from the dominant ideology that worked against its interests
• sociology is a transcendent discipline
• how can humans demonstrate mastery over their physical and social environments?