Foundations of Sociological Theory

1. Foundations of Sociological Theory Final exam review / Spring 2013

2. ‘Lumpenproletariat’ • Marx used term to refer to the lowest stratum of proletariat • translates as ‘rogue proletarian,’ unlikely to achieve class consciousness & lost to socially useful production, thus considered useless in revolutionary struggle • the "refuse of all classes", including "swindlers, confidence tricksters, brothel-keepers, rag-and-bone merchants, beggars, and other flotsam of society“ • Marx had no love for hustlers – banksters or gangsters • Today we use terms like ‘undeserving’ poor, ‘underclass,’ or ‘slum dwellers’ to cover outcast, degenerated, and submerged elements such as beggars, prostitutes, gangsters, petty criminals, the chronically unemployed, the old and broken, found esp. in postindustrial cities • aka the ‘subaltern’ (Gramsci, Spivak)

3. “On National Culture” • Fanon’s critique of nationalism and imperialism also develops to cover areas such as mental health and the role of intellectuals in revolutionary situations • Fanon explains in great detail that revolutionary groups should look to the lumpenproletariat for the force needed to expel colonists • Fanon uses the term to refer to those inhabitants of colonized countries who are not involved in industrial production, particularly peasants living outside the cities • He argues that only this group, unlike the industrial proletariat, has sufficient independence from the colonists to successfully make a revolution against them

4. Do ‘riff-raff’ have revolutionary potential? Bakunin, 19th c. Russian revolutionary and anarchist, saw the revolutionary archetype in a peasant milieu (like Fanon) and among educated unemployed youth, assorted marginals from all classes, brigands, robbers, the impoverished masses, and those on the margins of society who have escaped, been excluded from, or not yet subsumed in the discipline of emerging industrial work • ‘social dynamite’ (Spitzer)

5. 3 major perspectives in sociological theory

6. Where our theorists fit

7. Respective theoretical orientations - I Nonrational A C T I O N Durkheim Collective Individual Weber ORDER Marx Rational

8. Respective theoretical orientations - II Nonrational A C T I O N Mead Durkheim Simmel DuBois Collective Individual Weber ORDER Gilman Marx Rational

9. Gilman’s multidimensional explanation of gender inequality Nonrational A C T I O N Sharedsymbolic codes and gender norms Differential socialization (internalized attitudes) Sex ‘principles’ (biology) Collective Individual ORDER Patriarchal institutions Rational

10. Simmel’s Duality Regarding Subjective/Objective Culture

11. Simmel • Blasé attitude • Duality (form/content, etc.) • Fashion • Sociability • Tragedy of culture

12. Du Bois’s multidimensional approach to race & class Nonrational Double consciousness ‘Colortocracy’ A C T I O N Color line (symbolic status hierarchy) Color line (internalized attitude) Prejudice Collective Individual ORDER Color line (racialized social institutions) Discrimination Capitalist class system Rational

13. Mead • GAME STAGE • GENERALZED OTHER • “I’ & “Me” • PLAY STAGE

14. Mead’s core concepts Nonrational I Significant symbols A C T I O N Me Generalized other Play stage Game stage Collective Individual ORDER Rational

15. Merton • Conformity • Innovation • Modes of adaptation • Ritualism • Rebellion • Retreatism

16. Goffman • Discredited/discreditable • Disidentifier • Passing • Stigma • Stigma symbol • Virtual social identity

17. Fanon • colonialism • decolonization