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Soubhagya Ranjan Padhi, hoogleraar en hoofd van de afdeling sociologie, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, (A Central University) Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh. Charles Varghese, Department of Sociology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (A Central University), Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh.

INTRODUCTION: CHALLENGING THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ORTHDOXY-GOULDNER AND MILLS

He also holds a Max Weber Professor of Sociology at Washington University and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam. Much later, this idea of ​​a convergence between functionality and Marxism became one of the key features of Gouldner's argument in Coming Crisis in Western Sociology.

THE COMING CRISIS OF WESTERN SOCIOLOGY

Consequently, they have not been able to address the concerns of young people and have lost their connection. One of the theories that has received severe criticism of Gouldner is his positivism and overemphasis on the scientific method.

POWER, PREJUDICE AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

Power Elite is a text about power, dominance and hegemony in connection with rapid modernization. The sociological imagination is a method, a perspective for analyzing everyday life and positioning oneself in a wider context of society.

SUMMARY

Central to this uncertain private problem is the inability to intermingle and transcend biography and history. This understanding of the interaction between biography and history implies that the sociologist discovers the nuances and social life.

KEY TERMS

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 1. Robert Merton

QUESTIONS: (LONG ANSWER TYPE)

UNIT –2

STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

Structure

  • Introduction of structural Functionalism 2.1. Unit Objectives
  • Talcott Parsons - System Theory
  • The Pattern Variable
  • Important Terms to Remember 2.7. The Key Ideas
  • Questions and Exercises (Short Type) 2.9. Questions and Exercises (Long Type)
  • References and further Readings
  • INTRODUCTION OF STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
  • UNIT OBJECTIVES
    • THE TRANSITION FROM UNIT ACTS TO SOCIAL SYSTEM
    • INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF STATUS, ROLE AND NORMS
    • WHAT HOLDS THE SYSTEM TOGETHER?
  • THE PATTERN VARIABLE
    • PARTICULARISM VS. UNIVERSALISM
    • AFFECTIVE NEUTRALITY VS. AFFECTIVITY
    • DIFFUSENESS VS. SPECIFICITY
    • COLLECTIVE ORIENTATION VS. INDIVIDUALISM
  • CRITICAL EVALUATION OF PARSONIAN SYSTEM THEORY
  • SUMMARY
  • IMPORTANT TERMS TO REMEMBER Structural Functionalism
  • THE KEY IDEAS
  • QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES (SHORT TYPE)
  • QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES (LONG TYPE)
  • CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 1. Talcott Parsons
  • REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS

This orientation of the actor to the situation is the central theme of the voluntary action theory. According to Parsons, status and role are two basic units or structural components of the social system. According to Parsons, one can see that there is a movement from unit actions (actor) to social system.

According to Parsons, on the basis of said motives and values, there are three corresponding acts viz. A - stands for adaptation, a complex of activities aimed at meeting the needs of the system by taking resources from the environment; G – stands for goal achievement, setting goals for the system; I – stands for integration, the maintenance of internal order; L- stands for latency or pattern maintenance, the generation of sufficient motivation to perform tasks. G (Goal Attainment) acts externally to see that the system's output or goal is properly achieved in relation to the physical world or environment.

Socialization is the process by which actors/individuals learn the basic values, norms, roles and sanctions of the system. The integrity of the social system depends on the necessary functions performed by various subsystems and the level of their integration. The largest components of the system are the behavioral system, the personality system, the social system and the cultural system.

UNIT-3

CONFLICT THEORY

  • Introduction 3.1. Unit Objectives
  • Marx Critique and dialectics of conflict: Ralf Dahrendorf (1929-2009) 3.3 Functional analysis of Conflict: Lewis Coser (1913-2003)
  • Key Terms
  • References and Suggested Readings
  • UNIT OBJECTIVES
  • MARX CRITIQUE AND DIALECTICS OF CONFLICT: RALF DAHRENDORF (1929-2009)
  • FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF CONFLICT: LEWIS COSER (1913-2003)
  • CONFLICT AND SOCIAL CHANGE: RANDALL COLLINS (1941-)
  • KEY TERMS
  • SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
  • LONG-ANSWER QUESTIONS
  • REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Marx proposed that society is always in a state of conflict due to competition between different groups for scarce resources. However, Max Weber further developed Karl Marx's ideas of conflict and proposed that there are several aspects of conflict that exist in a society. The unequal distribution of scarce resources and power in society have been the central concerns of conflict theory.

He defined power as “the probability that an actor within a social relationship will be able to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.” The primary task of conflict analysis was to examine different authority roles in society. Coser pointed out that not all social systems have the same degree of conflict and tension.

Coser further suggested that conflict tends to be dysfunctional in that social structure there is insufficient tolerance or institutionalization of conflict. Karl Marx, the father of conflict theory, suggested that society always sees conflict as a result of competition between different groups for scarce resources. Collins argued that humans in every society are sociable but conflict-prone animals which is the basic foundation of conflict theory.

UNIT- 4

STRUCTURALISM AND POST-STRUCTURALISM

Structuralism and the contribution of Claude Levi-Strauss 1. The Structure of the Human Mind

The move to Post-Structuralism

Key Terms

Answer to ‘Check your progress’

Self-assessment questions

In this next unit, we will first consider structuralism and then poststructuralism. The idea of ​​structuralism and poststructuralism are no longer new in social theory. Topics that were a complex concern of the avant-garde in the late 1950s and erupted into an intellectual publication frenzy in the early 1990s are now part of the standard repertoire of social theory and related disciplines.

The question that arises here is that since the idea of ​​structuralism and post-structuralism has become both a familiar and a controversial part of the intellectual landscape, how should we assess its significance for social theory. We will also see how different theories are associated with these two directions of contemporary approaches to the study of the individual, society and culture. The first section outlines the idea of ​​structuralism in social theory while drawing on the insights of Claude Levi-Strauss.

After extensively discussing Levi-Strauss' concept of structure, the analysis of myths and binary oppositions; the next two sections discuss the idea of ​​poststructuralism, influenced by the two most important thinkers of the twentieth century: Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault. A concluding section draws together the threads of the argument and sets out what structuralism and post-structuralism might entail.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

STRUCTURALISM AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS The basic idea of ​​structuralism was of language as an independent system of which the.

  • THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN MIND
  • THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF MYTH AND BINARY OPPOSITIONS Levi-Strauss applied structuralist method to a wide range fields including his study of

Levi-Strauss is different from other anthropologists as other anthropologists study what people say or do, but he is more concerned with human products. More than anything, he was interested in the objective structure of these products and not in their subjective meaning. Therefore, he puts it this way that "The concept of "social structure" has nothing to do with empirical reality, but with models that are built according to it.

Levi-Strauss's structure is essentially mental or cognitive; in other words, it speaks of the structures of the mind. Levi-Strauss was interested in the patterns or "structure" that people have in mind when they apply social rules—in this case, the rules of marriage. In the process of analyzing the structure of myths and kinship systems of primitive societies, he discovered the basic structure of myths and kinship systems of the whole society.

-Strauss thought that there are constant patterns in the organization of human thought, revealed by myths. The term 'binary oppositions' is often linked to structuralism, and Levi-Strauss' view is that people everywhere think deeply and order the world using contrasts. A structuralist analysis of the ways in which food is prepared can illustrate this: cooked food is above raw food, because culture is above nature (the culture/nature contrast is one of Levi-Strauss's universals).

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS/SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS-1 Fill in the blanks with suitable words

THE MOVE TO POST-STRUCTURALISM

  • DERRIDA DISCOURSE AND DECONSTRUCTION
  • FOUCAULT AND THE GENEALOGY OF KNOWLEDGE

So the longing for a center gives rise to binary opposites, with one term of central opposition and the other marginal. These opposites are defined hierarchically: the second term is seen as a corruption of the first, the terms are not equal opposites. Derrida believed that all text contained a legacy of these assumptions, and as a result, these texts could be reinterpreted with an awareness of the hierarchies implicit in language.

In this way, the literal reading of texts, along with the author's intentions, are questioned by Derrida's view of identity. His position privileges writing over speaking and thinking, because writing has a certain independence from author and reader that prioritizes ambiguity and non-literality and frustrates the author's intentions. Michel Foucault, the French historian and philosopher, can be seen as the most important representative of the poststructuralist movement.

In his Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1977) the theme of knowledge/power was again implicated with each other. For example, the birth of the prison in modern society represents a shift in how power is used. But Foucault insisted that political resistance was not just possible, but a necessary part of the equation.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS/SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS-2 Fill in the blanks with suitable words

Critics of Foucault argue that his analysis of power is simply a dead end that denies any possibility of political action. According to Foucault, disciplinary power consists of: (a) Observation. b) Hierarchical observation (c) Participant observation (d) Non-participant observation (vii) Choose/check the correct answer Panopticon provides a structure of-. According to him, all societies, both modern and primitive, have the same kind of underlying structures.

His orientation was closer to that of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, but with a major difference in method. We have described the main argument advanced by Foucault for the development of control over geophysical territories. Finally, we looked at some of the criticisms of Foucault's theory that have been made in the context of poststructuralism.

KEY TERMS

Complex structure: Another concept given by Levi-Strauss to refer to negative rules, for example, you cannot marry your sister. Elementary Structure: A concept given by Levi-Strauss, which represents the earliest forms of human kinship. There are positive marriage rules - or the opposite of incest taboos, for example, you must marry a "cross cousin".

Genealogy of Knowledge: Another concept given by Foucault to explain the origin of systems of social thought, suggesting that any system is the result of accidental turns of history, not the result of rationally inevitable trends. Logocentrism: Derrida's term meaning that truth is the voice, word, or expression of a central, original, and absolute Cause or Source. For example, the entire Western tradition of thought favors speech, the spoken word, over writing, the written word.

For example, a prison with cells where the prisoners can be observed at all times by a single person in the large central tower. Poststructuralism: Poststructuralism is a movement associated with a wave of French thinkers: Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, Giles Deleuze, Felix Guattari and Michel Foucault. It is the recognition that a text consists of words and that words can mean different things.

ANSWERS TO ‘CHECK YOUR PROGRESS’

  • SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (i) Define structuralism

FURTHER READINGS/SUGGESTED READINGS

References

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