Social Facts & Social Currents

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Emile Durkheim
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- French man - Considered the 1st sociologist - Beliefs: 1. There is a such thing as society 2. What makes an individual is a reflection of social process in society
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Social facts
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- A kind of action that is not individual but \"social\" and regular - The main task of sociology is to identify & explain social facts - 2 types: 1. Material 2. Non material - Should never be reduced to the level of the individual
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Characteristics of Social facts
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1. They are external to the individual 2. They constrain the individual 3. They are fairly general throughout the social unit 4. They are resilient to time & change 5. They can be identified with means or rates
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Material Social Facts
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- have concrete measurable properties - the observable patterns of social life - the institutional structure of society
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Nonmaterial Social Facts
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- Cannot be directly observed - Must be inferred from their influence on behavior - Ex: Morality, culture, social order
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Society as an emergent organism = Functionalism
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- More than the sum of its parts - An integrated, bound system of institutions - Based on the functional interdependence of parts in a complex system - Will survive beyond the individual
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How will society survive beyond the individual?
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- Sometimes at the expense of the individual - Society will either adapt or get rid of any function that gets in the way of its survival
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Objections to Functionalism
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1. Why can't we observe society if it is real...if it's alive & it's organic? - Observed through certain regularities
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Regularities
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1. Social facts 2. Social Currents
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Social Currents
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Impulsive feelings that power a mob, even overriding some \"social facts\" - Don't last: come and go - Strong influences that affect many, if not all, individuals - Can solidify into a social fat
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Differences between social facts & social currents
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1. \"social current\" is strong but short-lived 2. \"social fact\" is more persistent - More resilient to time & social change
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\"Where do social facts come from?\"
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- Critique 1 of Durkheim - Response: social facts emerge from other social facts, they don't exist in isolation
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\"Psychologists already explained the stuff you're explaining\"
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- Critique 2 of Durkheim - Response: 1. Psychology studies how individuals function, and believe that individuals exist outside of a group (perform the ecological fallacy) 2. Sociology studies how groups function, and believe that individuals cannot exist outside of groups
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\" The whole is more than the sum of its parts\"
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- Critique 3 of Durkheim - Response: The collective possesses qualities that cannot be found in each individual alone. - Groups have: collective consciousness & collective effervescence
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Collective consciousness
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A strong sense of social cohesion that manifests itself in collective behaviors
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Collective effervescence
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The euphoric feeling of intense connection with the group
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