Social theory

Social theory describes, explains or analyzes the social world or some aspect of it, albeit with a set of unproven statements (and accompanying elaboration) of relationship between social concepts. These social concepts are abstract correlates of the physical world that focus on particular characteristics.

A good social theory reveals things that otherwise remain hidden. It also makes predictions about future actions, activity or situations based. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, social theory became most closely related to the academic field of sociology while the other social science disciplines of anthropology, philosophy, history, political science, economics and social work branched out into their own disciplines. Subjects related to understanding society and its development, such as "philosophy of history" withered, and their subject matter became part of social theory as taught in sociology.

Social theory should never be taken as reality itself. Theories are abstractions of the social interaction, so a single theory is unlikely to encompass all facets of the social world. Several theories are commonly used together to better analyze a social situation. Within the social sciences, it is not uncommon for a theory originating in one discipline to be used by researchers in other fields. Within sociology, social theory has a central place as the beginning point of social research – whether one makes use of quantitative measures and statistics, or qualitative data and meanings.

Importance of Social Theory

Although there have been many individual social theorists in western culture, social theory acquired new significance with Karl Marx's critique of the 19th century English industrial society and the subsequent formation of the active Labour Party. Within the academic world, social theory became an established part of several disciplines at the turn of the 20th century. For a large part of the early 20th century, however, most social theorists belonged to the discipline of Sociology. During this period, social theory by and large reflected traditional views of society, including traditional views of family and marriage.

Attempts at an interdisciplinary discussion free of the restrictions imposed by the more scientifically oriented disciplines began in the late 1920s. The Frankfurt Institute for Social Research provides the most successful example. The Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago followed in the 1940s. In the 1970s, programs in Social and Political Thought were established at Sussex and York. Others followed, with various different emphases and structures, such as Social Theory and History (University of California, Davis). Cultural Studies programs, notably that of Birmingham University, extended the concerns of social theory into the domain of culture and thus anthropology. A chair and undergraduate program in social theory was established at the University of Melbourne and a number of universities now specialize in social theory. Meanwhile, social theory within sociology and the other social science disciplines continued, and other interdisciplinary theories developed.

Meanwhile, social theory continued to be used within sociology, economics and related disciplines that had no objections to scientific restrictions. It developed into several new areas, and new theoretical developments and perspectives now characterize social theory in these fields.

History

Pre-classical social theorists

Prior to 19th century, social theory was largely narrative and normative, expressed in story form, with ethical principles and moral acts.Thus one can regard religious figures as the earliest social theorists. In China, Master Kong (otherwise known as Confucius or Kung Fu-tzu) (551 - 479 B.C.E.) envisaged a just society that improved upon the Warring States. Later in China, Mozi (circa 470 - circa 390 B.C.E.) recommended a more pragmatic, but still ethical, sociology. In Greece, philosophers Plato (427-347 B.C.E.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) were known for their commentaries on social order. In the Christian world, Saint Augustine (354 - 430) and St. Thomas Aquinas (circa 1225 - 1274) concerned themselves exclusively with a just society. St. Augustine, who saw the late Ancient Roman society as corrupt, theorized a contrasting City of God.

European philosophers also theorized about society and contributed important ideas to the development of social theory. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) saw the social order as being created by people who have the right to withdraw their consent to a monarchy. John Locke (1632-1704) recognized that people can agree to work together. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1775) postulated a natural social law that could be observed. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) believed that people working together can create the laws needed to establish a good society. Edmund Burke (1729-1797) saw society is an organic whole. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) believed that only the rational, moral person, not ruled by passion, can be free. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) described the way in which rationality and morality develop together as people reflect on society.

The early thinkers were concerned with establishing an ideal society, however, not analyzing society as it exists. A notable exception was Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), a Muslim philosopher and statesman from Egypt and Tunisia. In his book Al Muqaddimah, or the Introduction to History, he analyzed the policies that lead to the rise and fall of dynasties, explaining that in the Arab world the conquering nomads originally settled in the towns. Later, when the invaders lost their desert skills and adopted the vices and slackness of town life, they become ripe for a new group of conquering nomads. His contemporaries ignored his theories, but they found their way into Western commentaries on national wealth.

Hegel was the European philosopher who most influenced modern social analysts. Phenomenology of Spirit (sometimes translated Phenomenology of Mind) is his description of social development through thesis, antithesis and synthesis. This can be seen at work in a group that has a fixed set of ideas about the world. The more ardently the group presses their ideas, the more likely another group will challenge them. Both groups are likely to be somewhat extreme. Over time, a middle view that incorporates aspects of each group develops and is accepted by society. Thus does a society refine itself and progress towards ever more sophisticated concepts of life and morality.

Classical social theory

More elaborate social theories (known as classical theories) were developed by European thinkers after several centuries of drastic social change in Western Europe. The Reformation, Renaissance and the Enlightenment were followed by industrialization, urbanization and democracy. Traditional ways of life were crumbling. The authority of the church, the king, and the upper classes was challenged, families were separated by the migration to the city, and previously self-sufficient farmers became dependent upon others for their daily needs. New means of transportation and communication increased the speed of change, and the individual came to be seen as a person worthy of rights and privileges.

The classical theorists were trying to make sense of all of these changes. These theories are known as “grand theories” – comprehensive views that attempt to explain all of society with a single set of concepts. They usually include the Christian idea of social progress and religious elements, although the theorists were themselves not necessarily religious. They also included science and technology, either as a saving grace or something to be feared. Many of the classical theorists had university appointments: Durkheim was the first to have a sociology appointment. Theorists not associated with the university (Marx, Comte, Spencer) were regarded as philosophers, because their interdisciplinary approach was "outside the box" of the existing disciplines.

In the theory of Human Progress, development started with the theological stage in which people attribute cause of social events to God. In the metaphysical stage people are more realistic, and in the positivistic stage they come to understand life in terms of empirical evidence and science. This theory came from Auguste Comte’s (1798-1857), who is considered the ‘father of sociology.’ It was popularized by Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), who translated his work into English. A social theorist in her own right, her theories have remained largely unknown until the last few years.

The theory of social evolution known as social Darwinism was developed by Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903), although his followers embellished it in a way that most modern theorists find distasteful. Spencer, not Darwin, coined the term "survival of the fittest" - to explain social inequalities. His lesser known theory, the Law of Individuation, contends that each person develops into own separate identity. A fierce advocate of personal freedom and development, Spencer believed that the state ultimately existed to protect the rights of the individual.

Marxism is the theory of social inequality developed by Karl Marx (1818-1883), who claimed he turned Hegel “on its head.” Concerned about the consequences of industrial development, Marx advocated a revolution of the working class to overthrow the ruling capitalists. The political components of his theory inspired a number of revolutions around the world including the Russian Revolution of 1917. Although Marx was a contemporary of Spencer and Comte, his social theory did not become popular until the 20th century.

The idea of a collective conscious (the beliefs and sentiments of a group), reminiscent of Hegel, came from Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), who thought that a person is not truly human without the social. “Norms” are the unwritten and unspoken rules of behavior that guide social interaction. “Anomie” is a state of normlessness when a society is unable to provide guidance. Persons experiencing anomie feel lost and are susceptible to suicide. “Sacred,” “profane” (not sacred) and “totem” (an external representation of the collective spiritual experience) are terms from his theory of religion. He predicted a future age of individual religion - “the cult of the individual”- when people internalize and revise collective totems for their own inner needs.

In “Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” Max Weber (1864-1920) predicts that the external pursuit of wealth, even if taken as evidence of God’s approval (as it was for the Calvinists), will become a cage of mundane passions. Weber was also concerned about the effects of rational authority, especially as found in bureaucracy.

Other classical theories include the ideas of Vilfredo Pareto (1848 - 1923) and Pitirim A. Sorokin, who were skeptical of technology and argued that progress is an illusion. Their social cycle theory illustrates their point that historical is really a cycle of ups and downs. Ferdinand Tönnies (1855 - 1936) focused on community and society. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft describe the contrast between personal, intimate relationships and impersonal, bureaucratic ones.

Modern social theory

By and large, the classical theorists were strongly structural-functional. They tended to see society as an integrated system of stable social patterns (social structure). Society was often compared to a living organism, with customs and activities filling different functions or needs.

Early in the 20th century, social theory began to include free will, individual choice, and subjective reasoning. Instead of classical determinism, human activity was acknowledged to be unpredictable. Thus social theory become more complex. The Interactionist perspective of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) argued that individuals, rather than being determined by their environment, helped shape it. Individual identity and the roles in relationships are a key aspect of this theory.

The social conflict perspective, based on Marx’s theory, focused on the unequal distribution of physical resources and social rewards, particularly among racial, gender, class, age, and ethnicity groups. Since it includes studies of prejudice and discrimination, it not surprisingly became a favorite of women and minorities. Conflict theorists believe that those in power created society’s rules for their own benefit. Conflict and confrontation may be necessary to bring social change.

The three perspectives listed above became the dominant paradigms within sociology during the 20th century. Each paradigm represents an historical development and new areas of exploration about society. Not uncommonly theorists advocate one perspective over the others.

Systems theory

Systems theory is one of the theoretical trends that developed in the late 20th century that is truly interdisciplinary. In general, it is structural, but always holistic – a system cannot be understood by understanding the parts. Interaction and relationships are essential to a complete understanding of a social system. Systems theories are not reductionist, and they tend toward non-linearity and indeterminacy. In these ways they reject traditional scientific concepts. But most systems theorists still subscribe to time honored scientific methods.

Talcott Parsons’ (1902-1979) systems theory dominated sociology from 1940 to 1970. It was a grand system of systems theory, wherein each system was composed of actors, goals and values, boundaries and patterns of interaction. It included human agency in his theory of action. Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s (1901-1972), whose General Systems Theory appeared almost simultaneously with Parson’s theory, believed his theory would be a new paradigm to guide model construction in all the sciences. He sought to capture the dynamic life processes in theoretical terms using concepts such as open systems, equilibrium, system maintenance, and hierarchical organization. His theory gained wide recognition in both the physical and social sciences and is often associated with cybernetics, a mathematical theory of communication and regulatory feedback developed by W. Ross Ashby and Norbert Wiener in the 1940s and 50s.

The Living Systems Theory developed by James Grier Miller (1916-2002) focused on characteristics unique to living systems - open, self-organizing systems that interact with their environment. Walter Buckley (1921-2005) focused on psychological and sociocultural systems, drawing distinctions between the simple mechanical systems of physical science with no feedback loops, and the complex adaptive systems that have feedback loops, are self regulatory, and exchange information and energy with the environment.

Network theory grew out of the studies of British anthropologists (Elizabeth Bott and others) in the 1950s. They used Moreno’s sociometry and other graphic models from social psychology to chart relationship patterns. Using cybernetics, graph theory, matrix algebra and multidimensional scaling, network theorists explored measures of centrality, cliques, social distance, reciprocity, structural balance, cohesion and density. With the use of blockmodeling, they now also explore structural equivalence, hierarchy and social position. Network theory appeals especially to macrotheorists who are interested in community and nation power structures. Related to network is exchange theory – a theory that started as a behavioralistic theory with George C Homans’s (1910-1989) and has expanded to include power, equity and justice (Richard Emerson, Karen Cook), as well as the sources of strain and conflict in micro and macro situations (Peter Blau).

Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) uses systems to describe society, but his approach is less deterministic than the theories above. He envisions a self-organizing, living system with no central coordination. Such a system is created by the choices that people make. Autopoiesis is their awareness of their choices. Trust, and risk are key components.

In the 1970s, catastrophe theory (René Thom and E.C. Zeeman) introduced the idea of bifurcation – a state of system overload created by multiple feedback channels. Singular causes become multiplied as each effect creates a new cause. In this situation, a deterministic system can generates two or more solutions. Non-linear phenomena was further examined in the 1980s in chaos theory: system choice, strange attractors, scalar levels and fractals, the butterfly effect. With the idea of emergence, or system choice, the line between living and non-living things became blurred. Developed by theorists from a range of disciplines - mathematics, technology, biology and philosophy, chaos theory spread to all academic disciplines. Those who couldn’t understand the math, used it metaphorically. Complexity theory which followed, was a return to more deterministic principles. Emergence, adaptation, self organization, and the red queen effect are some of the phenomena associated with complexity, studied by the multidisciplinary Sante Fe Institute established in 1984. Cellular automata, neural networks, artificial intelligence and artificial life are related fields.

Neo Marxism

Critical theory came from members of the Frankfurt School (Theodore Adorno (1903-1969), Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979), Eric Fromm (1900-1980), Jurgen Habermas (1929-) and others). They began their work in the 1920s but it did not become well-known until the 1960s. They were severe critics of capitalism but believed that Marx’s theory had come to be interpreted too narrowly. They believed that objective knowledge is not possible because all ideas are produced by the society in which they arise. Horkheimer saw popular culture as a means of manipulation. Adorno believed that jazz and pop music distracted people and made them passive. His study on the Authoritarian Personality concluded that prejudice came from rigid, authoritarian homes. Marcuse proclaimed that thought became flattened in the one dimensional modern society.

One of the most influential critical theorists, Habermas’s hermeneutic (understanding) theory concluded that modern society would come to a point of crisis because it could not meet individual’s needs and because institutions are manipulating individuals. He advocated that people respond by communicative action (communication).

Contributions to the critical perspective have come from other countries. Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) analyzed society in terms of sometimes autonomous fields (as in academic field), not classes. He introduced the now popular terms social (relationships) and cultural capital, along with economic capital. An American theorist, C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), claimed America was ruled by the power elite. It was the sociological imagination that would turn personal problems into public issues and create change. British theorist Ralph Dahrendorf (1929-) concluded that conflict is the great creative force of history. When the balance of power shifts, changes happen. Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-) has expanded conflict theory to a world level in his World Systems Theory.

Post Modern and Post Structural theory

Around 1970-1980, a group of theorists developed a critique of contemporary society using language as a source of evidence for their claims. Like critical theorists, they are critical of science. Like the neo-Marxists, they are more likely to discuss large scale social trends and structures using theories that are not easily supported or measured. Extreme deconstructionists or poststructuralists may even argue that any type of research method is inherently flawed. Culture is as important as economics. Social theory in this sense is less analysis and more social commentary.

Postmodernists claim there has been a major shift from modern to postmodern, the latter being characterized as a fragmented and unstable society. Globalization and consumerism has contributed to the fragmentation of authority and the commodification of knowledge. Society today sells images and identity in the commercial products. For the postmodernist, experience and meaning is personal, and cannot be generalized, so universal explanations of life are unreal. Norms and cultural behavior of the past are being replaced by individualized ideologies, myths and stories.

An important postmodern critique comes from Michel Foucault (1926-1984), who analyzed the social institutions of psychiatry, medicine and prison as an exemplification of the modern world. He observed shifts of power, and talked about epistimes that define an age.

Jean Baudrillard’s (1929-) critique is that America is a hyperreality, where people are obsessed with perfection and objectification of the self. Authenticity is replaced by copy (reality is replaced by a substitute). Instead of having experiences, people observe spectacles, via control screens. Nothing is “real.” Instead there is simulation and simulacra. But those engaged in the illusion are cannot see it.

The idea of discourse and deconstruction came from Jacques Derrida (1930-2004). He thought of talking as something that mediates reality. His poststructuralist view is that there is no structure, no cause, only discourse and text. A text can have a range of meanings and interpretations. Questioning the accepted meaning can result in strikingly new interpretations.

Other theories

There are many other social theories in use today. Some of the important ones include Phenomenology, developed by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and Alfred Schutz (1899-1959). There has been a trend toward evolutionary theories, from Gerhard Lenski (1924-)to Anthony Giddens (1938-) and others. Feminist theory has become a separate focus, as has theories of the body. Sociobiology has made a come back, although it is still a small group. And thanks to Arlie Hochschild and others, emotions have become a subject of social inquiry.

Future of Social Theory

In the end, social theories are created by people, so they reflect the short comings of the theorists. While popular theories are refined by continual use, hence come to acquire a perspective larger than any single person, there still is no single theory comprehensive enough to describe all of the facets of society and the various social relationships. Modern theorists are more inclined to appreciate theorists in different camps than in the past. It is not uncommon today to use several different theories in one research project. The major problem with combining of theories is the accompanying baggage associated with each theory, mainly the different assumptions and definitions.

Overall, modern social theory is in some ways more fragmented than in the past, due in part to changing social morals. This is seen especially in the area of family - an area with a great deal of research, but little coherent theory to pull it together. As a result, each theorist, each student of the research is left to drawn their own conclusions about meaning.

Another problem is the growing division between postmodernists and the more positivistic theorists who make use of science methodology and statistics. The qualitative/quantitative divide has abated somewhat, new critiques of science and modern society include voices from disciplines with no scientific foundation. At the same time, statistical and other quantitative methods are becoming more complex, requiring more training and expertise at even a beginning level.

Despite everything, in many ways it seems that social theory is just beginning to come into its heyday. In a shrinking and diverse world, understanding social relations has become paramount in many situations.

Sara Horsfall 03:15, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Sources

Ahmad, Imad A. “An Islamic Perspective on the Wealth of Nations. Minaret of Freedom Institute, Bethesda Maryland, http://www.minaret.org/malaysia.htm

Allen, Kenneth. 2006. Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory. Thousand Oaks, California. Pine Forge Press.

Elliott, Anthony and Bryan S. Turner, editors. 2001. Profiles in Contemporary Social Theory. Thousand Oaks, California. Sage Publications.

Matthews, George. “Ibn Khaldun” http://www.angelfire.com/mac/egmatthews/worldinfo/glossary/ibn.html accessed May 26, 2006.

Turner, Jonathan H. 2003. The Structure of Sociological Theory. Belmont, California. Wadsworth.

Wallace, Ruth A. and Alison Wolf. 2006. Contemporary Sociological Theory. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc.

External links

• The International Social Theory Consortium
• Sociological Theorists
• Social theory and popular culture

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