SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

FOURTH EDITION

George Ritzer
University of Maryland

THE McGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.

Montreal New York St. Louis San Francisco Auckland Bogota Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto

CONTENTS

LIST OF BIOGRAPHICAL AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES PREFACE

xxi XXi

PART 1 1

CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: THE EARLY YEARS INTRODUCTION SOCIAL FORCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY Political Revolutions The Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Capitalism The Rise of Socialism Urbanization Religious Change The Growth of Science INTELLECTUAL FORCES AND THE RISE OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY The Enlightenment and the Conservative Reaction to It The Development of French Sociology The Development of German Sociology The Origins of British Sociology Key Figures in Italian Sociology Turn-of-the-Century Developments in European Marxism

3 4 6 6 6 7 7 8 9 9 9 13 20 31 38 39 41 44 50 50 51 54 xiii

KARL MARX THE DIALECTIC HUMAN POTENTIAL Powers and Needs Consciousness Activity

XiV

CONTENTS

Sociability Unanticipated Consequences ALIENATION Components of Alienation Distortions Resulting from Alienation Emancipation THE STRUCTURES OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY Commodities Capital Private Property Division of Labor Social Class CULTURAL ASPECTS OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY Class Consciousness and False Consciousness Ideology MARX'S ECONOMICS: A CASE STUDY 3 EMILE DURKHEIM SOCIAL FACTS THE DIVISION OF LABOR IN SOCIETY Dynamic Density Law Anomie Collective Conscience Collective Representations SUICIDE AND SOCIAL CURRENTS The Four Types of Suicide A Group Mind? RELIGION Sacred and Profane Totemism Collective Effervescence SOCIAL REFORMISM Occupational Associations Cult of the Individual THE ACTOR IN DURKHEIM'S THOUGHT Assumptions about Human Nature Socialization and Moral Education Dependent Variables INDIVIDUAL ACTION AND INTERACTION EARLY AND LATE DURKHEIMIAN THEORY 4 MAX WEBER METHODOLOGY History and Sociology

55 56 56 57 58 60 61 62 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 70 75 77 79 80 81 84 84 85 86 88 91 92 93 94 94 95 96 97 98 98 100 103 106 106 109

110 110

CONTENTS

XV

Verstehen Causality Ideal Types Values SUBSTANTIVE SOCIOLOGY What Is Sociology? Social Action Class, Status, and Party Structures of Authority Rationalization Religion and the Rise of Capitalism 5 GEORG SIMMEL PRIMARY CONCERNS Dialectical Thinking INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS SOCIAL INTERACTON ("ASSOCIATION") Interaction: Forms and Types SOCIAL STRUCTURES OBJECTIVE CULTURE THE PHILOSOPHY OF MONEY The Tragedy of Culture in Its Broader Context SECRECY: A CASE STUDY IN SIMMEL'S SOCIOLOGY

114 116 117 120 122 123 124 126 127 135 146 155 155 158 161 162 163 168 169 171 177 178

PART 2

MODERN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: THE MAJOR SCHOOLS A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: THE LATER YEARS
EARLY AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY Politics Social Change and Intellectual Currents The Chicago School WOMEN IN EARLY SOCIOLOGY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY TO MID-CENTURY The Rise of Harvard, the Ivy League, and Structural Functionalism The Chicago School in Decline Developments in Marxian Theory Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Knowledge SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY FROM MID-CENTURY Structural Functionalism: Peak and Decline Radical Sociology in America: C. Wright Mills The Development of Conflict Theory

185

187
190 190 190 194 199 200 200 206 207 208 208 208 209 210

XVi

CONTENTS

The Birth of Exchange Theory Dramaturgical Analysis: The Work of Erving Goffman The Development of Sociologies of Everyday Life The Rise and Fall(?) of Marxian Sociology The Challenge of Feminist Theory Structuralism and Poststructuralism SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN THE 1980s AND 1990s Micro-Macro Integration Agency-Structure Integration Theoretical Syntheses Metatheorizing in Sociology SOCIAL THEORY: TOWARD THE FIN DE SIECLE The Defenders of Modemity The Proponents of Postmodemity Multicultural Social Theory 7 STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM, NEOFUNCTIONALISM, AND CONFLICT THEORY STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM The Functional Theory of Stratification and Its Critics Talcott Parsons's Structural Functionalism Robert Merton's Structural Functionalism The Major Criticisms NEOFUNCTIONALISM CONFLICT THEORY The Work of Ralf Dahrendorf The Major Criticisms A More Integrative Conflict Theory 8 VARIETES OF NEO-MARXIAN THEORY ECONOMIC DETERMINISM HEGELIAN MARXISM Georg Lukcs Antonio Gramsci CRITICAL THEORY The Major Critiques of Social and Intellectual Life The Major Contributions Criticisms of Critical Theory The Ideas of Jrgen Habermas Critical Theory Today NEO-MARXIAN ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY Capital and Labor Fordism and Post-Fordism HISTORICALLY ORIENTED MARXISM The Modern World-System

212 214 215 218 220 222 223 223 224 225 227 228 228 229 230

233 234 235 237 249 253 259 265 266 269 271 278 278 280 280 282 283 284 288 291 292 295 297 297 305 307 307

CONTENTS

XV

POST-MARXIST THEORY Analytical Marxism Postmodern Marxian Theory After Marxism Criticisms of Post-Marxism 9 SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM THE MAJOR HISTORICAL ROOTS Pragmatism Behaviorism Between Reductionism and Sociologism THE IDEAS OF GEORGE HERBERT MEAD The Priority of the Social The Act Gestures Significant Symbols Mental Processes and the Mind Seif Society SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES Capacity for Thought Thinking and Interaction Learning Meanings and Symbols Action and Interaction Making Choices The Seif and the Work of Erving Goffman Groups and Societies CRITICISMS TOWARD A MORE SYNTHETIC AND INTEGRATIVE SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Redefining Mead and Blumer Micro-Macro Integration Symbolic Interactionism and Cultural Studies THE FUTURE OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM 10 ETHNOMETHODOLOGY DEFINING ETHNOMETHODOLOGY THE DIVERSIFICATION OF ETHNOMETHODOLOGY SOME EARLY EXAMPLES Breaching Experiments Accomplishing Sex CONVERSATION ANALYSIS Telephone Conversations: Identification and Recognition Initiating Laughter Generating Applause

314 314 320 322 325 327 327 328 329 330 332 332 332 335 336 338 341 346 347 348 348 349 350 351 351 361 363 364 364 367 368 370 373 373 375 378 378 380 380 381 382 383

XViii

CONTENTS

Booing The Interactive Emergence of Sentences and Stories Formulations Integration of Talk and Nonvocal Activities Doing Shyness (and Self-Confidence) STUDIES OF INSTITUTIONS Job Interviews Executive Negotiations Calls to Emergency Centers Dispute Resolution in Mediation Hearings CRITICISMS OF TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGY STRESSES AND STRAINS IN ETHNOMETHODOLOGY SYNTHESIS AND INTEGRATION 11 EXCHANGE, NETWORK, AND RATIONAL CHOICE THEORIES EXCHANGE THEORY Behaviorism Rational Choice Theory The Social Psychology of Groups The Exchange Theory of George Homans Peter Blau's Exchange Theory The Work of Richard Emerson and His Disciples NETWORK THEORY RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY Rationality and Society Foundations of Social Theory Criticisms 12 CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEORY By Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Jill Niebrugge THE BASIC THEORETICAL QUESTIONS THE MAJOR HISTORICAL ROOTS Feminism: 1600-1960 Sociology and Feminism: 1830-1960 VARIETES OF CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEORY Gender Difference Gender Inequality Gender Oppression Third-Wave Feminism A FEMINIST SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge The Macro-Social Order The Micro-Social Order Subjectivity A MICRO-MACRO SYNTHESIS

384 386 387 387 388 389 389 390 390 391 392 394 396 400 401 401 401 402 404 412 416 422 427 427 428 434

436 438 440 440 441 444 446 449 457 468 470 471 474 476 479 483

CONTENTS

XIX

PART 3

RECENT INTEGRATIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

MICRO-MACRO INTEGRATION MICRO-MACRO EXTREMISM THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MICRO-MACRO INTEGRATION EXAMPLES OF MICRO-MACRO INTEGRATION George Ritzer: Integrated Sociological Paradigm Jeffrey Alexander: Multidimensional Sociology Norbert Wiley: Leveis of Analysis James Coleman: Micro-to-Macro Model Randall Collins: The Micro Foundations of Macrosociology SOME PROMISING DIRECTIONS MICRO-MACRO INTEGRATION: WORK TO BE DONE BACK TO THE FUTURE: NORBERT ELIAS'S FiGURATIONAL SOCIOLOGY The History of Manners Power and Civility Case Studies: Time and Sport

487
489 489 491 494 494 498 500 502 504 507 509 511 513 519 523 526 526 528 528 533 536 548 553 556 556 556 558

13

14

AGENCY-STRUCTURE INTEGRATION INTRODUCTION MAJOR EXAMPLES OF AGENCY-STRUCTURE INTEGRATION Anthony Giddens: Structuration Theory Margaret Archer: Culture and Agency Pierre Bourdieu: Habitus and Field Jrgen Habermas: Colonization of the Life-World MAJOR DIFFERENCES IN THE AGENCY-STRUCTURE LITERATURE AGENCY-STRUCTURE AND MICRO-MACRO LINKAGES Basic Similarities Fundamental Differences EXPLAINING AMERICAN-EUROPEAN DIFFERENCES

PART 4
15

FROM MODERN TO POSTMODERN SOCIAL THEORY

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF MODERNITY CLASSICAL THEORISTS ON MODERNITY THE JUGGERNAUT OF MODERNITY THE RISK SOCIETY HYPERRATIONALITY, McDONALDIZATION, AND AMERICANIZATION Hyperrationality McDonaldization

563
565 565 567 573 576 576 578

XX

CONTENTS

Americanization Risky or Not? MODERNITY AND THE HOLOCAUST MODERNITY'S UNFINISHED PROJECT 16 STRUCTURALISM, POSTSTRUCTURALISM, AND THE EMERGENCE OF POSTMODERN SOCIAL THEORY STRUCTURALISM Roots in Linguistics Anthropological Structuralism: Claude Levi-Strauss Structural Marxism POSTSTRUCTURALISM The Ideas of Michel Foucault POSTMODERNISM Moderate Postmodern Social Theory: Fredric Jameson Extreme Postmodem Social Theory: Jean Baudrillard Postmodemism and Sociological Theory NDIX SOCIOLOGICAL METATHEORIZING AND A METATHEORETICAL SCHEMA FOR ANALYZING SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY METATHEORIZING IN SOCIOLOGY The Gains from Metatheorizing The Critics of Metatheorizing The Current Explosion of Interest in Metatheorizing Factors Involved in the Maturation of Metatheorizing Pierre Bourdieu's "Socioanalysis" THE IDEAS OF THOMAS KUHN SOCIOLOGY: A MULTIPLE-PARADIGM SCIENCE Major Sociological Paradigms TOWARD A MORE INTEGRATED SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGM Levels of Social Analysis: A Review of the Literature Levels of Social Analysis: A Model

580 581 582 586

592 593 594 595 595 596 598 607 612 616 619

621 622 627 629 630 631 633 635 637 640 642 643 646

REFERENCES INDEXES Name Index Subject Index

651 731 741