Sociology: A brief but critical introduction PDF
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Sociology A brief but critical introduction Sociology A brief but critical introduction SECOND EDITION Anthony Giddens M MACMILLAN EDUCATION ©AnthonyGiddens 1982, 1986 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1982 Second edition 1986 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Wessex Typesetters (Division of The Eastern Press Ltd) Frome, Somerset ISBN 978-0-333-42739-2 ISBN 978-1-349-18521-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18521-4 Contents Preface vii 1 Sociology: Issues and Problems 1 The Context of Sociology 3 Sociology: A Definition and Some Preliminary Considerations 7 The Sociological Imagination: Sociology as Critique 13 2 Competing Interpretations: Industrial Society or Capitalism? 23 The Theory of Industrial Society 25 Marx: Capitalism and Socialism 33 3 Class Division and Social Transformation 43 Changes Since the Nineteenth Century: Corporate Power 44 The 'Institutionalisation of Class Conflict' 50 New Classes, New Technologies 56 The End of the Working Class? 62 4 The Modern State 71 The State and Classes: Recent Views 73 The State and Bureaucracy 79 Critical Comments 84 States, Social Movements, Revolutions 87 Vl Contents 5 The City: Urbanism and Everyday Life 92 Pre-Capitalist and Modern Cities 92 The Views of the 'Chicago School' 95 Urbanism and Capitalism JOO Urbanism and Everyday Life 112 6 The Family and Gender 115 Changes in Family Structure 116 Gender, Patriarchy, and Capitalist Development 121 The Family, Marriage, Sexuality 125 Family Life and New Social Patterns 131 7 Capitalism and the World System 135 Modernisation Theory and its Critique 136 Contemporary World Inequalities 146 The Nation-State, Nationalism, Military Power 152 Conclusion: Sociology as Critical Theory 156 Index 167 Preface Over the past decade or so, major changes have taken place within sociology, and in the social sciences more generally. These developments, however, have for the most part been discussed only in literature of considerable complexity; they are not readily accessible to people lacking an acquaintance with the subject. I was prompted to write this book, therefore, in order to provide an introduction to sociology which reflects current develop ments, making them available to the beginning reader. I call the book a 'critical introduction' for two reasons. It is critical of a range of ideas that for a long period were the conventional wisdom of sociology. But I also claim that sociology, understood in the manner presented here, is necessarily directly linked to social criticism. Sociology cannot be a neutral intellectual endeavour, indifferent to the practical consequences of its analyses for those whose conduct forms its object of study. This book differs from most other introductory texts in sociology in several ways. It incorporates a discussion of basic problems of social theory - the core of theoretical concerns which sociology shares with all the social sciences. I do not adopt the usual view that these issues are unimportant to those seeking to achieve an initial acquaintance with sociology. Neither do I accept the viii Preface equally common idea that such matters are too complex to be grasped before the reader has a mastery of the more empirical content of the subject. In analysing this empirical content, I make certain emphases which diverge from those usually found in introductory works. Many accounts of sociology are written primarily with regard to one particular society - that in which the author, or the audience to which the book is directed, live. I try to avoid this type of parochialism, in the belief that one of the main tasks of sociological thought is to break free from the confines of the familiar. But perhaps the chief distinguishing feature of the book is its strongly historical stress. 'Sociology' and 'history' may be ordinarily taught as though they were distinct fields of study, but I think such a view to be mistaken. I have tried to be concise, and this means some sacrifice in respect of comprehensiveness. I make no attempt to offer an encyclopaedic coverage of the whole range of topics that are legitimate areas of sociological interest. The reader wanting such a coverage must look elsewhere. Anthony Giddens Acknowledgements The author and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office for figure from Social Trends; United Nations for table from United Nations Statistical Yearbook (1981) © 1983. Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. 1 Sociology: Issues and Problems Sociology is a subject with a curiously mixed reputation. On the one hand, it is associated by many people with the fomenting of rebellion, a stimulus to revolt. Even though they may have only a vague notion of what topics are studied in sociology, they somehow associate sociology with subversion, with the shrill demands of unkempt student militants. On the other hand, quite a different view of the subject is often entertained - perhaps more commonly than the first - by individuals who have had some direct acquaintance with it in schools and universities. This is that in fact it is rather a dull and uninstructive enterprise, which far from propelling its students towards the barricades is more likely to bore them to death with platitudes. Sociology, in this guise, assumes the dry mantle of a science, but not one that proves as enlightening as the natural sciences upon which its practitioners wish to model it. I think that those who have taken the second reaction to sociology have a good deal of right on their side. Sociology has been conceived of by many of its proponents - even the bulk of them - in such a way that commonplace assertions are disguised in a pseudo scientific language. The conception that sociology belongs to the natural sciences, and hence should slavishly try to 2 Sociology: Issues and Problems copy their procedures and objectives, is a mistaken one. Its lay critics, in some considerable degree at least, are quite correct to be sceptical of the attainments of sociology thus presented. My intention in this book will be to associate sociology with the first type of view rather than the second. By this I do not mean to connect sociology with a sort of irrational lashing-out at all that most of the population hold to be good and proper ways of behaviour. But I do want to defend the view that sociology, understood in the manner in which I shall describe it, necessarily has a subversive quality. Its subversive or critical character, however, I shall argue, does not carry with it (or should not do so) the implication that it is an intellectually disreputable enterprise. On the contrary, it is exactly because sociology deals with problems of such pressing interest to us all (or should do so), problems which are the objects of major controversies and conflicts in society itself, that it has this character. However kempt or otherwise student radicals, or any other radicals, may be, there do exist broad connections between the impulses that stir them to action and a sociological awareness. This is not, or I imagine only very rarely, because sociologists directly preach revolt; it is because the study of sociology, appropriately understood, unavoidably demonstrates how fundamental are the social questions that have to be faced in today's world. Everyone is to some extent aware of these questions, but the study of sociology helps bring them into much sharper focus. Sociology cannot remain a purely academic subject, if 'academic' means a distinterested and remote scholarly pursuit, followed solely within the enclosed walls of the university. Sociology is not a subject that comes neatly gift wrapped, making no demands except that its contents be unpacked. Like all the social sciences - under which
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