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Test 4 Soc Theory Marx and Weber
Marx and Weber
30
Sociology
Undergraduate 3
03/07/2013

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Term
religion (Marx)
Definition
Marx believes that religion is not real, but it makes workers happy so it’s okay at
first. But in the end, religion is not going to play a role. For Marx, history
is God.
Term
morality (Marx)
Definition
When it comes to morality, Marx believes that things like right and wrong, altruism and
egoism, are completely irrelevant. He doesn’t recognize morality or moral
reason. The only time you can determine something as right or wrong is when it
agrees or disagrees with history.
Term
alienation
Definition
Marx’s view of alienation is when people’s acts contradict their true purposes.
Term
work
Definition
Marx believes that work improves selfhood.
Term
dialectic
Definition
Marx had a dialectic view of history. It was not a hypothesis but a pattern discovered by non-empirical historical method.
Term
Rationally purposeful
Definition
To get more money you cheat on tax return and work two jobs. More money was a fixed goal, but also the means to other goals (new boat/trip to Europe). In this type you can compare two people
Term
Value-rational
Definition
*make subjective goals and rationally calculate how to best achieve. Hard to compare two people because it is subjective (e.g. ‘salvation’ for a Buddhist monk and protestant)
Term
Affective action
Definition
*fuses means and ends together. Actions are impulsive and emotional. eg. smashing your golf clubs because you lost a round
Term
Traditional action
Definition
*such as specific rites or rituals a society goes through
Term
Rational-legal
Definition
of officials, derives from the fact that they are officials. Authority stems from offices, not personal qualities. Best example is bureaucratic authority, carefully organized hierarchy.
Term
Traditional
Definition
typically hereditary, the authority is legitimated because it is habitual/customary
Term
Charismatic
Definition
comes from the individual’s personal appeal. Most likely to arise during period of crisis.
Term
7 Major points of Marxs metaphysical beliefs.
Definition
The first is that the struggle is part of humanity’s essence.
The second is that the essence of human beings is to be social.
The third is that people require certain things in order to fully develop.
The fourth is that alienation and conflict are unnatural in humanity.
The fifth is that man is potentially wise, creative, and free.
The sixth is that the freeing of mankind is irreversible; history moves us forward but not backward or in cycles.
The seventh is that the only real rights are those conferred by history.
Term
The 5 major elements of Marxs theory.
Definition
The first is his metaphysical beliefs
The second element in Marx’s theory is that a minimum of toil is inescapable, there is no way around work.
The third point is that the choices made by humans can affect the course of events.
The fourth is that social advances are made by the invasion of nature by rational planning. The last major point in his theory is that all frustration stems from alienation. This frustration prevents harmony and cooperation.
Term
According to Marx, what are the causes of change? What determines our circumstances?
Definition
Marx believed that we are each a product of our circumstances, but our circumstances are a result of our activities.
Term
What is the role of human action?
Definition
The role of human action is that choices influence society but does not really have much of an effect on history.
Term
What roles do religion play in his historical materialist view?
Definition
Marx believes that religion is not real, but it makes workers happy so it’s okay at
first. But in the end, religion is not going to play a role. For Marx, history
is God.
Term
What roles do morality play in his historical materialist view?
Definition
When it comes to morality, Marx believes that things like right and wrong, altruism and
egoism, are completely irrelevant. He doesn’t recognize morality or moral
reason. The only time you can determine something as right or wrong is when it
agrees or disagrees with history.
Term
What roles do alienation play in his historical materialist view?
Definition
Marx’s view of alienation is when people’s acts contradict their true purposes.
Term
What roles do work play in his historical materialist view?
Definition
Marx believes that work improves selfhood.
Term
What roles do spirit play in his historical materialist view?
Definition
Marx doesn’t really see spirit, especially in the way that Hegel did. He mostly just
believes in empiricism.
Term
What roles do Dialectic play in his historical materialist view?
Definition
Marx had a dialectic view of history. It was not a hypothesis but a pattern discovered by non-empirical historical method.
Term
Asceticism
Definition
such individuals derive meaning from turning their backs on the pleasures and rewards of the world. They attach more meaning to the mere performance of a task than to the task itself.
Term
Mysticism
Definition
nothing meaningful can be derived from participation in the everyday world. Valid experience comes from states of consciousness rather than self-mastery. Drugs, meditation, sexual promiscuity, sport and travel as modes of escape.
Term
Marxs background
Definition
Marx was born in Germany to a successful family. They were originally Jewish, but converted to Protestantism shortly before Marx’s birth in order to hold office under Prussian rule. He was well educated, but engaged in rowdy behavior that caused his father to transfer him to the University of Berlin.
Term
Webers background
Definition
Weber was born in Germany to a prosperous family. His mother was a devout Protestant while his father was extremely authoratarian and brusque. He attended the University of Heidelberg where he engaged in rowdy behavior. After this he gave a year of service in the army and then went to Berlin to complete his education.
Term
Marxs occupation
Definition
Marx worked diligently at the reading room of the British museum to write reports on conditions of the laboring class. He also became involved in the First International and came to know many English trade unionists. He was deemed unfit for a university lectureship. He was an editor and journalist for a number of papers and journals.
Term
Webers occupation
Definition
Weber: became a professor at Freiburg and then Heidelberg. After his breakdown he was unable to teach, write, or even read. He took over a social science and policy journal. He wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He organized the German Sociological Society with a few colleagues. At the onset of WWI he was put in charge of the military hospitals in the Heidelberg region. After the war he was appointed a member of the committee that helped draft a new constitution for Germany.
Term
Bourgeois Individualism
Definition
The illusion commonplace in societies where commodity production and exchange prevail that the individual can be a self-contained, self-directing entity.
Term
Civil Society
Definition
The real social and economic relations among subjects. Especially pronounced in liberal, bourgeois society. The rights of egoistic, atomized individuals are held to be absolute.
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