A Short History of Sociological Thought

Also by Alan Swingewood

The Sociology of Literature {co-author) Marx and Modern Social Theory The Novel and Revolution The Myth of Mass Culture Sociological Poetics and Aesthetic Theory

A Short History of Sociological Thought

Second Edition

Alan Swingewood Lecturer in Sociology, London School of Economics

Macmillan Education

©Alan Swingewood 1984, 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition 1991

All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, No Y. 10010

First edition published in the United States of America in 1984

Second revised edition first published in the United States of America in 1991

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Swingewood, Alan. A short history of sociological thought I Alan Swingewood. - [2nd ed.] p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. Sociology-History. I. Title HM19.S975 1991 301'.09-dc20 91-16561

CIP

ISBN 978-0-333-55861-4 ISBN 978-1-349-21642-0 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-312-06735-9 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-312-06736-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-0-312-06735-9 (hardcover).- ISBN 978-0-312-06736-6 (paperback)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21642-0

Contents

Introduction Note to the Second Edition 4

PART I FOUNDATIONS

1 Origins of Sociology 7

Human nature and social order 8 Vi co: science and history 10 Montesquieu 13 The Scottish Enlightenment 17 Problems of method 20 The emergence of class 22 The dialectics of social change 24

2 Industrialisation and the Rise of Sociological Positivism 29

Empiricism and positivism 30 The French Revolution and sociology 32 The concept of industrial society: Saint-Simon 36 Comte and positive science 40 Positivism and determinism 4 7 Sociology, political economy and the division of

labour 48 Evolutionism and sociological positivism: Mill and

Spencer 51

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Contents

3 Marxism: A Positive Science of Capitalist Development 59

The development of Marxism 62 Alienation of labour 63 The concept of ideology 72 Marx's method: base and superstructure 80 Class formation and class consciousness 84 Laws of development: the problem of historical

determinism 88

PART II CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGY

4 Critique of Positivism: I Durkheim 97

Durkheim and the development of sociology Durkheim's method: social facts and society Division of labour, social cohesion and conflict Anomie 116 Suicide and social solidarity 118

97 105

Ill

Functionalism, holism and political theory 124

5 Critique of Positivism: II Social Action 128

Understanding and the social sciences: Dilthey 128 Formal sociology: Simmel and sociation 133 Understanding and the problem of method: Weber 142 Ideal types and social action 146 Religion and social action: capitalism and the

Protestant ethic 150 The logic of rationality: Simmel and Weber 158 Social action and social system: Pareto 163

6 The Sociology of Class and Domination 171

Marx's theory of domination The state and class domination

172 174

The theory of class: Weber 182 Capitalism, bureaucracy and democracy: Weber's

theory of domination 185

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Contents

7 Marxism and Sociology 194

Marxism after Marx 194 Marxism as revolutionary consciousness: Lukacs and

the concept of totality 199 Culture and domination: Gramsci and the concept of

hegemony 205 Marxism and the sociology of intellectuals:

Garmsci 209 Lukacs and Gramsci on sociology 214 Western Marxism and the problem of

sociology 219

PART III MODERN SOCIOLOGY

8 Functionalism 225

Sociological functionalism: general features 231 The concept of system 234 Functionalism and the dialectic of social life:

Merton 239 Functionalism, social conflict and social change 244 Functionalism and stratification 249

9 Self, Society and the Sociology of Everyday Life 252

Action theory and the concept of self: the early and later Parsons 252

Psycho-analysis and self: Freud 258 The social self: Mead and symbolic

interactionism 262 Sociological phenomenology: Schutz and the reality of

everyday life 268 Social action and interactionism:

ethnomethodology 272

10 Critical Theory, Ideology and Modern Society 275

Mannheim: the problem of ideology 276

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Contents

Ideology and Utopia 282 The theory of mass society 283 The origins of critical theory 285 Habermas: crisis theory 289 Emancipation and communicative action 294

11 Structuralism 296

The development of structuralism: Saussure 297 The concept of structure 299 Marxism and structuralism 306 The problem of agency and structure: structuration

theory 311

12 Modernity, Industrialisation and Sociological Theory 313

Marxism, industrialism and modernity The theory of post-industrial society Modernity and post-modernity 320

Further Reading 323

Bibliography 331

Index 343

Vlll

314 316

HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGICAL THOUGHT

Origins

Eighteenth-century social thought (Vico, Montesquieu, Smith, Ferguson, Rousseau)

The development of nineteenth-century sociological positivism (Comte), sociological evolutionism (Spencer) and

Marxism (Marx and Engels)

t Classical Sociology

Weber, Simmel, Pareto (the tradition of verstehen sociology and critique of

positivism and evolutionism)

Durkheim 's critique of the positivist tradition

The development of Marxism after Marx involving a critique of materialism and evolutionism: Labriola, Gramsc* Sorel, Lukacs

Modern Sociology

Phenomenological Sociology (Schutz) Freud, Mead, Mannheim

Structuration Theory Critical Theory (Habermas)

IX

Functionalism Systems Theory and Action Theory

(Parsons) Structuralism

Introduction

This book is neither a history of sociology nor of sociological theory but a selective history of sociological thought from its origins in eighteenth-century philosophy, history and political economy. By sociological thought is meant an awareness of society as a distinctive o~ject of study, as a system or structure objectively determined by laws and processes. Eighteenth­century social thought was sociological in this sense although it failed to develop an adequate sociological concept of the social, too often assimilating it to political and economic elements. In effect eighteenth-century social thought posed many of the critical issues of sociology without resolving them sociologi­cally. In contrast, early nineteenth-century sociological thought (specifically Comte, Spencer, Marx) sought to define the social both in terms of society as a complex structural whole and in its relation with specific institutions, notably the division of labour, social classes, religion, family and scientific/profes­sional associations. Society was industrial society and the broad themes of the early sociologists were those of social conflict, alienation, community, social cohesion and the pos­sibilities of evolution and development. The task of social science was to identify the forces promoting historical change. Early sociological thought was concerned with the separation of an autonomous social sphere (or 'civil society') from centralised state institutions (or 'political society'). It is this notion of 'finalisation', that history has a meaning apart from the actions of everyday life, which differentiates early sociologi­cal thought from later, classical sociology and the various schools of 'sociologised' Marxism.

Early sociological thought was broadly optimistic: the

Introduction

certainties of the natural sciences could be applied to the social sciences unproblematically. Classical sociology emerges as a reaction to this form of positivist scientistic thought. The broad themes of classical sociology were pessimistic: industrialisation produces social structures which alienate the individual from the community, transform cultural objects into commodities, rationalise human life into bureaucratic systems of domination and effectively strip the individual of autonomy. Classical sociology becomes centred not on large-scale changes but on the human subject: 'voluntarism' and action replace the historical determinism of nineteenth-century systems theory. It is this distinction which sets the agenda for the later develop­ment of modern sociology.

Modern sociological thought begins with the breakdown of the classical, voluntarist model. The dominant paradigm becomes functionalism, its pre-eminence bound up with the emergence of American sociology in the years following the Second World War. Classical sociology had been almost entirely European: the rise of European Fascism, Communism and the Second World War shifted the focus of sociological thought across the Atlantic. And it was not until the 1960s that new schools of sociology - phenomenology, action theory, structuralism, Marxist humanism - which drew much of their inspiration from classical sociology, emerged.

In this book I have attempted to describe these develop­ments. In particular, there is extended discussion of Marxism both as a distinctive theory of society and for its influence on classical and modern sociology. It has become fashionable to argue that Marxism is a sociology. I suggest that Marxist thought is certainly sociological and as such has been absorbed into sociology itself and, increasingly, that Marxism assimi­lates sociological concepts and thought in order to offer adequate accounts of modern industrial society and historical development. Many of the crucial differences between soci­ology and Marxism resolve themselves around the relation of centralised state structure to decentred social structures. By defining its object of study as civil society sociology developed theories which emphasised the differentiated and potentially autonomous nature of modern industrial society. In contrast, Marxist thought articulated a theory of the social formation

2

Introduction

built around a deterministic relation of economic 'base' to socio-cultural 'superstructure'. It is this decentred, sociological concept of the social which links together the various schools of sociological thought. This does not imply a single sociology. Since the rise of classical sociology there have been many different sociologies but they share a common object of study and their focus is broadly similar.

Part I examines the historical rise of sociological thought and its development into positivism, evolutionism and Marxism. Part II describes the complex reaction to positivist social science and Marxism by classical sociologists such as Weber, Durkheim, Sombart and Simmel. Because Marx's thought played such an important role in the formation of classical sociology I have discussed his theory of class and power in Part II contrasting it with Weber's work on social stratification. This is not an argument that sociology developed through a 'debate with Marx's ghost'. Indeed, classical sociology 'debated' with Kant as much as Marx. Kant's epistemology and moral philosophy played as vital a role in the development of classical sociology as Hegelian dialectics in the development of Marxism. Part III explores the development of modern sociology, first in the form of sociological functionalism, and then in its attempts to rediscover the insights of classical sociology. It is the depth of this renewal which suggests a convergence of sociological thought in the midst of apparent fragmentation and diversity.

The development of sociological thought is the result of collaborative, communicative and dialogic interaction involv­ing individuals, social groups and communities. Of all areas of the history of sociology this is perhaps the most complex and neglected although there have been valuable contributions by Coser, 197l;Jay, 1973; Clarke, 1973; Schwendinger, 1974 and Therborn, 1976. Certain themes- race and gender, for example - are not discussed, largely because they have not been in the forefront of sociological thought. This book is, as I have said, a selective history. At the end I have listed a number of works by chapter which refer the reader to further general discussion as well as more specialised studies. A history of sociological thought- from Vico to Bakhtin- can easily become a 'shopping list' of great names: I have tried to avoid this by concentrating

3

Introduction

in some detail on major themes of sociological relevance as well as significant thinkers.

November 1983 ALAN SWINGEWOOD

Note to the Second Edition

For this second edition I have substantially revised the accounts of critical theory and structuralism. I have also made a number of minor changes to the chapters on Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Marxism after Marx. In this way I hope to have strengthened the basic argument of the book and made it more useful for students studying sociology and related subjects.

August 1990 ALAN SWINGEWOOD

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