Max Weber, Karl Marx & Emile Durkheim -> the “tri force of Sociology”
However, more than these three
Georg Simmel: the “one man wolf pack”
-Interested in studying small group dynamics
“What happens when you add a person to a group?” (third wheel)
-Simmel was the first person to formally define
1) Small and large groups
2) A party
3) A stranger (Chapter 4 Massey)
4) The poor
-Major influence in cultural and urban sociology
Karl Marx: society is organized on the economy
-The economic system (capitalism) drives the individual behavior; this is the most important social force
-Marx saw that most people tended to support the interests of the capitalist system, and not the interests of the workers
-Why? Capitalist class owns just not the production of goods, but also the production of ideas
-The important thing is to focus on Marx’s emphasis on the role of social institutions (economy) and their ability to effect behavior
-Not on the political aspect of this; Marx’s political predictions were false
Max Weber: critical of Marx’s focus on the economy
-Advocated that culture and politics also influence how societies evolve “The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism”
-Also developed a key sociological concept:
Verstehen: To truly understand why, people do the things the way they do, you have to understand the meaning they give their behavior
Emilie Durkheim: Specifically interested in two things which where the division of labor and suicide
-Division of labor is how work is divided up and how jobs are specialized in society
-What kind of people do what kind of work?
Division of Labor: Social Solidarity
Mechanical solidarity: low degree division of labor with a high degree of similarity in norms and values (tribal/primitive aka the Amish)
Organic solidarity: high degree in division of labor with a low degree of similarity in norms and values (the United States)
-Social solidarity is impossible to measure; “wholly moral phenomena”, refers to options and interest in engaging in relationships with others
-Division of Labor -> Social Solidarity -> Types of Law
-Durkheim’s study of suicide
Found suicide rates are related to the degree to which the society’s norms and customs were clearly define and consistent with each other
Anomie: normlessness “How much do you feel you belong?”

9/4/2013
American Sociology
The Chicago School
-Human behavior is shaped by their social and physical environments
-Chicago and many other cities, were growing at a huge pace
*Challenged traditional notions of ethnicity, examined how population density effected behavior
-Robert Park “go and get the seat of their pants dirty in real research”
-Out of classrooms and into the real world
-Much of the work the Chicago school was supported by the ideal of the “social self”
-If environment effects meaning of external behaviors/objects, it must also effect meaning of self
*Charles Horton Cooley
-“The Looking Glass Self”
-We see ourselves how we think other people see us
-React and respond accordingly
*George Herbert Mead
-Taking the looking glass self a step further: role taking and the development of the Self (longtime development)
How does the self develop?
-Imitation stage
-Play stage
-Game stage
Children’s sports are a good example of this
Over time, internalizes the generalized other
*W.I Thomas “If men define situations as real they are real in their consequences”
-Key point in the development of the concept of the social construction of reality
W.E.B Dubois
-The role of race in everything
-DuBois was the first African-American to receive a PhD from Harvard
-Developed the concept of the double consciousness
-Co founder of the NCAAP in 1909
Jane Addams
-Attempted to apply the theories coming out of the Chicago school (one of the first female sociologists)
-Founded the Hull House in Chicago
 Offered educational services and aid and promoted sports and arts
-Gender bias led many to