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0:25
welcome to the eleventh lecture of the course on sociological perspectives on modernity before dwelling upon the structuralist interpretation of the critical modernist paradigm in sociology it is important to revise to recapitulate whatever we have discussed in the context of the classic statements about critical modernist paradigm in sociology namely marx on modernity and weber on modernity ok ah very quickly in this lecture we will try
1:23
to cover we will try to recapitulate the classic statements about ah sociological modernity let us first start with ah ah marx on majority but but marxs views about modernity that we have already discussed it requires certain methodological warnings ok i mean when i when we discuss marx on modernity marx on modernity cannot be isolated from marxs method itself marxs theoretical positions themselves ok marxs method includes materialist conception
2:20
of history that we have already discussed that matter is prior to the formation of idea ah i mean ah ah ah marx said ah in in ah refers to a ah contribution to critique of political economy that it is not the consciousness of men that determines their big but on the contrary their social existence that determines their consciousness ok i mean then then the principles of dialectic i mean the the the interpenetration of the
2:56
opposites quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes and the law of negation of negation ok and the theory of ideology when i say theory of ideology marx has to be evaluated ah not simply as as as marx as an ah idea log of the communist party but also marx as a theorist ok and and theory of knowledge theory of science ok because science is one of the markers of modernity hm in the context of the enlightenment in the context of ah the industrial revolution
3:38
and so on ok let us first then we we are going to discuss these these these four parameters one is materialist conception of history dialectic theory of ideology ah and and theory of science or knowledge ok ok i mean we have already discussed these things in part but now we will will will ah will try to recapitulate ok the the views on modernity by both marx and weber let us first start with marxs ah materialist conception
4:18
of history or or popularly known as historical materialism marxs historical materialism i mean can be ah figured out through his ah ah work on a preface to a ah critique ah ah contribution to a critique of political economy of eighteen hundred and fifty nine for for for example nikos ah bollingers has provided a threefold ah classification of the concepts of ah ah of of the the concepts specific to historical materialism ok ah i
5:13
mean what is that threefold classification of the concept specific to historical materialism i mean marxs historical materialism first historical materialism first historical materialism is a theory of history on condition that certain of its concepts are trans historical that is to say they have some valid applicability in all historical forms of society whether it is slavery or feudalism or capitalism it is always the relationship between labour
5:49
and capital it is the relationship between labour of those who between those who sell their labour and and those who live off live off their level those who sell their labour power on the one hand and those who ah who own the means of production ok thats why it is trans historical in nature ok it is it is you will find similar kind of tendency in all historical stages of society be it slavery or feudalism or capitalism ok
6:37
i mean such concepts include ah modes of production raw materials instruments and relations the production property relations and relations of appropriation ok ah ah ah labour and ah ah social formation i mean i mean ah possibly possibly hm the concepts of a theory of transition between social formations and the concepts of the different structural levels within a mode of production and social formation when i say social formation i mean the political the ideological and the economists (( )) ah
7:24
calls the theoretical structure formed by these concepts the general theory of historical materialism ok ah then it is very important to understand ah i mean the first point that that historical materialism is a theory of history on the condition on the premise that certain of its concepts are trans historical in nature ok that is to say that they have some valid applicability in historical forms of society and these concepts
8:05
include ah modes of production raw materials instruments and relations of products and property relations and relations of real appropriation labour and capital ah ah furnace and possibly the concepts of a theory of transition between social formation and the concepts of ah the different structural levels within a mode of production and social formation namely the political the ideological and the economic ok this is known as a general the the the ah i mean this is ah ah the it is called the
8:41
it is known as ah this is known as the the theoretical structure formed by the concepts ah ah ah i mean the general theory of ah historical materialism then what is historical in historical materialism and what is materialism in historical materialism it is very important to know what is historical in historical materialism historical the term historical entailed the the analysis of how particular forms of society have had had come into existence and the specific
9:18
historical contexts within which ah apparently universal or eternal social forms were located then historical entailed the analysis of how particular forms of society had come into existence and the specific historical contexts within which apparently not really apparently universal social ah ah or or universal or apparently universal social forms or apparently eternal social forms where located what are they they appear to us as universal eternal they are not going to die out they are not going
10:07
to disappear they are going to ah exist here for all time to come it appears to us that but actually it is not who what they they let me let me give you a few examples of which which appear to us as universal or eternal social forms but actually ah it is not let me give you a few examples i mean the state religion market and so on ok it it appears for for marx it appears to us that the state is going to exist for all time
10:45
to come the market is going to exist for all time to come religion is going to exist for all all time to come it appears to us but actually they are not they are going to disappear ok ok but we have to understand the the historical contexts against the i mean ah i mean we have to understand the specific historical contexts ah within which these apparently universal or eternal social for forms are located or situated then what is materialism in historical
11:22
materialism now materialism denoted the the rejection of hegelian ideology and the primacy of socio economic processes and relations materialism denotes the the rejection of hegelian ideology i mean hegelian idealism suggested that no ideas are prior to the formation of matter whereas marxs materialism suggests that no ideas are not ah prior to the formation of matter rather matter is prior to the formation of ideology in what sense now when we ah ah
12:11
place our socioeconomic processes and relations on a higher pedestal vasavi other political ideological ah processes ah and so on this is the first then then what is the second one the i mean secondly their particular ah ah there are the particular theory is whose concepts provide the theoretical analysis of each of the modes of production ok this is important i mean there are certain polit but but particular theories whose concepts
12:59
provide the the ah the theoretical analysis of of each of the modes of production namely hunting and gathering economies slavery feudalism capitalism socialism and communism which which i ah which are identified in the in the general theory of historical materialism that the particular theory of the capitalist mode of production includes as constituent concepts of the concept of commodity the distinction between use
13:31
and exchange value the distinction between labour and labour power the concepts of ah money and of capital itself hm and the distinctions between ah constant capital and variable capital and between value and surplus value and the concepts of profit interest and capitalist ground rent hm and and and also the concepts of ah ah new economic structures and in namely what are these new new economic structures i mean ideological structures and political
14:05
structures ok which are characteristic of the capitalist mode of production ok ah it is also important to to to to ah understand the significance of trade unions political parties are definite ranged of forms of the state and a specific form of family and so on ok then first we discussed in the first point marxs ah ah materialist conception of history that marxs has historical materialism ah ok hm is a theory of history
14:42
on the condition that certain of its concepts are trans historical in nature that is to say that they have some valid applicability in all historical forms of society ok i mean the general theory of ah historical materialism ok secondly there are the particular theories whose concepts provide this theoretical ah analysis of each of the modes of production namely hunting and gathering economies slavery feudalism capitalism socialism and and community which are identified in the general theory
15:22
of historical materialism and the particular theory of the capitalist mode of production includes different concepts commodity what is a commodity that has got exchanged value ok may not have use value but it must have exchangeable ok the the thats why the ah the the distinction between use value and exchange value is important the distinction between labour and labour power is important ok the concepts of money and of capital what
15:55
is the difference between wealth and capital wealth is a stock whereas capital is a flow ok the the the distinctions between variable and constant capital ok thats why we we talked we have already discussed how how only labour is is is very important in in ricardian or and and marxs is ah ah theory of value ah labour is very important because land is considered ah ah constant capital or fixed capital ah labour is a variable capital
16:31
capital itself is generated through labour ah and entrepreneur is one more level ok then ah the distinction between value and surplus value surplus labour ok mean if if ah one unit of labour ah ah earns ah hundred rupees ah ah or or eighty rupees eighty rupees for eight hours ah ah of work a day then for overtime ah if if she or he is getting engaged in ah ah overtime activities then then the ways gets reduced in fact ok that surplus way surplus way ok the concept of profit the concept of profit
17:38
interest and rent capitalist ground reigned ok they they are owned by they are handled by they are appropriated by ah very few individuals in the society a few groups in the society leaving the large masses large population huge population ah ah with with many impoverishment ok ok these are these are these are and also the concepts of new economics ah structures i mean political in geological and so on ok they are they are very much characteristics
18:26
of of capitalist mode of production ok and it is also in this context it is very important to understand the significance of trade unions civil society ah political parties and so on ah and also also the state the nature of the state specific form of family and so on ok and thirdly there are what bollingers calls regional theory ok i mean what are these regional theories ok the i mean ah i mean thats why thats why ah
19:04
marx also talked about a static mode of production ok it is is it is very important to understand that the the the kind of mode of production that we witnessed ah today we witness in europe or north american ah continuing we do not tend to see that kind of mode of production in india or latin america or africa ok it requires we we we must ensure to develop certain regional theories which are of particular structural levels or regions within each mode
19:49
of production ok then then there are three important elements i mean that the ah ah as as nicos bollingers has provided a threefold classification of the concepts of concept specific to historical materialism ok first marxs historical materialism is a is a theory of history on the condition that certain of its concepts are trans historical in nature that is to say ah that they have some valid applicability hm in all historical
20:28
forms of society ok i mean general theory of historical materialism we have also discussed what is historical in historical materialism and materialism in historical materialism ok secondly there are particular theories whose concepts provide the the the theoretical analysis of each of the modes of production namely hunting and gathering economy slavery feudalism capitalism socialism and community ok ah which
20:57
are identified in the general theory of historical materialism and and and and ah hm i mean that this this particular theory of the capitalist mode of production ok ah includes ah ah as constituent concepts the concept of commodity the distinction between use and exchange value the distinction between labour and labour power the concepts of money and of capital itself the the distinctions between variable and constant capital between
21:30
value and surplus value the concepts of profit reigned and the capitalist ground reigned and also the concepts of new economic structures characteristic of the capitalist mode of production trade unions political parties are definite range of forms of state of specific forms of ah a specific form of family and so on ok and and thirdly there ah ah there are what bollingers called ah bollingers called ah regional theories hm ah i mean these regional
22:03
theories are of ah of the particular structural levels or regions within each mode of production ok this is this is ah broadly materialist conception of history or marxs materialist conception of history then then then what is the what are the principles of of dialectic what is dialectic first of all popularly known as dialectical materialism ok that the the the term dialectic refers to the art of a dialogue in the form of an argumentation it
22:49
expresses i mean the term dialectic expresses the view that development depends on the class of contradictions or the creation of a new more advanced synthesis out of these classes out of these contradictions out of these ah conflicts ok the dialectical process involves three movements one thesis antithesis and synthesis ok and marx used the the the notion of dialectic to account for social and historical events
23:32
but but engels extended the scope of dialectical analysis so far to establish it as a general law of development that applied equally into social natural and intellectuals fields ok yeah ah i I mean ah i mean particularly engels who is very much influenced by the by the works of ah george darvey the biologist ok thats why ah it is very important ah ah to to understand how engels was deeply en engrossed in in the dialectics of nature ok i mean ah
24:11
engels in fact believed that the real world weather of of society or of nature developed according to dialectal sequences of contradictions and synthesis and that the dialectical logic was the means by which one could comprehend this development how did marx and weber come to this point i mean drawing lessons from hegels dialectic and fire backs materialism both marx and engels have propounded the principles of dialectical and historical materialism
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i mean the principles of dialectic and materialist conception of history when engels was deeply engrossed in in the dialectic of nature ok marx found out their social applicability in the course of the development of human society ok the the principles of dialectical materialism means salt are the interpenetration of the opposites or unity and struggle of opposites secondly quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes and vice versa i mean
25:24
quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes and qualitative changes also lead to quantitative changes and the principle of ah i mean the law of i mean the theory of negation of negation ok i mean if you if you if you look at this ok if you ah look at this the the the the principles of dialectic for for marx human history is a part of part of history of nature it is basically a movement of nature developing towards man towards human mix marx always ah spoke about the unity of science i mean
26:12
man of science man of nature and so on ok according to marx science will in time incorporate into itself the science of man just as science of man will incorporate into itself the science of nature this i mean at the end of there will be once i mean and i and I mean the social reality of nature and natural science of ah human beings are identical terms i mean then how to understand nature ok i mean for marx human beings are the immediate objects of
26:48
natural sciences and nature is the immediate object of science of human beings human species ok how do i relate that how did he arrive at that i mean for him for for marx since perceptions are the basis of all sciences same censuses of man is human consciousness and consciousness is looked at only by looking at others i mean ah suppose man a looks at man b man b also looks at man a i mean women women a looks
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at woman b woman b looks at women a ok i mean consciousness ok is is looked at only by looking at others ok for for for marx human actions changed the world human actions changed nature thats why in in in man nature relationship we have already discussed i mean there are there are different things that are earlier literature suggests that nature controls but ah ah i mean ah what are what is what was the role of human beings human beings were
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supposed to only cont contemplate on nature ok but subsequently civilization also taught us how human being started controlling nature ok there there is a shift from faculty of contemplation to faculty of control ok thats why for marx human beings change the world human beings change the nature marx emphasized what is what is the basis of this marx emphasized the notion of practices practice ok the the the single science refers
28:44
to the science of history i mean history of nature and history of man condition is an history of nature and history of human species condition each other there is always a dialectical process according to according to marx human beings live in and against nature human beings not only depend on nature for their survival but also know how to control it how to master over nature ok thats why according to marx human beings ah live in live i mean human
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beings live in and against nature ok and knowledge comes from this kind of conflict with and by acting upon nature ok thats why marx said by acting upon nature human beings not only changed nature but also changed the social relationships involved in it human beings ah by by by acting upon nature human beings not only changed nature but also change themselves ok it is it is only through practice that we know and change the world it is only
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through practice we know and change nature it in this context ok ah as as a towering ah ah figure ah ah from peoples republic of china (( )) ok who said that ah the proof of apple ah is in it city ok the i mean its an empirical way of looking at the trajectory of development ok and this this this the it involves the dialectical process i mean practice ah ah through through practice we we know and change nature by changing
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by by knowing as well as changing nature we create knowledge ok and this new form of knowledge and or these new forms of knowledge ok they also change human nature thats why by acting upon nature human beings not only change nature but also change themselves ok according to (( )) multiplicity of contradictions are hierarchical in a social formation some some ah some principal contradictions subordinate several other contradictions ok
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suppose for suppose for marx ok nature does not be build machines machines are the products of human activity machines are the products of human action human labour ok i mean thats why marx said that who has grid created machines ok earlier literature used to ah ah attribute the creation of machines to some supernatural forces hm i mean god ok in this context marx interrogated this this idea and marx challenged this idea i mean ah marx hm came up with a
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more modern view about this new order of society that no machines ah i mean nature doesnt build machines god has not built machines it machines are the products of ah human labour human activity human action ok in this context ah ok marx said that darwin has got made redundant ok it is only through human labour human activity human action that that we have created this world we have we have tried to not only know this world but also we have attempted to is
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this world ok ok ah capitalism limits civilizing force of science ok in in capitalism ok in in capitalist mode of production as as marx suggested ah that that i mean that ah nature becomes denatured and humanity becomes dehumanized and nature becomes a raw material and object of utility ok i mean it is it is important to to to humanize nature and naturalized human beings which doesnt happen in capitalism for marx ok for marx in in capitalism nature becomes
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denature and humanity becomes dehumanized and nature because nature is reduced to a raw material an object of utility ok understanding life at a molecular level will be reductionist ok understanding life at a genetic level will be reductionist ok if this is so then ideologically ah much of marxs and ah engles discussion on on ideology is metaphorical in character we are now coming to theory of ideology ok by by marx i mean what are ideologies for
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for for marx ideologies are fantasies illusions ah myths reflections inverted images echoes of material life and so on many but not all of these metaphors contain two theses about etiology ok marx has a theories I am not talking about marx such an ideologue of the communist party but marx as a theoritism ok many but not all of these metaphors contain two theses of about ideology i mean i mean ideologies as fantasies ah illusions myths
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reflections inverted images echoes of material life and so on ok it it it it ah these metaphors contain two theses about about etiology one thesis s concerns its status as your reality the other it statuses knowledge when i say knowledge i mean co its its cognitive status for for marx there are one way causal relations ah ah causal links between material life and ideology that ideology and insubstantial epiphenomenon i mean that is a reflection which depicts
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but there is not affect the course of ah real historical life insubstantial epiphenomenon ok in in in the german ideology marx said that materialism consists in asserting that that thoughts are the phenomena ah ah material life ah hm are the phenomenon a material life ah ah or material life their essence as against ah the idealists assertion of the converse i mean i mean ah i mean idealists asserted that no ah hm ah i mean there must be ah determination
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in the last instance or and and relative autonomy of the superstructures are clearly attempts to correct these lapses into economic reduction is ok for for for marx if ideology is the dependent variable i mean if ideology is the effect then mode of production is the independent variable or the koch ok but and and and and for marx in in in quest of truth marx as a theoricity in quest of truth in quest of knowledge ok one has to ah go beyond the narrow confinements
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of her or his ideology ok once once you move away from ideology once you go move away from hm from the narrow confinements of ah your ideology ok then you confront science therein lies the the the the ah the beauty of marxs theory of science or theory of knowledge ok the theory of science or the theory of knowledge i mean marxs theory of science or theory of knowledge can be understood by analyzing and explicit and and explaining two of marxs texts on scientific methodology what are those two ok
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the the first one the german ideology and the second one the methods of political economy ok from these two texts the german ideology on the one hand and the methods of political economy on the other i mean six theses for ok ok this is very important i mean german ideology because because german he was guided much by german german philosophy ah and and methods of political economy i mean british economy ok mean these to ah are very important
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what are what are those six theses which follow from these two texts on the german ideology and the methods of political economy first the positive science of history is the representation of the practical activity of the practical process of development of human beings ok the the the first one the positive science of history is the representation of the practical activity everything emanates from praxis practice ok and such representation or depiction consists
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in the observation and arrangement of historical material under the guidance of certain premises certain conditions certain starting points ok which are themselves to be made evident by the study of the material life of each historical epoch then what are these premises the stating points these conditions ok premises in this sense are the axioms or or first principles of the theoretical system of history and in
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that the this is the third one i mean premises thirdly premises are the axioms or first principles of the theoretical system of history fourthly the the the term promises refers to stating points in the real world from which the concrete study of history must proceed and these premises are basic facts of social life i mean what are those basic facts of social life i mean maybe the individual the real individuals their activity and the material
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conditions under which they live and these premises i mean the given the raw data of scientific historical investigation can be verified in a purely empirical way and are empirically perceptible fifthly the the the materialist method of knowledge production for marx differs from that of the empiricists ok Rcrude empiricists for whom history is a collection of dead facts thats why materialist method again is different from empirical method ok not only that sixthly not only that sixthly
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what what marx ah went further that that the materialistic method is not speculative as meta physicists to ok instead the materialist methods always starts with observable and verifiable facts why why the materialist method is not speculative as meta physicist to know precisely because the the premises of metaphysics or the (( )) to existing ah philosophical investigations governed by the metaphysical school of thought ok they they govern hm ah
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the premises of metaphysics govern empirical investigations ok next why the materialist method ok ah after ah always starts with observable and verifiable facts ok keeping this this this the broad contours of marxs historical materialism ah ah ah that i mean the marxs materialist conception of history the principles of dialectic theory of ideology ah and end theory of science ah or or theory of knowledge ok let us quickly
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ah ah look at ah webers reflection on modernity a reflection of modernity we are just trying to recapitulate be before we move on to the the structuralist interpretation of modernity by by ah (( )) and and (( )) ok now now what how weber did it i mean weber contributed heavily to the to the development of substantive sociological theory and to the debate on methodology webers ah webers ah methodological writings and theoretical positions are usually characterized
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as as affecting ah reconciliation between positivism for between positivist and neo kantiansim positions though webers positions were not of course entirely consistent throughout his life ok ah it is possible to say that in general ah he rejected the view attributable to some neo kantiansim that the cultural sciences are exclusively concerned with the uniqueness of the objects of study and that the category of causality is inapplicable in them weber was committed to the widespread ah neo kantian
44:02
insistence on the methodological peculiarities of the cultural sciences for weber these peculiarities centered around the two related concepts of alue relevance and interpretive understanding i mean the cultural ah ah sciences ah differed from the natural hm in the ah distinctive role of valuations in the formation of concepts and in the distinctive type of knowledge involving them and and the third area of methodological differences was
44:35
taught by weber to be the use of idealizations in the cultural senses webers famous definition of interpretive sociology encapsulates most of such points as as sociology is a is a is a ah is a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order by to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects and and and exposition of you know webers methodological position can usefully proceed ah ah with an ah analysis of each
45:12
of the concepts and contrasts involved in the definition first the concept of social action that ah the characterization of sociology in terms of the understanding and explanation of social action involves two important contrasts first weber is distinguishing the paradigmatic objects of sociological knowledge for him ah ah ah from the supra individual social entities whose existence is supposed in much sociological
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theorizing and also everyday thinking about social relations weber does not actually deny the existence of such supra individual social ah supra individual social entities but argues that for for interpretative sociology they must be such such a supra individual social entities must be treated hm as solely the resultants and modes of organization of the particular acts of individual persons webers webers position
46:13
here would now be regarded as methodological individualist involving the claim that in so far as collectivities may be said to have characteristics independent of the individuals which make them up those characteristics are to be ah explained in terms of individual actors and their actions then then such methodological individualist position refers to theoretical position holding that adequate sociological accounts necessarily involved reference to
46:45
individuals their interpretations of their circumstances and the reasons and motives ah for the actions that they take weber says that such action by no means necessarily follows from the sharing of a common class situation prima facie interpreting sociology refers to a variety of forms of sociology ignited by an emphasis on the necessity for sociologists to grasp or understand or interpret actors meanings it can legitimately interpret course x ah ah i mean it can legitimately ah interpret
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ah ah course of action in terms of concepts such as the state classes etcetera without commitment to any of the entities interpretive understanding i mean it refers to a method that stresses the importance of understanding of intentional human action i mean semantically any any account is an interpretation thats why we have we have already discussed how however considered understanding to be a method of elucidating the the motivations for action
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which did not pollute the sociologists making generalizations from this data in some whilst this there is a general commitment to empathy and understanding from the actors point of view the research that flows from interpretation is so varied as to be difficult ah to categorize as a school possibly because the meaning of interpretation is itself subject to interpretation ok verstehen for for weber ah is not a method at all but an objective or an achievement
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or a goal it is a distinctive type of knowledge which may be achieved by a variety of methods or no method at all i mean for weber the concept of verstehen or understanding refers primarily to the spontaneous and immediate recognition of acts and their meanings in everyday life ok and we have we have also discussed how how interpretive understanding of social action has two parts i mean interpretation at the ah ah of the textual and ah ah linguistic
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meaning of a cultural product on the one hand and value interpretation i mean when i say value be it social value aesthetic value or or cognitive value i mean i mean values for a sociologist are always objects of study ok interpretive understanding may be direct understanding or observational understanding and indirect understanding or explanatory understanding ok we have also discussed a rule governed said culture ah
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which is based on relevance acceptability and elegance ok we have discussed ah ah how explanation i mean when when we talk about indirect or explanatory understanding how explanation must be adequate at the level of meaning as well as ah at the level of statistical generalizations i mean adequacy is based on generalizations and generalizations are based on experience ok and and the central dimensions of webers analysis
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are that economic religious and power relations are crucial sociological explanations on the basis of which weber made three types of economic phenomena i mean economic phenomena economically relevant phenomena and economically conditioned phenomena economic phenomena when weber referred to i mean institutions deliberately created and used for economic ends i mean market economically relevant phenomena i mean legal and religious phenomena which are not primarily
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economic but have consequences which are economic in nature in certain circumstances i mean when when weber talked about economically conditioned phenomena i mean he referred to the stratification systems and the state are not directly the economic phenomena but are affected in some way by the economic phenomena thats why weber said that economy and religion cannot be separated in our day to day life so far as practice is concerned ok then we
50:55
have discussed webers interpretation of modernity as well as ah marxs web interpretation of modernity through the lenses of holism or totality ah hm ah reflexivity ah ah ah rationality h, and and social movements ok ah and we have also discussed they there are two primary differences between weber and marx on class i mean the first is in their conception of the economic class structure that underlies class movements ah i mean i
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mean for marx classes are manifestations of economic differentiation but for weber classes are contingent upon life chances as well as causal components ok for marx we have as we have seen this ah i mean i mean the conception of the economic class structure ah that underlies class movements can ultimately be reduced to a primary opposition between the exploited and the exploiters those who live those who labour as well as those who live of their labour for weber however economic situation is not
52:03
so much a relationship as a given which ah individuals bring to a market systematically we can say that individuals bring their labour power of their skills or their ownership the means of production to a market and it is this market situation for weber that generates ah the life chances of each individual i mean for for weber economic classes are more heterogeneous ok hm ah and less interactive then then what marx had envisioned ok
52:41
and secondly the i mean the other major difference which weber brings to his analysis of social movements is the concept of social closer weber treats social closer as a process whereby groups aim at restricting access to particularly desirable things namely occupations goods status and so on much of webers writing deals with the extent to which successful collective action results in this kind of social closer for the sake of exercising a monopoly on something
53:12
ok this is this is very important and and and ah ah we have also discussed ah webers ideal types i mean which are the models which describe ah ah rules of the way things ah ah ah happen in a way that makes sense to us thus we might construct an ideal typical description of the way in which religions founded by a charismatic priest become over time highly structured and militant organizations and the relationship of this model to the way things actually happen is then variable in
53:52
general weber says that it helps us develop these models act as abstracted or level as possible so that the concepts become as unambiguous as possible and their interrelationship is as clear as possible and these ideal types are then ah then then they do become ah yardsticks against ah which we can measure what actually happened ok in other words the ideal type is a is a general description of a particular logical of of
54:28
process or of a rational sequence of events in the sense of one where their sequence has a meaning clearly they will be far easier in the case of value rational or goal rational sequences since an assumption continued ah custom tells us very little about the content of the custom and assumptions that emotions follow particular sequences are very risky in other words it is rationality itself whether goal rational or value rational that makes
54:57
interpretation possible on the basis of a shared and reflexive participation in the social world and and beyond the specific case of case of rationalization as a as a general ah process in modernity ok then rationality for weber is your concept which bridges the gap between sociology and its objects i mean i mean for example rationality in either form is present as a tendency within society which may be approximated to a greater or
55:29
lesser extent i mean the sociologists can use this tendencial rationality to make more sense of the actual process or events clearly then the more rationalized society becomes the deeper into modernity we go the easier the social resists task should become and the closer their interpretations should correspond with what actually happens ok i mean in the in the next lecture we are we are going to going to discuss the the the
56:03
ultra modernist case i mean the structuralist interpretation of of the critical ah i mean the central pillars the central political and philosophical foundations of modernist paradigm in sociology i mean in the ah in the works of ah ah levi strauss and and louis althusser what we will do i mean we will we will simultaneously discuss lévi strauss and althusser hm i mean first well go one by one and then we will we will examine simultaneously
56:42
both of both their works through the lenses of these centered pillars of modernity i mean holism ah or totality reflexivity rationality and social movements thank you
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