The Social Construction of Ideas

Jobs – Identification and Priorities

• Identity can be defined though work we perform• In 1904, sociologist Mark Webber noted a great

change in the organization of society with respect to work

• People worked to develop trade and enterprise while increasing personal wealth and investment

• Paid work became the means of distinguishing the worker as a successful individual

• Wealth accumulation became an important part of the new capitalistic society as masses strove to produce more and accumulate wealth

• This work ethic was viewed as one of the originators of modern-day capitalism

• Life was organized around producing, consuming, and increasing personal wealth

• Modern example of this idea is the cyclical nature

of workplace advancement – A worker with a family must

ensure that his or her children are looked after during work hours. If work demands extra time the worker must extend these hours, which may be inconvenient. Work can also extend beyond the workplace to the home or social life of a worker. Earning more money can lead to elevated spending on lifestyle. The worker may feel that they earned certain luxuries and will indulge in them. To pay for this lifestyle, worker must earn more, and so the cycle continues

Ideal Types

• According to Weber, human organization followed the idea that a formalized process must be obeyed for a society to function well

• His ideal types represented a means of comparing social structures to better understand them and their context– Ex: people create an ideal of how institutions like

businesses should be run, how we should behave at grocery stores or funerals, or how we should address people who are in positions of authority

• We then evaluate our own behaviour and of others based on the fixed ideals for each situation or aspect of society creating a “normal” or “acceptable” code of conduct for our society– Considered “normal” if we stick to it and those who

do not are deemed socially unacceptable.

• We are able to measure our progress and our place in society by comparing ourselves socially to other societies or past social situations

• There can be intergenerational differences in what is considered important.– Ex:  One generation may consider the

accumulation of material goods to be important, a different generation may have an environmental focus

• Which ideology becomes dominant can be influenced by how the ideals are promoted to society and who promotes them

Bureaucracy• At the root of a bureaucracy are the following:

impersonality, hierarchy, written rules of conduct, specialized division of labour, promotion based on achievement, and efficiency

• Weber viewed the bureaucracy as an ideal type, as a form of authority that would guard against subjective and unjust use of power.– In the real world, we can see how this ideal

type is often overshadowed by examples of bureaucrats who misuse their position of authority

Rationalization

• In order for idealism to achieve a sustainable outcome, decisions must be guided by applying practical knowledge to achieve a desired end.

• People become comfortable with social norms and rules for acceptable behaviour, changing what people deem as acceptable to suit a changing society is often met with some resistance.

• To effect social change, an individual must work within the constraints of society.– Social structures such as schools, laws (the legal

system), and the political process are designed to promote change without shocking the system.

•      Change may not occur quickly but there is less chance for chaos when the change is gradual and within the accepted limits of social rules.– Following a moral compass where the good of

the people is the goal helps to guide decisions made during this process.

Feminism • Feminism is a social perspective devoted to equality and

equal rights between the sexes.• Gender inequality is embedded in the daily practices of

various social institutions such as the family, religion, and the workplace.– Inequality- the condition of being unequal, of not

possessing the same rights and privileges as another person or group

• During Canadian society in the 1700s, a power imbalance between men and women existed, but they shared a mutual respect for their different roles.– Native men hunted for meat and might be away from the

village for many days. Women and children remained near the village and tended to crops and daily life. Women made the important village decisions and grew the remainder of the necessary calories for their family’s diet.

•  With the rise of technology and the increase in specialized roles in large production factories in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, families moved from the country to cities.

• A single family wage was earned by the man while the woman stayed at home and raised the children.– Bringing home a wage was given a higher status

compared to that of raising a family, and the power disparity between men and women was created.

– Housework and raising children, or “women’s work,” was viewed as less important.

• More rights and privileges were granted to men because they were running the social systems outside the home.

• Inequality was not only between the sexes but also between the different classes emerging from the Industrial Revolution

• Differences in wages among men also created a hierarchy within the wage earners– Men earning more money were seen as

having a higher status and possessing more social power.

• Feminist theories can be used to understand power in social interactions.

Legislating Equality

• Affirmative action programs seek to equalize past discriminations through legislation to ensure equal opportunity.

• Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that affirmative action–type legislation does “not [prevent] any law, program or activity that has as its object the [improvement] of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability” (Canadian Heritage, 2011).

• Laws intended to protect disadvantaged individuals and groups in power relationships and to address historical injustices have a role in changing society.

Positivism—A Means to an End

• Positivism focuses on knowledge accumulation through the senses rather than through intuition, also on reality and on formalized processes to make sense of behaviour.

– Positivism - the use of the scientific approach to research and understand social behaviour

• Logic and clearly defined processes are used to categorize and explain human behaviour.

• Positivist theory uses the scientific method and scientific firmness to obtain solid results that will hold up against examination.

• Some social scientists believe that including statistics and scientific methodology legitimizes the results, making the findings of the study more credible and less likely to be questioned.– Ex: when researching participation in

postsecondary education, positivist research would examine a child’s family dynamic to determine his or her chance of attending a post-secondary institution.