Goffman And Simmel

FORMATION The “conflict as the basis of group formation” concept was developed by Georg Simmel, describes how unification of relationship can emerge from competition or any similar desires, and goals. For example, The Hunger Game’s

In this sense, society relies on the reciprocal relations of humans. Society is derived from these reciprocal interactions and does not precede them. Society operates through our refraction and manifests through our actions. (Simmel) Building off a traditional Hobbesian view, human society is distinct from a ‘personal’ phase, rather it is deeply socially constructed. Society consists of interrelated activities in which humans can act in accordance with each other as well as against each other. Society is not a collection of individual humans nor a system of institutions. For Weber, society is in the interactions, not in the institutions. Society generates norms and values which influence human conduct, which is constantly being built through interaction. From the symbolic interaction perspective, there is no moral judgment placed on interaction.

Simmel began his inquiries from the bottom up, observing the smallest of social interactions and attempting to see how larger-scale institutions emerged from them. In doing so, he often noticed phenomena that other theorists missed. For example, Simmel observed that the number of parties to an interaction can effect its nature. The interaction between two people, a dyad, will be very different from that which is possible in a three-party relationship, or triad. (Farganis, p. 133)

Both Simmel and Goffman have greatly contributed to the development of the sociological investigation of human interaction and experiences, they have taken a science that was not easily understood and brought it to the center of attention. While using different methods to ultimately obtain an understanding of how society functions, whether it be on the individual level or the as a group interplay.

Durkheim argued that society needed a sense of solidarity, that is, its individual members must feel that they are part of a single group or community, reinforcing this statement with how social life and co-operation would be impossible without social solidarity as each individual would pursue their own selfish desires instead of working together to reach an agreement on important things. In his eyes the education system helped to create solidarity by transmitting society’s culture, shared beliefs and values from one generation to the next. For example, he argues that if a country’s history was taught, a sense of shared heritage and a commitment to wider social groups would be gradually established or instilled in the minds of children.

2. Durkheim: What term does Durkheim associate with social solidarity? How do societies achieve it organically and mechanically? What did he think threatened social solidarity?

Why is working effectively together important? According to the novel, The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham, working together effectively allows a group of individuals to achieve their goals and prevent danger for others. In fact, a group of individuals must be able to understand others who make dangerous decisions, and give others realistic solutions that would control other’s actions and prevent their death. Furthermore, when a group of individuals collaborate with one another, it allows them to defeat and avoid being caught by their enemy. Overall, members of a society must effectively work together in order to avoid chaos.

Examine the view that Erving Goffman’s work focuses on forms of social interaction but ignores social structure.

There are other theories that build on Merton’s work, but they focus on the position of groups in the social structure rather than just on individuals, and how these groups adapt in different ways to the strain facing them in achieving social goals.

A functionalist named Emile Durkheim believes that the education system introduces the importance of social solidarity in people. He says 'Society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands.' So he believes that social life would be impossible without social solidarity amongst people. Social solidarity is when a mass of individuals in a society is united as a whole, and when people learn to respect their community and look after one another and their surroundings. Education teaches people this at an early age, by giving history lessons because this provides a link between the individual and the society in which they live in.

Alejandro Portes discuss the controversy surrounding the actual meaning and effects of social capital. Confusion arises due its applications to manifold topics as well as its uses on different group of people. He provided the concept by Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman which centered on the benefits of social capital on an individual or a small group. He argued that Coleman focused on the advantages yielded to individual and then expand them to the whole community with subtlety. This transition is not well-defined and thus put social capital at risk of becoming synonymous with all positive things in

will not be repeated unless it is reinforced by being rewarded in some way. Then in 1964 Peter Blau published his book titled “Exchange and Power in Social Life” (Blau, 1964). Peter Blau put more emphasis on technical economic analysis. “Groups are held together by exchange of benefits in a manner analogous to that in which an economy is held together by mutual advantage in exchange” (Spread, 1984, p. 157). George Homans theory focused upon the psychology of behavior. Before going off to war Mr. Homans began to work on a classification system of naming the variables of his model. “My first sketch of my three-fold classification first appeared in the last chapter of my English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century(1941), where it was wholly out of place…”(Homans, 1983, p. 16). He continued to work on this while in the Navy and during a lull in activity wrote them out “…interaction, sentiment, and activity. An intellectual boundary might be drawn around any social system such as a group. Within this boundary the three classes of variables were mutually dependent on one another in the behavior of the members”(Homans, 1983, p. 17). After the war Mr. Homans returned to Harvard, being offered an Associate Professorship prior to his leaving the service. He

In a community some form of order is an essential foundation for people to live and interact together. ‘’Order is part of the way people both imagine and practise their social existence.’’ (Silva et al., 2009, p. 311) Taylor (2004, p.58) argued that ‘’ the human capacity to imagine order is at the foundation of society itself.’’ (Taylor, cited in Silva et al., 2009 p.311) Social order draw in imagination, practices, the fitting together of people and things, and ideas about the past and the future. (Silva et al., 2009)There are many explanations of how social order is produced, Erving Goffman (1959, 1971 and 1972) and Michel Foucault

His views can be divided into three different theories; the form of solidarity, Anomie, and the division of labor. Durkheim explained that there are two different types of the social integration; which is mechanical and organic solidarity. He explained that the mechanical solidarity forms a group or community where people affiliate and feel the comfort by regulated by the shared rules and the systems of beliefs, which is we call common conscience. The mechanical solidarity has a strong social morality compare to organic solidarity. The organic solidarity is more like an opposite theory of mechanical solidarity. The organic solidarity is the society that is more focused on individual’s values, performance in different tasks, and form a society that has less social morality with less common conscience. Durkheim explained, as a society grows up, the division of labor increases and become powerful. The mechanical and organic solidarity must exist in our society to keep the balance between the inequality and equality. But at the same time, it also makes big distance between the high class and working class and it is causing working class to feel devastated because of the differences of advantages and disadvantages between the high class and working

Durkheim was one of the most influential sociologists in relation to the functionalist theories which stated society consisted of a structural consensus with a collective conscience of shared norms and values. He argued in order to establish the meaning of society one must understand the structures and social facts. He highlights changes in society from traditional societies which were linked with mechanical solidarity consisting of small scale ties with little division of labour. This in turn created a strong collective conscience of unity in comparison to modern society where differences amongst groups are promoted in turn weakening social solidarity. This is due to rapid changes within society in which Durkheim emphasises is due to a complex division of labour. Durkheim then argues that due to the combination of enlightenment notions and a capitalist society a collective conscience of individualism and greed is created. (Jones, Bradbury and Boutillier, 2011, pp.62-64)