SOC 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Group Dynamics, News, Georg Simmel

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1100
• Professor: Karyn Freedman

Document Summary

Gerhard and jean lenski: society and technology: the lenskis point to the importance of technology in shaping any society. They use the term socio- cultural evolution to mean changes that occur as a society gains new technology. Industrial societies, which developed first in europe 250 years ago, use advanced sources of energy to drive large machinery. Is the driving forces behind the information revolution, a worldwide flow of information that now links societies with an emerging global culture. Max weber: the rationalization of society: max weber"s idealist approach emphasizes the power of ideas to shape society. Increasing rationality gave rise to both the industrial revolution and capitalism: protestantism (specially, calvinism) encouraged the rational pursuit of wealth, laying the groundwork for the rise of industrial-capitalism, weber feared that excessive rationality, while promoting efficiency, would stifle. In pre-industrial societies, mechanical solidarity, or social bonds cased on common sentiments and shared moral values, guides the social life of individuals.