SOC231H5 Lecture Notes - Buffalo Creek Flood, Gemeinschaft And Gesellschaft, Alexis De Tocqueville
Document Summary
3/ cannon set of thinkers central to the discipline. Everything in its path: destruction of community in the buffalo creek flood by: kai t. erikson. 5/ the buffalo creek disaster as a metaphor for modern society. People so dependant on community, community disappears, people are helpless. Gemeinschaft vs. gesellschaft (ferdinand tonnies, 1855 1896) Reading: tocqueville democracy in america (1835 1840), pp. 503 17 (read chapters 1 to 5) Equality more prized in a democracy than liberty. Equality fosters individualism (the isolation of individuals from each other) Increase in individualism after french revolution in 1789. Voluntary associations of local government counters individualism, because it brings people together. Tocqueville"s family suffered - parents imprisoned, family guillotined. Did not believe the clock could be turned back equality is the master trend. Look at the case of the united states (most equal country) - lessons to be learned for. 4/ what about slavery? (narrative of the life of frederick douglass (1845)
