SOCIOL 3488 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Sui Generis, Social Fact, Mechanical And Organic Solidarity
9 Sep 2016
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Lecture 01/25/16 & 01/27/16: overview, main drive: make sociology distinct academic discipline (especially from philosophy and psychology, comte and spencer: more interested in abstract theorizing than empirical study, main ideas. Can only be explained by other social facts: sui generis. Social facts are sui generis (latin for: of its own kind); not reducible to a lower concept. New level of reality arises from the complexity of interactions among individual parts. Example: mind arises from interactions of neurons in brain, not reducible to individual neurons. Social facts arise from interactions of individuals but are not reducible to individuals: two types of social facts. Studying material facts helps us understand nonmaterial social facts. Individual minds = substrate for nonmaterial social facts. Soil is substrate for plants; helps it grow: types of nonmaterial social facts. To understand morality, need to study institutions/structures that exhibit the moral code. Problem is not moral vs. immoral but strong moral bonds vs. unchecked self-interest .
