Randall Collins: Concept, Social Stratification, Interaction Rituals Sociology YouTube Lecture Handouts
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Randall Collins: Concept, Social Stratification, Interaction Rituals|Sociology
Introduction
- 29 July, 1941
- American Sociologist
- Non-Marxist Conflict Theorist
- Books –
- Conflict Sociology, 1975
- Weberian Sociological Theory, 1986
- Theoretical Sociology, 1988
- The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change, 1998
- Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory, 2008
- Methodology - Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology (Everyday life) and historical-comparative
- Micro oriented (added a new level to the macro-level of conflict theory)
- Individual point of view explained Stratification on a daily life basis
- He chose conflict as the central process in social life
- He didn՚t discuss whether conflict is good or bad for the society thus, his view is not ideological
- Thus, influenced less by Marx and more by Weber, Emile Durkheim՚s concept of religion and Goffman՚s dramaturgy
- “All relationships are based on some antagonism, domination and conflict on the one hand and there are also patterns of solidarity on the other.”
- Empirical data and grounded theorization unlike other conflict theorists
- Collins made use of Goffman՚s model of interaction rituals
- Emphasized the importance of emotions in forging solidarity among individuals engaged in conflict.
- Identifying the micro-processes of struggle and management in real life situations
- For complex and detailed analysis of status groups and individuals who occupy different roles in the competition for resources and power in society
Concept
- He viewed structures and actors as inseparable
- Wanted to find the patterns of interaction
- He believed that actors keep on creating and recreating social organization
- Considered Marxian theory as starting point of conflict theory
- Problems he found based on the lines of structural functionalism, with lots of ideologies
Collins on Social Stratification
- Microsociology of stratification
- Called Marxian theories as Monocausal explanation of a multicausal world
- Social stratification can be studied in everyday life of people
- “The more similar people՚s respective resources, the more likely are interactions to be more relaxed, whereas when larger inequalities exist, interactions will be stiff, highly ritualized, and short-term.”
Interaction Rituals
- Face-to-face encounters
- Rituals as the basic building blocks of all societies —
- Groups
- Organizations
- Societies, etc.
MCQs
Q.1. Collins located conflict in the processes of day-to-day life inspired by ________
1. Goffman
2. Weber
3. Marx
4. Foucault
Ans. 4
Q.2. According to who, ‘Social structures may be translated empirically into patterns of repetitive micro interaction’ ?
(1) Marx
(2) Coser
(3) Collins
(4) Nadel
Ans. 3
✍ Manishika