The Sociology Book

13 annotations • Apr 2023 • data

Foucault challenged the idea that "knowledge is power," saying that the two are related more subtly. He coined the term "power–knowledge" for this relationship, noting that knowledge creates power, but is also created by power. Today, power is exercised by controlling what forms of knowledge are acceptable, presenting them as truths, and excluding other forms of knowledge. At the same time, accepted knowledge, the discourse, is actually produced in the process of exercising power.

"Gender is an impersonation… becoming gendered involves impersonating an ideal that nobody actually inhabits."Judith Butler

But in the 1970s Pierre Bourdieu claimed, in Distinction, that the issue was more complex: social class is not defined solely by economics, he said, "but by the class habitus which is normally associated with that position." This concept was first discussed by the 13th-century Italian theologian Thomas Aquinas, who claimed that the things people want or like, and the way they act, is because they think of themselves as a certain kind of person: each of us has a particular inclination, or habitus.

Bourdieu also saw scholastic capital (intellectual knowledge), linguistic capital (ease in the command of language, determining who has the authority to speak and be heard), and political capital (status in the political world) as playing a part in class.

Bryman identifies four aspects to Disneyization: theming, hybrid consumption, merchandizing, and emotional labor.
The term "emotional labor" was coined by Arlie Hochschild in The Managed Heart to describe a person altering their outward behavior to conform to an ideal
Bryman proposes Disneyization as a parallel notion to George Ritzer's McDonaldization, a process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant (McDonald's itself is merely a symbol) come to dominate more and more sectors of society. McDonaldization is grounded in the idea of rationalization and produces sameness. Theme parks echo this in several ways, but Disneyization is essentially about increasing the inclination to consume (goods and services), often through variety and difference.

In Disneyization this occurs where a job appears to become more of a performance, with a scripted interaction, dressing up, and the impression of having endless fun.

Beck identifies three significant qualities of risk. First, global, irreparable damage: accidents cannot be compensated for, so insurance no longer works. Second, exclusion of precautionary aftercare: we cannot return conditions to the way they were before the accident. Third, no limit on space and time: accidents are unpredictable, can be felt across national borders, and impose their effects over long periods of time.

According to Baudrillard, our reality is now dictated by the incredible amount of information that streams into our lives from so many forms of media. He says that, strangely, although the real is disappearing, "it is not because of a lack of it, but an excess of it." An excess of information pouring into our awareness puts an end to information, he says, because we drown in complexity, and reach for the simple solution that is handed to us.

The effects become wholly negative, he claims, when automation of the workplace is coupled with radical changes to the social relations of production: the way in which the total labor process is organized, managed, and manipulated. He emphasizes the distinction between advances in science and technology and how those are implemented in the workplace on the one hand, and changes to the social relations of production—the drive for ever-more efficient ways to organize and divide up the labor force—on the other.

"Women make a resource out of feeling and offer it to men."Arlie Russell Hochschild

Individuals now have a greater desire for emotionally fulfilling relationships, which has fueled industries such as couples' therapy and self-help publishing. But the ties that bind are fragile and people tend to move on if perfection is not achieved. As the couple say, even when individuals do fall in love ("when love finally wins"), there are often more battles ahead—division, resentment, and divorce, for example.