10/12/15
in-class assignment:
Sociological imagination
The three moments of fundamental dialectical process of society
Man is a product. Society is a product of man. These are two statements which seem contradictory to laymen. However, the statements are more of complementary than contradictory, at least from a sociological perspective. Explaining these processes from the sociological point of view, it would be deduced that indeed man is a product of society and it’s still true that society is a product of man. The three dialectical processes include; externalization, objectivation and internalization. Externalization is the process of pouring men into the physical and mental world. The product of society in this case is man. Objectivation is the realization by the products of society of the physical and mental factors pertinent to it. Internalization is the repatriations of external objectivities into abstract concepts.
Externalization denotes the time human beings are born into society. Through Nozick’s theory of communitarianism, we are able to understand that all humans are born into a community and therefore, man is born into a society. Therefore, he can best be described as an effort of society. Society that existed before him appended energy in order to beget man. Therefore, through externalization, society is a product of man since it is man within this society who dispensed efforts to beget man.
Objectivation entails man beginning to realize the external perspectives that relate to him. It is through these objectivities that man learns to live and coexist with one another. As man designs ways of living with one another, he finds himself making laws to govern inter-personal behaviors and creation of governments and the bill of rights. Man therefore creates society by designing the manner in which society shall function. Therefore, society is a product of man.
Internalization entail re-appropriation of man of objective concepts into abstract concepts endears man into being a subject of society. Man is made a product of society in order for man to be able to understand man better through abstract concepts. Externalization therefore portrays society as a human product while objectivation makes society a reality. It is through internalization therefore than man becomes a product of society.
The process of externalization entails man being being factually different from all the other animals. At birth, man is said to unfinished program which must be completed in his growth into adulthood. He is born into a society and culture which shapes the way he t
hinks and the way he carries out his works. Man grows into age realizing himself and it is through this process of realization that he decides to chat his own life path. By choosing his own life path, man endeavors to shape society and therefore ends up producing society. In the same vein, animals are usually born completely programmed to rely on animal instincts for their survival.
10/14/2015
According to Mills, animals need no such complex processes in order for them to understand life. In fact, to them, their lives only involve instincts and no reason. To dogs, only dog-life exists, and to sheep, only sheep-life exists. This is a complete contrast to men where we ought to understand that society entails more than the relationship between man and man. Man through the process of realization understands that even animals are essential for the survival of both man and the animals themselves. Although society entirely entails the coexistence of men with men, it largely depends on the existence of other players in order for it to be complete.
An example of a typical society can be discerned from the Marxist society in the industrial revolution era. That man in one society is born into different classes of society with different needs and wants. There are the rich land owners who exist completely a different lifestyle from the proletariat. Since the rich land owners own the factors of production, they have wealth and therefore their needs are all catered for. All they need is satisfaction of secondary wants which are a luxury to the proletariat. When one is born into such a society, he is forced to adopt the way of life of the society he is born in. However, such a society is created by the men who decide among themselves to partition society into classes so that some men may gain from the efforts of other men. The society is structured in a manner that only the rich are able to make decisions which affect society. They end up making decisions which favor only them because the poor low class people would be looking at ways to meet their basic needs while the bourgeoisies are free to make these decisions.
However, through objectivation man realizes the nature of society he is born into. His rational thinking defies the classification. Through extensive internalization, man realizes the economic, social and political inequalities. He opts to change society perspective on the dynamics of life. Therefore, externalization pushes man to try and change the world. Such texts of Karl Marx are an effort by man in his bid to understand the world, he tries to shape society.