Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, rent, sell, exchange, transfer, give away, or destroy it, or to exclude others from doing these things, as well as to perhaps abandon it; whereas regardless of the nature of the property, the owner thereof has the right to properly use it under the granted property rights .
123-421: The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty . Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdiction by a board in favor of another agency." In contrast with annexation , where property is forcibly seized, cession is voluntary or at least apparently so. In 1790,
246-836: A parson or rector takes another benefice without dispensation, the first benefice becomes void by a legal cession, or surrender. Retrocession is the return of something (e.g., land or territory) that was ceded in general or, specifically: Examples: In insurance , retrocessional arrangements generally are governed by a reinsurance or retrocessional agreement and the principles applicable to reinsurance also are applicable to retrocessional cover. Property In economics and political economy , there are three broad forms of property: private property , public property , and collective property (or cooperative propert y). Property may be jointly owned by more than one party equally or unequally, or according to simple or complex agreements; to distinguish ownership and easement from rent, there
369-638: A distinctive way of thinking, the rational calculation which he associated with the Protestant Ethic (more or less what Marx and Engels speak of in terms of those 'icy waves of egotistical calculation'). Together the works of these great classical sociologists suggest what Giddens has recently described as 'a multidimensional view of institutions of modernity' and which emphasises not only capitalism and industrialism as key institutions of modernity, but also 'surveillance' (meaning 'control of information and social supervision') and 'military power' (control of
492-500: A founder of sociology as the word gained wider meaning. For Isaiah Berlin , even though Marx did not consider himself to be a sociologist, he may be regarded as the "true father" of modern sociology, "in so far as anyone can claim the title." To have given clear and unified answers in familiar empirical terms to those theoretical questions which most occupied men's minds at the time, and to have deduced from them clear practical directives without creating obviously artificial links between
615-410: A major contribution to the theoretical concept of structural functionalism . By carefully examining suicide statistics in different police districts, he attempted to demonstrate that Catholic communities have a lower suicide rate than that of Protestants, something he attributed to social (as opposed to individual or psychological ) causes. He developed the notion of objective social facts to delineate
738-440: A neo-Kantian inquiry into the limits of perception, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?' The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of life. The antagonism represents
861-468: A notable biologist , Spencer coined the term survival of the fittest . While Marxian ideas defined one strand of sociology, Spencer was a critic of socialism, as well as a strong advocate for a laissez-faire style of government. His ideas were closely observed by conservative political circles, especially in the United States and England. The first formal Department of Sociology in the world
984-471: A nuisance, or another tort has been held a taking of property where the conduct was sufficiently persistent and severe. There exist many theories of property. One is the relatively rare first possession theory of property , where ownership of something is seen as justified simply by someone seizing something before someone else does. Perhaps one of the most popular is the natural rights definition of property rights as advanced by John Locke . Locke advanced
1107-418: A possessory interest or legal title in that thing. This mediating relationship between individual, property, and State is called a property regime. In sociology and anthropology , property is often defined as a relationship between two or more individuals and an object, in which at least one of these individuals holds a bundle of rights over the object. The distinction between collective and private property
1230-443: A possible character beyond positivist data-collection or grand, deterministic systems of structural law. Relatively isolated from the sociological academy throughout his lifetime, Simmel presented idiosyncratic analyses of modernity more reminiscent of the phenomenological and existential writers than of Comte or Durkheim, paying particular concern to the forms of, and possibilities for, social individuality. His sociology engaged in
1353-651: A resolutely subjective perspective. Max Weber argued that sociology may be loosely described as a science as it is able to identify causal relationships of human " social action "—especially among " ideal types ", or hypothetical simplifications of complex social phenomena. As a non-positivist, however, Weber sought relationships that are not as "historical, invariant, or generalisable" as those pursued by natural scientists. Fellow German sociologist, Ferdinand Tönnies , theorised on two crucial abstract concepts with his work on " gemeinschaft and gesellschaft " ( lit. ' community' and 'society ' ). Tönnies marked
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#17327760534981476-449: A resource based on the practical inability to contradict the ends of the possessor. The second title is the expectation that others will recognize rights to control resources, even when not in possession. He elaborates on the differences between these two concepts and proposes a history of how they came to be attached to persons, as opposed to families or entities such as the church. Both communism and some forms of socialism have also upheld
1599-403: A revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. Symbolic interaction —often associated with interactionism , phenomenology , dramaturgy , interpretivism —is a sociological approach that places emphasis on subjective meanings and the empirical unfolding of social processes, generally accessed through micro-analysis. This tradition emerged in
1722-433: A scarcity justification, since the things don't have the exclusivity property (however, those who support a scarcity justification may still support other "intellectual property" laws such as Copyright , as long as these are a subject of contract instead of government arbitration). Thus even ardent propertarians may disagree about IP. By either standard, one's body is one's property. From some anarchist points of view,
1845-409: A sharp line between the realm of concepts and the reality of social action: the first must be treated axiomatically and in a deductive way ("pure sociology"), whereas the second empirically and inductively ("applied sociology"). [Sociology is] ... the science whose object is to interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which the action proceeds and
1968-422: A single party at a time, or a single party in a divisible context, if owned or used. Thus far or usually, those are not considered property, or at least not private property, even though the party bearing right of exclusive use may transfer that right to another. In many societies the human body is considered property of some kind or other. The question of the ownership and rights to one's body arise in general in
2091-558: A social whole. The German philosopher Hegel criticised traditional empiricist epistemology, which he rejected as uncritical, and determinism, which he viewed as overly mechanistic. Karl Marx 's methodology borrowed from Hegelian dialecticism but also a rejection of positivism in favour of critical analysis, seeking to supplement the empirical acquisition of "facts" with the elimination of illusions. He maintained that appearances need to be critiqued rather than simply documented. Early hermeneuticians such as Wilhelm Dilthey pioneered
2214-528: A theoretical empiricism . The extent of antipositivist criticism has also diverged, with many rejecting the scientific method and others only seeking to amend it to reflect 20th-century developments in the philosophy of science. However, positivism (broadly understood as a scientific approach to the study of society) remains dominant in contemporary sociology, especially in the United States. Loïc Wacquant distinguishes three major strains of positivism: Durkheimian , Logical, and Instrumental. None of these are
2337-426: A unique empirical object for the science of sociology to study. Through such studies he posited that sociology would be able to determine whether any given society is healthy or pathological, and seek social reform to negate organic breakdown, or " social anomie ". Sociology quickly evolved as an academic response to the perceived challenges of modernity , such as industrialization, urbanization, secularization , and
2460-813: A variety of different fields. Since its inception, sociological epistemology, methods, and frames of inquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged. Durkheim, Marx, and the German theorist Max Weber are typically cited as the three principal architects of sociology. Herbert Spencer , William Graham Sumner , Lester F. Ward , W. E. B. Du Bois , Vilfredo Pareto , Alexis de Tocqueville , Werner Sombart , Thorstein Veblen , Ferdinand Tönnies , Georg Simmel , Jane Addams and Karl Mannheim are often included on academic curricula as founding theorists. Curricula also may include Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Marianne Weber , Harriet Martineau , and Friedrich Engels as founders of
2583-435: Is a great property, there is great inequality … Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all. In his 1881 text "The Common Law", Oliver Wendell Holmes describes property as having two fundamental aspects. The first, possession, can be defined as control over
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#17327760534982706-523: Is also in this tradition that the radical-empirical approach of ethnomethodology emerges from the work of Harold Garfinkel . Utilitarianism is often referred to as exchange theory or rational choice theory in the context of sociology. This tradition tends to privilege the agency of individual rational actors and assumes that within interactions individuals always seek to maximize their own self-interest. As argued by Josh Whitford , rational actors are assumed to have four basic elements: Exchange theory
2829-820: Is an established tradition within sociological theory. Lastly, as argued by Raewyn Connell , a tradition that is often forgotten is that of Social Darwinism , which applies the logic of Darwinian biological evolution to people and societies. This tradition often aligns with classical functionalism, and was once the dominant theoretical stance in American sociology, from c. 1881 – c. 1915 , associated with several founders of sociology, primarily Herbert Spencer , Lester F. Ward , and William Graham Sumner . Contemporary sociological theory retains traces of each of these traditions and they are by no means mutually exclusive. A broad historical paradigm in both sociology and anthropology , functionalism addresses
2952-464: Is an expectation that each party's will with regard to the property be clearly defined and unconditional. . The parties may expect their wills to be unanimous, or alternatively each may expect their own will to be sufficient when no opportunity for dispute exists. The first Restatement defines property as anything, tangible or intangible, whereby a legal relationship between persons and the State enforces
3075-516: Is based on The Public Trust Doctrine. ), celestial bodies and outer space, and land in Antarctica . The nature of children under the age of majority is another contested issue here. In ancient societies, children were generally considered the property of their parents. However, children in most modern communities theoretically own their bodies but are not regarded as competent to exercise their rights. Their parents or guardians are given most of
3198-431: Is but a consequence of this rationalism. The term has long since ceased to carry this meaning; there are no fewer than twelve distinct epistemologies that are referred to as positivism. Many of these approaches do not self-identify as "positivist", some because they themselves arose in opposition to older forms of positivism, and some because the label has over time become a pejorative term by being mistakenly linked with
3321-420: Is connected with the division of labor) and his achievements which make him unique and indispensable but which at the same time make him so much the more dependent on the complementary activity of others; Nietzsche may have seen the relentless struggle of the individual as the prerequisite for his full development, while socialism found the same thing in the suppression of all competition – but in each of these
3444-492: Is his safest refuge]." It is the origin of the famous dictum, "an Englishman's home is his castle". The ruling enshrined into law what several English writers had espoused in the 16th century. Unlike the rest of Europe the British had a proclivity towards owning their own homes. British Prime Minister William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham defined the meaning of castle in 1763, "The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all
3567-622: Is more or less synonymous with quantitative research , and so only resembles older positivism in practice. Since it carries no explicit philosophical commitment, its practitioners may not belong to any particular school of thought. Modern sociology of this type is often credited to Paul Lazarsfeld , who pioneered large-scale survey studies and developed statistical techniques for analysing them. This approach lends itself to what Robert K. Merton called middle-range theory : abstract statements that generalize from segregated hypotheses and empirical regularities rather than starting with an abstract idea of
3690-467: Is no private property under natural law but only under human law . Seneca viewed property as only becoming necessary when men become avaricious. St. Ambrose later adopted this view and St. Augustine even derided heretics for complaining the Emperor could not confiscate property they had labored for. The canon law Decretum Gratiani maintained that mere human law creates property, repeating
3813-640: Is often defined by the code of the local sovereignty and protected wholly or - more usually, partially - by such entity, the owner being responsible for any remainder of protection. The standards of the proof concerning proofs of ownerships are also addressed by the code of the local sovereignty, and such entity plays a role accordingly, typically somewhat managerial . Some philosophers assert that property rights arise from social convention , while others find justifications for them in morality or in natural law . Various scholarly disciplines (such as law , economics , anthropology or sociology ) may treat
Cession - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-562: Is regarded as confusion, since different individuals often hold differing rights over a single object. Types of property include real property (the combination of land and any improvements to or on the ground), personal property (physical possessions belonging to a person), private property (property owned by legal persons, business entities or individual natural persons), public property (State-owned or publicly owned and available possessions) and intellectual property —including exclusive rights over artistic creations and inventions. However,
4059-423: Is specifically attributed to the work of George C. Homans , Peter Blau and Richard Emerson. Organizational sociologists James G. March and Herbert A. Simon noted that an individual's rationality is bounded by the context or organizational setting. The utilitarian perspective in sociology was, most notably, revitalized in the late 20th century by the work of former ASA president James Coleman . Following
4182-594: Is such that an article of property is, by law or otherwise by traditional conceptualization, subject to expiration even when inheritable , which is a key distinction from tangible property. Upon expiration, the property, if of the intellectual category, becomes a part of public domain , to be used by but not owned by anybody, and possibly used by more than one party simultaneously due to the inapplicability of scarcity to intellectual property. Whereas things such as communications channels and pairs of electromagnetic spectrum bands and signal transmission power can only be used by
4305-526: Is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and after that to hold it as his very own." Anthropology studies the diverse ownership systems, rights of use and transfer, and possession under the term "theories of property". As mentioned, western legal theory is based on the owner of property being a legal person. However, not all property systems are founded on this basis. In every culture studied, ownership and possession are
4428-441: Is the combination of interests in land and improvements thereto, and personal property is interest in movable property. Real property rights are rights relating to the land. These rights include ownership and usage. Owners can grant rights to persons and entities in the form of leases , licenses , and easements . Throughout the last centuries of the second millennium , with the development of more complex theories of property,
4551-741: Is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society , human social behavior , patterns of social relationships , social interaction , and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. Regarded as a part of both the social sciences and humanities , sociology uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change . Sociological subject matter ranges from micro-level analyses of individual interaction and agency to macro-level analyses of social systems and social structure . Applied sociological research may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, whereas theoretical approaches may focus on
4674-418: Is to extract from their subject-matter 'correct' or 'valid' meaning. Both Weber and Georg Simmel pioneered the " Verstehen " (or 'interpretative') method in social science; a systematic process by which an outside observer attempts to relate to a particular cultural group, or indigenous people, on their own terms and from their own point of view. Through the work of Simmel, in particular, sociology acquired
4797-562: The Chicago School of the 1920s and 1930s, which, prior to World War II, "had been the center of sociological research and graduate study." The approach focuses on creating a framework for building a theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. Society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as they interact with one another. This approach sees people interacting in countless settings using symbolic communications to accomplish
4920-466: The Domesday Book in 1086, while ancient philosophers such as Confucius wrote about the importance of social roles. Medieval Arabic writings encompass a rich tradition that unveils early insights into the field of sociology. Some sources consider Ibn Khaldun , a 14th-century Muslim scholar from Tunisia , to have been the father of sociology, although there is no reference to his work in
5043-543: The Frankfurt School of critical theory ) was founded in 1923. International co-operation in sociology began in 1893, when René Worms founded the Institut International de Sociologie , an institution later eclipsed by the much larger International Sociological Association (ISA), founded in 1949. The overarching methodological principle of positivism is to conduct sociology in broadly
Cession - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-484: The Louisiana Purchase . Spain made a cession of East and West Florida by the treaty of February 22, 1819. Cessions have been severally made of a part of their territory by New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Under the civil law system , cession is the equivalent of assignment , and therefore, is an act by which a personal claim is transferred from
5289-719: The Qing dynasty government of China to the United Kingdom ; and following defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War , Taiwan was ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895. Territory can also be ceded for payment, such as in the Louisiana Purchase and Alaska Purchase . This is a yielding up, or release. France ceded Louisiana to the United States by the treaty of Paris, of April 30, 1803 following
5412-495: The commons . The term "commons," however, is also often used to mean something entirely different: "general collective ownership"—i.e. common ownership . Also, the same term is sometimes used by statists to mean government-owned property that the general public is allowed to access ( public property ). Law in all societies has tended to reduce the number of things not having clear owners. Supporters of property rights argue that this enables better protection of scarce resources due to
5535-407: The effects which it produces . By 'action' in this definition is meant the human behaviour when and to the extent that the agent or agents see it as subjectively meaningful ... the meaning to which we refer may be either (a) the meaning actually intended either by an individual agent on a particular historical occasion or by a number of agents on an approximate average in a given set of cases, or (b)
5658-479: The institution of medicine ; economy ; military ; punishment and systems of control ; the Internet ; sociology of education ; social capital ; and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge . The range of social scientific methods has also expanded, as social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of
5781-709: The seafloor (see the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for restrictions), gases in Earth's atmosphere , animals in the wild (although in most nations, animals are tied to the land. In the United States and Canada , wildlife is generally defined in statute as property of the State. This public ownership of wildlife is referred to as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and
5904-444: The social structure —referred to as " social organization " by the classical theorists—with respect to the whole as well as the necessary function of the whole's constituent elements. A common analogy (popularized by Herbert Spencer ) is to regard norms and institutions as 'organs' that work towards the proper functioning of the entire 'body' of society. The perspective was implicit in the original sociological positivism of Comte but
6027-513: The spiritual body that runs them. Intellectual property and air ( airspace , no-fly zone , pollution laws, which can include tradable emissions rights ) can be property in some senses of the word. Ownership of land can be held separately from the ownership of rights over that land, including sporting rights, mineral rights , development rights, air rights , and such other rights as may be worth segregating from simple land ownership. Ownership laws may vary widely among countries depending on
6150-442: The telos of property, i.e., what is the purpose of property? His answer: to solve the scarcity problem. Only when items are relatively scarce concerning people's desires, do they become property. For example, hunter-gatherers did not consider land to be property, since there was no shortage of land. Agrarian societies later made arable land property, as it was scarce. For something to be economically scarce, it must necessarily have
6273-616: The tragedy of the commons . At the same time, critics say that it leads to the 'exploitation' of those resources for personal gain and that it hinders taking advantage of potential network effects . These arguments have differing validity for different types of "property"—things that are not scarce are, for instance, not subject to the tragedy of the commons . Some apparent critics advocate general collective ownership rather than ownerlessness. Things that do not have owners include: ideas (except for intellectual property ), seawater (which is, however, protected by anti-pollution laws), parts of
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#17327760534986396-409: The value of legal tender if not the legal tender itself , as the manufacturer rather than the possessor might be the owner. They often distinguish tangible and intangible property . One categorization scheme specifies three species of property: land, improvements (immovable man-made things), and personal property (movable man-made things). In common law , real property ( immovable property )
6519-418: The "exclusivity property"—that use by one person excludes others from using it. These two justifications lead to different conclusions on what can be property. Intellectual property —incorporeal things like ideas, plans, orderings and arrangements (musical compositions, novels, computer programs)—are generally considered valid property to those who support an effort justification, but invalid to those who support
6642-625: The ASA in 1905. The sociological canon of classics with Durkheim and Max Weber at the top owes its existence in part to Talcott Parsons , who is largely credited with introducing both to American audiences. Parsons consolidated the sociological tradition and set the agenda for American sociology at the point of its fastest disciplinary growth. Sociology in the United States was less historically influenced by Marxism than its European counterpart, and to this day broadly remains more statistical in its approach. The first sociology department established in
6765-471: The Harvard department." As Parsons began to dominate general theory, his work primarily referenced European sociology—almost entirely omitting citations of both the American tradition of sociocultural-evolution as well as pragmatism. In addition to Parsons' revision of the sociological canon (which included Marshall, Pareto, Weber and Durkheim), the lack of theoretical challenges from other departments nurtured
6888-787: The Hobbes/Harrington generation, Sir Robert Filmer , reached conclusions much like Hobbes', but through Biblical exegesis . Filmer said that the institution of kingship is analogous to that of fatherhood, that subjects are still, children, whether obedient or unruly and that property rights are akin to the household goods that a father may dole out among his children—his to take back and dispose of according to his pleasure. Sociology 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias Sociology
7011-641: The Inca empire, the dead emperors, considered gods, still controlled property after death. In 17th-century England , the legal directive that nobody may enter a home (which in the 17th century would typically have been male-owned) unless by the owner's invitation or consent, was established as common law in Sir Edward Coke 's " Institutes of the Lawes of England ". "For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and each man's home
7134-545: The Sociological Method (1895). For Durkheim, sociology could be described as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning." Durkheim's monograph Suicide (1897) is considered a seminal work in statistical analysis by contemporary sociologists. Suicide is a case study of variations in suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, and served to distinguish sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. It also marked
7257-530: The U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia both ceded land to create the District of Columbia , as specified in the U.S. Constitution of the previous year. The Virginia portion was given back in 1847, a process known as "retrocession". Following the First Opium War (1839–1842) and Second Opium War (1856–1860), Hong Kong ( Treaty of Nanking ) and Kowloon ( Convention of Peking ) were ceded by
7380-751: The United Kingdom was at the London School of Economics and Political Science (home of the British Journal of Sociology ) in 1904. Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse and Edvard Westermarck became the lecturers in the discipline at the University of London in 1907. Harriet Martineau , an English translator of Comte, has been cited as the first female sociologist. In 1909, the German Sociological Association
7503-410: The assignor (the cedent ) to the assignee (the cessionary ). Whereas real rights are transferred by delivery, personal rights are transferred by cession. Once the obligation of the debtor is transferred, the cessionary is entirely substituted. The original creditor (cedent) loses his right to claim and the new creditor (cessionary) gains that right. When an ecclesiastic is created bishop , or when
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#17327760534987626-418: The basic form of society would increase in complexity and those forms of social organization that promoted solidarity would eventually overcome social disorganization. As Giddens states: Functionalist thought, from Comte onwards, has looked particularly towards biology as the science providing the closest and most compatible model for social science. Biology has been taken to provide a guide to conceptualizing
7749-481: The cause, of the distribution of property. He said that the worst possible situation is when the commoners have half a nation's property, with the crown and nobility holding the other half—a circumstance fraught with instability and violence. He suggested a much better situation (a stable republic) would exist once the commoners own most property. In later years, the ranks of Harrington's admirers included American revolutionary and founder John Adams . Another member of
7872-491: The citizens respectively who made, or may rightfully own them: Provided, that the citizens of the Nation possessing the exclusive and indefeasible right to their improvements, as expressed in this article, shall possess no right or power to dispose of their improvements, in any manner whatever, to the United States, individual States, or individual citizens thereof; and that, whenever any citizen shall remove with his effects out of
7995-573: The common interest, and only when he is himself concerned as an individual." In addition, he says that when property is common, there are natural problems that arise due to differences in labor: "If they do not share equally enjoyments and toils, those who labor much and get little will necessarily complain of those who labor little and receive or consume much. But indeed, there is always a difficulty in men living together and having all human relations in common, but especially in their having common property." ( Politics, 1261b34 ) Cicero held that there
8118-439: The concept more systematically, but definitions vary, most particularly when involving contracts . Positive law defines such rights, and the judiciary can adjudicate and enforce property rights. According to Adam Smith (1723-1790), the expectation of profit from "improving one's stock of capital" rests on private-property rights. Capitalism has as a central assumption that property rights encourage their holders to develop
8241-515: The concept of personal property had become divided into tangible property (such as cars and clothing ) and intangible property (such as financial assets and related rights, including stocks and bonds ; intellectual property , including patents , copyrights and trademarks ; digital files ; communication channels ; and certain forms of identifier , including Internet domain names , some forms of network address , some forms of handle and again trademarks). Treatment of intangible property
8364-416: The decline of theories of sociocultural evolution in the United States, the interactionist thought of the Chicago School dominated American sociology. As Anselm Strauss describes, "we didn't think symbolic interaction was a perspective in sociology; we thought it was sociology." Moreover, philosophical and psychological pragmatism grounded this tradition. After World War II, mainstream sociology shifted to
8487-411: The detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method, maintaining that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisting that they may retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of
8610-626: The discussion of human rights , including the specific issues of slavery , conscription , rights of children under the age of majority , marriage , abortion , prostitution , drugs , euthanasia and organ donation . Of the following, only sale and at-will sharing involve no encumbrance . The two major justifications are given for the original property, or the homestead principle , are effort and scarcity. John Locke emphasized effort, "mixing your labor" with an object, or clearing and cultivating virgin land. Benjamin Tucker preferred to look at
8733-503: The distinction between natural and social science (' Geisteswissenschaft '). Various neo-Kantian philosophers, phenomenologists and human scientists further theorized how the analysis of the social world differs to that of the natural world due to the irreducibly complex aspects of human society, culture, and being . In the Italian context of development of social sciences and of sociology in particular, there are oppositions to
8856-416: The doctrine of sovereign immunity precludes relief. Moreover, if the interference does not almost completely make the property valueless, the interference will not be deemed a taking but instead a mere regulation of use. On the other hand, some governmental regulations of property use have been deemed so severe that they have been considered " regulatory takings ." Moreover, conduct is sometimes deemed only
8979-540: The entire social and political unit. Common ownership in a hypothetical communist society is distinguished from primitive forms of common property that have existed throughout history, such as Communalism and primitive communism , in that communist common ownership is the outcome of social and technological developments leading to the elimination of material scarcity in society. Corporate systems describe ownership as being attached to an identifiable group with an identifiable responsible individual. The Roman property law
9102-421: The fact that they help a man form those expectations which he can reasonably hold in his dealings with others. These expectations find expression in society's laws, customs, and more. An owner of property rights possesses the consent of fellowmen to allow him to act in particular ways. An owner expects the community to prevent others from interfering with his actions, provided that these actions are not prohibited in
9225-408: The feminist tradition in sociology. Each key figure is associated with a particular theoretical perspective and orientation. Marx and Engels associated the emergence of modern society above all with the development of capitalism; for Durkheim it was connected in particular with industrialization and the new social division of labor which this brought about; for Weber it had to do with the emergence of
9348-492: The first foundation of the discipline, sustained by speculative philosophy in accordance with the antiscientific tendencies matured by critique of positivism and evolutionism, so a tradition Progressist struggles to establish itself. At the turn of the 20th century, the first generation of German sociologists formally introduced methodological anti-positivism , proposing that research should concentrate on human cultural norms , values , symbols , and social processes viewed from
9471-410: The first sociology textbook: An introduction to the study of society . George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley , who had met at the University of Michigan in 1891 (along with John Dewey ), moved to Chicago in 1894. Their influence gave rise to social psychology and the symbolic interactionism of the modern Chicago School . The American Journal of Sociology was founded in 1895, followed by
9594-526: The forces of the crown. It may be frail – its roof may shake – the wind may blow through it – the storm may enter – the rain may enter – but the King of England cannot enter." That principle was carried to the United States. Under U.S. law, the principal limitations on whether and the extent to which the State may interfere with property rights are set by the Constitution. The Takings clause requires that
9717-403: The foundation of the discipline itself. Social analysis has origins in the common stock of universal, global knowledge and philosophy, having been carried out from as far back as the time of old comic poetry which features social and political criticism, and ancient Greek philosophers Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle . For instance, the origin of the survey can be traced back to at least
9840-464: The fundamental rights of control over them. Questions regarding the nature of ownership of the body also come up in the issue of abortion , drugs , and euthanasia . In many ancient legal systems (e.g., early Roman law ), religious sites (e.g. temples ) were considered property of the God or gods they were devoted to. However, religious pluralism makes it more convenient to have sacred sites owned by
9963-405: The government (whether State or federal—for the 14th Amendment's due process clause imposes the 5th Amendment's takings clause on state governments) may take private property only for a public purpose after exercising due process of law, and upon making "just compensation." If an interest is not deemed a "property" right or the conduct is merely an intentional tort, these limitations do not apply, and
10086-413: The idea of "giving to every man his own," a phrase he drew from the writings of Cicero . But he wondered: How can anybody call anything his own? A contemporary of Hobbes, James Harrington , reacted to the same tumult differently: he considered property natural but not inevitable. The author of " Oceana ," he may have been the first political theorist to postulate that political power is a consequence, not
10209-420: The inequality between particular groups. The following quotes from Durkheim and Marx epitomize the political, as well as theoretical, disparities, between functionalist and conflict thought respectively: To aim for a civilization beyond that made possible by the nexus of the surrounding environment will result in unloosing sickness into the very society we live in. Collective activity cannot be encouraged beyond
10332-700: The king of the Sumerian city-state Lagash , established the first laws that forbade compelling the sale of property. The Bible in Leviticus 19:11 and ibid. 19:13 states that the Israelites are not to steal. Aristotle , in Politics, advocates "private property." He argues that self-interest leads to neglect of the commons. "[T]hat which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of
10455-438: The later decades of the nineteenth century. To say this is certainly not to claim that French sociologists such as Durkheim were devoted disciples of the high priest of positivism. But by insisting on the irreducibility of each of his basic sciences to the particular science of sciences which it presupposed in the hierarchy and by emphasizing the nature of sociology as the scientific study of social phenomena Comte put sociology on
10578-399: The latter is not always widely recognized or enforced. An article of property may have physical and incorporeal parts. A title , or a right of ownership , establishes the relation between the property and other persons, assuring the owner the right to dispose of the property as the owner sees fit. The unqualified term "property" is often used to refer specifically to real property. Property
10701-453: The less complex sciences , attacking the laissez-faire sociology of Herbert Spencer and Sumner. Ward's 1,200-page book was used as core material in many early American sociology courses. In 1890, the oldest continuing American course in the modern tradition began at the University of Kansas , lectured by Frank W. Blackmar . The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago was established in 1892 by Albion Small , who also published
10824-535: The limits of this Nation, and become a citizen of any other government, all his rights and privileges as a citizen of this Nation shall cease: Provided, nevertheless, That the National Council shall have power to re-admit, by law, to all the rights of citizenship, any such person or persons who may, at any time, desire to return to the Nation, on memorializing the National Council for such readmission. Communal property systems describe ownership as belonging to
10947-401: The map. To be sure, [its] beginnings can be traced back well beyond Montesquieu , for example, and to Condorcet , not to speak of Saint-Simon , Comte's immediate predecessor. But Comte's clear recognition of sociology as a particular science, with a character of its own, justified Durkheim in regarding him as the father or founder of this science, even though Durkheim did not accept the idea of
11070-419: The meaning attributed to the agent or agents, as types, in a pure type constructed in the abstract. In neither case is the 'meaning' to be thought of as somehow objectively 'correct' or 'true' by some metaphysical criterion. This is the difference between the empirical sciences of action, such as sociology and history, and any kind of prior discipline, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose aim
11193-491: The means of violence in the context of the industrialisation of war). The first college course entitled "Sociology" was taught in the United States at Yale in 1875 by William Graham Sumner . In 1883, Lester F. Ward , who later became the first president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), published Dynamic Sociology—Or Applied social science as based upon statical sociology and
11316-785: The mid-20th century, especially, have led to increasingly interpretative , hermeneutic , and philosophical approaches towards the analysis of society. Conversely, the turn of the 21st century has seen the rise of new analytically , mathematically , and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social network analysis. Social research has influence throughout various industries and sectors of life, such as among politicians, policy makers , and legislators; educators ; planners ; administrators ; developers ; business magnates and managers; social workers; non-governmental organizations; and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals interested in resolving social issues in general. Sociological reasoning predates
11439-474: The most modern form of the conflict which primitive man must carry on with nature for his bodily existence. The eighteenth century may have called for liberation from all the ties which grew up historically in politics, in religion, in morality, and in economics to permit the original natural virtue of man, which is equal in everyone, to develop without inhibition; the nineteenth century may have sought to promote, in addition to man's freedom, his individuality (which
11562-427: The nature of the property of interest (e.g., firearms, real property, personal property, animals). Persons can own property directly. In most societies legal entities , such as corporations , trusts and nations (or governments) own property. In many countries women have limited access to property following restrictive inheritance and family laws, under which only men have actual or formal rights to own property. In
11685-424: The notion of objective sui generis "social facts" to serve as unique empirical objects for the science of sociology to study. The variety of positivism that remains dominant today is termed instrumental positivism . This approach eschews epistemological and metaphysical concerns (such as the nature of social facts) in favour of methodological clarity, replicability , reliability and validity . This positivism
11808-873: The notion that private ownership of capital is inherently illegitimate. This argument centers on the idea that private ownership of capital always benefits one class over another, giving rise to domination through this privately owned capital. Communists do not oppose personal property that is "hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned" (as " The Communist Manifesto " puts it) by members of the proletariat . Both socialism and communism distinguish carefully between private ownership of capital (land, factories, resources, etc.) and private property (homes, material objects, and so forth). Most legal systems distinguish between different types of property, especially between land ( immovable property , estate in land , real estate , real property ) and all other forms of property— goods and chattels , movable property or personal property , including
11931-519: The phrases used by St. Augustine. St. Thomas Aquinas agreed with regard to the private consumption of property but modified patristic theory in finding that the private possession of property is necessary. Thomas Aquinas concludes that, given certain detailed provisions, The principal writings of Thomas Hobbes appeared between 1640 and 1651—during and immediately following the war between forces loyal to King Charles I and those loyal to Parliament . In his own words, Hobbes' reflection began with
12054-427: The point set by the condition of the social organism without undermining health. The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in
12177-514: The process of rationalization . The field predominated in continental Europe , with British anthropology and statistics generally following on a separate trajectory. By the turn of the 20th century, however, many theorists were active in the English-speaking world . Few early sociologists were confined strictly to the subject, interacting also with economics, jurisprudence , psychology and philosophy, with theories being appropriated in
12300-400: The progression of human understanding, after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases. In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and having classified the sciences, Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term. Comte gave a powerful impetus to the development of sociology, an impetus that bore fruit in
12423-400: The property, generate wealth , and efficiently allocate resources based on the operation of markets. From this has evolved the modern conception of property as a right enforced by positive law, in the expectation that this will produce more wealth and better standards of living. However, Smith also expressed a very critical view of the effects of property laws on inequality: Wherever there
12546-462: The same as that set forth by Comte, who was unique in advocating such a rigid (and perhaps optimistic) version. While Émile Durkheim rejected much of the detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method. Durkheim maintained that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisted that they should retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. He developed
12669-937: The same fundamental motive was at work, namely the resistance of the individual to being leveled, swallowed up in the social-technological mechanism. The contemporary discipline of sociology is theoretically multi-paradigmatic in line with the contentions of classical social theory. Randall Collins ' well-cited survey of sociological theory retroactively labels various theorists as belonging to four theoretical traditions: Functionalism, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionism, and Utilitarianism. Accordingly, modern sociological theory predominantly descends from functionalist (Durkheim) and conflict (Marx and Weber) approaches to social structure, as well as from symbolic-interactionist approaches to social interaction, such as micro-level structural ( Simmel ) and pragmatist ( Mead , Cooley ) perspectives. Utilitarianism (also known as rational choice or social exchange), although often associated with economics,
12792-449: The same manner as natural science . An emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method is sought to provide a tested foundation for sociological research based on the assumption that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only arrive by positive affirmation through scientific methodology. Our main goal is to extend scientific rationalism to human conduct.... What has been called our positivism
12915-593: The scientific understanding of social life. Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution , he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism , an epistemological approach outlined in the Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842), later included in A General View of Positivism (1848). Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era in
13038-417: The specifications of his rights. Different societies may have other theories of property for differing types of ownership. For example, Pauline Peters argued that property systems are not isolable from the social fabric, and notions of property may not be stated as such but instead may be framed in negative terms: for example, the taboo system among Polynesian peoples. In medieval and Renaissance Europe
13161-433: The structure and the function of social systems and to analyzing processes of evolution via mechanisms of adaptation. Functionalism strongly emphasizes the pre-eminence of the social world over its individual parts (i.e. its constituent actors, human subjects). Functionalist theories emphasize "cohesive systems" and are often contrasted with "conflict theories", which critique the overarching socio-political system or emphasize
13284-497: The subjects of custom and regulation, and "law" is where the term can meaningfully be applied. Many tribal cultures balance individual rights with the laws of collective groups: tribes, families, associations, and nations. For example, the 1839 Cherokee Constitution frames the issue in these terms: Sec. 2. The lands of the Cherokee Nation shall remain common property. Still, the improvements made thereon, and in possession of
13407-457: The survey-research of Paul Lazarsfeld at Columbia University and the general theorizing of Pitirim Sorokin , followed by Talcott Parsons at Harvard University . Ultimately, "the failure of the Chicago, Columbia, and Wisconsin [sociology] departments to produce a significant number of graduate students interested in and committed to general theory in the years 1936–45 was to the advantage of
13530-487: The tasks at hand. Therefore, society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of subjective meanings. Some critics of this approach argue that it only looks at what is happening in a particular social situation, and disregards the effects that culture, race or gender (i.e. social-historical structures) may have in that situation. Some important sociologists associated with this approach include Max Weber , George Herbert Mead , Erving Goffman , George Homans , and Peter Blau . It
13653-402: The term "property" essentially referred to land. After much rethinking, land has come to be regarded as only a special case of the property genus. This rethinking was inspired by at least three broad features of early modern Europe: the surge of commerce, the breakdown of efforts to prohibit interest (then called " usury "), and the development of centralized national monarchies . Urukagina ,
13776-446: The theory that God granted dominion over nature to man through Adam in the book of Genesis. Therefore, he theorized that when one mixes one's labor with nature, one gains a relationship with that part of nature with which the labor is mixed, subject to the limitation that there should be "enough, and as good, left in common for others." (see Lockean proviso ) In his encyclical letter Rerum novarum (1891), Pope Leo XIII wrote, "It
13899-413: The three states and criticized Comte's approach to sociology. Both Comte and Karl Marx set out to develop scientifically justified systems in the wake of European industrialization and secularization , informed by various key movements in the philosophies of history and science . Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in attempting to develop a "science of society" nevertheless came to be recognized as
14022-419: The two, was the principal achievement of Marx's theory. The sociological treatment of historical and moral problems, which Comte and after him, Spencer and Taine , had discussed and mapped, became a precise and concrete study only when the attack of militant Marxism made its conclusions a burning issue, and so made the search for evidence more zealous and the attention to method more intense. Herbert Spencer
14145-550: The understanding of social processes and phenomenological method. Traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification , social class , social mobility , religion , secularization , law , sexuality , gender , and deviance . Recent studies have added socio-technical aspects of the digital divide as a new focus. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency , sociology has gradually expanded its focus to other subjects and institutions, such as health and
14268-572: The validity of property depends on whether the "property right" requires enforcement by the State. Different forms of "property" require different amounts of enforcement: intellectual property requires a great deal of state intervention to enforce, ownership of distant physical property requires quite a lot, ownership of carried objects requires very little. In contrast, requesting one's own body requires absolutely no state intervention. So some anarchists don't believe in property at all. Many things have existed that did not have an owner , sometimes called
14391-599: The writings of European contributors to modern sociology. Khaldun's Muqaddimah was considered to be amongst the first works to advance social-scientific reasoning on social cohesion and social conflict . The word sociology derives part of its name from the Latin word socius ('companion' or 'fellowship' ). The suffix -logy ('the study of') comes from that of the Greek -λογία , derived from λόγος ( lógos , 'word' or 'knowledge'). The term sociology
14514-411: Was based on such a corporate system. In a well-known paper that contributed to the creation of the field of law and economics in the late 1960s, the American scholar Harold Demsetz described how the concept of property rights makes social interactions easier: In the world of Robinson Crusoe , property rights play no role. Property rights are an instrument of society and derive their significance from
14637-435: Was established in 1892 by Albion Small —from the invitation of William Rainey Harper —at the University of Chicago . The American Journal of Sociology was founded shortly thereafter in 1895 by Small as well. The institutionalization of sociology as an academic discipline, however, was chiefly led by Émile Durkheim , who developed positivism as a foundation for practical social research . While Durkheim rejected much of
14760-599: Was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in an unpublished manuscript . Sociology was later defined independently by French philosopher of science Auguste Comte (1798–1857) in 1838 as a new way of looking at society. Comte had earlier used the term social physics , but it had been subsequently appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet . Comte endeavored to unify history, psychology, and economics through
14883-601: Was founded by Ferdinand Tönnies , Max Weber, and Georg Simmel , among others. Weber established the first department in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1919, having presented an influential new antipositivist sociology. In 1920, Florian Znaniecki set up the first department in Poland . The Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt (later to become
15006-533: Was one of the most popular and influential 19th-century sociologists. It is estimated that he sold one million books in his lifetime, far more than any other sociologist at the time. So strong was his influence that many other 19th-century thinkers, including Émile Durkheim , defined their ideas in relation to his. Durkheim's Division of Labour in Society is to a large extent an extended debate with Spencer from whose sociology Durkheim borrowed extensively. Also
15129-448: Was theorized in full by Durkheim, again with respect to observable, structural laws. Functionalism also has an anthropological basis in the work of theorists such as Marcel Mauss , Bronisław Malinowski , and Radcliffe-Brown . It is in the latter's specific usage that the prefix "structural" emerged. Classical functionalist theory is generally united by its tendency towards biological analogy and notions of social evolutionism , in that
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