Essay: Inevitability of stratification / collective conscience

Gaetano Mosca theory of “the inevitability of stratification” (1884) is based on some social ranking which is inevitable in all groups. Mosca says that society cannot persist without polity. Society needs organization, coordination, and control. This means that society needs people or organizations to take control such as politicians, university, and colleges, government, etc. Mosca believes that every group needs a leader in every situation for example where to go to eat or a leader for a group project. Since most people don’t want to be leaders, the leader will usually be given a compensation which could consist of a higher pay wage or any extra bonus they may get in their circumstance. If there was no compensation people wouldn’t want to take charge due since everyone wants self-gain.  Leadership may be same for years but can go back and forth depending on the group goal. The leadership may also change due to the past decisions of the leader. It is inevitable that were socialized to needing leaders. It’s human nature to have an alpha and beta but there is no evidence of a neurological urge. It is believed that Mosca influenced Vilfredo Pareto when he developed his theory of the circulation of elites.  Everyone said the social conflict was between the lower or upper class but Pareto thought differently. His thoughts were that social conflict comes from the elites fighting for power. Mosca influenced him since he said that leaders would be compensated with more resources. Pareto noticed that leaders would want more and more self-gain. Circulation of elites is a critical social conflict among leaders. Pareto says some conflicts will be between followers but most of the conflicts come from the elites. Pareto elites are people who have a degree of quality of intelligence and character. Elite groups consist of a group of leaders which divides elites with non-elites.  The followers just want to be able to do the minimum without being bothered with access to their amenities. This means that the elites will be in conflict with each other to be the best. He classifies the elites into two groups. The foxes want to rule through cooperation, diplomatic intrigue and by being persuasive. They make decisions for everyone to create authority. The fox will try to persuade but won’t disagree with you about your opinion. The Lions will want to rule through power, self-interest, force. They make their decisions through self-interest which will create power with no authority. The lion is willing to use force for self-gain. The leaders will change periodically which is where the name circulation of elites comes from. A relevant example of circulation of elites would be the United States government. Where former president Barrack Obama would be the fox who would have the authority and would persuade the nation but didn’t disagree with one’s opinion. Where the lion would be President Donald Trump who is the Lion who is using his power and force to make decisions for his own self-gain for example how he will bomb Syria to prove his power. The circulation of the government changed due to an election but sometimes the elites will change because they can’t fit the position or isn’t as good as the new elite coming up. You may see this at work where people will be fired at the top position to give is a position to someone new.
PART 3
David Emile Durkheim is a French theorist and sociologist. He created the theory of collective conscience. Collective conscience is about an understanding of what makes society functional. Durkheim believes that individuals in society all have their own individual conscience we likewise share a solidarity with one another. We work together in multiple ways and our collective conscience allows it to arise with value emphasis, norms, sanctions, beliefs, etc. Durkhtells us that collective conscience came from primitive and modern societies but in different approaches. Durkheim also believes that collective conscience has two different forms of solidarity.  Mechanical solidarity is the first one which he operates in the primitive societies. This society is usually very simple and shares few differences. They usually have the same race, beliefs, and values.  Mechanical solidarity is when the individual assumes normative homogeneity. He will have strong and extreme social control. Will demand tradition and loyalty with little specialization in the work division. This individual will have his fixed role and status. Religion was also a huge source of solidarity since most people shared the same belief. However, this was not the case in a more complex society. Modern society has a lot more divisions. This means they need more than just mechanical solidarity to advance collective conscience. Due to a bigger difference in labor with large numbers of different types of people and statuses Durkheim created the concept of organic solidarity. Organic solidarity is one who follows the general normative homogeneity. An individual who is inter-dependent and highly specialized in which has many roles. This individual who has varying loyalties and has a tolerance of individuality. This creates subcultures in the community. They have less of a shared religious belief and people rally on one another to keep society afloat.
Karl Marx is a German theorist and sociologist. He created a theory about class consciousness. Class consciousness was created when he saw the exploitation of the working class. This is when the bourgeoisie was exploiting the proletariat by making them work for little money. The bourgeoisie owned all the modes of production such as factories and machinery. They made it virtually impossible for a proletariat to become richer. When Marx saw this happening he a catalyst for change. He thought that the system should be destroyed and called for a revolution. Marx believes that the only way the revolution could occur is if the proletariat can develop class consciousness. This is the subjective awareness of common interests with the need for political action for a social change. This means that the proletariat needed to see themselves as one and unit to change the working conditions. I believe that class consciousness and collective conscience go hand in hand. Class consciousness is an individual who is aware of their own place in the system of social classes. Where collective conscience is about an understanding of what makes society functional.  Furthermore, working together in multiple ways and our collective conscience allows it to arise with value emphasis, norms, sanctions, beliefs, etc. Once the proletariat understood their class conscience they recognized that they had the same collective conscience due to having the same value emphasis and beliefs about the workspace. Another example that Durkheim talked about was suicides in different cities. He noticed that the primitive society was less suicidal than the modern society. I believe that reason for suicide brought both concepts together here. One being that the class consciousness of people in a small society was less meaning full than one in a modern society which was due to collective conscience. The individual with mechanical solidarity would be less stressful due to he knew his role in society and wasn’t bothered by it because everyone was in the same working class and shared the same beliefs. Unfortunately, this was not the case in a modern society where the suicide rate was higher.  Class consciousness was very meaningful which means that the individual would always care about their role in society from a social class standpoint. If they didn’t have the best job or a nice house they would be depressed due to always comparing themselves to others. The rates of suicide would have probably been lower if the collective conscience in modern society wasn’t about organic solidarity. This is when an individual is inter-dependent and highly specialized in which has many roles. But once one of their roles where gone they would feel useless and instead of finding a group that shared the same value emphasis they would be depressed or commit suicide.  Both these concepts have to do with the awareness of one’s self in society to keep it functional.
I believe that collective conscience is a very useful tool for understanding subcultures. Durkheim believed that it meant shared ideals and same value emphasis that operates as a society. Where their beliefs will keep and hold the group together. Collective conscience is viewed everywhere in society such as fashion, music, technology, movies, etc. Subcultures are a group of people who share the same value emphasis and beliefs as just like a group would. Their collective conscience brings together an individual’s role that is useful in a group.  Society always wants to be in groups and especially ones that share the same collective conscience. For example, a group of bikers may share the love of being in a group and going on road trips together. They will usually all love this due to having the same interests and beliefs. Every individual can overcome their own conscience just like a whole community with a collective conscience can overcome anything they put their mind too. A negative example of collective conscience could be a group that pushes toward racial privileges. This is where racism will come into play. It’s almost like a battle on what group with a better class conscience can overcome another with different beliefs. Collective conscience is a part of society and always will be without it we would be completely different.