 This is a study guide for Chapter 9 of Sociology for Optimists by Mary Holmes, published in 2015, called optimism. Please note that these study guides are meant to point out some important concepts of interest to introductory students. These are not designed to be thorough or provide an in-depth discussion. Material will be skipped or barely discussed, while other concepts will be given more emphasis by the chapter than the chapter may have given them. Also note that the purpose of this book is to look at the ways in which sociology can provide a basis for optimism. So discussions of pessimism and optimism will be central to this guide. This last chapter of the book is an overview of pessimism and optimism in the discipline and history of sociology. Unlike other chapters, this guide has six slides instead of four. Holmes noted that in our society, intellectuals are often skeptic of the world around them. This tends to make sociologists and other critical thinkers at least appear pessimistic compared to others in our society. An extension of this is that optimistic people are often read as naive and uncritical of their world. In addition, sociologists study social problems. The focus on social problems, rather than simply addressing questions of how society works, can lead to a pessimistic worldview. Most social problems are hard to solve, and many are often only resolved in small steps. Thus, focusing on problems can lead to real and or perceived pessimism. Sociologists and social theorists have been optimistic in the past only to have that optimism lead to unintended consequences. The rise of eugenics in the late 1800s and early 1900s can be directly traced to the ways in which early sociologists and social theorists sought scientific views of society. Eugenics is the systematic effort to favor some genetic traits over others through regulation and fertility, coupling, euthanasia, and genocide. Almost all western countries, including the United States, had eugenics programs to some degree, with Hitler's holocaust being the most extreme version. The optimism of creating a better society by planning procreation inadvertently led to one of the darkest chapters in human history. Less deadly, but certainly creating unintended consequences with sociology's emphasis on social work and urban planning as a way of optimistically improving society. While both of these endeavors have met with some measure of success, especially in community-oriented work, a lot of these efforts were co-opted by government and political entities who used them as a means of social control and containment, especially of more vulnerable populations. Social theorists have held some fairly pessimistic worldviews contained within their theories. Max Weber, more than the other two forefathers of sociology, Marx and Durkheim, painted a somewhat pessimistic view of society. Weber looked at how the rise of rationalism and bureaucratization was changing societies, especially in Europe and the US. His assertion that history is the process of disenchantment painted a rather bleak view of social orders devoid of emotion. Following on the heels of World War II and composed mostly of displaced social scientists who fled Germany in the 1930s as Hitler gained power, the Frankfurt School understandably saw the world a little darker than their predecessors. Adapting Marxism to the post-war world, the Frankfurt social scientists emphasized production and material society, asserting that in the capitalist world, relations of productions always reinforce dominance. Talcott Parsons, known for his extensive grand theories of society and his functionalist point of view, has come to be seen as a dark view of human agency and freedom. Though not mentioned by Holmes in the chapter, a good example of this assessment of Parsons' work came from his own student, Harold Garfinkel's summary of Parsons' social systems. If Parsons' worldview is correct, then humans are all judgmental dopes. Judgmental because people are constantly looking and sanctioning breaches of norms and doves because as we are judged by others we simply mindlessly obey social rules. Garfinkel rejected this view of human society because he asserts that people have more agency to change our worlds than Parsons' ideas allowed. Sociologists see Wright Mills, a contemporary of Parsons, not only assessed Parsons' work as painting a dark picture of human society, but also found that where he was optimistic, Parsons went overboard. His work ignored power and capitalism, creating a world that uncritically examined existing social systems and therefore reinforced power relations that were oppressive of many. Even though society is seen by many as mostly pessimistic today, Holmes asserts that the discipline comes from very optimistic roots. The 19th century social theorist who coined the term sociology, Auguste Comte, had a strong sense of optimism in his work. Influenced by the European culture of his day, Comte believed that his scientific approach to all problems could inevitably lead to solutions. He calls for a science of society and some translations a social physics whereby discovery of the social laws would lead to a full understanding of societies in the same way that scientific method had led to universal physical laws and a better understanding of the material world. If we succeed in finding these laws and understanding them, Comte believed that these natural laws rationally organized our society and our personal lives. Optimistically, Comte saw this as a path to freedom and personal fulfillment. This belief that uncovering natural law would lead to a better life is a big part of Comte's positivism. Science in this circumstance is optimistically the key to a better world. Another of the founding fathers of sociology, Karl Marx, had a fundamentally optimistic view of history, even while condoning capitalism as flawed. Marx sees capitalism as simply a historical step towards class consciousness, the realization of the power of individuals to understand their place in the collective. His view of history predicted a time when people would realize they need each other and would learn to take care of each other. At some point in time, Marx predicted the need for regulation and government would disappear. Marx's prediction of the end of capitalism may seem pessimistic at first, but optimistically, he sees history as moving towards freedom, especially economic and political freedoms. As mentioned earlier, Weber seems to be the most pessimistic of the founding fathers because he speaks of disenchantment in a rational world. But ultimately, Weber is optimistic because this process of disenchantment and the rise of rational and bureaucratic social organizations will provide the basis for meritocracy, for being rewarded for what they do rather than who they are or who they know. Finally, among the founders, Durkheim shares Marx's optimistic view of history. He too sees the changes in society as leading to more freedom for people. Durkheim's emphasis, however, is more on individuals than on the collective vision of Marx. Durkheim theorizes that as societies become more complex, what he called organic solidarity, social connections will be easier to make, allowing the diversity among individuals to be more appreciable and acceptable. In other words, in a complex society, individuals are freer to express their individuality because they do not need to perform all the social roles that keeps life sustainable. This reduces enemy. The widespread disbelief in norms and values of a society and organic solidarity, the norms and values, allow for more diversity and therefore more acceptance. The 20th century saw a reduction in optimism and sociology. There are signs of optimism in the discipline, especially when listening to non-European, non-dominant group theorists. The latter half of the 20th century saw a worldwide rise in independent movements among former colonies, and this led to theorizing about a post-colonial world. First and foremost, sociological knowledge is seen by many post-colonial writers and theorists as important knowledge of finding the power to change things. Sociology can help people understand the mechanisms of oppression and of freedom from that oppression. Most post-colonial writers are looking for revolutionary change, and the revolutions have been studied by sociologists from its inception. With the publication of works like Decolonizing Methodologies, the previous Eurocentric research methods are being challenged, not so much as leading to falsehood, but as being incomplete. Room is being made for new methods using knowledge from multiple cultures. More frequently and more optimistically, post-colonial writers of color are being allowed to think, analyze, and theorize about their own lives. As a last note to her book, it is important to understand that Holmes' call for optimism is not meant to be blind faith in positive outcomes. Pessimism alone is not a complete picture. The world is not exclusively negative. If we are to seek out truth in our theories, we must complete the picture with a study of positives as well. Even while seeking to find the positives, it is important to acknowledge the negatives, especially when considering inequality and oppression. She is not wanting us to make the same mistakes the founders of the discipline did by seeing privilege as optimism. Holmes is asserting, however, that concentrating only on the pessimistic views of the world is not a good basis for solid research. If we mean to be empirical in our work, basing our findings and analyses on observations of the real world, we must recognize that optimism exists and that it plays a part in our social worlds. In fact, while we are recognizing the pessimism of the world with the existence of oppression, prejudice, and inequality, we'll be making a mistake if we did not also embrace inclusion. Inclusion, that is, inviting the voices of those who have experienced these pessimistic forces, is an optimistic act in and of itself. To strive for inclusion is an optimistic act of faith that someday the world will be more inclusive. So where is the optimism? What does sociology have to offer? These are three terms to review to help us understand this chapter and see the optimism Holmes is writing about. Positivism. Early sociologists believed that a scientific approach to study society would lead to better societies. Class consciousness. Marx's optimism was that as members of the working class and the ruling class understood their dependency on each other, they would seek a different and better economic system. Enemy. Durkheim saw the rise of organic solidarity in complex societies as a remedy for enemy in individuals as well as whole societies.