UCLA

This thesis examines social cohesion, reproduction, and change through three complementary perspectives. The first part of the paper discusses the topics of resistance and social change, as addressed by several prominent social theorists, as well as how the "agent" or "subject" of resistance is constituted and how "the social" is constructed and reproduced. The second part of the paper discusses some historical foundations of social cohesion and change by examining theories regarding the movement from "traditional" forms of social solidarity to a so-called "modern" emphasis on individualization and "rationalization," which has been accompanied, according to some social theorists, by the progression from social harmony and effervescence to anomie, alienation, and disenchantment. Lastly, the role of language and how subjects are constructed and emerge through discursive practices (and the interdependent relationship between language and social structure and social relations) is considered in the third part of the paper.