Introduction:
This course is a survey of sociological theory. Most broadly understood, any social theory is a story about the nature of human life. However, sociological theory developed as a way to try to understand society and social relations at the dawn of the modern age. Theorists of the period confronted several key issues in attempting to understand the nature of modern life, including the following: democracy, individualism, community, industrialism, class, and bureaucracy. These issues are still relevant today, though not always in the same way as they were then; ideas from the past are continuously critiqued and reshaped. Knowledge of past theoretical efforts is imperative for understanding the present.
Therefore, the core of this course is focused on four of the most important sociological theorists: Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel. In discussing these readings, we will continually attempt to critique the content and to make connections to present day political and social debates as well as our lives. In the latter part of this course, we will read and discuss some contemporary theorists’ takes on the ideas of earlier theorists.
By the end of the session, you should be able to do the following:
1. Understand the philosophical and historical roots of contemporary
sociological theory and relate these to contemporary theory.
2. Read, comprehend, and analyze sophisticated theoretical arguments.
3. Use your foundations in sociological theory to critically analyze
both other social theories and the everyday events of the world and your
life.
Contacting Me:
My office hours and number are listed at the beginning of this syllabus.
Feel free to drop by with questions, for discussion, or just to chat.
My e-mail address and home phone number are also listed. I check
my e-mail frequently; this may be the best way to contact me for relatively
simple, non-urgent matters. Otherwise, visit my office or call, though
please no later than 10:30pm.
Requirements:
Many of the readings for this class, though short, are quite dense. It would be hard to participate in discussions and understand lecture material without actively reading the assignments. In order to help ensure active reading, for each day there is a reading assignment you should turn in a short, one paragraph, response to the reading. You may elect to skip these paragraphs on two occasions; if not the lowest two will be dropped. (Handwritten is fine as long as it’s legible, though word-processed is preferable.) In this paragraph (approx. 5 or 6 sentences), you should tell me the main argument the author is attempting to make, the evidence the author uses, and what you think of the argument (What are the problems with it? What does it imply for your life or society?). Sometimes it will be difficult to answer these questions. An alternative is to discuss why these questions are inappropriate for this particular reading. Cumulatively, these response paragraphs will count as 20% of your grade.
While active reading is an important first step in comprehending the authors in this class, you will likely find that major steps towards comprehension are made by trying to write coherently about the readings. To facilitate this comprehension, three papers of 4-5 pages are required. Papers will be due on the 5th, 12th, and 19th of June. Each paper will be 20% of your final grade for the class. The topics for these papers will be relatively up in the air, your choice. Each paper should provide exegesis of at least one of the class readings and then make some critical assessment of this (or these) readings. This may be a criticism of the author’s understanding of historical facts (”Marx improperly placed the proletariat …”) or an assessment of implications for the present of an author’s work (“While the proletariat was truly a mass when Marx was alive, times have changed. The proletariat now …”). I will be quite flexible about the topics chosen for these papers as long as at least one of the works we read in class is seriously taken up. Feel free to explore your ideas! I will give you more details and examples of good topics and papers when we get closer to the due date of the first paper.
Since the shortened summer session limits the amount of material we can cover, many important theoretical topics are only briefly or abstractly covered (most notably, theories on race and feminism). Students with a sharp interest in theory in a particular area may want to consider what I will call Track 2. Students who choose this track will turn in a first paper with the rest of the class on June 5th. However, instead of the 2nd and 3rd papers, you will work on a longer research paper (8-10 pages) that integrates the ideas of theorist(s) we study with other theorists or a substantive area. An outline of this paper should be turned in on the 12th of June, while the final paper is due on June 19th. Students choosing this track should clear their topics with me by June 8th. I will likely be able to recommend some readings.
Finally, once active reading and writing coherently about the readings
is mastered, it is important to be able to synthesize the material of the
course. By this I mean understanding the implications of different
assumptions by various authors, how later authors respond to earlier ones,
and how they integrate previous theories. To help you do this, there
will be an all-essay cumulative final as the last 20% of your grade.
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Required: Many of the readings for this class are available online. The URL’s for these texts are included below in the course outline. You should get these readings well before they are to be discussed in class; the website being down is no excuse for not doing the reading. For those of you who prefer to curl up with a good paperback instead of a computer printout, most of these texts are also readily available in bookshops around town.
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.
The Marx-Engels Reader, edited by Robert Tucker.
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, edited by Gerth and
Mills.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms, edited by Donald
Levine.
We will talk in class about how to distribute readings not available
online.
Course Outline
5/21
Introduction
What is theory? How does it relate to our lives? What is it
good for?
5/22
Introduction to Classical Liberal Theory
Reading: Anthony Giddens, "What do Sociologists do?"
From Social theory and Modern Sociology.
This will be distributed in class.
5/25
Memorial Day - No class
Alexis de Tocqueville in a Nutshell
5/26
What are the problems (for Tocqueville) with liberal democracy?
How did he think that some of these problems were avoided in the U.S.?
Why does he think association is so important?
5/28
What is Marx’s critique of capitalism? How does he critique liberal
theory?
Reading: “On the Jewish Question”, pp.26-52 in Tucker.
Available on web: http://www.marx.org/Archive/1844-JQ/
5/29
How does Marx’s labor theory of value and the money economy fit with his
earlier work?
Reading: “Value, Price, and Profit.”
Available on web: http://www.marx.org/Archive/1864-IWMA/1865-VPP/
How well does the film reflect Marx’s analysis of the conditions of the
working class?
Film: “Modern Times” (selections)
Max Weber: Religion, Capitalism, and “The Iron
Cage”
6/1
According to Weber, what fueled the development of capitalism?
Where does bureaucratic rationality leave us today?
Reading: Chapter 5 from The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism
Online (in 2 parts – be sure to get both!):
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hw8m-mrkm/weber/world/ethic/pro_eth_5.html
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hw8m-mrkm/weber/world/ethic/pro_eth_5a.html
6/2
How do the assumptions of science and religion differ?
How does Weber’s analysis here resonate with his notion of the “iron cage”
from The Protestant Ethic?
Reading: “Science as a Vocation,” pp. 129-158 in Gerth
and Mills.
Online: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hw8m-mrkm/weber/lecture/science_frame.html
6/3
How does (and doesn’t) the movie mesh with Weber’s vision of the future?
Reading: Weber, “Bureaucracy”, in Economy and Society.
Film: “Brazil”
6/4
Discussion of film and Weber. Last minute questions on first papers.
6/5
Catch-up: Marx and Weber
First paper due!
Emile Durkheim: Making the social order possible
-
Individualism and Community
6/8
The Division of Labor
Reading: from Robert Alun Jones, Emile Durkheim: An Introduction
to Four Major Works
– the section on The Division of Labor in Society.
Available online: http://eddie.cso.uiuc.edu/Durkheim/Summaries/dl.html
Last Day to Choose Track 2! Turn in topic
to me today.
6/9
How are Durkheim’s ideas and analysis from Division of Labor integrated
into Suicide?
Reading: Bearman, “The Social Structure of Suicide.”
Suggested: another excerpt from Robert Alun Jones – section
on Suicide.
http://eddie.cso.uiuc.edu/Durkheim/Summaries/suicide.html
Georg Simmel: Facing Fragmented Modernity
6/10
What is the problem of sociology for Simmel?
Why are form and content so important to Simmel?
Readings: “The Problem of Sociology”, pp. 23-35.
“The Stranger”, pp. 143-149.
Stranger online: http://www.runet.edu/~lridener/courses/STRANGER.HTML
6/11
How is identity affected by urban life?
Reading: Simmel, “The Metropolis and Mental Life”
6/12
The Big 4: A preliminary assessment
Track 1: 2nd Paper Due
Track 2: Outline of final paper due
Contemporary Theorists: Integrating, Building,
and Rejecting
6/15
A critique of the canon: What is Enlightenment?
Reading: Michel Foucault, “What is Enlightenment?”
6/16
How does Bourdieu integrate the ideas of earlier theorists we have read?
Reading: Pierre Bourdieu, “Social Space and the Genesis of
Groups.”
6/17
Is association declining in the U.S.? How does Putnam think this
affects democracy?
Reading: Robert Putnam, “Bowling Alone.”
6/18
Democracy and Gender
Reading: Carole Pateman, “The Fraternal Social Contract”,
in John Keane, Civil Society and the State.
6/19
Catch-up day.
Tracks 1 & 2: Final paper due!
6/22
Sociological dilemmas after the Holocaust.
Reading: Zygmunt Bauman, Ch.1 of Modernity and the
Holocaust
6/23
Review for exam: Come to class with questions.
6/25
Final exam – 8:00am