Sociological Theory fall 2002 Syllabus

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY SOC 300

Spring 2003

Office: 304 Maria Sanford 832-2979 or 2-2979

Office Hours: 11-12 on Tues. and Thurs. and 9-12 on Wed.

COURSE THEMES AND OBJECTIVES

Social theory offers explanations as to why the world is the way it is. It identifies the forces that shape human experience and determine the nature of societies. It encompasses all aspects of human social life, ranging in its subject matter from the nature of civilization or the origins of capitalism to the processes of consciousness. Social theory is among the most challenging and rewarding pursuits among all human endeavors.

Social theory is represented by both logical analyses of social relations and impassioned efforts to think with vision and understanding. It passes through an indefinite line between science and art, and in some ways is the meeting ground between them. It is a science in the sense that some theorists attempt to analyze reality through rigorous scientific techniques. It is an art in the sense that others strive for a depth of understanding that plays with the problems of perspective. Social reality, after all, depends of what people think reality is, or, what people think they think it is.

Although thinkers and philosophers have striven for centuries to understand the nature of society, sociology as an academic discipline got off to a relatively late start. This course presents an overview of the most important and well-known social theorists -- people that all sociology majors should know. The work we will consider originates in Europe and America in the latter part of the 19th century. Perhaps no one in the last two centuries has had more influence on both social theory and social change than Karl Marx. And at the turn of the century in Europe, the writings of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim defined a conceptual focus for sociology that has remained central to the present day.

Social theory is not for everybody. It requires suspending ready-made cultural assumptions about the world. Assumptions, which in many ways, inform our sense of identity and our place in the order of things. Social theory requires abstract thinking, and it is my belief that it is only the ideas and understandings that are fought for and won that are truly rewarding and add to our depth of vision. I hope and intend that you gain not just new understandings, but new ways of thinking about the world.

At the conclusion of this course you should have:

· A deep understanding of the most important social theorists and social theories.

· Strengthened your reading, writing and critical thinking skills.

· A deeper understanding of contemporary social life.

· A stronger foundation for taking more advanced courses in sociology.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Sociological Lives and Ideas, Fred Pampel, Worth Publishers, 2000.

Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited, Second edition, edited by Peter Kivisto, Pine Forge Press, 2001.

A packet of readings available on-line, photocopied, or in the reserve room is also required.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students are expected to attend class, participate in class discussion, complete all of the assigned readings, and complete all written work on time.

Your final grade will be determined as follows:

5 essays 60%

Attendance and participation 10%

Three quizzes 25%

One statement of author’s intent 5%

Students are required to write 5 essays of about 4 to 5 double-spaced typed pages. These essays will be based on questions and topics that I will provide. Beginning in the third week of the semester, I will handout a set of questions every other week. Each set will usually have 3 or 4 questions, and your essay should address one of them. Over the course of the semester, I will hand out 7 sets of questions, so you do not have to write on every set, but it will be up to you to make sure that you get up to 5. If you write more than 5, I will drop the lowest grade or grades. All essays may be rewritten provided that they were originally handed in on time, and are passed in no later than the last regularly scheduled class. If you rewrite an essay, you must pass in the original graded assignment with your rewrite. Rewrites will be accepted until the last day of class, May 6. All written work should be typed; hand-written work will be returned ungraded.

I will accept late essays, but they will be penalized. If an essay is late, it will have a full grade deducted (an A will become a B); if it is more than two weeks late, then two grades will be taken off (as A becomes a C). All papers must be handed in by the last class meeting. May 6. I will provide more information on writing the essays with the first set of questions.

The format of the quizzes, and details on the specific material you will be responsible for will be presented in class.

Once during the semester, you will be asked to initiate class discussion by identifying the central idea or thesis of an article or that we will be discussing that day. You will not be expected to make a formal presentation, but merely get us started by introducing the key idea from the reading. As part of your preparation for the discussion, you will be required to submit a one-page outline, or a one-page summary of the reading.

Students who need course adaptations or accommodations because of documented disability, or who have emergency medical needs, or who need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated should see me as soon as possible.

COURSE SCHEDULE

The schedule on the following pages is somewhat tentative. If there are to be any changes, we will talk about it in class. The dates refer to when we will begin new topics. It is expected that you will have completed the assigned reading by the specified date.

The electronic version of this syllabus available from the course website includes links to the readings. I do provide addresses for internet sources, but you will likely gain access easier through the on-line syllabus available from www.sociology.ccsu.edu/adair.

Part I: Introduction: On Social Theory

1/21 Introduction to course and Social Theory

1/23 Science, colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization

1/28 Introduction to Marx,

Readings: Pampel pp. 1-16;

The Manifesto of the Communist Party

1/30 Marx and social class continued

Readings: Pampel, pp. 16-37

2/4 Marx on alienation and religion

Readings: Excerpts on “Estranged Labour” from The Philosophic and Economic

Manuscripts of 1844

and first page from A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

(read down to the paragraph that begins "It is, therefore, the..."

2/6- Marx's analysis of capitalism

2/11 Readings: Walsh and Zacharis-Walsh, chapter 1 in Kivisto, pp. 7-43

2/13- Durkheim on Suicide and the Division of Labor

2/15 Readings: Pampel, chapter 2

Excerpt from Suicide, “The Meaning of Anomy and of Anomic Suicide”

2/20- Durkheim on Religion and collective representations

2/25 Readings: Hornsby in Kivisto, pp. 84-116

Excerpts from The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

2/27 First quiz

Introduction to Weber

Readings: Pampel, chapter 3

3/4 Weber: On the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Readings: Excerpts from the Protestant Ethic

This second link is to the entire book:

(www.ne.jp/asahi/moriyuki/abukuma/weber/world/ethic/pro_eth_frame.html)

The book is presented in frames, which might be confusing at first. In the column on the left is the table of contents, and the box at the bottom is to the footnotes. The footnotes in this book are actually longer than the text!. The gold box in upper right is the text. The following excerpts are assigned and constitute the readings presented in the first link above: Read the opening pages of chapter 2 on the Spirit of Capitalism down to note 11 and the paragraph that begins, "Of course..." Read the opening pages of chapter 4 on asceticism and Calvinism down to note 22. Read the last half of chapter 5 beginning with the section on "Saving and Capital, " which starts at note 85. This passage is the end of the book.

3/6- Weber, Bureaucracy, legitimacy, rationalization

3/11 Readings: Ritzer, pp. 47-71 in Kivisto

3/13 Simmel

Readings: Chapter 4 in Pampel

3/18 Simmel Continued,

Readings: Staudenmeier, pp. 117- 146 in Kivisto

3/20 Introduction to American Sociological Thought

Readings: "American Trends" by Lewis Coser at www.sociology.ccsu.edu/adair/american_trends_by_lewis_coser.htm

4/1- Mead on Meaning and the Self

4/3 Readings: Pampel, Chapter 5

The link is to the entire contents of Mead’s book, Mind, Self and Society,

the specific pages are still to be determined:

spartan.ac.brocku.ca/%7Elward/mead/pubs2/mindself/Mead_1934_toc.html

The required passages are in Part 3, chapters 3, 4 and 5 (or alternately numbered 20, 21 and 22). The chapter titles are "Play, The Game and the Generalized Other," "The Self and the Subjective," and "The 'I' and the 'Me'". These passages were originally printed as pages 152-178 in the text.

4/8 Second quiz

Goffman on the Dramaturgical perspective

Readings: Kivisto and Pittman, pp. 311-335 in Kivisto

4/10 Goffman continued

Excerpts from "The Nature of Deference and Demeanor"

4/15 The self, the body and the social construction of identity

Readings: Lorber and Martin, pp. 259-282 in Kivisto

Davidson, pp. 283-310 in Kivisto

4/17- Functionalism and neo-functionalism

4/22 Readings: Merton, "Manifest and Latent Functions"

http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/courses/mertonr1.html

4/24 Neo-functionalism continued