Download SOCIOLOGY 282 – CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY

SOCIOLOGY 282 – CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
TUE/THU 3 PM TO 420 PM – SPRING SEMESTER 2013 – SCTR A154
Instructor: Aaron J. Howell
Office: King Hall 301-B
Office hours: 10-noon, TU; or by appointment
Phone: (440) 775-6143
Email: [email protected]
Course description
Classical sociology developed in response to massive social change in European societies in the wake of the
Industrial and French revolutions. It focused on the various social and political problems that resulted as
societies transitioned to modern industrialism; for example, the disintegration of community, the decline of
the sacred, the emergence of new forms of class conflict and exploitation, the pervasive rationality and
routinization of life. Three distinct traditions of sociological theory – Durkheimian, Marxist, and Weberian –
were created and much sociological research today has its roots in one (or more) of these three traditions.
This course explores these classical theories, while also covering their contemporary extensions. The course is
divided into three four-week segments, each one devoted to one of the three traditions. Each four-week
segment is divided into two parts: 1) two weeks devoted to canonical works of the original thinker; 2) two
weeks devoted to their theoretical elaborations and empirical applications in contemporary sociology.
Course goals & objectives
The major goal of this course is to develop your knowledge and application of classical and contemporary
sociological theory. By the end of this course students are expected to have achieved the following:
1) Demonstrate knowledge of the major perspectives in sociological theory.
2) Critically assess the development of sociological theory.
3) Sharpen your spoken and written ability to evaluate and assess theoretical claims.
Course requirements
Attendance, Participation, and Blackboard
Attending class and participating are of vital importance in this course. As of the third week of class,
attendance will periodically be taken. Unexcused absences will negatively affect the participation portion of
your grade. This is the type of class whose readings build upon each other; therefore it is important to keep
up with assigned readings. Being in class will help to clarify what you have been reading. This is a four credit
course mandatory for all sociology majors. You are expected to devote the appropriate amount of time and
effort for what is one of the most important classes sociology majors will take at Oberlin.
In order to encourage continuity and participation in the class you will write six required Blackboard postings
this semester. You are required to pose questions and/or write short summaries of the readings. These will
not be formally graded, but the frequency, length, and quality of your postings will be taken into account
when determining your final grade (frequency and quality being the most important). All postings will be due
on the dates specified in the course schedule below. The combination of attendance, participation, and
Blackboard is worth 20% of your final grade.
Papers
There are two 6-7 page papers you are required to write. Details on these assignments will be distributed in
class. The combination of the two papers is worth 40% of your overall grade.
Examinations.
There are 3 exams for this course; the final examination is not comprehensive. These exams are written. I will
distribute exam review sheets that you should rely on when preparing. The questions will come directly from
assigned readings and lecture/discussion in class. These exams make up 40% of your overall grade.
Other relevant course information
Sociological research can descriptively map the contours and proportions of social life by simplifying features of the social world
relevant to a particular interest and representing them with symbols…All such descriptions oversimplify the complexity of the real
social world in which we live…But, as with maps generally, such simplified descriptions can help to provide an overarching sense
of our social world, where we stand within it, and what it looks like beyond our immediate field of vision.
- Christian Smith, Soul Searching
1 – I am generally easier to reach by email than by phone.
2 – Laptops are permitted in class for course related work only. Please do not come to class if you plan to
surf the web. You are wasting both of our time.
Honor code
This course is covered by the Oberlin College honor code which means that you are to produce your own
work unless otherwise instructed. Consulting with librarians, tutors, and me is okay, but the work you submit
must be yours. Any case of suspected plagiarism will be reported to the Honors Committee. For every
assignment you must write/type at the top of the first page, “I affirm that I have adhered to the honor code
in this assignment.” For more information see:
http://new.oberlin.edu/students/policies/2011-2012/11-Policies-Honor.pdf
Special needs
I encourage students with documented disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases,
learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss
appropriate accommodations with me. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the
Office of Disability Services in Peters G-27/G-28.
Required course materials
1) Durkheim, Emile. The Division of Labor in Society. The Free Press, MacMillan, Inc. 1984. ISBN – 0029079608
2) Tucker, Robert, ed. The Marx Engels Reader. WW Norton. ISBN – 039309040X
3) Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Routledge. ISBN – 041525406X
4) Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press. 2004. ISBN – 9781412989534
5) All other readings will be distributed on Blackboard.
Course Schedule and Reading list
The history of sociology and sociological theory
2/5
Syllabus overview and course introduction
2/7
Classical sociological theory in its context
Nisbet, Robert. The Sociological Tradition, pp.3-61; 71-97.
THE DURKHEIMIAN TRADITION
Community and Society. From Mechanical to Organic Solidarity.
2/12
Collective Consciousness and Mechanical Solidarity
Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, pp.1-68.
“Emile Durkheim,” in Lewis Coser, Masters of Sociological Thought, pp.128174
2/14
The Division of Labor and Organic Solidarity
Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, pp.69-87; 101-149.
The Crisis of Community, Excessive Individualism, and Suicide
Assignment – 1st Blackboard posting due Monday, 2/18 by 11 PM
2/19
The Problem of Social Integration
Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, pp.149-175; 291-323; preface to
the second edition, pp.xxxi-lix.
2/21
Suicide as a Sociological Phenomenon
Emile Durkheim, Suicide, pp.152-170; 241-276.
The Durkheimian Tradition: Structural Functionalism
2/26
Structural Functionalism: Talcott Parsons
Robert Holton, “Talcott Parsons,” in Rob Stones, ed., Key Sociological Thinkers,
pp.96-109.
Talcott Parsons, “A Paradigm for the Analysis Social Systems,” in Peter
Hamilton., ed., Readings from Talcott Parsons, pp.168-178.
2/28
Functionalist Theory Modified
Robert Merton, “Manifest and Latent Functions,” in Robert K. Merton, Social
Theory and Social Structure (1968, second edition), pp.73-138.
Assignment – Screening of American Beauty (at scheduled time)
Anomie, Gemeinschaft, and Gesellschaft
Assignment – 2nd Blackboard posting due Monday, 3/4 by 11 PM
3/5
Social Structure and Anomie
Robert Merton, “Social Structure and Anomie,” in Merton, Social Theory
and Social Structure, pp.185-214.
Discussion of American Beauty
3/7
1ST EXAM
THE MARXIST TRADITION
Marx as a Theorist of Class Conflict and Capitalism
Assignment – 3rd Blackboard posting due Monday, 3/11 by 11 PM
3/12
Marx’s Historical Materialism
Lewis Coser, Masters of Sociological Thought, pp.42-87.
“Marx on the History of His Opinions,” and “The German Ideology,” in Robert
Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 3-7, 148-163; 172 (from top of page)188.
3/14
The Rise of the Bourgeoisie and Class Conflict
“The Communist Manifesto,” in Tucker, The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 469-500.
Capitalism, Systemic Crisis, and Alienation
Assignment – 1st paper due Monday, 3/19 by 11 PM
3/19
The Systemic Crisis of Capitalism
“Wage Labor and Capital,” “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific,” in Tucker, The MarxEngels Reader, pp.203-217; pp. 700 [section III, bottom of page]-717.
3/21
Alienation in Capitalist Society
“Estranged Labor,” “The Power of Money in Bourgeois Society,” “Alienation and
Social Classes,” Tucker, The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 70-81, 101-105, 133-135;
Marxism as Sociology. Social Class and Culture
4/2
Cultural Capital and Social Reproduction
Tom Bottomore, “Marxism and Sociology,” in Bottomore and Nisbet, A History of
Sociological Analysis, pp.118-148.
Pierre Bourdieu, “Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction,” in Karabel and
A.H.Halsey, eds., Power and Ideology in Education, Karabel and A.H.Halsey, pp. 487511.
Assignment – 4th Blackboard posting due Wednesday, 4/3 by 11 PM
4/4
Social Class and Language Use
Basil Bernstein, “Social Class, Language, and Socialization,” in Karabel and Halsey,
pp.473-486.
Annette Lareau, Unequal Childhoods. Class, Race, and Family Life, pp.1-103
Marxism as Sociology: Social Class in Institutional Settings
4/9
Social Class, Family, and Schools
Lareau, Unequal Childhoods, pp.107- 257.
4/11
2ND EXAM
THE WEBERIAN TRADITION
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
Assignment – 5th Blackboard posting due Monday, 4/15 by 11 PM
4/16
Western Rationality, Capitalism, and the Capitalist Spirit
Lewis Coser, Masters of Sociological Thought, pp.216-260.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.13-78.
4/18
The Concept of the Calling and Calvinist Predestination
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.79-128.
Capitalism, Rationality, Bureaucracy
Assignment – 6th Blackboard posting due Monday, 4/22 by 11 PM
4/23
The Protestant Ethic and Its Unintended Consequences
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.155-183.
4/25
Bureaucracy as Institutionalized Rationality
Max Weber, “Bureaucracy,” in Hans Gerth and C.Wright Mills, eds., From Max
Weber, pp.196-244.
Critical Theory: Turning Weber Against Weber
4/30
Critical Theory: Instrumental Rationality and New Forms of Domination
Tom Bottomore, The Frankfurt School.
Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, pp.1-55.
5/2
Critical Theory II: Modernity, Totalitarianism, and the Holocaust
Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, pp.144-169, 247-257.
Zygmunt Bauman, “Sociology After the Holocaust,” in Peter Beilharz, ed., The
Bauman Reader, pp. 230-258.
Assignment – 2nd paper due by 5/3 at 11 PM
The Sociology of Rationalization and the Uses of the Classics
5/7
George Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, pp.1-133.
5/9
Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, p.133-end
Arthur Stinchcombe, “Should sociologists forget their mothers and fathers?” The
American Sociologist, 17 (1982): 2-11.
5/?
3RD EXAM
Grading scale
97-100 A+
87-89 B+
77-79 C+
60-69 D
93-96
A
83-86 B
73-76 C
0-59
90-92
A-
80-82 B-
70-72 C-
F
This syllabus is tentative and may be subject to change.