"Philosophers have only
interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change
it."
Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, XI
Course: SOC
302 Social Theory
Semester: Fall, 2009
Time:
Thursdays 1:00 - 3:30 pm
Room:
Dalton
119
Instructor: Sanford F. Schram
Office: Dalton
Hours:
Thursdays
3:45-5:00 pm or by appointment
Phone:
610-772-5108
Fax:
610-520-2655
Email:
sschram@brynmawr.edu
Webpage: http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/GSSW/schram/
Description: This course surveys social theory from
the great modern social theorists of the Nineteenth Century (Marx, Weber and
Durkheim) to social theorists of the current era (Patricia Hill Collins, Pierre
Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler). Attention is given to how social
theory has been affected by recent developments in feminism, critical race
theory, multiculturalism, postcolonial theories, and other movements associated
with oppressed groups. The course contrasts major schools of thought and
compares their epistemological, methodological and theoretical orientations. In
particular, the course emphasizes as its main theme how different theorists,
theories and theoretical orientations have addressed the issue of the
relationship of theory to practice. The course uses this issue to examine how
and why social theory has changed over the years. Most especially, the course
will give extended attention to contrasting modern and postmodern social theory
in terms of whether the postmodern shift and the subsequent flowering of
diverse approaches represents a meaningful response to the issue of what should
be the relationship of theory to practice today.
Course Goal: The primary goal of the course is to enable students to
develop a strong familiarity with the core issues of modern social theory, its
developments, controversies and contemporary issues. Students should come away
from the course with an appreciation of the major social theorists, their
theories, their primary concerns, and the various issues social theories pose
for Sociology today. From this course, students should be better able not only
to trace the contours of contemporary social theory as it has developed but to
evaluate social theories in terms of how they do or do not help us negotiate
the relationship of theory to practice and address the issue of the relevance
of social theory to contemporary social problems in a changing world.
Course Structure: The course introduces each theorist or theoretical
orientation first by way of secondary material and then follows that with
primary sources. Using secondary materials, students lead discussion of primary
documents.
Required Text Available for Purchase in the Bryn Mawr College Bookshop:
Steven Seidman, Contested Knowledge: Social Theory
Today Fourth Edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008).
Course Assignments:
|
2 unannounced quizzes |
10% each |
|
Mid-Term Take-Home Exam |
20% |
|
Final Take Home Exam |
40% |
|
Overall Class Participation |
20% |
|
Total Percent of Grade
|
100% |
Course Outline (readings other than texts to be purchased at the Bookshop
are linked below).
9/3
Introduction
Frames of Analysis: Theory/Practice in Modernity and Beyond
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Introduction.
(For “Dead
Sociologists” Webpage click here.)
9/10
Karl Marx: Enlightenment, Historical Materialism and Praxis
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapters 1-2.
Karl Marx, "Estranged
Labor," from the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
"The Communist Manifesto," originally written in late 1847, first
published February 1848.
Karl Marx,
"The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis
Napoleon," Chapter 1, written 1851-1852 (only the first five pages need to
be read).
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
"The German Ideology," I. Feuerbach: Opposition of the Materialist
and Idealist Outlooks: Part A: "Idealism and
Materialism," Part B: "The Illusion of the
Epoch," written fall 1845 to mid-1846, first published 1932 (in full).
Karl Marx,
"Eleven Theses on Feuerbach," original marginalia written in spring
1845.
9/17
Emile Durkheim: Sacred, Symbolic and Ritualized
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 3.
Emile Durkheim, The
Rules of the Sociological Method, Steven Lukes
ed., W.D. Halls trans. (New York: Free Press, [1895] 1982), Chapter 5.
Emile
Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, George Simpson trans.
(New York: The Free Press, 1893, 1964), conclusion.
Emil Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology, John A. Spaulding and George Simpson
trans. (New York: The Free Press, 1997 (originally published in French, 1897),
chapter 3 “Egoistic Suicide,” and chapter 5 “Anomic Suicide.”
Emil Durkheim, Elementary Forms
of Religious Life, W. D. Swain, trans. (New York: Free Press, 1965), pp. 15-19,
21-22, 28-33, 467-75.
9/24
Max Weber: Social Science and the Iron Cage of Rationality
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 4.
Max Weber, “Definition of
Sociology,” from Max Weber, Sociological Writings. originally
written in 1897, Wolf Heydebrand, ed. (New York:
Continuum, 1994).
Max Weber, The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Talcott
Parsons trans. (New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1958), Chapter 5.
Max Weber,
“The Types of Legitimate Domination,” The Theory of Social and Economic
Organization, A. M. Henderson and Talcott
Parsons, eds. (New York: Free Press, 1947), pp. 324-25, 328-30. 333-34, 341-43, 358-64, 367, 369-70.
Max Weber, “Bureaucracy,” From
Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Hans Gerth and C.
Wright Mills, eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), pp. 135-44,
148-58, 163-64, 173-78.
(For best Weber webpage, click here.)
10/1
America’s Interpretive and Objectivist Traditions: Symbolic Interactionism,
Functionalism and Conflict Theory
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapters 5-6.
Charles Horton Cooley, “The Looking
Glass Self”
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore,
“Some Principles of Stratification,” American Sociological Review 10
(1945): 242-248.
Randall Collins, “A Conflict Theory
of Sexual Stratification”
10/8
C. Wright Mills: The More Critical Imagination of American Pragmatism
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 7.
C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), excerpts.
C. Wright Mills, The
Sociological Imagination (New York: Oxford University Press, 1959),
Chapter 1.
FALL BREAK
10/22
Jurgen Habermas: Critical Theory
and the Return to Europe
Steven Seidman, Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today
Fourth Edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 8.
Wendy Cukier and Ward Eagen, “Habermas’s ‘Ideal Speech
Act’: A Standard for Critical Discourse Analysis” (2nd European Conference for Business and Management
Studies, 2003), pp. 101-112.
10/29
Stuart Hall: Birmingham and the Rise of Cultural Studies
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 9.
Stuart Hall,
“Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms,” Media, Culture, and Society, 1, 2
(1980): 57-82.
11/5
Anthony Giddens
and Pierre Bourdieu: Structuration vs. Habitus
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 10.
Anthony Giddens,
The Constitution of Society: Outline of the
Theory of Structuration (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986),
pp. 1-28.
Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of
Capital,” in J.G. Richardson's Handbook for Theory and Research for the
Sociology of Education, Trans. Richard Nice (Greenwood Press, 1986), pp.
241–258.
11/12
Michel Foucault: Poststructuralism
and the Panopticon of Subjectification
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapter 12.
Michel Foucault, “Question of
Method, and “Governmentality,” Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality,
Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller, eds.
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 73-104.
11/19
Feminism: Judith Butler
Steven Seidman, Contested
Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008),
Chapter 14.
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (New
York: Routledge, 1990), pp. 3-44.
11/25
Critical Race Theory: Patricia Hill Collins
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapters 15.
Patricia Hill Collins, From Black
Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism and Feminism (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 2006), pp. 29-54.
12/3
Queer Theory: Jeffrey Weeks
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapters 16.
Jeffrey Weeks, Sexuality 2nd
edition (New York: Routledge, 2003), pp. 11-40.
12/10
Post-Colonial Theory: Edward Said
Steven Seidman,
Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today Fourth Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2008), Chapters 17.
Edward Said, Orientalism
(New York: Pantheon, 1979), pp. 31-49.
FINAL
EXAM DUE FRIDAY 12/19 4:00 P.M.