Sociology 240E – Section 572
Survey of Sociological Theory
Tuesdays 3-6 (3:30-6 Winter Term) – DL012
King’s College, 2004-2005 – Dr. Doug Mann
Offices: SSC 5320 (UWO) & DL300 (King’s)
Sociology is an attempt to understand and explain
social life. In the first term this course will
deal with the foundations of social theory, starting with the French and
Scottish Enlightenments, moving on to Durkheim’s
organic view of society, then to Marx’s dialectic materialism, finishing with
Weber and Simmel’s multi-faceted views of society. In
the second term we’ll move on to modern social theory, covering functionalism, C. Wright Mills, the
Frankfurt School, symbolic interactionism, labelling
and neo-Marxist interpretations of deviance and subcultures, feminism, and
postmodernism. We’ll
try to understand their theories not just as historical relics, but as living
sets of ideas relevant to contemporary social issues.
Texts
Craib, Ian (1997). Classical Social Theory.
Karl Marx &
Frederick Engels (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd
ed. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. NY: Norton.
Erving Goffman
(1959). The
Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
Mann, Doug ed. (2004). Classical Social Theory Reader and Modern Social Theory Reader (separate courseware booklets for each
term).
Workload
Quizzes:
5% each, 20% total (best 4 out of 5, no rewrites for any reason - see Policies
for details)
Essays
(due December 7 and April 5, 7-8 pages each): 20% each
Christmas
Exam (2 hours, covers Fall term): 20%
Final
Exam (2 hours, covers Winter term): 20%
Schedule
Each unit of the course represents
approximately one week of lectures, though there will be considerable overlap.
The months listed are approximate.
FALL TERM - Part I:
The Origins of Social Theory (September)
1. The Basic Concepts of Social Theory
and the Enlightenment Origins of Sociology
2. Historical Progress in Early French
Social Theory: Condorcet and Comte
q Notes on Condorcet’s Ten
Stages of History in courseware.
q Craib pp. 23-26.
q Comte Cartoons in Richard Osborne, Philosophy for Beginners (NY:
Writers & Reader, 1992), pp. 134-135.
3. The Scottish Enlightenment on Property
and Social Structure
q Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society, 1767,
selections on rude nations & property, subordination, and the division of
labour: Part 2 Sections II & III, 3.II, 4.I, 4.II.
q Alan Swingewood, “Origins of Sociology: The
Case of the Scottish Enlightenment,” British Journal of Sociology 21
(1970): 164-180.
q Notes on the Scottish Enlightenment in courseware.
Part II: Durkheim (late
September/early October)
4. Durkheim on
Social Facts and Suicide
5. Durkheim on
Solidarity, Religion and Politics
Part III: Marx (October)
6. Marx’s Historical Materialism
q Karl Marx, Preface to a Contribution to a Critique of Political
Economy, Tucker pp. 3-6.
q Karl Marx, Capital Volume
I: Prefaces etc., Tucker pp. 294-302.
q Frederick Engels, Letters on Historical Materialism, Tucker pp. 760-768.
q Craib Chapter 4, pp. 35-42.
7. Marx on Alienation and the Economics
of Capitalism (heavy
readings!)
q Karl Marx, Capital Volume
I in Tucker: commodities, pp. 302-313; the fetishism of commodities, pp.
319-329; the buying and selling of labour power, pp. 336-343; the labour
process and surplus value, pp. 344-361; the industrial reserve army, pp.
422-431.
q Craib Chapter 8, pp. 86-104.
8. Marx on Ideology and the Family
9. Marx on the Stages of History
q Karl Marx, Capital
Volume III in Tucker: Necessity and freedom, pp. 439-441; classes, pp.
441-442.
q Craib Chapter 12, pp. 201-231.
Part IV: Weber and Simmel (November &
December)
10. Weber’s Verstehen
Methodology (short
lecture)
11. Weber on Classes, Groups, Legitimacy
and Authority
12. Weber on Religion
q Craib Chapter 13, pp. 232-260 (concentrate on 232-238,
248-260).
13. Simmel on
Money, Relationships, Social Types and Groups (may be cut if we’re behind)
Reading q Craib Chapters 6 and 10, pp. 53-57, 146-181.
WINTER TERM – Part V: Functionalism and its Critics (January)
1. The Sociological Imagination
2. Functionalism
3. Mills and the Power Elite
Part VI: Critical Theory (January and early February)
4. The
q Theodor Adorno,
"The Culture Industry Reconsidered," The Culture Industry:
Selected Essays on Mass Culture, ed. J. M. Bernstein (London: Routledge, 1991), pp. 85-92.
5. The Culture of Narcissism
Reading: q Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, NY: Norton, 1978,
xiii‑xviii, 38‑41, 71-75, 90‑96, 151‑3, 187‑201,
235‑6.
Part VII: Interactionism
and Deviance (February
to early March)
6. Symbolic Interactionism
q Herbert Blumer, “The Methodological Position of Symbolic Interactionism”, Symbolic Interactionism:
Perspective and Method (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969),
pp. 1-23, 47-60.
7. Goffman’s
Dramaturgical Theory (this will take a couple of weeks)
8. Subcultures and Deviance (may be cut if
we’re behind)
q John Clarke, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson, and Brian Roberts,
“Subcultures, Cultures and Class: A Theoretical Overview”, Resistance
Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (London: Hutchinson,
1976), pp. 9-17, 30-33, 35, 38-41, 44-45, 47-57.
q Dick Hebdige, Chapter 1, “From Culture to Hegemony ”; Chapter 7, “Style as...”, Subcultures: The
Meaning of Style (London: Methuen, 1979), pp. 11-19, 100-112, 161-163.
Part VIII: Current Ideological Battles (late March and April)
9. Feminism
q Naomi Wolf, “Inflexibility of Thought,” “Consensus Thinking,”
“Ideological Purity,” “Literalized Theory,” “Two Traditions,” “Sex: Are Men
Naughty by Nature?”, “Do Only Men Objectify the Opposite Sex?”, “Integrating
the Bad Girl,” in Fire with Fire: The New Female Power and How it Will
Change the 21st Century (Toronto: Random House of Canada, 1993),
pp. 107-112, 120-123, 135-142, 180-90,
225-232.
10. Postmodernism [may be shortened
if we’re behind]
q Doug Mann, “Jean Baudrillard, A Very Short
Introduction.”
q Jean Baudrillard, “The Precession of the Simulacra,” Simulacra and Simulation,
trans. Sheila Faria Glaser (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995), pp. 1-14,
19-23, 26-32. [BFB instead?]
11. The Critique of Corporatism
Essays
For both terms,
choose one of the major theories or theorists we’ve studied that term, and
apply it to a contemporary social field. Each paper is worth 20%, and will be
graded for clarity of presentation and argument, structure, and literacy
(grammar, spelling, etc.). When applying your theory to the social field you’ve
chosen, make sure that you’re arguing for some sort of position e.g. “the
Conservative Party are the political representatives of the Canadian
bourgeoisie,” or “the consumer economy generates anomie,” or “the presentation
of the self in shopping malls reflects the actor’s consciousness of personal
style and generation.” Don’t just write
summaries of the theory or theorist you’ve chosen: be creative. If you have an
idea for a paper and aren’t sure it’s suitable, run it by me. Late penalty: 2%
per day. Hand it in directly or put it in an envelope addressed to me and place
it in the green drop box on the second floor of
Possible theorists/theories:
•
Fall Term: Condorcet,
•
Winter Term: Parsons, Mills, the Frankfurt School, Lasch, Blumer, Goffman, Becker, the Birmingham School, Firestone and/or
Wolf, Baudrillard and postmodernism, Saul
Possible fields of study:
•
Political Life: specific party policies (e.g. the
Liberals, NDP, or Conservatives), media perceptions of politicians, modern bureaucracy,
protests against the WTO or a provincial government
•
Economic Life: Canadian class structure, consumerism,
corporate culture, globalization
•
Grand History: the 20th century in the
West,
•
Media: newspapers, television news, the Internet (e.g.
email, chat groups, web dating)
•
Popular Culture: one or more films, television, music,
style, subcultures
•
Fields of Everyday Life: the office, the shopping
mall, the club, the university (including forms of talk and interaction in
each): note that this topic would require some empirical investigation
Policies
Quizzes
There will be 5 quizzes,
of which only 4 will count. The main purpose of the extra quiz is to cover ALL
reasons for missing a class, including a brief illness, travel, work in other
courses, sleeping in, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. IF you do write all 5
quizzes, I’ll count your top 4 marks.
Each quiz will consist of
a mixture of up to a dozen multi-choice and/or short answer questions – I’ll
probably poll the class throughout the term to see which format the majority
prefers. There are no rewrites for any reason: don’t intentionally miss a quiz
early on the assumption you can make it up later. In the exceptional case of
someone who is sick (with a doctor’s note as proof) for a month or more, I may
offer them an alternative assignment – probably a short paper, but not a quiz –
to make up one or two quizzes. But only in exceptional cases! I’ll announce the
exact date of each quiz one or two classes in advance.
Participation Bonus
At the end of the term
I’ll give out a bonus of 1-3% to the five or six students who most regularly
attend class and participate in class discussions. Naturally, I’ll have to know
who you are to give you this bonus! If you miss more than two or three classes,
you’re off the bonus list.
Class Attendance and Behaviour
All
announcements having to do with quiz and exam content and any changes in the
course materials will be given during class. You’ll be tested in part on the
lecture materials and class discussions. It’s up to you to make sure you keep
up to date on such things by attending class - there won’t be any notes
posted on the web or extensive end-of-class review to help out systematic
truants. Please don’t ask me for copies of class notes for missed classes -
find a friend to partner up with to cover these classes. If not having access
to web-posted notes or attending class regularly is a problem for you, please
drop this course. Also, please keep
the background chatter down during lectures and presentations out of respect
for both me and for those of your classmates who wish to listen to the lecture
or participate in class discussions.
E-Mails
I would like to conduct as much of class
business as possible in person to avoid misunderstandings and to reduce the
ever-worsening problem of e-mail congestion. Please don’t email me complex
questions about the content of the course, including details of missed lectures
– it’s far more effective and pleasant if you come to speak to me in person
about this sort of thing (you can e-mail me to make an appointment of course!).
Also, I reserve the right to not reply to e-mail questions or complaints
concerning grades or requests for extensions on assignments - once again,
present these in person! The same standards of civility apply to electronic
communication as apply to personal conversations or letters. If I receive a
rude or impolite e-mail I will ignore it blacklist your e-mail address. In
short, please don’t rely on e-mail for any communication you think is important
- e-mails are often a poor replacement for direct verbal communication and can
lead to serious miscommunication and bad feelings.
Plagiarism
The official word: “Students must write their essays and assignments in
their own words. Whenever students take an idea, or a passage from another
author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where
appropriate and by proper referencing such as, footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offence (see
Scholastic Offences in the 2004 Western Academic Calendar, pg.38).”
Pre-
and Anti-requisites
Pre-requisites: Sociology 020 or 021E.
Anti-requisite: Sociology 230.
The
official word: “Students are responsible for ensuring that their
selection of courses is appropriate and accurately recorded, that all course
prerequisites have been successfully completed, and that they are aware of any antirequisite course(s) that they have taken. If the student does not have the requisites
for a course, and does not have written special permission from his or her Dean
to enroll in the course, the University reserves the
right to cancel the student’s registration in the course. This decision may not
be appealed. The normal financial and academic penalties will apply to a
student who is dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary
prerequisites.”