Sociology
240E: Survey of Sociological Theory
Tuesday
11-12, Thursday 10-12, BR204
Dr. Doug
Mann, SSC 5320/4140 (main)
Sociology
is an attempt to understand and explain social life. In the second half of the course
we’ll look at a variety of theoretical approaches to this project from the
twentieth century: functionalism, C. Wright Mills, the Frankfurt School,
symbolic interactionism, labelling and neo-Marxist
interpretations of deviance and subcultures, feminism, and postmodernism. The
class will involve lectures and class discussions, and will encourage students
to relate the theoretical approaches dealt with to both modern political,
economic and cultural life, and to their everyday experiences.
Workload
Quizzes:
2% each, 6% total (best 3 out 4, no rewrites for any reason: see Policies)
Seminar
Attendance and Participation: 6% (2% per seminar)
Seminar
Presentation: 8% (see below for details)
Essay
(7-9 pages, due March 22: see below for details): 15%
Final
Exam (2 hours, covers the Winter term, will contain at
least one essay question): 15%
Texts
Modern Social
Theory Reader, ed. Doug Mann. Contains all the
readings listed below but Goffman.
Erving Goffman. The Presentation of Self in
Everyday Life.
Synopsis
of the Course [times are rough
estimates]
Part I: Functionalism and its
Critics (January)
1. The
Sociological Imagination [2
lecture hours]
Macro vs. micro-sociology. Conflict vs. consensus.
The sociological imagination. Individual
troubles vs. social problems.
2. Functionalism [3 hours]
Talcott Parsons on society
as a self-maintaining structural-functional system. The
functions of the system. Parsons’ theory of action.
Pattern variables. AGIL paradigm.
Robert Merton on manifest and latent functions.
3. Mills and the
Power Elite [2 hours]
Mills’ view of
American society as a pyramid ruled by a series of interlocking elites. q
Part II: Critical Theory
(January and early February)
4. The
Short refresher on
Marxism. The
5. Lasch and the Culture of Narcissism [3 hours]
The devaluation of
history, the propaganda of commodities, everyday life as a theatre, the sex
war.
Reading: q Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism,
Part III: Interactionism
and Deviance (late February to early March)
6. Symbolic Interactionism [4 hours]
George Herbert
Mead on the “I” and the “Me”. Herbert Blumer on symbolic interactionism: social life as the generation of symbolic
meanings.
7. Goffman’s Dramaturgical Theory [6 hours or more]
Erving Goffman on everyday life as a theatre where we all perform. Appearance, manner,
setting, front and back stage, mistakes. Is the self a series of social masks? Reading: q Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Introduction,
Chapters 1, 2, 6, 7.
8. Subcultures and
Deviance [2-3 hours: may be cut if we are seriously behind]
Labelling theory
and deviance. Moral entrepreneurs. Becker’s
outsiders (e.g. the marijuana user). Gramsci’s theory of hegemony.
Cultural Studies and the
Part IV: Current Ideological Battles
(late March and April)
9. Feminism [3-4 hours]
The three waves of
feminism. Sexual objectification in the media. The culture of love and romance. Victim
vs. power feminism.
10. Postmodernism [3-4 hours: may be
shortened if we’re behind]
The death of the
author, the subversion of the subject, the intertextual
universe, and the terror of truth. Power/knowledge.
Logocentrism and deconstruction. The four phases of
the image. Reality and hyperreality: the third
age of simulacra has arrived. Baudrillard on symbolic and sign value and consumer society.
11. The Critique
of Corporatism [2 hours]
Saul’s critique of
corporatist society and call for us to wake up from our unconscious social
state.
Seminars
1. You’ll be
divided into two seminar groups designated A and B. Each group will consist of
14-20 students each, depending on the size of the class. These seminar groups
will alternate meeting according to the schedule below on Thursdays from 11-12.
There will be 4 seminar topics per term. On days when your group doesn’t meet,
you can go home early (though you’re welcome to attend the other group’s
discussion).
2. You’ll be asked
to do one group work seminar presentation, worth 8%. By the end of January I’ll
divide the seminar groups up into 4 group-work “teams” of 3-5 people each and
assign topics right away (there will be presentations starting February 12).
These will be designated Teams 1, 2, 3 and 4. If you have a group of 3 or 4
people you want to work with as a team, let me know before January 26. Also let
me know if your team has a preferred topic (only one team per topic per seminar
group). I’ll post the groups on my web page or notify you in class.
3. The first
presentations will be graded leniently, so you’re encouraged to volunteer for
this one (besides, you can get it out of the way). If you don’t volunteer for a
topic, don’t be disappointed if you have to do the first topic. See
“Presentations” for more details.
4. The seminars
will involve a combination of the group presentation and a general discussion
of the topic in question. Each seminar is worth 2% for participation and
attendance: 1% for attending the full seminar, 1.5% for attendance and minimal
participation, 2% for attendance and significant participation. If you know in
advance that you absolutely have to miss a seminar, let me know, and you can
attend the other meeting on the same topic.
Presentations
1. Once your
team’s general topic is chosen or set by me, get together to work on the
project as soon as possible. Choose just ONE of the lettered sub-topics listed
besides your general topic below to do your team presentation on. Write a 5
page (typed, double-spaced, 11-12 point font) report as a group, or about 1
page per team member, and then come to seminar and present the report. Make
sure that the paper doesn’t read like 3 or 4 unconnected short essays glued
together (you’ll loose marks for this). It’s entirely up to you what position
your team takes; however, it must attempt to defend a common position, even if
some members wind up arguing against their personal opinions. See my web page
for essay writing hints for both the presentations and the essays: http://publish.uwo.ca/~dmann
2. Only one team
will present in each seminar. You’ll have the whole seminar to present your
work, but you should budget for about 25 minutes of presentation time, the rest
of the seminar being taken up with a general discussion. Everyone on the team
should be given a chance to speak. Your best bet is to have each team member
present about 5 minutes of material, then pause for a question or two (this
keeps your listeners’ attention focussed better). Short photocopied summaries
of your team’s position handed out to the rest of the seminar would be nice.
Your reports should represent the work of the entire team.
All active members
of the team should have their names on the cover page of the report. If a
person did no work on the presentation or report, don’t put their name on the
cover – they’ll get a 0. It’s up to you exactly how you want to present your
findings: reading the report would probably be boring, unless you divide it up
into small pieces, alternating between team members. You’re encouraged to think
of more creative ways of presenting it.
3. You’ll also be
asked to hand in anonymous peer review sheets either separately or together
with your report; if there isn’t 1 peer review sheet per active team member,
ALL team members will be docked 10% from their grade. The presentation and
report will be assigned a single grade, which will be varied for individual
members of the team up or down 0-20% if the peer reviews indicate that a team
member did either more or less work than the others, or if an individual is
especially effective during the verbal presentation. The general grade will be
based mostly but not entirely on the written report.
4. Many of the
topics below require a bit of independent research to get your facts straight
in your examples or case studies. Spend no more than 2 pages summarizing the
theorist you’re focussing on to avoid repeating the material discussed in
lecture.
|
Seminar Topics
and Schedule – In each case choose only ONE of the lettered
topics. Make sure you fill out the peer evaluations and hand them in with
your essay. |
|
Topic 1.
Functionalism/Mills – Group A: February 10, Group B: February 17. Choose
one of the following topics: (a) Use Parsons’ functionalism to analyze this
university as a social system. Include a discussion of how the four functions
outlined in the AGIL paradigm are fulfilled by it. What weaknesses does
functionalism have when applied to such a case? OR (b) What does Mills see as
the central elements of the American power elite? Apply Mills’ idea of the
power elite to either American or
Canadian society today - is it power elite too? |
|
Topic 2. The
Frankfurt School/Lasch: Group A: March 3, Group B: March
10. Choose one of the following topics: (a) What does Marcuse
see as the “new forms” of social control in advanced industrial societies?
Which of these new forms affect your everyday life? Should we worry about
these forms of social control? OR (b) What does Adorno
think is the social purpose of the culture industries? Pick one of the
following cultural industries and analyse it in terms of Adorno’s
criticisms: pop music, |
|
Topic 3. Goffman: Group A: March 17, Group B: March 24. What does Goffman mean by “fronts”? What are the basic elements of
a front according to Goffman? Use Goffman’s theory to analyse one of the following social
settings: a workplace, a classroom, a shopping mall, or a bar/club. Note:
Spend no more than a couple of pages summarizing Goffman. |
|
Topic 4.
Subcultures and Deviance/Feminism: Group A: March 31, Group B: April
7. Choose one of the following topics: (a) Choose a group that is considered
to be deviant or a subculture today, and analyse it in terms either of
Becker’s labelling theory or the Birmingham School’s neo-Marxism (ask me if
you’re not sure whether the group you have in mind fits the bill) OR (b) What
do radical feminists like Firestone have to say about love and romance? Are
they right? Give one or more examples OR (c) What are the main differences
between victim and power feminism? Has victim feminism alienated young women
from feminism as a whole, as Wolf thinks? Is feminism in decline among young
women today? |
Essays
Your essay should
discuss one of the major theories or theorists we’ve studied that term, and apply
it to a contemporary social problem or field. The essay is worth 15% of your
final grade, and will be graded for clarity of presentation and argument,
research skills, 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 consumer economy generates
narcissism” or “the presentation of the self in shopping malls reflects the
actor’s class consciousness.” Don’t just
write summaries of the theorist you’ve chosen: be creative. Here are some
suggestions for topics; if you have your own idea for a paper topic, run it by
me first.
·Do a
functionalist analysis of police enforcement or of the university.
·Is the Liberal
Party part of the Canadian power elite?
·Is modern
popular music, including music videos, part of a cultural industry that seeks
to stupefy the masses?
·How does
consumerism act as a new form of social control? (use Marcuse)
·Is Lasch right that advertising helps to turn us into bored
and anxious narcissists?
·Discuss
whether Lasch’s analysis of the “sex war” still
applies to modern society.
·Use symbolic interactionism to analyse which social objects give student
life meaning.
·Use Goffman’s dramaturgical theory to analyse a specific social
location e.g. a bar, an apartment building you live in, an office you’ve worked
in, or a shopping mall.
·Analyse a
specific social role – e.g. a lawyer, teacher, doctor, police officer, bank
teller, or clerk in a shop – as a performance, discussing staging, masks,
performance disruptions and/or defensive practises along Goffmanesque
lines.
·Use Becker to
discuss how a specific group of “outsiders” has been labelled as such.
·Use the
·Apply
feminist theory to one of the following: images of women in the media, romance
and marriage, sexual harassment, affirmative action.
·Apply
postmodernist theory to some aspect of our modern media-driven culture: is
modern society significantly different from society before TV, computers and
other forms of modern media?
·Do we live in
a desert of the real, as Baudrillard says?
·Is Saul right
that we live in a corporatist society? Focus on a specific issue.
See my web page for
essay-writing hints. Hand it in directly to me or put it in an envelope
addressed to me, and put it in my mail box in the Sociology office on main
campus. 7-9 typed pages (11-12 point, 1-inch margins, double-spaced). Due March 22. Late penalty: 2% per day.
|
Policies (please read these over) |
|
Quizzes: There
will be 4 quizzes, of which only 3 will count. Each quiz is worth 2%, for a total
of 6%. 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 4 quizzes, I’ll count
your top 3 marks. Each quiz will consist of a mixture of up to ten
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! |
|
Class
Attendance: All
announcements having to do with work in the course will be given during
class. You’ll be tested in part on the lecture materials and class
discussions, along with the readings. It’s up to you to make sure you keep up
to date on such things by attending class: don’t expect any notes posted to
the web to cover missed classes. Please keep the background chatter down
during lectures and group 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. |
|
Participation
Bonus: At the end of the term I’ll give out a bonus of 1-2% to the six or
seven students who most regularly attend class and participate in class discussions
on top of their total final grade. 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. |
|
E-Mails: I would like to conduct as much of class
business as possible in person to avoid misunderstandings and the
ever-worsening problem of e-mail congestion. Please don’t email me complex
questions about the content of the course - it’s far more effective for both
of us if you come to speak to me in person about this sort of thing. Also, I
reserve the right to not reply to e-mail questions or complaints concerning
grades - once again, present these in person! If you missed the midterm, you
must make your case to me in person, unless you’re deathly ill. 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 and delete all future
e-mails from the offender unread. In short, 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
misunderstandings and bad feelings! |