Sociology 270A Section 2

Foundations of Social Theory

University of Western Ontario, Fall 2004

SSC 3028, Monday 10-12, Wednesday 10-11

Dr. Doug Mann, SSC 5320

 

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. 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. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Karl Marx & Frederick Engels (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader. Second edition. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. NY: Norton.

Mann, Doug ed. (2004). Classical Social Theory Reader (courseware).

 

Workload

Quizzes: 7% each, 28% total (best 4 out of 5, about every 2 weeks, no rewrites for any reason - see Policies for details on the quizzes and the participation bonus)

Report (due November 29): 22%

Final Exam (2 hours): 50%

 

Schedule

Each unit of the course represents approximately one week of lectures, though there will be considerable overlap. The months listed are approximate.

 

Part I: The Origins of Social Theory (September)

1. The Basic Concepts of Social Theory and the Enlightenment Origins of Sociology

Reading: q Craib, Classical Social Theory, Chapter 1, pp. 1-10. q Map of Social Theory, Enlightenment notes.

 

2. Historical Progress in Early French Social Theory: Condorcet and Comte

Readings: q Condorcet, Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, trans. Jane Barraclough (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1979), Introduction: pp. 3-13; Sixth Stage, pp. 77-88.

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

Readings: q Anand Chitnis, The Scottish Enlightenment: A Social History (London: Croom Helm, 1976), Chapters 1 and 5, pp. 4-10, 91-123.    

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

Reading: q Craib Chapters 2 and 3, pp. 11-34.

 

5. Durkheim on Solidarity, Religion and Politics

Reading: q Craib Chapter 7, pp. 63-85 and Chapter 11, pp. 187-203.

 

Part III: Marx (October)

6. Marx’s Historical Materialism

Readings: q Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, Tucker pp. 143-145.

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!)

Readings: q Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 on alienation: Tucker pp. 70-81.

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

Readings: q Marx and Engels, The German Ideology, Tucker pp. 146-63, 172-175. Browse Part II of The Communist Manifesto (see unit 9).

q Craib Chapter Chapter 8, pp. 105-118.

 

9. Marx on the Stages of History

Readings: q Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Tucker pp. 469-500.

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)

Reading: q Craib Chapter 5, pp. 43-52.

 

11. Weber on Classes, Groups, Legitimacy and Authority

Reading: q Craib Chapter 9, pp. 119-145.

 

12. Weber on Religion

Readings: q Max Weber, “Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism,” Chapter 5 of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/WEBER/WeberCH5.html

q Craib Chapter 13, pp. 232-260 (concentrate on 232-238, 248-260).

 

13. Simmel on Money, Relationships, Social Types and Groups (time permitting)

Reading q Craib Chapters 6 and 10, pp. 53-57, 146-181.

 


 

Reports

 

Write a two-page (typed/word processed) report using one of the sociological theories we’ve studied in the course to analyse a contemporary social, political, economic or cultural issue. It must be 2 pages long, 11-12 point font, from 600-700 words, or I will deduct marks for it being too short or too long (probably 2% per extra line). It’s worth 22% of your grade. Due November 29. Late penalty=5% per day. If you go over the two pages, hand in your report on a floppy disk so I can check the word count (your bibliography and name don’t count!).

 

        Structure: Write it like an opinion article or editorial for a newspaper. Get to the point as quickly as you can, and state your own point of view in the first few sentences (read an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, or National Post to see how they’re written). Do NOT use long quotes from the courseware texts or other secondary sources – 80 to 90% of the report should be your own words. You must still footnote or in some way reference quotes and ideas that aren’t yours, though you can include a separate third page with references and endnotes on it that doesn’t count against your 700-word limit.

 

        The point of the report is to get to you (a) quickly summarize the sociological theory you’re applying, and (b) apply that theory in a critical way to the social problem you’ve chosen to write on (though not especially in that order). You can do both at the same time if you like, introducing theoretical ideas as you discuss your topic. Here are some suggestions for possible topics:

 

·Analyze a modern mass medium – TV, film, the Internet – in terms of whether it would fit Condorcet’s model of intellectual progress and enlightenment.

·What would Ferguson have to say about the modern division of labour in the service sector?

·Would the Scots say that we still live in a society with a “commercial” form of property?

·What type of depression and suicide dominates modern society, using Durkheim’s typology? Discuss a specific case study.

·Is the modern university a case of Durkheim’s organic solidarity?

·Choose some specific organization and show how Durkheim’s collective conscience has either succeeded or failed in holding it together e.g. the Catholic Church or a political party.

·Choose a specific job and apply Marx’s theory of alienation to it.

·Apply Marx’s theory of the fetishism of commodities to a specific consumer good - cars, cell phones, computers, a fashion item (e.g. branded baseball caps), etc.

·Is Marx right that religion is the opium of the masses which suppresses critical thought?

·Apply Marx’s notion of ideology to a specific class-based political or social belief e.g. the need to cut the deficit, the privatization of health care, or the value of unions.

·Is capitalism the final stage of history? Should we expect another one in the West?

·Analyse a specific government or political leader in terms of Weber’s distinction between traditional, charismatic and legal/rational authority e.g. George Bush, Yasser Arafat, Paul Martin or Tony Blair.

·Apply Weber’s theory of bureaucracy to a specific real-world example e.g. UWO.

·Has the ascetic element disappeared from modern capitalism? Focus on a specific capitalist or company e.g. Bill Gates, Martha Stewart or Enron.

·Does Simmel’s theory of money explain how consumerism works today?

·Use Simmel’s theory of social types to characterize a celebrity or political leader.

 

Since your article has to be fairly short, in all the above cases you can narrow your topic down even further. See my notes at http://publish.uwo.ca/~dmann/good_papers_soc.htm for some additional hints on how to write your report. Remember, get to the point quickly, and edit… edit… edit! And don’t hide your position on the issue at hand – state it clearly. You’ll be graded on (a) your ability to express yourself clearly, (b) your ability to come to grips with the social theory you’ve chosen to apply, and (c) your creativity in actually applying that theory to the issue you’ve chosen to write on.

 


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 5 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!

 

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

Here’s the official word: “Plagiarism: 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 Offence Policy in the Western Academic Calendar). The University of Western Ontario uses software for plagiarism checking. Students may be required to submit their written work in electronic form for plagiarism checking.” Here’s the unofficial word: don’t do it!