CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
Sociology 920:515
Office Hours: Mondays and Thursdays 10:30-12:00, LSH A336
Phone: 445-3705
(w) / 514-0435 (h)
E-mail:
pmclean@rci.rutgers.edu
This course will introduce you to, and/or extend your acquaintance with, many of the most important foundational works in the discipline of sociology, along with a small sample of authors who were especially critical figures, either for the development of a sociological (or more broadly, social scientific) perspective on human life before the nineteenth century, or for the formulation of economic or psychological arguments that have had pervasive impact on sociological theorizing and research. Its primary aim is to give you a good grounding in the thought and arguments of authors that will consistently re-appear throughout your graduate education and your further academic career.
Beyond that mundane practical aim, there are multiple good reasons for reading the classics (see Levine 1995 for a trenchant presentation of this claim). First, they arguably establish an agenda and powerful fundamental concepts for ongoing empirical research. Second, they lay the groundwork for the many and diverse branches of contemporary sociology, and reading them may help us see how (or if) these diverse branches are meaningfully related to each other. Third, they arguably ask abiding questions concerning the human condition in a penetrating way, questions that we may not be any closer to answering today than we were in 1900 (or 500 BCE). Fourth, reading them gives us a sense of what most concerned scholars of an earlier time, so that we can more insightfully develop a sociology of social theory itself (rather like the discipline of history has its historiography). I intend our conversation about these texts to broach all of these (and more) possible readings.
There is a LOT of reading for this course. A number of texts have been ordered through the Livingston Campus Bookstore. These are:
1) Robert C. Tucker, The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd edition (Norton)
2) Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, ed. Coser (Free Press)
3) Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology (Free Press)
4) Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Free Press)
5) Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, ed. Wolff (Free Press)
6) Georg Simmel, Conflict & The Web of Group Affiliations (Free Press)
7) Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Levine (Chicago)
8) Max Weber, Economy and Society (California)
9) Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Routledge)
10) George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self, & Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Chicago)
11) Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton)
I prefer that we all have the same edition of these books, so that we will all have the same page numbers and same translations. I urge you to purchase them all if possible, since I encourage close textual analysis, I require that you bring your texts to class, and I do think they will be constant references for you in the future. Contact me if you have any questions concerning this policy.
In addition, I have prepared a compendium of readings (referred to below as “packet”) containing additional materials by these and other authors, which will be available at a central location in the department, and which you can photocopy (selectively, if you already own some of these materials) at your own expense.
Finally, there is an abundant secondary literature concerning these authors and these works, which you are free to consult. However, there will be a lot of intensive reading in the course as it is, and I would advise you to stick to the primary materials first and foremost. If you want an overview of the development of sociological theory that is elegantly written (but not too detailed on any particular author), I would recommend Don Levine’s Visions of the Sociological Tradition (Chicago, 1995), which I have not ordered at Livingston, but which is certainly available through amazon or another online seller. We begin with a few selections from this book, and I suggest a reading or two from it later in the course as well.
The requirements for this course are twofold:
1) frequent, energetic, and thoughtful participation in class discussions. I would like this to occur spontaneously, but IF it does not, I will institute a system of asking you to prepare short briefs and pose provocative questions on selections from the readings ahead of class time and email them to me and all your fellow students by 11:00 a.m. on Thursdays. [If you would prefer to do briefs for fear that you will have a hard time showing your particular strengths through oral participation, contact me about it and we can try to work something out.] This will be worth roughly 20% of your final grade.
2) Four short essays (about 5-6 pages in length, tentative due dates listed below) that articulate, and illustrate the value of, some important concept or argument in one or more of the texts we have read. I will provide topics, but you may consult with me about alternative topics. Each of these essays will be worth 20% of the final grade.
Week 1 – September 3 INTRODUCTION
Readings:
1) Don Levine, Visions of the Sociological Tradition, pp, 7-12, 83-87, 95-100 (free handout)
2) Eviatar Zerubavel, Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology, pp. 23-34, 35-37, 44-52 (free handout)
3) Georg Simmel, “The Problem of Sociology,” in On Individuality and Social Forms, pp. 23-35.
Week 2 – September 10 ‘ATOMIC NATURALISM,’ forerunner of RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
Readings:
1) Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Penguin), frontispiece, Hobbes’ introduction, pp. 105-6, chs. 6, 11, 13, and 14 (packet)
2)
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Chicago), pp.
1-20, 291-293, 351-364;
62-65, 72-79, 88-97, 275-278; 474-480 (packet)
Please note: If you feel lost racing through this material, you may wish to consult chapter 7 of Levine’s Vision of the Sociological Tradition, especially pp.121-128, 136-138
Week 3 – September 17 THE OTHER ADAM SMITH,
AND LATTER-DAY ADAM SMITHS
Readings:
1)
Adam Smith, The
Theory of Moral Sentiments (Liberty), pp. 9-26, 43-45, 50-57, 61-64, 77-78
(par. 10 only), 179-187 (packet)
2)
Michael
Hechter, Principles of Group Solidarity, chs. 1, 3, 8 (packet)
3)
Thomas
Schelling, Micromotives and Macrobehavior, one chapter (packet)
Week 4 – September 24 MARXIAN ANALYSIS
Readings:
1)
Karl Marx, “Wage Labor and Capital,” in The Marx-Engels
Reader, pp. 203-219 [For
a longer and more detailed version, you may read excerpts from Kapital instead,
pp. 302-308, 329-361, 376-388, 397-415, 419-431; but I don’t recommend it
now.]
2)
Marx,
excerpts from The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, in The
Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 67, 70-81, 93-105
3)
Marx, “The
Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof,” in The Marx-Engels Reader,
pp. 319-328
4)
Marx,
“Preface to ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy’,” in The
Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 3-6
5) Marx, excerpts from The German Ideology, in The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 148-175
6) Marx, “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” in The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 469-491
7) If you can get to it: Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” in The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 594-617
FIRST PAPER DUE: Friday, September 27
Week 5 – October 1 EARLY SOCIOLOGY AND THE EARLY DURKHEIM
Readings:
1) Auguste Comte, “Social Physics,” in Gertrud Lenzer (ed.), Auguste Comte and Positivism, pp. 218-232, 239-252 (packet)
2) Herbert Spencer, excerpts from The Principles of Sociology, in R. Carneiro (ed.), The Evolution of Society, pp. 3-8, 14-18, 24-27, 214-217 (packet)
3) Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, pp. xxv-xxx, 1-7; Book I, chs. 1-3, 5, 7; Book II, chs. 2, 3; Book III, chs. 1, 2; pp. xxxi-lvii
4) Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, pp. 97-104 (packet)
Week 6 – October 8 DURKHEIM AND THE EMPIRICAL SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD
Readings:
1) Emile Durkheim, Suicide, pp. 152-189, 197-216, 241-276, 297-325
2) Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, 50-59, 69-72 (packet)
Week 7 – October 15 THE PHILOSOPHICAL DURKHEIM AND THE INTERPRETIVE ELABORATION OF RELIGION
Readings:
1) Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, pp. 1-18, 33-44, 99-133, 141-149, 207-208, 216-241, 265-272, 303-329, 348-354, 392-417, 433-448
2) Durkheim, “The Dualism of Human Nature and Its Social Conditions,” in Robert Bellah (ed.), On Morality and Society, pp. 149-163 (packet)
Week 8 – October 22 SIMMEL: METATHEORY, CLASSIC FORMS,
AND AUTONOMY OF THE FORMS
Readings:
1) Georg Simmel, “The Field of Sociology,” in Kurt Wolff (ed.), pp. 3-16
2) Simmel, “How is Society Possible?” in Levine (ed.), pp. 6-22
3) Simmel, “The Stranger,” in Wolff, pp. 402-408
4) Simmel, “Fashion,” in Levine (ed.), pp. 294-308
5) Simmel, “The Metropolis and Mental Life,” in Levine (ed.), pp. 324-339
6) Simmel, “Sociability,” in Wolff, pp. 40-57
7) Simmel, “Faithfulness and Gratitude,” in Wolff, pp. 379-387
Week 9 –
October 29
THE STRUCTURAL SIMMEL, AND THE
FORMAL PROPERTIES OF CONFLICT
Readings:
1) Georg Simmel, excerpts from Part Two, “Quantitative Aspects of the Group,” in Wolff, pp. 87, 90-98, 109-117, 122-36, 145-69
2) Simmel, “The Web of Group Affiliations,” in Conflict & the Web of Group Affiliations
3) Georg Simmel, “Conflict,” in Conflict & The Web of Group Affiliations, chs. 1 and 3, plus pp. 57-64
4) If you can get to it: “The Secret and the Secret Society,” in Wolff, pp. 309, 312-16, 320-38
Week 10 – November 5 WEBER ON SCIENCE, AND BASIC SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
Readings:
1) Max Weber, “`Objectivity’ in Social Science and Social Policy,” in The Methodology of the Social Sciences, especially pp. 72-84 (packet)
2) Weber, Economy and Society, pp. 4-26, 212-254
Week 11 – November 12 WEBER ON THE PROTESTANT ETHIC
Readings:
1) Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, introduction, chs.1, 2, 4, and 5
2) Only if you feel you need background: consider Max Weber, Economy and Society, pp. 518-556
Week 12 – November 19 WEBER ON MAJOR ORGANIZATIONAL
FORMS, AND ON POLITICS
Readings:
1) Max Weber, Economy and Society, chs. 10 and 11, plus excerpts from ch. 16 (specifically pp. 1212-1233, 1236-41, 1322-39)
2) Weber, “Politics as a Vocation,” in Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills (eds.), From Max Weber, pp. 77-128 (packet)
NO CLASS ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26
Week 13 – December 3 THE AMERICAN TRADITION: COOLEY,
DEWEY, MEAD, AND DUBOIS
Readings:
1) Charles H. Cooley, Human Nature and the Social Order, pp. 118-124, 136-141, 165-7, 181-185, 189-194 (packet)
2) George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self & Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, pp. 42-51, 117-25, 135-175
3) W. E. B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk, “Forethought,” and chs. 1, 2, 9 (packet)
Week 14 – December 10 FREUD, AND AN OPPORTUNITY
FOR REVIEW
Readings:
1) Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents