Fall 2016: SOCIOLOGY 2300 - SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY Tues/Fr 9:50-11:30 am – 125 Snell Library

Prof. Linda M. Blum TA: Ran Keren Office: 936 Renaissance Park Office: 9th floor RenPark Tues 2:00-3:15 pm & (Prefer) by appt. Tues noon to 1pm & by appt. [email protected] (617-373-4995) [email protected]

Course Description: “Reviews the dominant theoretical traditions in classical and contemporary sociology, showing the links between the social thought of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and current social thought.” NU Catalogue.

Required Texts: available at NU Campus Book Store (& on 3-hr Reserve in Library). Please no e-books as the lack of pagination – along with the poor quality of many translations -- make our close reading and discussion difficult. Discussion works best if we have the same print editions, and your own study will be more effective with consistent translation, pagination, notes, and index. (Unfortunately every year with proliferating e-versions and pdfs, this has become more problematic -- and your peers in previous cohorts strongly recommended I state this up-front.) Use of the ISBN (13-digit International Book Standard Number) best ensures that we have the same versions (and should be the same as those in NU Bookstore). In order of our use:

Locke, John. Second Treatise on Government. ISBN 9780486424644 Mill, and John Stuart and Harriet Taylor Mill. Essays on Sex Equality. Univ of Chicago (edited by A. Rossi). ISBN 9780226525464

McIntosh, Ian, editor. Classical Sociological Theory. New York University. ISBN 9780814755747 Depending on Student Vote: Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and its Discontents. ISBN 9780393301588 - or – selections from W.E.B. DuBois

There will also be several essays in pdf form posted for you to our course Blackboard site (indicated as Bb in Schedule below). Our work will be most effective if you print out and bring to class during the appropriate weeks. We will be referring closely to the texts in class, so please do plan to bring the weeks’ reading/s with you. Thank you!

A Note on Reading: One of our major learning objectives this semester is to engage with dense primary texts or source material, that is, to read (some of) the actual words of the major theorists, utilizing the close-reading strategies often more familiar to students in literary fields than in the social sciences. You will find that readings are often opaque, confusing, or even bewildering, but this is to be expected . Class 2 meetings will be about building our understanding, in a semester-long process -- but in this process, it is important that you come to class meetings prepared having made a good start by struggling with the assigned reading. In many other sociology courses, reading materials are fairly transparent and students can master them independently; but with social theory, much of the learning happens when we’re working together in class meetings. Put differently: it is not necessary that you become an expert on the readings before class – however, it is unlikely that you will receive a good grade without wrangling with these primary sources and attending class regularly. (Rereading is also an important part of this process, and as such, you’ll notice some is built into your schedule.) Also, remember that thoughtful questions emerging from the readings are highly valued, counting toward your participation grade. Regular course attendance is vital!

Course Requirements: Thoughtful Participation 15% This requires attendance and struggling through assigned readings. Attendance is important for grasping theory! It’s Durkheimian (he he!)

Homework exercises, throughout the semester (Questions posted on Blackboard. Please type up short response and bring to class.) 15%

Detailed Instructions for Each of the Following Will be Provided: Take-home writing assignment (end of Sept) 15%

In-class midterm (end of Oct) 20%

Media analysis + Discussion Board (Nov) 15%

Take-home end-of-term essay (Dec) 20%

Other Course Policies: Academic Honesty: University rules on plagiarism and academic misconduct will be strictly enforced. If you are unclear about such rules, please consult the student handbook or http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academichonesty.html#plagiarism. Papers will be subject to the TurnItIn anti-plagiarism review. Please ask me if you’re unfamiliar with this feature of Blackboard. It also keeps papers nicely organized for me!

Course Technology Policy: Let’s take a class vote on what our policy should be. Screens can distract all of us, those using them, peers sitting nearby, and me too! as I look for facial cues from students to guide my teaching. And we do want to make the most of 3 our smaller class size. Thanks so much! Please come and see Prof. Blum should you have special circumstances or require accommodations from the Disability Resource Center.

Schedule: Please Bring Weekly Readings to Class With You as Hard Copy – Thanks! Fri Sept 9: Introduction to the Course. What is theory? Why should we care? What was the Enlightenment?

Tues Sept 13, Fri Sept 16: John Locke: How did Liberal Enlightenment Thinking Begin? Read: Locke, pp. 15-99.

Tues Sept 20, Fri Sept 23: John Stuart and Harriet Taylor Mill: Liberal Enlightenment Theory at Its Best? Read: Mill and Mill, Chapters 3 (1851) and 4 (1869), pp. 91 - 242. Skip pp. 163-178 and 186-201.

Tues Sept 27, Fri Sept 30: Herbert Spencer: What was Social Darwinism? Read: Bb Spencer. Principles of Sociology (1874-96), pp. 1-47, 63-96.

**First Writing Assignment Due** Approx. date, precise date TBA

Tues Oct 4, Fri Oct 7: Karl Marx: What Was His Critique of the L.E.T.? Read: Marx in McIntosh, Section One, Brief Biography of Marx, pp. 13-14. The German Ideology, pp. 26-38, Alienated Labor, pp. 15-23.

Tues Oct 11, Fri Oct 14: More Marx: Was He a “Marxist”? Read: Marx in McIntosh: from The Communist Manifesto, pp. 39-47. Bb more from The Communist Manifesto In McIntosh: The Fetishism of Commodities, pp. 68-71. Reread the Camera Obscura, two paragraphs p. 29, in the German Ideology. In McIntosh: excerpts from Capital, TBA.

Tues Oct 18: Finish Marx and Engels: Did They Believe in Free Love? Read: Bb Engels. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884). Then reread!

Fri Oct 21: REVIEW (Reread!)

Tues Oct 25: MIDTERM In Class

Fri Oct 28: Max Weber: Why Capitalism Only in the West? Read: Weber in McIntosh, Section Two: Brief Biography, pp. 113-114, The Protestant Ethic, pp. 115-131, and Bb another brief excerpt “The Spirit of Capitalism and the Iron Cage.” 4

Tues Nov 1, Fri Nov 4: More Weber: What Is The Iron Cage? Read: Weber in McIntosh, Bureaucracy, pp. 142-153. Bb (not McIntosh): Weber, Science as a Vocation.

Tues Nov 8: Complete Weber & Review (Reread!)

**First Set of Media Posts**

Fri Nov 11: No Class – Veteran’s Day

Tues Nov 15: Emile Durkheim: What Is His Critique of the L.E.T.? Read: Durkheim in McIntosh, Section Three: Brief Biography, pp. 179-180. Sanctions and Mechanical and Organic Solidarity, pp. 185-193. The Division of Labor, pp. 194-206.

Fri Nov 18: Durkheim: What is the Significance of Religion? Read: Durkheim in McIntosh. Religion and Society, pp. 232-247.

Tues Nov 22: Durkheim: What is Sociology? Read: Durkheim in McIntosh, What is a Social Fact? pp. 207-211. Excerpts from Suicide, pp. 212-231.

** Second Set of Media Posts **

Fri Nov 25: No Class – Thanksgiving Break

Tues Nov 29 Finish Durkheim: (Reread!) – Review and Begin Freud/DuBois (following class vote in September)

Fri Dec 2: Either: Sigmund Freud: Can The Divided Self Ever Be Happy? How have Freud and psychoanalysis influenced contemporary social theory? Read: Bb “Oedipus” from The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Entire).

OR: W.E.B. DuBois: What is Double-Consciousness? How has sociology conceptualized race and racism? What has been the influence of DuBois? Read: Bb Excerpts from The Souls of Black Folks (and other TBA)

Tues Dec 6: Semester Wrap-Up and Review Distribution of Final essay questions at the end of the review session 5

Final Essays DUE: Monday Dec 12 digital and hard-copy to 900 (or 936) Renaissance Park by Noon please - Many Thanks!

*** If you have any special scheduling problems, please let Prof. Blum know as early as possible.*** ***Happy Winter Fun and Solstice Holidays of Your Choice***