Syllabus – Sociology: Social Theory

Home , Ernest Burgess, Herbert Blumer, Peter Blau, Randall Collins

Instructor: Coach Thompson Sociology Room Number B 113

DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to give the student an overview of the study of sociological theory. It will present views from classical perspectives (The Dead Sociologists' Society) within sociology as well as some of the current perspectives within the discipline. The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to a variety of theoretical orientations, past and present, with an emphasis on the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. By analyzing a variety of theories, it is also hoped that the student will develop a theoretical view of his or her own and a critical (i.e., analytical) orientation toward theory in particular and social interaction in general.

ATTENDANCE: Your attendance at all class sessions is expected. Roll will be taken everyday. If for some unforeseen reason you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get class notes from a friend or the class website. The lack of attendance may adversely affect your grade. Class discussion is encouraged. If there are questions about reading assignments or topics presented in class, please feel free to ask questions. EXAMS: There will be exams and individual and group projects during the semester. Each exam will consist of questions in both objective and subjective formats covering the material for both readings and lectures assigned during that portion of the course. This class operates on the honor system. Academic dishonesty will NOT be tolerated. MAKE-UP POLICY:. If you miss an exam, you MUST contact me within 48 hours. If you fail to let me know that you need a make-up exam, you will automatically receive a zero for the exam you missed.

GRADING: Grades will be assigned on the customary basis, i.e.,90-100= A, 80-89= B, 70-79= C, 60-69= D, 59 or below= F. Class attendance is normally reflected in your grade. It will be considered, if necessary, in determining your final grade. There is NO extra credit work offered--don't ask (no whining).

Course Structure: Unit 1: Perspective Important People Social Imagination

Unit 2: Culture and Sociological Structures

Socialization

Social Structure and Society

Groups and Formal Organizations

Deviance and Social Control

Unit 3: Social Stratification Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Inequalities of Gender and Age

Unit 4 The Family

Education

Political & Economic Institutions

Religion

Sport

Unit 5: Population and Urbanization

Social Change and Collective Behavior

Additional Readings:  Auguste Comte o "On the Positivistic Approach to Society" (W)  Emile Durkheim o "What is a Social Fact?" (W) o "On the Division of Labor" (W)  Ferdinand Toennies -- "Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft" (W)  Herbert Spencer (A & O) o "The Principles of Sociology" (W)  Darwin -- "The Origin of the Species" (W)  Friedrich Hegel (A & O) o "The Nature of Dialectic" (W)  Karl Marx (A & O) o "From The Communist Manifesto" (W) o "From Comments of James Mill" (W) o "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844" (W)  Max Weber (A & O) o "Characteristics of Bureaucracy" (W) o "Spirit of Capitalism" (W)  Georg Simmel o "The Stranger" (W) o "Conflict as Sociation" (W) o "The Circulation of Elites" (W) o "Conspicuous Consumption" (W)  Chapter 2 Functionalism (W & W)  Pitirim Sorokin -- "On Social Mobility" (W)  Talcott Parsons o "The Unit Act of Action Systems" (W) o "Action Systems and Social Systems" (W) o "Sex Roles in the American Kinship System" (W)  Robert K. Merton o "Manifest and Latent Functions" (W) o "Bureaucratic Structure and Personality" (W)  Neo-Functionalism o S. N. Eisenstadt "Functional Analysis in Anthropologyand Sociology" (W)  Chapter 3 Conflict Theory (W & W)  Neo-Marxism o Randall Collins -- "The Basics of Conflict Theory" (W)  Robert Michels -- "Iron Law of Oligarchy" (W)  Chicago School -- Robert Park and Ernest Burgess o "On Competition, Conflict, Accommodation, and Acculturation " (W)  C. Wright Mills -- "The Power Elite" (W)  Ralf Dahrendorf -- "Classes in Post-Capitalist Society" (W)  Lewis Coser -- "Functions of Social Conflict" (W)  Randall Collins -- "Late 20th Century Credential Crisis" (W)  I. M. Wallerstein -- "World Systems Theory" (W)  Jurgen Habermas -- "Theorems of Legitimation Crisis" (W)  Game Theory  Alvin Gouldner -- "The Norm of Reciprocity" (W)

 George C. Homans o "Social Exchange" (W) o "General Propositions" (W)  Karen Cook o "Emerson's Conception of Individual Action"  Peter Blau -- "Contrasting Theoretical Perspectives"  "On Mind as the Product of Social Interaction" (W)  Charles Horton Cooley -- "On Primary Groups" (W) o "The Looking Glass Self" (W)  W. I. Thomas -- "On the Definition of the Situation" (W)  Chapter 4 Symbolic Interactionism (W & W)  Herbert Blumer -- "Society as Symbolic Interaction" (W)  Erving Goffman --"Presentation of Self" (W) o "Impression Management" (W)  Patricia Hill Collins -- "Black Feminist Thought" (W)  Chapter 5 Phenomenology (W & W)  Harold Garfinkel -- "Reflexive Properties of PracticalSociology" (W) o "Some Essential Features of Common Understandings" (W)  Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann o "Society as a Human Product" (W)  Dorothy Smith -- "Knowing a Society from Within"(W)  Paul Atkinson -- "Ethnomethodology: A Critical Review"(W)  Carl G. Jung -- "Collected Works" (W)  Chapter 7 Alternative Perspectives (W & W)  Claude Levi-Strauss -- "The Structural Study of Myth" (W)  Anthony Giddens -- "Living in the World: Dilemmas of the Self" (W)  Edward O. Wilson -- "What is Sociobiology?" (W)  Charlene Spretnak--"Critical and Constructive Contributions of Ecofeminism" (W)  Marti Kheel -- "From Heroic to Holistic Ethics: The Ecofeminist Challenge" (W)