Sociology 202a:  classical sociological theory

Fall 2019                                                                                               Watkins 1126

Wed. 09:00-11:50pm                                                              C. Chase-Dunn

v. 8-14-19

This graduate seminar focuses on selected works in classical sociological theory. This is a required course in the Sociology graduate program at UCR.

 

Requirements: Grades will be based on attendance (10%), participation in discussion (10%), a take-home midterm exam (40%), and a five-page essay that compares two of the books we have read (40%). The midterm questions will be put up on the course web site on Ilearn on October 30 and the answers are due in class on November 6. The five-page essay is due on December 4. There is no final exam.

Book available in the Campus Book Store and on reserve in the Rivera Library:

Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Platt and Indermohan Virk (eds.) Classical Sociological Theory, 3rd edition, Wiley-Blackwell

Seminar Schedule:

Asterisked (*) readings are required. Others are recommended. Required readings should be read prior to the class meeting under which they are listed.

October 2 Overview of the course. Theory Construction, Theoretical Research

            Programs and Sociological Theory

*Calhoun et al Introduction; Pp. 1-17.

Paul Davidson Reynolds, A Primer on Theory Construction. 2007 Allen and Bacon.

Imre Lakatos, “Falsification and the methodology of scientific research” in Criticism and

the Growth of Knowledge. Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave (eds.) Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1974.

Zelditch, Morris, Jr.1971 "Intelligible Comparisons" Pp. 267-308 in Ivan Vallier (ed.)
 Comparative Methods in Sociology, Berkeley:  University of California Press

Jonothan H. Turner, Leonard Beeghley, Charles H. Powers 2012 The emergence of

             sociological theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Arthur L. Stinchcombe, 1968 Constructing Social Theories

Karl Marx Grundrisse, Introduction“The method of political economy”

Randall Collins 1994 Four Sociological Traditions

October 9:

Precursors to Sociology: Confucius; Herodotus; Thucydides, Katila; Ibn Khaldun, Comte; Spencer

: 
*E. N. Anderson and Christopher Chase-Dunn: “The Rise and Fall of Great Powers”  In C. Chase-Dunn and E. N. Anderson (eds.) 2005 The Historical Evolution of World-Systems.  New York:  Palgrave MacMillan.  Pp. 1-19.  (in Course Materials on Ilearn)

*Calhoun et al Pp. 38-82: Rousseau; Kant; Smith

Lewis A. Coser 1977 Masters of Sociological Thought

Jonathan H. Turner 2013 Theoretical Sociology: 1830 to the Present.

Jonathan H. Turner 2000 “Herbert Spencer” Pp. 81-104 in George Ritzer (ed.) The

            Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists

October 16 Alexis deTocqueville:

*Calhoun et al, Intro to Part II; Chapters 6-8

Seymour Martin Lipset 1960 Political Man

Reinhardt Bendix 1964 Nation-Building and Citizenship

Julian Go 2011 Patterns of Empire

October 23 Marx and Engels:

*Calhoun et al, Intro to Part III, Chapters 9-14

Karl Marx: Capital, Volume 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 4, “The fetishism of commodities and the secret thereof”; Chapter 26 “The secret of primitive accumulation; and Chapter 31, “Genesis of the industrial capitalist.” 

David Harvey, http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/

Antonio Gramsci 1935 Selections from the Prison Notebooks

Karl Polányi 1992 (1957) “The Economy as Instituted Process” Pp. 29-51 in Richard Swedberg and Mark Granovetter (eds.) The Sociology Of Economic Life. Boulder, CO: Westview

Vladimir Lenin; Frankfurt School, Mao Zedong

October 30 Durkheim:

*Calhoun et al Intro to Part IV, Chapters 15-18

Alexandra Maryanski 2018 Emile Durkheim and the Birth of the Gods

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore “Some principles of stratification”

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2085643?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

 November 6

Take-home Midterm is Due in Class

Weber:

*Calhoun et al Intro to Part V, Chapters 19-24

Max Weber: Economy and Society, (UC Press edition) Volume 1, Part 1,Chapter 1, Section 6, Pp. 33-36 “Types of legitimate order: convention and law;” Part 17, Pp. 54-56 “Political and hierocratic organizations;” Chapter 2, Section 11, Pp. 90-100 “The concept and types of profit-making: the role of capital;” Part 2: Chapter 4, Section 2, Pp. 375-381  “The disintegration of the household: the rise of the calculative spirit and of the modern capitalist enterprise.”

Max Weber General Economic History

Randall Collins 1986 Weberian Sociological Theory

Reinhard Bendix 1962 Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait

Vilfredo Pareto 1920 The Rise and Fall of Elites

Max in german: http://www.zeno.org/Soziologie/M/Weber,%20Max

November 13 Self and Society:

*Calhoun et al Intro to Part VI, Chapters 25-31

W. E. B. DuBois 2010 [1899] “The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study.” Pp. 340-345 in Laura Desfor Edles and Scott Appelrouth (eds.) Sociological Theory in the Classical Era

November 20 no class

November 27: Critical Theory and the Sociology of Knowledge:

*Calhoun et al:Intro to Part VII,Chapters 32-35

Thorstein Veblen 1899 The Theory of the Leisure Class

Karl Mannheim 1936 Ideology and Utopia

Erich Fromm 1941 Escape From Freedom

Simone de Beauvoir 1952 The Second Sex

Oliver C. Cox 1959 Foundations of Capitalism

Mao Zedong 1937 On Contradiction https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm

December 4 Five-page Essay is Due

Structural-Functional Analysis:

*Calhoun et al: Intro to Part VIII, Chapters 36-39

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore 1945 "Some principles of stratification." American Sociological Review, 10 (2), 242-9.

Talcott Parsons 1966 Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives

Talcott Parsons 1971 The System of Modern Societies

Neil Smelser 1962 Theory of Collective Behavior

December 11 No Class