Carleton College
Department of Sociology/Anthropology

Winter 1997

Sociology 330
Sociological Thought and Theory
Willis 203, 3a 		Nader Saiedi
315 Willis, Ext. 4112
Office Hours: Tue 10-12:00
Fri 10-11:00
This is a course on classical sociological theory. Understanding the purpose and topics of the course requires a brief explication of the three categories of "classic," "sociological," and "theory". However, such an explication is itself a controversial question within classical sociological theory. We are trapped within the hermeneutical circle right at the beginning of our discourse!

A classic, in my view, is a work of genius which provides continuous challenge for interpretation and reinterpretation for its readers. It offers a significant set of categories for thinking and talking about the subject of study. Furthermore, it is a relatively self-conscious presentation of its own spirit of the age. "Sociological" is a particular theoretical orientation in sociocultural studies. It looks at the social determination of the reality. However, there is no consensus concerning the precise nature of this orientation. For some, sociology is the most comprehensive of social sciences, and is defined primarily by its emphasis on totalities and structural approach. For others, it is a particular theoretical orientation which deals with the question of social integration. Issues of power and rationality, according to this latter idea, transcend the boundaries of sociological discourse. Finally, we need to distinguish between theories in sociology and "sociological theory." The latter represents a particular type of theory. Sociological theory is distinguished from ordinary theories in sociology by the former's higher level of generality and epistemological reflection. Any discussion of any sociological theory is based upon explicit assumptions and ideas about epistemology, action theory and politics of that theoretical system.

However, classical sociological theory is not a fixed and objective textual reality. It is a product of the act of interpretation. Through our own search for truth, rationalization, power, legitimization and status, we create new classics and destroy the old ones. Our course is not only reconstructive but constructive as well.
Course Requirements

The student's grade is based upon two essay exams. This course is an intensive and complex one. You don't want to miss the class too frequently!
Texts

The following texts are required for the course. They are available in the bookstore:

1. Marx and Engels, Marx-Engels Reader
2. Weber, From Max Weber
3. Durkheim, Division of Labor in Society
4. Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life
5. Nisbet, Sociological Tradition
6. Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
7. Nietzsche, Nietzsche Reader
8. Simmel, Sociology of Georg Simmel

CLASS SCHEDULE 


Week of:	Topic/Reading

Mon. Jan. 6	
	The Rise of the Classical Social Theory
		Required Readings:
			Sociological Tradition
		Recommended Readings:
			Saiedi, The Birth of Social Theory
			DÍHolbach, System of Nature
			Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
			Herder, Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind
			Hegel, ñThe Philosophy of Historyî in Ronald Nash, ed., Ideas of History, pp. 85-107
			Nisbet, ñConservatismî in Bottomore and Nisbet, eds., A History of Sociological Analysis, pp. 80-117 (R)
			Giddens, ñClassical Social Theory and the Origins of Modern Sociologyî in Profiles and Critiques in Social Theory, pp. 40-67
			Parsons, The Structure of Social Action
			Alexander, Theoretical Logic in Sociology, Vol. I
			Alexander, ñThe Centrality of the Classicsî in Giddens and Turner, eds Social Theory Today
			Hobbes, Leviathan
			Condorcet, Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind
			Hegel, On the Arts
			Schlegel, Dialogue on Poetry
			Mannheim, Essays on Sociology and Social Psychology
			Goldmann, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment
 Mon Jan 13	
	Marx: Dialectic, Historical Materialism and Capitalism
		Required Readings:
			Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 16-25, 66-93, 469-491, 143-145, 236-244, 
			294-438, 760-768
		Recommended Readings:
			Lukacs, History and Class Consciousness
			Althusser, For Marx
			Colletti, Marxism and Hegel
			Marcuse, Reason and Revolution
			Habermas, Knowledge and Human Interest
Mon Jan 20	
	Marxism: Class, Knowledge, Power, and Gender
		Required Readings:
			Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 683-717, 146-189, 734-759, 594-617, 525-541
		Recommended Readings:
			Gramsci, Prison Notebooks
			Wright, Classes
			Lenin, State and Revolution
			Luxemburg, Accumulation of Capital
			Althusser, For Marx
			Habermas, Knowledge and Human Interests
			Sartre, Search for a Method

Mon Jan 27	
	Positivism and Liberalism: Comte, Bentham, Mill, Spencer, and Tocqueville
		Required Readings:
			Bentham, Morals and Legislation, pp. 11-41 (R)
			Mill, ñColeridgeî in Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Vol. X, pp. 119-163(R)
			Comte, The Crisis of Industrial Civilization, pp. 111-67 (R)
			Spencer, The Evolution of Society, pp. 1-62 (R) 
		Recommended Readings:
			Halevy, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism
			Comte, The Positive Philosophy
			Turner, Herbert Spencer
			Mill, Utilitarianism
			Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Mon Feb 3	
	Hermeneutics, Nihilism and Phenomenology
		Required Reading:
			The Nietzsche Reader
		Recommended Readings:
			Dilthey, Pattern and Meaning in History
			Husserl, ñPhilosophy and the Crisis of European Manî in Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philosophy, pp. 149-192 (R)
			Bauman, Hermeneutics and Social Sciences
			Megill, Prophets of Extremity
			Shutz, The Phenomenology of the Social World

Wed Feb 12
	Durkheim: Sociologism and Solidarity
		Required Readings:
			Division of Labor, pp. 11-16, 24-53, 68-87, 149-165, 291-309
			Elementary Forms of Religious Life, pp. 21-33, 51-63, 216-272
		Recommended Readings:
			Durkheim, Suicide
			Durkheim, Moral Education
			Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method
			Jones, Emile Durkheim

Mon Feb 17
	Weber: Interpretive Sociology, Rationalization and Capitalism
		Required Readings:
			From Max Weber, pp. 55-65, 267-301, 323-333, 129-156
		Recommended Readings:
			Methodology of Social Sciences
			Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
			Weber, General Economic History
			Collins, Weberian Sociological Theory
			Roth and Schluchter, Max WeberÍs Vision of History
			Mitzman, The Iron Cage

Mon Feb 24
	Weber: Stratification, Domination and Bureaucracy
		Required Reading:
			From Max Weber, pp. 180-265
		Recommended Readings:
			Parkin, The Marxist Theory of Class: A Bourgeois Critique
			Giddens, Class Structure of the Advanced Societies
			Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions
 Mon Mar 3
	Simmel
		Required Reading:
			Sociology of Georg Simmel
		Recommended Readings:
			Simmel, The Problems of the Philosophy of History
			Simmel, The Philosophy of Money
			On Individuality and Social Forms, pp. 3-35, 143-149, 251-293 (R) 

Mon Mar 10
	Veblen
		Required Reading:
			The Theory of the Leisured Class
		Recommended Readings:
			Veblen, Essays in Our Changing Order
			Veblen, The Place of Science in Modern Civilization
			Veblen, Absentee Ownership and Business Enterprise in Recent Times
Last updated:
by: P. Lackie