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Boston University
Department of Sociology
SO303: Substantive Themes in Sociological Theory
Spring, 2016
Tu-Thrs., 11-12:30
CAS 233
Stephen Kalberg
Office: 255
Office Hours: TuTh 2-2:30,
5-6, and by apptmnt.
Tel. and Voice Mail: 358-0632
Email:
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This course builds upon its prerequisite, Introduction to Sociological Theory (SO 203). Whereas 203 sought to introduce major theorists (Marx, Weber, and Durkheim) and theoretical traditions in Sociology, this course, first, reviews their major concepts. It then examines their legacies after 1920 as their theorizing develops into demarcated Marxian, Weberian, and Durkheimian schools. We then investigate two major, mid-century American schools: "Conflict Theory" (with a focus upon Lewis Coser) and "Symbolic Interaction" (with a focus upon Mead and Goffman). Our semester ends with a brief look at the view of modernity as articulated by Georg Simmel. Throughout, in order to delineate boundaries clearly, as well as strengths and weaknesses, comparisons across theorists and schools will be frequent. Students will, by the end of the semester, be able to conceptualize significant social issues and problems today by reference to each theorist and school. That is, theories examined in this course can be applied to social phenomena and developments familiar to us.
Requirements:
1) The lectures, required readings, and class discussion comprise the foci of this course. Students are expected to participate fully in all aspects of the course and will be evaluated accordingly. Absences will be noted; more than two absences will adversely influence your grade. Good attendance and participation will improve your grade. As required by the CAS Dean, attendance will be taken at each class.
Grading will be based upon threeshort papers (25%, 3O%, and 35% of final grade). Participation will be awarded 10%.
The Final Paper will be slightly broader in scope. The first two papers should be no longer than five pages (double spaced; please number pages; papers longer than five pages will not be accepted); the third paper no longer than seven pages. If time permits, students will be encouraged to present short summaries of this paper (or sections thereof) in the last few class meetings. Extra credit will be awarded for doing so.
Papers should primarily utilize original (!!!!!!!) sources and should demonstrate both a) a command of schools or theorists and b) offer interpretations, insights, and/or applications. Correct quotation form, proper citation, and bibliographical referencing is expected. Utilization of readings not on the syllabus is expressly prohibited (as are editions or translations other than those listed below). Further format, etc., issues will be discussed in class.
Paper topics lists will be distributed long before due dates. Any topic not appearing on these lists must be approved by the instructor.
The due dates listed below are firm unless revised by an in-class announcement. Late papers will lose one-half grade per day late. Papers more than three days late will not be accepted. Make-up papers and/or extra credit work are not permitted.
Although re-writing of papers is not permitted and drafts of papers will not be read, outlines of papers can be presented to me orally in my office for comments and suggestions. I will be available to discuss papers at all stages of their production.
Good writing and organization are indispensable in this course. Papers that are very poorly written will not be accepted. Papers that are poorly written will be subject to severe grade penalties. Don't allow your good ideas to become victims of poor writing. (Consult: Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, for a guide to good writing.) Please seek assistance from The Writing Center if you do not write well. Cases of plagiarism will be addressed in strict accordance with regulations in the BU Student Handbook.
2) Class attendance is required. Please Note: Sociological theory is a "cumulative" endeavor. If you do not understand the "earlier stages" you will not understand the "later stages." (Think back to your HS geometry class.) Rather than the separate required readings, the unity to this class is provided by the lectures. They highlight the contours of each theoretical perspective and offer frequent comparisons. Thus, comprehension of the lecturesis indispensable.
3) Class participation will be highly appreciated (and will be noted). Everyone should have read the assigned readings before class. Occasionally we will break out into discussion groups. Please review your class notes immediately after class.
4) Academic Integrity: Compliance with the BostonUniversity standards on plagiarism and all honor codes governing written work and exams is required. See the Academic Conduct Code. Any attempt by a student to represent the work of another as his or her own constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism from any source (including the internet)will not be tolerated in any form. This includes copying or substantially restating the work of another person(s) in any written work without citing the appropriate source, or collaborating with someone in an academic endeavor without acknowledging that person's contribution. Cases in which such conduct is suspected will be referred to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
5) Accomodation for Disability: Anyone who needs academic assistance because of a documented disability should contact the instructor and present a letter of accommodation as soon as possible.
6) Taking Class Notes: Please use pen and paper only (no computers!).
BooksRequired (available at the BU bookstore):
Bronner, Stephen Eric and Kellner, Douglas, eds., Critical Theory
and Society: A Reader (B&K)
Coser, Lewis A., The Functions of Social Conflict(LC)
Coser, Lewis A. and Bernard Rosenberg, Sociological Theory: a
Book of Readings, 5th ed. (CR)
Goffman, Erving, Interaction Ritual
Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Kalberg, Stephen, ed., Max Weber: Readings and Commentary on
Modernity (RCM)
Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America. Penguin Classics
Edition (translation by Gerald Bevan) (DA).
Further Required Readings: All other required readings will be either distributed in class or placed on the course Blackboard site.
Recommended (optional) Readings:
Many recommended readings are listed below. They are intended both to assist your general understanding and to serve as (optional) bibliographical aids in the writing of your papers.
Passages from three excellent textbooks have been also noted. Each will clarify issues frequently discussed in class (and appropriate pages are given below---but be sure to acquire the edition noted). Purchase of one is highly recommended (the latter two more adequately cover contemporary theory)
Coser, Lewis A., Masters of Sociological Thought,
2nd edition (LCM) All pages listed below refer to this edition.
Wallace, Ruth and Alison Wolf, Contemporary Sociological Theory,
6th ed. [2006] (WW) All pages listed below refer to this edition
Collins, Randall and Michael Makowsky, The Discovery of Society,
7th Ed. (RC) All pages below refer to this edition.
Most of the required readings will be addresssed - in varying degrees - in the lectures. They will also occasionally introduce themes not to be found in either the required or recommended readings.
IntroductionJan. 19 - 21
"Introduction," CR, pp. ix-xiii
"Definition of the Field, CR, pp. 1-16
Recommended (optional):
"The Understanding of Society":WW, pp. 1-14
"Introduction": LCM, pp. xiii-xvii
"Society and Illusion": RC, pp. 1-14
I. REVIEWING THE CLASSICS: MARX, WEBER, DURKHEIM
Jan.21
General Background and Commentary
Recommended (optional):
WW, pp. 70-74, 18-24
a) Karl Marx Jan. 21--28
Recommended commentary (optional): WW, pp. 78-100, 162-65; RC, pp. 27-41;
LCM, pp. 43-87
The Theory: CR, pp. 524-25, 294-300
Optional: SeeThe Marx-Engels Reader (MER), edited by R. Tucker,
pp. 3-6, 469-500, 53-54, 143-55, 734-41, 751-59
On Capitalism: CR, pp. 551-60; 370-74
Optional: MER, pp. 66-126, 133-36, 160, 218-19, 542-48, 683-724
"Class Cohesion Through Conflict":CR, pp. 174-75
b) Max Weber: The Dialogue with Karl Marx Feb. 2--11
Commentary: RCM, pp. 1-48
"The Protestant Ethic Thesis": RCM, pp. 75-119
Commentary (optional): RCM, pp. 69-74
"Social Action and Social Interaction": CR, pp. 53-58
"Ideal Types and Societal Domains": RCM, pp. 14-19
On the American Political Culture: Tocqueville and Weber
Commentary: S. Kalberg, "Tocqueville and Weber..." (to be distributed)
Weber: "The Influence of the 'Sect Spirit'": RCM, pp. 277-89
Commentary (optional): RCM, pp. 273-76
Tocqueville: DA, pp. 303-22, 335-65, 583-87, 595-600, 604-09
"The Separation of the Worker from the Means of Production":
RCM, pp. 130-36
Commentary (optional): RCM, pp. 121-24
"Status and Class":RCM, pp. 151-62
Commentary (optional): RCM, pp. 147-50
The Bureaucracy and its Impact:RCM, pp. 194-216, 137-41
Commentary (optional): RCM, pp. 173-78
Charismatic Rulership: RCM, pp. 217-20
Power and Authority: "When and Why Do People Obey?"
RCM, pp. 179-93
Commentary (optional): "Marx and Weber" - WW, pp. 70-74
RCM, pp. 173-78
[No class on February 16]
c) Emile DurkheimFeb. 18--23
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 18-24; RC, pp. 94-106;
LCM, pp. 122-76
"Suicide and Social Cohesion": CR, pp. 164-71, 388-96
Optional: See Suicide
See The Division of Labor in Society
See Ken Thompson, ed.,Readings from Durkheim
"The Normality of Crime": CR, pp. 431-37
"The Internalization of Social Control": CR, pp. 88-92
First Paper Due Thurs., March 3
II) THE IMPACT OF THE FOUNDERS UPON SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AFTER 1920: Three Schools
a) The Legacy of Karl Marx I: "Critical Theory" Feb. 25--March 3
Commentary (optional):WW, pp. 101-106; RC, pp. 41-42
"Introduction":B&K, pp. 1-24
"State Capitalism":B&K, pp. 95-118
"The Reification of the Proletariat":B&K, pp. 288-92
"The Culture Industry Reconsidered": B&K, pp. 128-35
"Society": B&K, pp. 267-75
"Liberation from the Affluent Society":B&K, pp. 276-87
"From Ontology to Technology: Fundamental Tendencies of
Industrial Society":B&K, pp. 119-27.
Recommended (optional):
Kellner, Douglas, Critical Theory, Marxism and Modernity, pp. 3
-9, 43-50, 51-65, 76-82, 104-13
Marcuse, Herbert, One Dimensional Man, pp. ix-122
"Sociology of Art and Music," pp. 101-16; "Culture and
Civilization," pp. 89-100; "Masses," pp. 72-89; "The
Family," pp. 129-48; and "Ideology," pp. 182-204 -- all in
Frankfurt Institute, Aspects of Sociology
Jay, Martin, The Dialectical Imagination
Held, David, Introduction to Critical Theory
Kellner, Douglas, Herbert Marcuse
[Spring Break: March 5 - 13
b) The Legacy of Karl Marx II: Marxian Conflict Theory
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 67-100
"The Power Elite": C. Wright Mills
Commentary: WW, pp. 107-111; RC, pp. 219-28
"Who Rules": See Mills, The Power Elite (pp. to be announced)
c) The Legacy of Max Weber March 17--24
Commentary (optional): RCM, pp. 345-46
1) Subjective Meaning
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 199-204; RC, pp. 166-68
Thomas, W.I, "The Definition of the Situation":CR pp. 89-91
Znaniecki, F., "Subjective Meaning in the Social Situation": CR, pp. 203-08
2) On Work: Variation of "Economic Ethics" Across Cultures
Bendix, Bendix, "Private Authority and Work Habits: Russia and England":
RCM, pp. 347-52
Ritzer, George."The McDonaldization of Society":RCM, pp. 357-66.
3) "Deep Culture" and the "Deep Historical"
Lipset, S.M., "The Political Culture of American Democracy: The Enduring Influence
Religion": RCM, pp. 367-76
Recommended (optional): Stephen Kalberg, Searching for the Spirit of American Democracy: Max Weber's Analysis of a Unique Political Culture, Past, Present
and Future(2014)
Kalberg, S.,"Max Weber's Analysis of the Unique American Civic Sphere: Its
Origins, Expansion, and Oscillations." Journal of Classical
Sociology 9 (Jan., 2009): 117-41 (to be circulated)
4) Inequality, Authority, and Power
Bendix, Reinhard, "Inequality and Social Structure: A Comparison of Marx
and Weber": CR, pp. 307-25
Lowenthal, Richard, "Political Legitimacy and Cultural Change": CR, pp. 125-31.
Gerth, H.H. and C.W. Mills, "Power and Authority": CR, pp. 144-46.
Coser, Lewis A., "The Notion of Power": CR, pp. 146-48.
5) Charisma
Cavalli, Luciano, "Hitler's Charisma": RCM, pp. 361-63
Riegl, Hans-Georg, "The Routinization of Charisma": RCM, pp. 364-67
6) The Bureaucracy, the Bureaucratized Society, and Bureaucracy
Kalberg, S., "The Modern World as an Iron Cage?" (to be distributed)
Ritzer, George, "The McDonaldization of Society":RCM, pp. 357-60
e) The Legacy of Emile Durkheim:Structural Functionalism from Durkheim to Merton
Commentary (optional): "Functionalism." WW, pp. 16-25 March 29--31
1) Structural Functionalism
"Status":CR, pp. 263-64
Linton, "Status and Role":CR, pp. 264-69
Hughes, "Dilemmas and Contradictions of Status":CR, pp. 273-82
Optional: Radcliffe-Brown, "Structure and Function in Primitive Society":
CR, pp. 471-78
2) Robert Merton
Commentary: WW, pp. 45-56
Merton and Kitt, "Reference Groups":CR, pp. 232-40
----, "The Role-Set":CR, pp. 282-91.
----, and Barber, "Sociological Ambivalence":CR, pp. 493-507
Merton, "Social Structure and Anomie":CR, pp. 397-405
Optional: Levinson, R., "Role, Personality, and Social Structure": CR, pp. 240-52.
Coser, Rose L., "Authority and Structural Ambivalence in the
Middle-Class Family":CR, pp. 508-19
3) Criticisms of Structural Functionalism
Wrong, Dennis, "The Oversocialized Conception of Man in Modern
Sociology," CR, pp. 104-13
Lukes, S., "Power and Human Agency": CR, pp. 157-61
Gerth, H.H. and C.W. Mills, "Power and Authority": CR, pp. 144-46 (again).
Second Paper Due Thurs., April 7
III. NON-MARXIAN CONFLICT THEORY IN THE UNITED STATES April 5--7
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 130-38, 155-57
Coser, Lewis A., The Functions of Social Conflict,
Recommended: pp. 15-32
Required: 33-158
----, "The Notion of Power"; CR, pp. 146-57
Gluckman, Max, "The Peace and the Feud":CR, pp. 179-80
IV. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: American Microtheory from Mead to Goffman
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 197-203
April 12--19
Thomas, "The Definition of the Situation":CR, pp. 189-91 (again)
Znaniecki, "Subjective Meaning in the Social Situation":CR, pp. 203-08
a) Social Behaviorism: G.H. Mead
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 204-12; RC, pp. 158-65; LCM, pp. 333-56
Mead, Mind, Self and Society.
"Play, the Game, and the Generalized Other": CR, pp. 222-31
"The Internalization of Social Control": CR, pp. 93-7
b) Symbolic Interactionism: Herbert Blumer:
Commentary (optional):WW, pp. 213-34; LCM, pp. 574-75
"Society as Symbolic Interaction": pp. 300-06 in J. Farganis, ed., Readings in
Social Theory (2006) (to be distributed)
"Self-Other Concepts": CR, pp. 187-88
c) Interaction: Erving Goffman
Commentary (optional): WW, pp. 235-47; RC, pp. 232-35, 240-41
"Role Distance":CR, pp. 256-62
The Presentation of Self, pp. 1-58, 208-28, 252-55
Interaction Ritual, pp. 1-95
Kalberg, S., "West German and American Interaction Forms" (to be distributed)
V. Modernity? Georg Simmel April 21
Commentary (optional): LCM, pp. 177-216; RC, pp. 148-52
"The Stranger": CR, pp. 488-93
"The Metropolis and Modern Life" (to be circulated)
VI. Conclusion and Review April 26--28
Commentary (optional): "Evaluating Sociological Theory":WW, pp. 415-25
"Society and Illusion": RC, pp. 1-14 (again)
Weber, Max, "The Rationalism of Western Civilization": RCM, pp. 53-65
----, "The Meaning and Value of Science": RCM, pp. 321-28
Third Paper Due May 2 at 5pm [at my office]