Sociology 611: Classical Sociological Theory

THE SYLLABUS

Most Recent Required Paperback Books:

	L.H. Simon (ed.), Karl Marx: Selected Writings (Hackett, 1994).
	H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969).
	Emile Durkheim, Division of Labor in Society (New York: Free Press, 1964).
	______________, Suicide (New York: Free Press, 1997).
	Gerda Lerner, The Creation  of Patriarchy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
	George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ).

There will be a number of items available only on the internet site, and class handouts, indicated in the syllabus.

Week 1

Introduction: What is expected of me; what is expected of you; historical background and rationale of the course.  Read: “Why Study the Classics”  and Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Philosophy of the  Social Sciences, History," , Part I (all) and Part II, through Rousseau, and “Capitalism.” 

Week 2

Early Modern Antecedents

Read: Hobbes, Locke, Adam Smith and Rousseau. Excerpts available on Course website.; "The Beginnings of Modern Social Theory."

Week 3

COMTE

Read Comte (handout: excerpt) "Philosophy of the Social Sciences, History," "General Philosophy," "Reading Comte," "Positivist Theory of Science," "Causality and Scientific Explanation."

Week 4-6

MARX

Philosophical Premises

Assign: Simon, “On the Jewish Question,”  “Toward a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,”   “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts,” “Thesis on Feuerbach.”  "Marx's Philosophical Naturalism;" Optional: Marcuse on Hegel, “Philosophy of the Social Sciences: History, through Marx.

Theory of History and Society           

Simon, “German Ideology, Part I,”  “Communist Manifesto,”   “The Eighteenth Brumaire,” “Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, ”  Manicas, "Historical Materialism: Two Interpretations:" Optional: “Marx, Marxism and Mao.”

Analysis of Capitalism

Simon, Capital, Volume One.  Manicas, "Marx's Critique of Capitalism," "Capitalism: The Bare Bones."

Best Secondary Source, Shlomo Avineri, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx (Cambridge University Press, 1971)

Weeks 5-7

WEBER

Philosophical Premises

Assign: Weber, “Objectivity in Social Science;” "Reading Weber,"  "Outline of Objectivity," Manicas, “Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Brief History,” through Weber, Manicas, “Intelligibility and Idealization: Marx and Weber.” 

Economic History/Political Sociology

“General Economic History” (excerpts); Girth and Mills, “Capitalism and Rural Society in Germany,” pp. 363-385; “Politics as a Vocation,” pp. 77-128; Part II (all). 

Comparative Civilization

Optional: Girth and Mills, Part III;  and Chapters XVI, “India,” and XVII, “The Chinese Literati.”

 Secondary Source:  Virtually every contemporary theorist  has a version of Weber. I favor C.W. Mills and H. H. Gerth, “Introduction, From Max Weber.

Week 8

LERNER: The Creation of  Patriarchy (all).

Weeks 9-11

DURKHEIM

Philosophical Premises

Rules of Sociological Method (excerpts: handout); "Reading Durkheim." Manicas, Philosophy of Social Sciences, History,  through Durkheim

Solidarity

The Division of Labor in Society (all)

Explaining Suicide  

Suicide (all) ; Manicas, "Correlation and Causation," "Psychometric Paradigm: Some Problems."

Best secondary source: Steven Lukes, Durkheim (New York: Harper and Row, 1972).

Week  12

SIMMEL  (internet).

Week 13

MEAD Mind, Self and Society, pages to be assigned. "Mead: Glossary."

Week 14

SCHUTZ  On Phenomenology and Social Relations (handout, excerpts). "Reading Schutz."

Week 15

PARSONS

Blackboard: "Action Systems and Social Systems."  "Parson's Glossary," "Structural Functionalism."

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