Classical Sociological Theory Sociology 475 Fall 2014 Class meetings: 9:30-10:45 A.M. Tuesdays and Thursdays Classroom: Van Vleck, Room B139 Instructor: Matthew Kearney E-mail: mkearney@ssc.wisc.edu Office location: Sewell Social Science Building, Room 3455 Office hours: 11 A.M. 1 P.M. Thursdays Introductory Comments This course has two complementary goals: 1. Students will learn how to construct theoretical arguments about empirical material. 2. Students will learn the basic concepts and approaches of canonical social theorists. Throughout the semester, we will attempt to bring these two goals together. That is, we will draw on canonical approaches in the process of constructing our own arguments about society. This means we understand what the classical theorists say, critique what they say, and then potentially modify their arguments to construct our own explanations of social phenomenon. The premise of this course is that we will construct better explanations after we have seriously studied the classical sociological theory. Notice that serious canonical study is not our end goal; it is only the first step. It is not enough to interpret the classical theories; the point is to change them. The class discussions, lectures, and paper assignments all aim at this goal: using the classical theorists to come to our own understanding of society. The fact that we are authorized to disagree with or modify canonical concepts does not mean we should do so lightly. We have to do serious study first, and we need to take that word 'serious' seriously. We do not discard a social theory until and unless we have an alternative theory of comparable scope with which to replace it. This is an intimidating process, and it is supposed to be, but somebody has to do it, and it is going to be us. One semester, frankly, is not very much time for a task of this order, but we will at least get a good start. We will focus on four theorists: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber. We will also read material by Jane Addams and Friedrich Engels. Weekly reading assignments are specified below. At the end of the semester, we will read one another's work. Obviously, there is far more classical and semi-classical social theory than we will be able to read in one semester. In addition to the weekly reading assignments, I have listed some of the important work that we are not covering under the label "optional supplementary reading." The authors listed here are Julia Adams, Jeffrey Alexander, Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Collins, Raewyn Connel, W.E.B. DuBois, Karen E. Fields, Sigmund Freud, Clifford Geertz, Erving Goffman, Mark Gould, Antonio Gramsci, Benjamin Franklin, V.I. Lenin, Georg Lukács, Martin 1
Luther, George Herbert Mead, R.R. Palmer, Talcott Parsons, Jean Piaget, Plato, Wolfgang Schluchter, Göran Therborn, and Erik Olin Wright. To be clear, this reading is not required. Placing an optional supplementary reading in a particular week is not meant to suggest that it is not relevant to other weeks as well. All students are welcome to do as much of the additional reading as they wish. Graduate students in this class, and undergraduate students considering graduate work in the social sciences, should do some of this additional reading. Books to acquire (also on reserve in College Library) The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by Maurice Cranston The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim, translated by W.D. Halls The Theory of Social and Economic Organization by Max Weber, translated by Talcott Parsons OR Economy and Society by Max Weber, edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, volume 1 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, translated by Stephen Kalberg Note: Copies of books are available for purchase at the Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, 426 West Gilman Street, but you are not required to purchase them there. All other required readings are available online through learn@uw. Grading Rubric Assignment 1: 5%. Assignment 2: 25% Assignment 3: 15% Final Paper: 40% Class Participation: 15%. Active discussion is expected in response to assigned readings, what the instructor says, and what other classmates say. University of Wisconsin-Madison Grading Standards: A Excellent 93-100 AB Very Good 88-92 B Good 83-87 BC Moderately Good 78-82 C Fair 70-77 D Poor 60-69 F Failure <60 Accommodations This class will provide accommodations for religious observances. If there are dates during this semester for which you will require accommodation, e-mail these dates to the instructor by the second week of class, that is, by Friday, September 12. 2
If you are a varsity athlete, a member of the marching band, or a member of some other university-sponsored group whose activities require extensive travel, and you have unavoidable travel obligations that conflict with class meeting times, provide the instructor a copy of all the dates for which you will be absent by Friday, September 12. This class will provide accommodations for disabilities according to the University of Wisconsin McBurney Disability Resource Center. If you have a McBurney visa, provide a copy of it to the instructor during the first week of class. Comments on Plagiarism The Department of Sociology uses powerful anti-plagiarism software that compares student work to a vast, comprehensive data base of on-line texts, and to papers submitted to Sociology courses in previous semesters. Any written work submitted to this class may be processed through the anti-plagiarism software. In addition, you are hereby notified that any written work you submit to this class may be entered into the anti-plagiarism data base so that it cannot be plagiarized in future semesters. A clear definition of plagiarism as well as information about disciplinary sanctions for academic misconduct may be found at the Dean of Students web site: www.wisc.edu/students/saja/misconduct/uws14.html Knowledge of these rules is your responsibility, and lack of familiarity with the rules does not excuse misconduct. The paragraph above is a Sociology department statement on plagiarism, which I agree with completely. The one below is from me personally. To plagiarize is to lie and to cheat. When you represent someone else's work as your own, you steal from the person who actually did the work. This harms the victim on a deeper level than stealing their material possessions, especially if that person is a professional scholar. You have not only taken away part of their livelihood on some level you have taken a part of their mind and pretended it was yours. This is a deeply nasty thing to do. But it gets worse, because beyond even that, to plagiarize is to violate the basic values of the academic enterprise we are here for. Ultimately, we are pursuing knowledge. At the undergraduate level, this typically means improving our minds so we may more effectively and accurately understand the world. Courses and the assignments in them are supposed to be exercises toward this end. To blow them off by cheating is to discard the larger pursuit of knowledge that you signed up for when you went to college. If I believe you have plagiarized an assignment, I will use every resource I possibly can to seek the severest punishment. Believe me, you will wish you had turned in something sub-par instead. Readings and Assignments Week 1, September 2 & 4: Introduction to class. Conceptual starting points. "Theses on Feuerbach" by Karl Marx The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, pages 45-68 The German Ideology by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, part one (suggested edition edited by C.J. Arthur) 3
Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Class, Crisis, and the State by Erik Olin Wright, especially pages 9-29 The Structure of Social Action by Talcott Parsons, pages 3-102 and 695-775 Week 2, September 9 & 11: Rousseau on the social contract The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, pages 69-148 "Why is Classical Theory Classical?" by Raewyn Connel, American Journal of Sociology (1997) "A Sociological Guilt Trip" by Randall Collins, American Journal of Sociology (1997) Discourse on the Origins and Foundation of Inequality by Jean-Jacques Rousseau A History of the Modern World by R.R. Palmer, Joel Colton, and Lloyd Kramer. A solid overview of European history, though superficial for the rest of the world. Assignment 1: To be distributed in class. This will be a paper of approximately 2 pages. Week 3, September 16 & 18: Marx on economics The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, pages 148-188 "Value, Price, and Profit" by Karl Marx Capital by Karl Marx, volume 1, especially pages 89-104, 109-113, 125-139, 163-177, 247-257, 270-329, 340-346, 417-517, 643-682, 711-802, 873-895, 908-940 Capital by Karl Marx, volume 3, especially pages 117-145, 200-205, 241-338, 349-359, 493-514, and 1025-1026 (page references are to the Penguin edition of Capital, translated by Ben Fowkes) History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics by Georg Lukács, translated by Rodney Livingstone, pages 1-26 The Structure of Social Action by Talcott Parsons, pages 102-177 and 471-499 Week 4, September 23 & 25: Marx on politics Introduction to The Civil War in France by Friedrich Engels, pages 179-187 "First Address of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association on the Franco-Prussian War" by Karl Marx "Second Address of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association on the Franco-Prussian War" by Karl Marx The Civil War in France by Karl Marx, pages 307-328 and 356-359 "Statement of the General Council on Jules Favre's Circular" by Karl Marx "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" by Friedrich Engels 4
"The State and Revolution" by V.I. Lenin What Is To Be Done? by V.I. Lenin Selections from The Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramsci, especially pages 5-23, 123-144, 158-173, 175-205, 210-223, 239, 257-265, 323-377, 432-449 Week 5, September 30 & October 2: Marx on politics, continued The Civil War in France by Karl Marx, pages 329-355 Introduction to The Civil War in France by Friedrich Engels, pages 187-191 La Commune directed by Peter Watkins (film, running time 5 hours 45 minutes) The Poulantzas-Miliband debate: o "The Capitalist State: Reply to Poulantzas" by Ralph Miliband, in New Left Review (1970) o "Poulantzas and the Capitalist State" by Ralph Miliband, in New Left Review (1973) o "The Capitalist State: A Reply to Miliband and Laclau" by Nicos Poulantzas, translated by Rupert Swyer, in New Left Review (1976) o "State Power and Class Interests" by Ralph Miliband, in New Left Review (1983) Week 6, October 7 & 9: The pragmatic approach of Addams "A Function of the Social Settlement" by Jane Addams The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim, pages 1-87 Democracy and Social Ethics by Jane Addams The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois Mind, Self, and Society by George Herbert Mead, especially pages 1-41, 68-90, 117-125, 135-226, and 317-336 Envisioning Real Utopias by Erik Olin Wright (for a brief summary, see "Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias," American Sociological Review [2013]). Week 7, October 14 & 16: Durkheim on forms of solidarity The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim, pages 88-176 The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim, pages 177-288 Suicide: A Study in Sociology by Émile Durkheim, translated by John A. Spaulding and George Simpson The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman The Structure of Social Action by Talcott Parsons, pages 301-408 5
Week 8, October 21 & 23: Durkheim on social organization The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim, pages xxv-lix and 329-341 The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim, pages 289-328 The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz The Moral Judgment of the Child by Jean Piaget "Legitimation and Justification: The Logic of Moral and Contractual Solidarity in Weber and Durkheim" by Mark Gould. In Current Perspectives in Social Theory. Volume 13 (1993) Assignment 2: To be distributed in class. This will be a paper of approximately 5 pages. Week 9, October 28 & 30: Weber's theoretical methodology The Theory of Social and Economic Organization by Max Weber, pages 87-157 The Rules of Sociological Method by Émile Durkheim The Theory of Social and Economic Organization by Max Weber, pages 158-323 The Structure of Social Action by Talcott Parsons, pages 579-694 The Logic of Practice by Pierre Bourdieu, translated by Richard Nice Week 10, November 4 & 6: Weber on authority The Theory of Social and Economic Organization by Max Weber, pages 324-423 "Preface" and "Introduction" by Talcott Parsons, in The Theory of Social and Economic Organization "The Rule of the Father: Patriarchy and Patrimonialism in Early Modern Europe" by Julia Adams. In Max Weber's Economy And Society: A Critical Compnion. Edited by Charles Camic, Philip S. Gorski, and David M. Trubek "The Societal Ideal and Religious Authority in the Layene Brotherhood" by Matthew Kearney. Working paper in Politics, Culture, and Society. University of Wisconsin- Madison Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu, translated by Richard Nice Week 11, November 11 & 13: Durkheim on religion The Elementary Forms of Religious Life by Émile Durkheim, translated by Karen E. Fields, pages 1-44 and 418-448 The Elementary Forms of Religious Life by Émile Durkheim, pages 45-417 6
"Translators Introduction" by Karen E. Fields in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life "Cultural Pragmatics: Social Performance Between Ritual and Strategy" by Jeffrey C. Alexander. Sociological Theory (2004) The Structure of Social Action by Talcott Parsons, pages 409-470 Week 12, November 18 & 20: Weber on capitalism "Notes for the Report on Value, Price and Profit" by Karl Marx The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, pages 1-50 (with endnotes) The Sociology of Religion by Max Weber; this is equivalent to Economy and Society by Max Weber, edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, chapter 7 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin On the Freedom of a Christian by Martin Luther (sometimes titled A Treatise on Christian Liberty) The Ideology of Power and the Power of Ideology by Göran Therborn Week 13, November 25 and Thanksgiving Recess: Weber on capitalism continued The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, pages 51-125 (with endnotes) The Structure of Social Action by Talcott Parsons, pages 500-578 Revolution in the Development of Capitalism by Mark Gould "Hindrances to Modernity: Max Weber on Islam" by Wolfgang Schluchter, in Max Weber and Islam, edited by Toby E. Huff and Wolfgang Schluchter The Religion of China by Max Weber Week 14, December 2 & 4: Review No additional reading. Students should be working intensively on their final papers. Week 15, December 9 & 11: Student critiques of paper drafts Reading: Drafts of classmate papers, as distributed. Assignment 3: Each student will read drafts of the final papers of approximately five other students, and discuss each of them as a group while other students listen. The immediate goal is for each student to receive constructive criticism that will improve the final paper draft. The broader goal is to socialize students into peer interaction around their own academic work. The instructor will participate as little as possible, except to keep discussions on track and within necessary time limits. Prior to the final paper discussion, students will prepare a 1-page written summary of their critique of each classmate, and give a copy to each other and to the instructor. 7
Final Paper: Use one or more theoretical approaches introduced during the semester to address some empirical question. References need not be limited to course readings, but the argumentative approach or theoretical framework should emerge out of at least one area of the course. Critiques of theoretical approaches presented in class are acceptable and encouraged. Students are required to gain instructor approval for their final paper topic; it is recommended they do this before the middle of November. 10-12 pages. 8