Sociology 301: Professionalization
Seminar
Professor: James Moody
Meeting Time: Tuesday, 10:05-11:20
Place: Languages 312
Office Hours: Th 3:00 – 4:00
& by appointment
Overview:
This course is designed to provide an overview of the
field of sociology, expose you to debates, approaches and prominent figures in
the discipline, help you meet the sociology faculty and provide a general set
of tools & guidelines for your professional career. The course is a nuts-and-bolts introduction to
the professional field of sociology
and a guide to skills required to succeed in graduate school and beyond.
Visit the course web page before each class, as all
materials relevant for that class will be posted or linked from there.
Course page: http://www.soc.duke.edu/~jmoody77/ProSem/index.htm
Course Requirements:
All of the requirements for this course are participation
requirements. There are 3 sorts of
activities you need to participate in:
a) Discussion
in class
This
is a discussion class of two sorts:
1)
Regular Meetings. Here we cover a list of topics
relevant to your progress in the field.
In these sessions, we will typically have a short reading, handout, etc.
to guide and inspire our discussions. We
will be covering classical reading and debates in the field. These readings are likely part of the general
exam reading list and discussions of these works form a foundation of the discipline. These
will often be one-half of the class, with the other filled by faculty visits.
2)
Faculty Visits. Much of the seminar is composed of visits by
faculty. This is your opportunity to
learn what they do and get their perspective on the field. Prior to each faculty person’s visit, you will
read (at least) one of their publications and be ready with questions on the
substance of their work.
b) Presentation
of a contemporary reading
Each
day, a student will summarize and present a recent (2008 or 2009) paper from AJS, ASR,
or Social Forces. You should create a 1-page summary evaluation
of the paper’s study design and findings to share w. classmates. Everyone
must do 3 of these this semester – See schedule (randomly assigned), you
are free to switch/trade. You should
distribute this summary at least two days prior to class, and we will reserve
about 15 minutes of class time to discuss the readings compiled that week.
c) Participation
in department colloquia
On
most Fridays, the department sponsors outside speakers to visit and lecture on
their current research. You are required
to attend these events, and stay through the question period (i.e. don’t leave
at the “break” at 2:00). You are also
required, at some point over the course of the semester, to ask one question of
a speaker during the colloquia.
Texts:
We will likely read bits and
pieces of:
·
·
Calhoun, Craig
(ed) (2007) Sociology in America: A
History U Chicago Press
I will provide copies and/or
links to the relevant parts, but you may want to buy the books yourself.
Most of our time will be
spent reading core disciplinary readings, works that are highly cited in the
field and form a base of much contemporary work. All such works will be linked
online.
Class Schedule.
The schedule is flexible, as it depends strongly on
when faculty can visit. We have a general order of topics covered,
but this will be interrupted quite frequently by faculty visits or new topics.
Our general plan is to explore the core of sociology historically; so we’re
taking the works largely in the order they were published. We vary this a bit if there are some clear
connections that cross time, but it’s a reasonable way forward.
1.
Discipline overview. What is sociology? What are the key organizations, publications and
ideas animating the field?
a.
Moody, James.
2004. "The
Structure of a Social Science Collaboration Network" American
Sociological Review. 69:213-238
b.
Moody, James and
Ryan Light. “A View
From Above: The Evolving Sociological Landscape.” The American
Sociologist 38:67-86.
c.
Moody, James. “Trends in
Sociology Titles.” The American Sociologist. 37:77-80.
2. History
& Overview Cont’d
a.
Calhoun Intro
chapter (link)
b.
Clawson Intro
chapter (link)
c.
Jacobs, J. “ASR’s Greatist Hits: Editor’s
Comment” ASR 70:1-3
d.
Jacobs, J “Further
Reflections on ASR’s Greatest Hits” The
American Sociologist 99-131
1960s (and Earlier)
3.
Foundations on
Race & Prejudice
a.
Blumer, H.
1958. “Race prejudice as a sense of group
position” Pacific Sociological Review, 1, 3-7.
b.
Blalock, HM. 1967.
Toward a Theory of Minority Group
Relations Wiley & Sons (Chapter
online)
4. Organizational foundations
a.
Stinchcombe, Arthur. 1965. “Social structure and organization.: Handbook in Organizations, ed. J.
March, 142-193
b.
Blau, PM And
5.
Precursors to Rational Choice
a.
Blau, PM. 1964. Exchange
And Power In Social Life (excerpt)
b. Homans, G. 1950. The
Human Group (excerpt)
1970s
6.
Explaining Social
Movements
a.
McCarthy, John
D., and Mayer N. Zald. 1977. "Resource
Mobilization and Social. Movements: A Partial Theory." American Journal of Sociology 82 (6): 1212-41
b.
Tilly, C. 1978 From Mobilization to Revolution (excerpt)
7. Effects of Social
Connecting
a.
Hirschi
T. 1969. Causes of delinquency.
b.
Granovetter,
Mark. 1973. "The Strength of
Weak Ties." American Journal of
Sociology 78:1360-80.
8.
Stratification
& Social Organization
a.
Kanter, R. M. 1977. Men and women of the corporation,
b.
Blau, PM 1977. Inequality
And Heterogeneity
1980s
9.
Institutions from
Organizations
a.
Meyer, J W. and
Brian Rowan 1977. “Institutionalized
Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony” American
Journal of Sociology 83:340-363
b.
Dimaggio, P and
Powell, W. 1983. “The Iron Cage
Revisited” American Sociological
Review 48:147-160
10. Revisiting Social Movements
a.
Doug McAdam. 1982.
Political Process and the Development of
Black Insurgency, 1930-70
b.
Snow, D Et. Al 1986.
“Frame Alignment Processes,
Micromobilization, and Movement Participation” American Sociological Review
51:464-481
11. Approaches to Culture
a.
Bourdieu, P 1984.
Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment
of Taste
b.
Swidler, A. 1986
"Culture in Action: Symbols
and Strategies," American
Sociological Review 51 (April): 273-286.
12. Categories of Segregation
a.
West, C and
Zimmerman, D 1987. “Doing Gender”
Gender & Society 1:125-151
b.
Wilson, WJ 1987. The truly disadvantaged
13. Economical Sociology
a.
Coleman, JS. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of
Human-Capital” American J. of
Sociology 99:s95-s120
b.
Coleman, JS. 1990.
Foundations of Social Theory
14. Sociological Economics
a.
Granovetter,
Mark. 1985 “Economic Action and
Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness” AJS 91:481-510
b. Michael Hannan and John Freeman. 1989. Organizational Ecology,
1990s
15. Rediscovering Neighborhoods
a.
Read one of:
i.
Sampson, Robert
J., Stephen Raudenbush, and Felton Earls. 1997. “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A
Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy.” Science 277:918-24.
ii.
Sampson Robert J.
Jeffrey Morenoff, and Felton Earls. 1999. “Beyond Social Capital: Spatial
Dynamics of Collective Efficacy for Children.” American Sociological Review 64: 633-660
iii.
Sampson, Robert
J. and W. Byron Groves. 1989. “Community
Structure and Crime: Testing Social- Disorganization Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 94:
774-802.
iv.
Sampson, Robert
J. and John H. Laub. 1993. Crime in the
Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life.
b.
Brooks-Gunn, J.,
Greg J. Duncan, P K Klebanov and Naomi Sealand.
1993. “Do Neighborhoods influence Child and
Adolescent Development?” American Journal of Sociology 99:353-395
16. Race through place
a. Anderson, Elija 1990. Streetwise (excerpt)
b. Olzak, S. 1992. The
Dynamics of Ethnic Competition and Conflict Stanford University Press
(excerpt)
17. Reports on Social Movements
a.
McCarthy JD,
McPhail C, Smith J. 1996. “Images
of protest: Dimensions of selection bias in media coverage of Washington
demonstrations, 1982 and 1991” 61: 478-499
18. Dissolving Structure and Action
a.
Sewell, W. H. 1992.
"A Theory of Structure:
Duality, Agency, and Transformation." American Journal of Sociology 98(1): 1-29.
19. National Recognition
a.
Meyer JW, Boli J,
Thomas GM, and Remirez F 1997. “World
society and the nation-state” AJS
103: 144-181
b.
Ramirez FO,
Soysal Y, Shanahan S. 1997. “The
changing logic of political citizenship: Cross-national acquisition of women's
suffrage rights, 1890 to 1990” American
Sociological Review 62: 735-745
c.
Esping-Andersen, G. 1990. The Three
Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
20. The Structure and Content of Networks
a.
McPherson,
Miller.,
b.
Burt, RS 1992. Structural
Holes: The Social Structure of Competition
21. Poverty & Inequality
a.
Wilson, WJ. 1996.
When Work Disappears:
The World of the New Urban Poor
b.
Massey, D and
2000s
22. Social Capital Redux
a.
Portes, A. 1998.
“Social Capital: Its origins and
applications in modern sociology” Annual
Review Of Sociology 24: 1-24
b.
Putnam, RD. 2000.
Bowling alone: the collapse and revival
of American community
23. World Environment?
a.
Frank, David J.,
Ann Hironaka and Evan Schofer. 2000. “The Nation-State and the Natural
Environment over the Twentieth Century” ASR 65:96-116
24. State of the field
a.
Abbott, Andy: Chaos of Disciplines