Sociology 206: Sociological Theory
Professor: James Moody
Meeting
Time: TTH, 2:50 – 4:05
Place:
SocPsych 331
Office
Hours: 1:00 – 2:30, after class, by appointment
Overview:
This class provides a foundation in the central ideas of social theory
for academic sociologists. Social theory
is broad, and we unfortunately haven't the time to cover all aspects and
approaches. Instead, I focus the class substantively on the problem of order, which looms large behind the works of
the founding theorists in our discipline (and much current work), and methodologically on theory construction
and evaluation.
The problem of order relates to how society as a
whole is held-together. Why, in the face
of innumerable pressures to the contrary, doesn't society descend into
anarchy? Theorists' solutions
to the problem of order (necessarily?) sets limits to human action and
knowledge, which forms the corollary “problem of action.” We proceed roughly chronologically through
the last 400 years or so social thought.
At the end of the course, I hope that you can articulate a solution to
the problem of order and understand the implications for action that this
implies, such that you can apply the resulting principles to your own
work.
Each of these theorists also used different theory
construction and evaluation principles, ranging from philosophical deduction
resting on divine right to statistical methods for large-scale data. At the end of this course, you should be able
to identify and defend different methods for evaluating and constructing social
theory.
Scope
The goal of this course is not to complete your theoretical
education, but to whet your appetite for further reading. Over the course of your career, you will
continuously read (and contribute to) social theory. The purpose of empirical
sociology -- all the stuff we as professional sociologists spend most of our
time doing -- is to build a solid understanding of the principles that shape
social life – theory.
A note on reading
The reading for most meetings
contains more than you can likely finish.
This is normal and expected.
Throughout your career, you will find that you have more to read than
you can complete. You will be forced to
budget your time, and develop the ability to read selectively to grasp the
meaning of an argument quickly. Develop
a strategy. For example, it is
oftentimes better to read a little carefully than a lot poorly, and once you
get the main idea of an author's work, your reading should speed
considerably. Because this class is a
prelude to your own independent work as theorists, it is more important that
you learn how to use social theory in
empirical analyses and how to critically
evaluate theory, instead of blithely memorizing parts of theorist's
arguments. To this end, I encourage you
to use secondary sources to help guide your understanding.
A note on writing
While the majority of your Ph.D.
training will focus on methods and particular substantive issues, the
life-bread of a professional sociologist is writing. It is, therefore, of paramount importance
that you develop strong writing skills. Never
turn in a draft that is not copy-edited, and always give yourself time to
re-write. I should never see a first draft of your work. If you have trouble with writing, you may
also want to purchase and read one of a number of writing style guides, such
as:
Corder, Jim W. and Ruszkiewicz, John J. (1989) The Handbook of Current English
Elbow, Peter. (1981)
Writing with Power: Techniques for
Mastering the Writing Process.
Lamott, Anne. (1994)
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on
Writing and Life. Doubleday
Strunk and White (2000). The Elements of Style.
Thomas, F. N. and Mark Turner (1994) Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing
Classic Prose.
Zinsser, William. (1990) On
Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Harper Perennial
A note on class
participation
This course is a seminar, not a lecture series. Unlike undergraduate courses, where the
purpose is (often) to master a definitive set of "facts," the purpose
of this course is to develop your thinking skills in preparation for a career
as a social scientist. What matters most
is developing the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate theory. As such, I will lecture as little as possible.
Instead, I hope to moderate a lively discussion centered on key
questions from the readings. This format
mimics in miniature what you will be doing as professional sociologists,
actively engaging in theoretical debates with colleagues. I expect discussion to be professional and
polite (no personal attacks, please), but engaged. Do not shy
away from points. Do push arguments. Do not accept
two logically inconsistent points as "equally valid
perspectives." Do seek to integrate alternative perspectives and understand the
basic assumptions that drive different conclusions. We seek to develop a deeper understanding of
social theory by confronting alternative positions. I will push you on your arguments, and I
trust you will do the same for each other.
For this format to work, you must be active participants. If discussion does not emerge spontaneously,
I'll ask you to answer questions directly and push for your point of view.
Each
day, two or three students will be “in charge” of a part of the reading for
that day. These discussion leaders will
have the primary responsibility for raising questions and pushing along
discussion. We will space out this
responsibility such that everyone takes the lead 3 or 4 times over the
semester.
A note on notes. I don’t recommend taking notes in class. It’s difficult to be engaged with the
discussion if you’re spending your time writing. I’ll make any notes I have available for you
after class, and you will likely want to take notes on the readings as you
read.
Course
Requirements:
Grade
Breakdown:
Briefs: 4 @ 17.5% each (total: 70%)
Take Home Final: 20%
Class Participation (discussion leadership): 10%
Theory briefs
The
bulk of your grade comes from four ‘briefs’ of roughly 5 to 7 pages that
summarize and critique the week's reading.
Styled after a legal brief, a person should be able to read your brief
and get the central argument of the reading you are writing about. The brief should have 6 parts:
(1) Proper bibliographic
citation, including original date of publication.
(2) An indication of how this
work fits into the overall intellectual career of its author, and the
social-historical context of its creation.
(3) A statement of the key
problem addressed by the work.
(4) A summary of its essential
argument.
(5) An account of the kind of
support given for that argument.
(6) A critical response,
including a statement of what you found most interesting.
Grading of the briefs will roughly weight exposition (parts 3,4, and 5) two thirds and
critique (part 6) one third.
Briefs should be turned in at the beginning of the
day we cover the material. There are two special briefs everyone must
write. First, at least one of
your briefs must be on the substantive theories of either Marx, Weber or Durkheim (you can, of course, write on
each. The material on sociological
method from Weber and Durkheim do not count toward this requirement). Second, one of your briefs must be on the
contemporary use of one of the substantive theories we are reading. That is, you should find a piece of current
sociological work -- preferably from one of the major journals such as ASR,
AJS or Social Forces, that cites the theorist we are
reading. This should summarize the
paper's main argument, but pay particular attention to how the classical theory
is being used in the paper. The best way
to find relatively current work that draws on the theory would be at www.jstor.org
Final exam
The final exam will consist of one or 2 questions
that ask you to critique, integrate and apply work across multiple theorists we
have read. This should result in a 5-7
page paper that answers the question(s) posed.
Texts:
The main texts for the course will be the 2-volume
readers edited by Calhoun, Gerteis, Moody, Pfaff,
Schmidt, and Virk: Classical Sociological Theory, 2nd Ed. (Referred to as
"ClST" below) and Contemporary Sociological
Theory, 2nd Ed (CoST below). The books are available from the bookstore.
There will be readings available on-line or passed out in class as well.
In addition, we will be reading:
·
Boltanski & Trevenot On Justification: Economies of
Which you should be able to
find at a good bookstore or online.
Suggested Extensions,
Background & Secondary Texts:
Alexander, J. C. 1987. Twenty
Lectures: Sociological Theory Since World War II.
Collins, R. 1994. Four Sociological
Traditions .
Heilbroner, R. L. 1986. The Worldly Philosophers.
Ritzer, G. 1992. Sociological Theory.
Turner, J. H. 1978. The Structure
of Sociological Theory.
Online resources
Class
web page is a great place to find updates & notes. All online resources are listed from there as
well (such as links to Jstor papers).
http://www.soc.duke.edu/~jmoody77/s206/index.htm
This page will include:
·
An up-to-date copy of the syllabus, that will reflect any changes in
the course as we progress (if, for example, we discover we need to spend more
time on a particular subject or to move on to another topic). Links from the syllabus will take you to my
notes on the reading (posted after the class).
·
Links to alternative sources for the reading, background, etc.
Class
Schedule.
There is an
alternative calendar view at the end of the syllabus w. exact page numbers.
Section I:
Introduction and meta-theory
Meeting
1: Aug 28, 2007
Introductory session: Introduction to the course
and each other. What is the goal of
social theory? Why read the
classics? What are the criteria to
evaluate theory?
·
Introduction: The Sociological Theory Reader, Vol. 1 (ClST)
·
Camic and Gross “Contemporary Developments in
Sociological Theory” ARS 24: 453-476 (jstor)
·
Connell, “Why is classical theory classical” AJS 102:1511-57 (jstor)
Background:
·
Ritzer Sociological
Theory Chapter 1. "A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory"
·
Turner, The Structure of
Sociological Theory, chapter 1
·
Alexander, Twenty Lectures,
chapter 1
·
Andrew Abbott, Chaos of
Disciplines
Meeting
2:
Aug 30, 2007
Title: Methods of Social
Theory. How do we evaluate a social theory? What is a critique? What are the valid grounds for critiquing a
theory? How do we link ideas from theory
to empirical work?
·
Lieberson, S. and Freda B.
Lynn. "Barking up the wrong branch: Scientific
alternatives to the current model of sociological science." (jstor)
·
Durkheim: The Rules of
Sociological Method (CST)
·
Weber: "Objectivity' in Social Science" (CST)
·
Merton: "Sociological Theories of the Middle Range" (CST)
·
Giddens: “New Rules of Sociological Method” (CoST)
Background:
Coleman, James S. (1990) Foundations
of Social Theory.
Feyerabend, P. (1975) Against
Method.
Hollis, Martin. The
Philosophy of Social Science
Hume, D. (1975 [1748]) Enquiries Concerning the Human
Understanding.
Kant,
Kuhn, T. The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Popper, Karl. (1959) The Logic of Scientific Discovery.
------- (1983)
Realism and the Aim of Science.
Rosenau, Pauline Marie. (1992) Post-Modernism
and the Social Sciences: Insights, Inroads and Intrusions. Princeton:
Wallace, Walter L. (1979) The Logic of Science in Sociology.
Winch, Peter. (1990) The
Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy. 2nd ed.
Wittgenstein. L. (1953) Philosophical Investigations.
Meeting
3: Sept. 4, 2007
Intro & Theory catch up.
Section II: The Classics
Meeting
4: Sept 6, 2007
Title: Philosophical
Foundations for Social Theory.
Here
we examine some of the key pieces that form the philosophical background for Durkheim,
Marx, Weber, et. al. This is the work
they were responding to, and provides a set of key touchstones for the central
questions in social theory.
Rousseau: The Social Contract
(ClST)
Kant: “What is Enlightenment?” (ClST)
Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations (ClST)
Tocqueville: Democracy in
Background:
Any
good history of philosophy is a good place to start. There is a long secondary literature on
social contract theory, In addition, you’d want to look at the work of Montesquieu,
Hobbes, Locke, Machiavelli, and Aristotle.
Some good readers include:
·
Gay, Peter. (1995) The Enlightenment: An Interpretation.
·
Heilbroner, Robert L. The Worldly Philosophers
·
Lessnoff, Michael (1990) Social
Contract theory.
·
Plato. Republic, Book II.
·
Rawls, John. (1971) A
theory of Justice
Meeting
5: Sept 11, 2007
Title: Durkheim: Problems of
Social Integration. What factors hold society
together? What are the interaction bases
for social cohesion? Where does Law come
from? What function does law have? What role for religion? Is industrialization bad for social cohesion?
·
CST:
Introduction to Part II
·
The Division of Labor in
Society (CST).
·
The Elementary Forms of
Religions Life (CST)
·
Suicide: (Book II)
Background:
·
Social Evolution perspectives, such as
Comte: The System of Positive Philosophy
Spencer: The principles of sociology.
------ Social Statics
Haines, Valerie A. (1988) "Is Spencer's Theory
an Evolutionary Theory?"
American Journal of Sociology.
93:1200-1223.
·
There are many treatments of aspects of Durkheim's work in the major
sociology journals, refer to these for particular sources and aspects of ED's work.
Meeting
6: Sept 13, 2007
Durkheim
(con’t)
Meeting
7: Sept 18, 2007
Title: Marx. What are the forces that
drive modern industrial capitalism? How stable are these forces? What implications do they have for long-term
economic stability? For inequality?
·
Economic & Philosophic
Manuscripts
(ClST)
·
Manifesto of the Communist
Party (ClST – skim)
·
The Eighteenth Brumair of Louis Bonaparte
·
Wage Labor and Capital (ClST)
·
Classes (ClST)
Background:
·
Tucker, Robert C. The Marx Engles Reader (introduction)
·
Heilbroner, Robert L.
The Worldly Philosophers (chap 6)
·
Avineri, Shlomo. (1968) The
Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx.
Meeting
8. Sept 20, 2006
Marx
(con’t)
Meeting
9: Sept 25, 2007
Title: Weber: Social Action,
Economy & Society, Bureaucracy and Politics. How is domination organized? What is Power? What distinguishes legitimate
from illegitimate power? What are the
basic theoretical elements for social theory? What are the dimensions that determine social standing? Does religious organization create
capitalism?
·
All of Part IV, ClST
Background:
·
Roth, Guenther. Introduction to
the Roth and Wittich translation of Economy and Society
·
Gerth & Mills, From
Max Weber Introduction
·
Swedberg, R. Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology
·
Kalberg, Stephen.
Introduction to his new (2002) version of The Protestant Ethic
Meeting
10: Sept 27, 2007
Weber
(Con’t)
Meeting
11: October 4, 2007
Title: Functionalists. Is there a guiding purpose underlying social
structure? Is social organization
functional? How does social organization
affect individuals? Are there
fundamental domains that comprise a
social system?
·
All of Part VII, ClST except Merton’s “
Background:
Functionalism
was the dominant theoretical perspective in the post WWII era, and many
commentaries on it are out there. Some
of the following are nice:
·
Alexander, Twenty Lectures is
excellent
·
Parsons. (1990) "Prolegomena
to a Theory of Social Institutions"
American Sociological Review,
55:319-333 and surrounding commentary
·
Aberle,
D. F., A. K. Cohen, A. K. Davis, M. J. Jr. Levy, and F. X. Sutton. 1950.
"The Functional Prerequisites of a Society." Ethics 60:100-111.
·
Munch, R. 1994. Sociological Theory: From the 1920s to the 1960s.
Section III: Modern Classics
Meeting
12: Oct. 11, 2007
Title: Self & Society. Here we take a turn to micro-sociology with
some of the classic literature on the relation between individual and
group. Raises key questions about
identity, the self, and audience.
·
Mead “The Self”
·
Simmel “The Stranger”
·
Simmel “Group Expansion and the Development of Individuality”
·
Freud “Civilization and its Discontents”
·
Du Bois The Souls of Black Folk
Background:
Many
treatments exist, see the general background readings listed above. Also consider:
·
Donald N. Levine, Ellwood B. Carter, Eleanor Miller Gorman. (1976)
"Simmel's Influence on American Sociology:
I" American Journal of Sociology.
81:813-845.
Meeting
13: Oct. 16, 2007
Title: Micro Soc &
Critical Theory. Here we continue questions
about self & society, with a focus on meaning and social construction. Questions cover a range of topics from how
people present themselves, the reality of self and other, and social meaning
·
Introduction to part VI of Classical Sociological Theory
o
·
Introduction to part 1 of Contemporary Sociological Theory
o Berger & Luckmann “The Social Construction of Reality”
o Goffman: The presentation of
Self in Everyday Life
o Blumer: Symbolic Interactionism
Background:
This
line of work has sparked a huge subfield in sociology. Check out the journal Symbolic Interaction for some of the most recent work.
Meeting
14: Oct 18, 2007
Title: Exchange and
Rationality. A market-based untility
model is the foundation for most contemporary work in economics and often much
of the work in contemporary sociology (though it is often discussed in
different terms). When does a market
mechanism work? How much of social life
is a process of exchange? How do we
value social goods? What role does
ambiguity play in social life?
·
Introduction to part II (CoST)
·
Foundational RC work (read any 2 of this section)
o Homans “Social Behavior as
Exchange”
o Blau “Exchange and Power in
Social Life”
o Olson “The Logic of
Collective Action”
o Coleman “Rights to Act”
·
Cook et. al. “Cooperation without Law or Trust” (CoST)
·
Leifer “Action Preludes to Role Setting” (Jstor)
Background:
See the bibliographies to each of the introduction
sections for good secondary material.
For contemporary work, see any recent issue of Rationality & Society.
For the work on social capital, see the two-volume special issue of The
American Behavioral Scientist on social capital and networks. Other good works include:
·
Coleman, James S.
1988. "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital." American
Journal of Sociology 94:s95-s120.
·
———. 1990. Foundations
of Social Theory.
·
———. 1993.
"The Rational Reconstruction of Society" American Sociological
Review 58:1-15.
·
Coleman, James S.
and Thomas J. Fararo. 1992. Rational Choice
Theory: Advocacy and Critique.
·
Hollis, Martin.
1987. The Cunning of Reason.
·
Homans, George C. 1964. "Bringing Men Back In." American Sociological Review 29:809-18.
·
Macy, Michael W.
and John Skvoretz. 1998. "Trust and Cooperation
between Strangers: A Computational Model." American Sociological Review
63:638-60.
·
Oliver, Pamela,
Gerald Marwell, and Ruy Teixeira. 1985. "A Theory of the Critical
·
Schelling, T.
1971. "Dynamic Models of Segregation." Journal of Mathematical
Sociology 1 :143-86.
Section IV: Contemporary
& Postmodern Theory
Title “Institutions and Networks” Why do organizations look
so similar? How are economic exchanges
situated in social networks? What
features of social life are given? Is
there a unique relational basis for sociology?
·
DiMaggio and Powell “The Iron Cage Revisited”
·
Granovetter “Economic Embeddedness”
·
Harrison White “Cat-Nets”
·
Emirbayer “Manifesto for Relational
Sociology” (jstor)
Background:
For background on networks,
see Moody’s on-line network course and references therein. Good references / examples of institutional
theory and economic sociology include:
·
Baum, Joel A. and
Christine Oliver. 1992. "Institutional Embeddedness
and the Dynamics of Organizational Populations." American Sociological
Review 57:540-559.
·
Burt, Ronald S.
2000. "The Network Structure of Social Capital." Research in
Organizational Behavior 22.
·
Parsons, Talcot. 1990. "Prolegomena to a Theory of Social
Institutions." American Sociological Review 55:319-33.
·
Powell, Walter W.
and Paul J. DiMaggio. 1991. The New Institutionalism in Organizational
Analysis.
·
Uzzi, Brian. 1999. "Embeddedness
in the Making of Financial Capital: How Social Relations and Networks Benefit
Firms Seeking Financing." American Sociological Review 64:481-505.
·
White,
·
Williamson,
Oliver E. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism.
Meeting
16: Oct 25, 2007