FEDERATION OF NORTH TEXAS AREA UNIVERSITIES
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK
Seminar on Classical Sociological Theories Mahmoud Sadri
Soci 6103 - Fall 1997 M. 6:00-9:00
SYLLABUS
"In the night of thick darkness which envelops the earliest antiquity, so remote from ourselves, there shines the eternal and never failing light of a truth beyond all question: that the world of human society has certainly been made by men, and its principles are therefore to be found within the modifications of our own human mind. Whoever reflects on this cannot but marvel that the philosophers should have bent all their energies to the study of the world of nature, which, since God made it, He alone truly knows; and that they should have neglected the study of the world of nations, which, since men have made it, man can truly know."
Giambattista Vico
Objectives of the Course:
This course, envisioned as a doctoral level class in classical Sociology, not only intends to make the participants conversant with the intellectual biography and life-long preoccupations and projects of the founders of sociology in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century, it aims to establish a dialogue with the classics through which the seminar participants would be able to critically relate their own interests and projects with those of the classical sociology. To this end, participants are required to present reflection notes or summaries of the required materials in every class. (Each participant is required to bring two copies of her/his reflection/summary notes to class and to submit one copy to the instructor.) Reflection notes would usually run between 500 and 1000, typed and single spaced, word.) Also, there will be a final paper for the class as stated in the syllabus.
The method of instruction, thus, includes lectures, student reports,
and in-depth class discussions based on summaries and reflection notes.
One of the thematic foci of the course is "the theories of transformation
of society." You will see this issue examined differently but in interrelated
ways by all of the scholars we will study in this class. Other substantive
interests such as the social origins and functions of religion, morality,
and inequality will also come to the foreground as we study different sociologists.
Required and Recommended readings:
Specific class readings are listed under the agenda for each class.
The books you need to acquire for this course include: Tucker's The
Marx Engels Reader, Durkheim's The Division of Labor in Society,
Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, and From
Max Weber, and Georg Simmel's On Individual and Social Forms.
Other works will be either excerpted and distributed in class (for example
readings on Comte, Tonnies, and Durkheim's Suicide) or else you
may obtain them from the library (for example readings on Early American
Sociologists.)
Method of Evaluation:
Written summaries/reflection notes 45%
Student presentation: 10%
Class Discussions: 15%
Final paper: 30%
SECTION I
TOWARD A "NOVUM ORGANUM" OF SOCIETY
Week 1 The rise of a new discipline. (lecture)
Sept.1 Recommended readings:
T. Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I, of Man; G.B. Vico, The New Science
of Giambattista Vico, (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1948-86) pp.
3-26, 29-99; Jean Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract; Cambell, Seven
Theories of Human Society; Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws
Week 2 Positivism: The "Scientific Sociology" of Comte and Spencer.
Sep.8 Student presentations on Hobbes, Rousseau, Vico, Montesqueiu,
Comte
Required readings:
Selections from: Gertrud Lenzer, ed. Auguste Comte and Positivism,
(NY: Harper, 1975); class handouts
Recommended readings:
Auguste Comte, The Positive Philosophy. Freely translated and
condensed by Harriet Martinue, (NY: Calvin Blanchard, 1895); Auguste Comte,
System of Positive Polity. tr. J.H. Bridges, (London: Longmason,
1851); Arline Reilein Standley, Auguste Comte, (Boston: Twayne,
1981); Auguste Comte, Catechism of Positivism, tr. R. Congreve,
(London: Kegan Paul, 1891); Jhohn Stuart Mills, Auguste Comte and Positivism,
(Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1961) Herbert Spencer, Principles
of Sociology, ed. S. Andresky, (London: Anchor Books, 1969), Intro
and ch. 27 and 28.
Week 3 Historical Materialism: The "Scientific Socialism" of Marx and Engels.
Sep.15 I. The Early Marx
Student presentations on Spencer, Marx
Required readings:
Tucker, 3-52, 66-105, 143-146.
Recommended readings:
Tucker, 147-293, L. Kolakowski, The Main Currents of Marxism,
op.cit., vol. 1; L. Althuser, Lenin and Philosophy, pp. 71-106;
D. McLellan, Karl Marx, His Life and Thought, (NY: Harper, 1977);
D. McLellan, The Young Hegelians and Karl Marx, (London: McMillan,
1969);D. Mclellan, The Thought of Karl Marx, (London: McMillan,
1980); D. McLlellan, Marx Before Marxism, (London: McMillan, 1980);
Karl Marx, The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844; F.
Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific, (NY: International Press,
1969);
Week 4 Historical Materialism: The "Scientific Socialism" of Marx and Engels.
Sep.22 II. The Mature Marx
Student presentation on The Communist Manifesto
Required readings:
Tucker: 294-336, 469-511, 525-548.
Recommended readings:
Tucker, pp. 594-617, Kolakowski, The Main Currents of Marxism,
op.cit., vol. 2; Lenin's essay on Imperialism; D. McClellan, ed. I. Berlin,
Karl Marx, (NY: Time, Inc., 1963);
Week 5 Historical Materialism: The "Scientific Socialism" of Marx and Engels.
Sep.29 III. The legacy of Marx
Student presentation on Marx's Capital
Required readings:
Tucker: 681-717, 725-768.
Recommended readings:
L. Kolakowski, The Main Currents of Marxism, op.cit., vol. 3;
Lenin's essay on Imperialism; D. McClellan, ed., Marx: The First Hundred
Years, (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1983), pp. 103-143.
Special Student presentation:
Compare and contrast evolutionary/developmental theories of Marx
and Comte. Discuss the ends, means, agency and process of evolution in
each theory.
SECTION II
FOUNDERS OF THE ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGY
DURKHEIM, WEBER, TONNIES, AND THE EARLY AMERICANS
Week 6 Early Durkheim, I. Sociology, and Defense of Modern Society.
(lecture/discussion) (Oct.6) Student presentation on Emile Durkheim
Required readings: E. Durkheim, Division of Labor In Society,
pp. 1-146
Recommended readings: E. Durkheim, Rules of the Sociological
Method. Chapters 1,2, A. Giddens, "Positivism and its critics,"
in Bottomore and Nisbet, pp. 237-286; S. Lukes, Emile Durkheim, His
Life and Work, (NY: Harper and Row, 1972).
Week 7 -Early Durkheim, II. Theory of Transformation of Society.
Oct.13 Student presentation on Durkheim's Division of Labor
Required reading: E. Durkheim, Division of Labor In Society.
pp.147-328
Recommended readings: Talcott Parsons, The Structure of Sociological
Action. Sections on E. Durkheim; D. La Capra, Emile Durkheim;
(Chicago: University of Chicago press, 1985). Mahmoud Sadri, Selective
Saliency of Ascribed and achieved status in Durkheim's Division of Labor.
Week 8 Later Durkheim: I. Solidarity, Normality, Morality.
Oct.20 Student presentation on Durkheim's Suicide
Required readings: Emile Durkheim, Division of Labor In Society.
pp.329-409, Suicide, pp. 35-52 (Free Press, 1965)
Recommended readings: E. Tiryakian, "Emile Durkheim,"
in Bottomore and Nisbet, op.cit., pp. 187-236; K. Thumpson, Emile Durkheim,
(NY: Tavistock, 1982); Steven Lukes, Emile Durkheim, His Life and Work,
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989);
Week 9 Later Durkheim: II. RELIGION AND MORALITY
Oct.27 Student reports on Elementary Forms of Religious Life,
and Primitive Classification
Required readings: Book report on one of the following:
Jeffrey Alexander, Durkheimean Sociology: Cultural Studies, New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1988, Emile Durkheim; Elementary Forms
of Religious Life, Primitive Classification, Professional
Ethics and Civic Morals, Moral Education, Essays on Morals
and Education,
Week 10 Early American Sociology and the Theory of Transformation of Societies
Nov.3 Student presentation on Early American Sociology
Required readings: Book report on one book by one of the following:
Any works by: Albion Small, William Graham Sumner, Franklin H. Giddings,
Josiah Royce, Robert E. Park
Week 11 Tonnies' Theory of the Transformation of Societies.
Nov.10 Student presentation on Ferdinand Tonnies
Required reading:
F. Tonnies, Community and Society, class hand outs.
Recommended readings:
F. Tonnies, On Sociology: Pure, Applied and Empirical, pp. 5-11,
37-45, 235-240, 266-287; F. Tonnies, Custom, an essay on social codes,
(Chicago: Gateway, 1971).
Week 12 Max Weber's Theory of Transformation of Western Societies:
Nov.17 Rationalization
Student presentation on Weber's The Protestant Ethic
Required readings:
Max Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Recommended readings:
Max Weber, Economy and Society, Introduction.
Schluchter, Rationality and Western Societies.
Habermas, Theory of Communicative Rationality, vol. 1.
Max Weber, The Methodology of Social Sciences; "Science
as a vocation" in: From Max Weber; Mahmoud Sadri, "Reconstruction
of Weber's Nation of Rationality," Social Research, (Fall,
1982).
Week 13 Max Weber, Sociology of Religion
Nov.24 Student presentation on Weber
Required readings:
Max Weber, From Max Weber, Gerth and Mills, eds., essays on:
"Second Psychology of World Religions," "Religious Rejection
of the World and their directions," and "The Protestant sects
and the Spirit of Capitalism."
Recommended readings:
Max Weber, Religion of India; Max Weber, Religion in China;
Max Weber, Ancient Judaism; Max Weber, Sociology of Religion;
Max Weber, Religion of China, the concluding chapter; Karl Lowith,
Max Weber and Karl Marx.
Week 14 Georg Simmel, Theory and Method.
Dec.1 Student presentation on Georg Simmel
Required readings:
Donald Levine, Georg Simmel, On Individual and Social Forms;
pp. 43-140.
Recommended readings:
Georg Simmel, Georg Simmel on Women, Sexuality and love, tr.
Guy Oakes; Georg Simmel, Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations.,
(NY: Free Press, 1955); Essays on Philosophy and Aesthetics, (New
York: Torchbooks, 1959),
Week 15 Georg Simmel's Theory of the Transformation of Societies.
Student presentation: subject to be announced
Dec.8 Required reading:
Donald Levine, Georg Simmel, On Individual and Social Forms;
pp. 141-199, 249-340.
Recommended readings:
K. Wolf, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, pp. 87-169; David Frisby,
Georg Simmel, (NY: Tavistock, 1984); Georg Simmel, Philosophy
of Money; (New York: RPK, 1978) Sociology of Religion, (New
York: Philosophical Library, 1959) ; Conflict in Modern Culture and
Other Essays, (NY: Culombia, 1968), Schopenhauer and Nietzsche,
(Chicago: University of Illinois, 1986) David Frisby, Sociological Impressionism,
Essays on Interpretation in Social Science, (New Jersey: Rowman
and Littlefield, 1980) David Frisby, ed. Simmel and Since, (London:
Routledge, 1992.)
FINAL PAPER DUE.
Compare developmental theories of the transformation of Western Societies in the work of Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Early American Sociology, and Tonnies.
OR:
Suggest your own topic (instructor's approval required)
Disability Policy
Texas Woman's University seeks to provide appropriate academic adjustments for all individuals with disabilities. This University will comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and guidelines, specifically Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with respect to providing appropriate academic adjustments to afford equal educational opportunity.
It is the responsibility of the student to register with and provide medical verification and academic schedules to Disability Support Services (DSS) at the beginning of each semester and no later than the second week of school unless otherwise determined by the coordinator. The student also must contact the faculty member in a timely manner to arrange for appropriate academic adjustments. For further information regarding Disability Support Services or to register for assistance, please contact the office at (940) 898-3835 (voice), (940) 898-3830 (TDD) or visit CFO 105. For further information about Disability support services or to find out if you qualify for services, please contact the office at 898-3835 (voice) or 898-3834 (TDD).
SCHEDULE OF CLASS PRESENTATIONS
WEEK 2
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHIES OF:
COMTE, HOBBES, ,MONTESQUIEU, ROUSSEAU, VICO,
WEEK 3
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHIES OF:
SPENCER, MARX,
WEEK 4
SUBSTANTIVE EXPOSITION OF: THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO,
WEEK 5
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHIES AND COMPARISON OF COMTE
AND MARX
WEEK 6
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY OF: EMILE DURKHEIM,
WEEK 7
SUBSTANTIVE EXPOSITION OF: DIVISION OF LABOR,
WEEK 8
SUBSTANTIVE EXPOSITION OF: SUICIDE,
WEEK 9
SUBSTANTIVE EXPOSITION OF: THE ELEMENTARY FORMS
OF RELIGIOUS LIFE
WEEK 10
SUBSTANTIVE EXPOSITION OF: THE EARLY AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY
WEEK 11
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY OF: FERDINAND TONNIES,
WEEK 12
SUBSTANTIVE EXPOSITION OF: THE PROTESTANT ETHIC,
WEEK 13
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY OF: MAX WEBER,
WEEK 14
INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY OF: GEORG SIMMEL,
WEEK 15 OPEN