Classical Sociological Theory
Professor Garot
Contact Information
You may email me at rgarot@yahoo.com, or leave messages in the Sociology Department office. I am happy to meet with students after class, or before class by appointment.
Course Description
This course is designed to examine the contributions of classical sociological theory to the
understanding of the main structures, processes and contradictions of modern capitalist
societies. The social sciences emerged, in the 19th century, as the intellectual outcome of vast
processes of sociopolitical and economic change. They were the product of the intellectual labor
of scholars deeply engaged in political life, seeking to elucidate the nature of the emergent social
order: capitalism. Political theory, political economy, sociology, and historical materialism
focused on different levels of analysis, asked different questions and together produced answers
which still shape contemporary social science theory and research.
Though the readings include a historical overview on the development of the social sciences,
particularly sociology and historical materialism, the seminar will focus on the contributions of
three main theorists; Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. Given their enormous
intellectual productivity and the time limitations within which we must necessarily approach their
work, we will examine in depth only a small selection of primary sources. The major goal of the
course is to familiarize students with some of the main theoretical assumptions, concepts and
patterns of determination identified by each theorist in his approach to the study of modern
capitalist society. The course will have succeeded to the extent students master the skills
necessary to continue and deepen their reading and understanding of the classics on their own.
Reading the classics is hard work: a major requirement for this seminar is the completion of all
reading assignments. Class presentations and participation in the discussions are also required.
Because reading the classics is hard work, students will often find themselves lost, confused,
upset or, perhaps, elated after having experienced a breakthrough in their understanding.
Whatever your reactions to the readings, feel free to drop by during office hours to discuss your
concerns. Also, I encourage you to form study groups. Learning, despite the individualistic ethos
of this society, is a collective process and it is in the process of discussing and debating ideas
with others that we test and strengthen our understanding of complex issues.
Course Requirements:
Approximately every two to four weeks you are to turn in short paper of from four to six pages at most, in which you answer a question chosen from a short list I will provide. Your paper should be double spaced and typed. Each paper will be worth one-fifth of your grade. Participation in discussion will be considered for borderline grades. All deadlines are firm. Late papers will be returned without comments.
Important:
If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations,
please let me know early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met.
Weekly Topics and Readings
Please complete the readings and be prepared to discuss them on the day they are assigned. We will work hard to establish an atmosphere that encourages questions, discussion, and debate. You will get much more out of this course if you come with questions you want answered and/or ideas you wish to discuss. Please feel free to discuss topics further with me after class, or before class by appointment. Be sure to exchange phone numbers with one or two other students and form study groups.
Please note that the following schedule, including project and exam dates, is tentative, and may change based on how quickly we cover the material.
Part I: Marx and Weber on the Origins of Modern Capitalism
Week 1: Marx
Eugene Kamenka (Ed). 1983. The Portable Marx. London: Penguin Books
- selections from the German Ideology. pp. 162-195
- selections from Capital, Vol. l, Chapters 26-27; 31-33. pp. 461-503
Recommended:
Karl Marx: Pre-capitalist Economic Formations, New York: International Publishers, 1965, pp.67-120
Week 2: Weber
Max Weber.1974. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London: Unpin University Books.
Recommended:
H.H. Gerth and C.W. Mills (Eds.) 1958. From Max Weber. New York: Oxford University Press.
- "Religious rejections of the world", pp. 323-359
- "Capitalism and rural society in Germany", pp. 363-385
Paper #1
Week 3: Neo-Marxists
T.H. Aston and C.H.E. Philpin (Eds). 1987. The Brenner Debate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1 and 10.
Week 4: Neo-Weberians
Michael Mann.1986. The Sources of Social Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 15 and 16, pp. 500-541.
Wolfgang Schluchter. 1989. Rationalism Religion and Domination. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapter IX. Modes of Capitalism, pp. 281-314
Paper #2
Part II: Marx and Weber on the Nature of Power and the Role of the State
Week 5: Marx
*Eugene Kamenka (Ed.). 1983. The Portable Marx. London: Penguin Books
-selections from "On the Jewish Question", pp. 96-114
-selections from "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
- Introduction", pp. 115-124.
-selections from "The Civil War in France", pp. 509-532
-selections from the "Critique of the Gotha Program", pp. 533-555
Week 6: Weber:
*H.H. Gerth and C.W. Mills (E= s.). 1958. From Max Weber. New York: Oxford University Press.
-"Bureaucracy", pp.196-244
-"The sociology of charismatic authority", pp.245-252
Max Weber.1978. economy and Society. Berkeley: California University Press, Vol. 1. Chapter III. "The types of legitimate domination", pp.212-301
Week 7: Neo-Marxists
Poulantzas, Nicos. 1969. The problem of the capitalist state", New Left Review, 1969, #58, pp. 67-78
Miliband, Ralph. 1970. 'The capitalist state." New Left Review, #69, pp. 53-60
Poulantzas, Nicos. 1976. "The Capitalist State: A Reply to Miliband and Laclau." New Left Review 95 (January February): 63-83.
Week 8: Neo-Weberians
Theda Skocpol. 1979. States and Social Revolutions,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 1 and Conclusion, pp. 3- 46, 284-293.
Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschenmeyer and Theda Skocpol (Eds). 1985. Bringinq the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 1 and 11, pp. 3-43, 347-366.
Paper #3
Part III: Marx and Weber on the Nature of Social Structure
Week 9: Marx
Eugene Kamenka (ed). 1983. The Portable Marx. London: Penguin Books
-"The Communist Manifesto", pp. 203- 241 r}
- Selections from "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte", pp. 287-324
Karl Marx.1974. Capital. Moscow: Progress Publishers, Vol. III, Chapter 52, pp. 885-886
Week 10: Weber
H.H. Gerth and C.W.Mills (eds). 1958. From Max Weber. New York: Oxford University Press. "Class, Status and Party", pp. 180-195.
Weber.1978. Economy and Societv. Berkeley: California University Press, Vol. 1. Chapter IV, pp. 302-307.
Week 11: Neo-Marxists
Erik O. Wright (ed).1989. The Debate on Classes. London-New York: Verso. Chapter 1 and 2, pp.3-104
Week 12: Neo-Weberians
Gordon Marshall, David Rose and Howard Newby. 1988. Social Class in Modern Britain. London: Hutchinson.
Paper #4
Part IV: Durkheim.
Background reading: Steven Lukes, Emile Durkheim. His Life and Works.
Week 13: Symbolic Representations and Society: Cultural Forms as Constitutive of Social Life
Durkheim: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, pgs. 13-63, 235-267.
Week 14: Durkheimianism and Social Change: Understanding Social Revolutions
Sewell,"Ideologies and Social Revolutions: Reflections on the French Case;"
Skocpol, "Cultural Idioms and Political Ideologies in the Revolutionary Reconstruction of State Power: A Rejoinder to Sewell,"
Hunt in Alexander (Ed.), Durkheimian Sociolocy: Cultural Studies, pgs 25-43;
Tiryakian in Alexander (Ed.), Durkheimian Sociolocy: Cultural Studies, pgs 44-65;
Week 15: Representations and Racism/Sexism/Nationalism
Fanon, "The Fact of Blackness;"
Prager, "American Racial Ideology as Collective Representation;"
Gilroy, "One Nation Under the Groove: The Cultural Politics of 'Race' and Racism in Britain;" Gilman, "I'm Down on Whores': Race and Gender in Victorian London;"
Anderson, "Introduction" and "Cultural Roots"
Paper #5
Recommended Additional Readings
Goran Therborn, Science, Class and Society. On the Formation of Sociology and Historical Materialism.
Emile Durkheim. Suicide. New York: the Free Press. (Selected Chapters)
Jennifer Lehmann, "Durkheim's Response to Feminism."
W. S. F. Pickering and Geoffrey Walford, Durkehim's Suicide: A Century of Research and Debate. London: Routledge, 2000.
Max Weber, Economy and Society, Vol I. University of California Press, Berkeley (selected sections).
Biography
Steven Lukes, Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work, A Critical Study. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Rheinhart Bendix, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait. London: Methuen, 1959.
David McLellan, Karl Marx: His Life and Thought. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
Walter Benjamin, "Capitalism and Religion," in Selected Writings, Vol. I
Tom Bottomore et al, eds., A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
Roslyn W. Bologh, Love or Greatness: Max Weber and Masculne Thinking- A Feminist Inquiry.
Simon Clarke, Marx, Marginalism and Modern Sociology: From Adam Smith to Max Weber.
G. A. Cohen, Karl Marx's Theory of History. A Defense. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Maurice Dobb, Studies in the Development of Capitalism
Martha E. Gimenez, "Does Ecology Need Marx?" Organization & Environment, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 2000): 292-304
Robert W. Green, Protestantism and Capitalism: The Weber Thesis and its Critics.
Mathias Gross, "Classical Sociology and the Restoration of Nature- The Relevance of Emile Durkheim and Georg Simmel" Organization & Environment. Vol. 13, No. 2 (September 2000):277-291
John Lewis, Max Weber and Value Free Sociology: A Marxist Critique.
Michael Lowy, ""Weber Against Marx? The Polemic with Historical Materialism in the Protestant Ethic," in On Changing the World: Essays in Political Philosophy from Karl Marx to Walter Benjamin.
Herbert Marcuse, "Industrialization and Capitalism in the Work of Max Weber," in Negations. Esays in Critical Theory.
Immanuel Wallerstein, Unthinking Social Science. The Limits of Nineteenth-Century Paradigms. Polity Press, 1991.
Erik O. Wright, E. Sober, and Andrew Levine, Reconstructing Marxism. Verso, 1992.
Ellen M. Wood, Democracy Against Capitalism (the chapter on Weber).