Introductory Sociology: The Ends & Uses of Society. Prof. B. Ricardo Brown, Ph.D.


NODE.801 Obsolete Syllabus B. Ricardo Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Cultural Studies Pratt Institute BRBrownIII@earthlink.net Retrurn to the Course Materials Page

Introductory Sociology:
The Ends and Uses of Society
SS. 200.01 and SS. 200. 02
Meeting:Mondays 9:30am-11:50am North Hall Room 114 2:00pm-4:30pm ISC Room 209
Pratt Institute
Fall 2000

B. Ricardo Brown, Ph.D.
Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies
Office: Dekalb 419
Office Phone: 1.718.636.3567, ext. 2709
Office Hours: Monday 1:00pm-1:55pm and 4:30pm-5:30pm,
Tuesday 1:00pm-1:55pm and by appointment
Email: brbrowniii@earthlink.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/brbgc
Blog: http://node801.blogspot.com
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Course Description

This course covers basic concepts for the study of society; social processes operating in human
groups; the influence of social and cultural forces on personal experience and social
behavior; social stratification; major social institutions; and issues of social change.

Before an introduction to sociology can occur, it is important to note that in fact two contrary positions/questions arise when anyone is asked to introduce a discipline as important as sociology. The first, “What is Sociology?” and the second, “What is Society?” What is it that sociologists spend so much of their lives studying? What are some of their concerns and how does the discipline of sociology effect the society that it studies? What does this problem mean?

For this class, the question before us is “What is society?” We will approach the subject of sociology through its object of study. The concept of society defines the field of sociology. Sociology, because of its ties to public policy formulation and government, helps determine to what ends and uses we put society. In order to understand sociology and its objects in context, we will be following a thematic approach, stressing some of the key concerns of sociology: power, the state, self, authority, family, race, gender, social evolution, and of course, society.

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Outline of the Course of Study
Week I. Introduction to the Course

Week II. The Discipline of Society: The History of Sociology
Randal Collins. “Prologue: The Rise of the Social Sciences--The Development of the Disciplines” from Four Sociological Traditions, pgs 1-46 required
Albion Small “The Emergence of Sociology in the United States” from Origins of Sociology.
Howard W.Odum “The American Background and Heritage” from American Sociology: The Story of Sociology in the United States through 1950

Recommended:
Howard Becker and Harry E. Barnes. “Sociology in the United States” from Social Thought from Lore to Science

Week III. The Discipline of Society: What sociologists think about sociology
Peter Berger “Sociology as a Form of Consciousness” from An Invitation to Sociology
C. Wright Mills, from The Sociological Imagination
Emile Durkheim “The Field of Sociology” in Anthony Giddens, ed. Emile Durkheim, Selected Writings, pgs 51-69

Week IV. Sociology and Social Evolution: Progress and Degreneration
Sumner, William Graham. “Society” from Stow Persons, ed. Social Darwinism: Selected Essays of William Graham Sumner 1963.
Thomas Dugdale “The Habitate of the Jukes” from The Jukes
Mike Hawkins “Durkheim’s Sociology and Theories of Degeneration” Economy and Society Feb. 1999

Recommended:
Pitirim Sorokin “Anthropo-racial, Selectionist, and Hereditarist School” from Contemporary Sociological Theories. pgs. 219-307
Emile Durkhiem “The Normal and the Pathological” from Anthony Giddens, ed. Emile Durkheim, Selected Writings

Week V. Sociology and Social Evolution: the Self-Protection of Society
Talcott Parsons “On the Evolution of Society”
Stanley Aronowitz “The Science of Sociology and the Sociology of Science” from Science as Power: Discourse and Ideology in Modern Society.

Week VI. Society
Karl Marx “For a Ruthless Critique of Everything Existing,” pages 12-15 in Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader
The German Ideology, Part I “Opposition of the Materialistic and Idealistic Outlook” and “Cooperation” from Capital, vol.I 439-454
Friedrich Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, Essay II, sections 1-16

Week VII. Society
Friedrich Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, Essay II, sections 16-End
Sigmund Freud Civilization and its Discontents

Week VIII. Society
Sigmund Freud Civilization and its Discontents
Theodor Adorno “Society”

Week IX. Power
Max Weber “Structures of Power” from Gerth and Mills, ed. From Max Weber, pgs. 159-180.
Michel Foucault “Methods” from The History of Sexuality, Vol. I: Introduction
Max Horkheimer “Authority and the Family”
Michael Omi and Howard Winant from Racial Formation in the United States

Week X. The Self
Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
George Herbert Mead “The Social Self” from Selected Writings, Andrew J. Reck, ed.

Week XI. Space
Henri Lefebvre from The Production of Space
Lewis Mumford from The Pentagon of Power

Week XII. Media
Murray Edelman Constructing the Poltical Spectecle
Matthew Schudson, “The Sociology of News Production” from Media, Culture and Society, 1989.
Noam Chomsky Manufacturing Consent

Week XIII. States and Markets
Max Weber “Class Status Party” from Gerth and Mills, ed. From Max Weber, pgs. 180-195.
Karl Polanyi “Societies and Economic Systems” and “Evolution of the Market Pattern” pgs. 45-67 in The Great Transformation: the political and economic origins of our time.
Friedrich Pollock “State Capitalism: its Possibilities and Limitations” from Arato and Gebhardt, eds., The Essential Frankfurt School Reader, pgs. 71-95.

Week XIV. The future of Sociology?
Ann Game “Doubles and Death: Dead Ringers” from Undoing the Social: Towards a Deconstructive Sociology, pgs. 129-137
Dead Ringers

Week XV. The future of Sociology?
Dorothy E. Smith The Conceptual Practices of Power

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Course Requirements

Readings and Presentations
Readings are vital to the class discussions. In order facilitate discussion, students will be simi-randomly called upon to make an argument regarding the days reading.

Topic and Outline
Draft of paper. If you recieve an “Accept,” you may proceed with your work. At your option, you can submit a midterm draft for comment.

Midterm
Those receiving a “Revise” on their Topic and Outline will revise your topic and resubmit it for new comments.

Final Paper
One paper, 5-10 pages in length (typed and double-spaced). The paper will count for 60 percent of the final grade.

Class Participation
Education is not a one way street and we can not expect to simply passively receive knowledge unless we expect to live a passive life. Participation is mandatory and will be factored into the final grade.

Absences and Lateness
Persistent absences or lateness will result in a reduction of your final grade.

Grades and Incompletes
Grades will be posted in the department at the end of the semester. Incompletes will be granted only in accordance with the established policy of the college. The request must be made in advance of the last week of class. It must be made in writing. An incomplete is “available only if the student has been in regular attendance, has satisfied all but the final requirements of the course, and has furnished satisfactory proof that the work was not completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond control” (Pratt Institute Bulletin). If you do not turn in your paper on time, and you do not have an approved incomplete, you will fail the course. If you do not complete your work by the beginning of the next semester, I will not issue a change of grade except under the most extraordinary circumstances.
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Readings
The readings for the class will be drawn from a wide variety of sources. The primary texts that you will want to purchase for this course are:

Sigmund Freud Civilization and its Discontents
Dorothy E. Smith The Conceptual Practices of Power
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals

The books may be purchased from the Pratt Bookstore, as well as many other bookstores in the city, including St. Marks Books, Barnes and Nobles, etc. You may also purchase these books, often at a discount, via Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com)

These are some additional sources for the texts:
The Strand
12th street and Broadway
Advanced Book Exchange (Hundreds of book dealers around the country)
http://www.abebooks.com
Academy Books
18th and 5th Ave. or online at
http://www.academy-bookstore.com
Hoboken Books
720 Monroe St. Suite E-201, Hoboken NJ 07030
hobbooks@panix.com
Blake's Books
in Boston, http://www.blakesbooks.com