CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Fall 2009
Soma Chaudhuri
Office: 433B Berkey Hall
Phone: (517) 353 0874
Email: chaudh30@msu.edu

The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life in general so completely that you are well on your way to knowing any particular corner of it… – Henry James

[my personal version of the syllabus]

Papers by John Girdwood

• Durkheim Suicide – Short Paper Critique: [blog post]
• Marx: Critical Theory in Conflict with Philosophical Stances on Same Subject [blog post]
• Discovering Inconspicuous Exploitation: Applying the Theories of W. E. B. DuBois to American Sports Sociology [Academia]

Course Overview

This is a required course in sociology. The classical theory course in sociology intends to give the graduate students a detailed insight into the emergence of sociology as a distinct discipline, and the development of sociological theory, based on the works of the core founding theorists, at a time period beginning from the mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The course aims at examining the classical theories in terms of empirical research, and how they inform contemporary debates.

Required Readings

1. Emile Durkheim. 1982. The Rules of Sociological Method. Edited with an introduction by Steven Lukes. The Free Press, New York. ISBN 0-02-907940-3
2. Emile Durkheim, Suicide. 1951. Translated by John Spaulding and George Simpson. Edited with an introduction by George Simpson. The Free Press, New York. ISBN 0-684-83632-7
3. Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills. 1946. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Oxford University Press. USA. ISBN 0-19-500462-0
4. Anthony Giddens. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. 1971. An analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-09785-1
5. Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge. 1998. The Women Founders. Sociology and Social Theory. Waveland Press, Inc. ISBN 1-57766-509-0
6. David McLellan. 2000. Karl Marx. Selected Writings. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-878265-9
7. Max Weber. 2002. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New Translation and Introduction by Stephen Kalberg. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532997-1
8. Phil Zuckerman, Editor. 2004. The Social Theory of W.E.B. Du Bois. Pine Forge Press. ISBN 0-7619-2871-5

Course Requirements

I expect all students to come to class prepared. This means reading all the required texts and articles that have been assigned for the particular week. You are in graduate school, which means that you should be able to read and critically evaluate the theories. Each week requires on an average 150 to 200 pages of reading. While I understand, the sheer number of pages might intimidate you initially, you will develop through practice, a strategy to tackle the readings. Try not to get too caught up in the details of the texts, and instead focus on the core arguments of the theorist. However I DO expect everyone in class to do the readings to participate in class discussion.

Class discussions: Each week two students will share the responsibility of leading class discussions. This means that the two students will summarize, pose critical questions, provide directions, come up with interesting empirical findings, and link the week’s readings to contemporary debates. Students are expected to lead class discussions at least twice in the semester. The purpose of the class discussions is to provide graduate students with a supportive environment to develop their skills of presentations and critical thinking. I suggest that the presenters meet among themselves (email or talk on the phone), a day before class to discuss their strategy in leading the discussions. This will prevent in repetition of questions, and enable reflective questions by the presenters. The presenters are expected to email their questions to me and to the class by 4 pm on Monday. I will circulate a sign up sheet on the first day of class for scheduling class discussions. Leading class discussions will constitute 20 % of your grade. If you fail to turn up on your day of the lead of class discussion, you will automatically get a zero and loose 10% of the grade. If the class schedule permits, you may lead another day, but you will not be given a chance to make up for the lost grade.

Class participation: While the presenters will have the responsibility of leading class discussions, all students are expected to participate in the class discussions. This means that students are expected to come up with critical questions, comments, and other relevant issues related to the week’s readings. In graduate courses students are expected to participate every week. So don’t be shy! I will send an email in the sometime in the middle of the semester to give you individual feedback on class participation. Class participation will constitute 10% of your total grade.

Short paper critiques: In addition to class participation, you are expected to turn in THREE short papers of 3 to 5 pages (double spaced) each, based on a particular week’s readings. This means that if you are turning in a paper on week 4 (September 29), you are going to base your paper on the readings on the week of September 29^th, that is, on Marx. You may wish to compare a particular week’s readings with that of a previous week (in this case on Durkheim), but the crux of your paper, and thus your argument, should be based on that particular week’s readings. In the short papers, you are expected to provide critiques of the week’s readings. You may choose any 3 weeks you want to base your short paper on, but I have one exception. You cannot be a presenter and turn in a paper on that week’s readings. Students are expected to turn in their papers in class at 9:10 am on Tuesdays, that is, just before class starts. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME THE PAPER. Short papers consist of 30 % of your grade. You may turn in a total of 4 short papers. In that case the best grades from 3 out of 4 papers will be considered.

Term paper: You are expected to turn in a 20 -25 page research paper at the end of the semester. You may critique a theorist, give a comparison of different theoretical approaches (in terms of their treatment of central theoretical issues) from the theorists that have been covered in the course, or link a theorist with some contemporary debate and examine how the particular theorist would have examined the debate/situation. You will present in class (10 minutes) on October 6th, a brief over view of what you intend to do for your research paper. I and other students in the class will provide you will feedback on your research after the presentation. At the end of the class, you will turn in a 1-2 page description of your research proposal. On December 1^st and 8^th, students will present their paper in class. Each student will have a total of 30 minutes for presentation: 15 to 20 minutes of presentation, followed by 5 to 10 minutes of questions and answers. I suggest that you schedule at least one meeting with me in late October/early November to discuss how your paper is progressing. The final paper is due no later than 12 noon on Friday December 11th. The term paper will consist 40% of your total grade. The paper should follow ASA manuscript guidelines in citation and format.

I encourage you to think in terms of how this paper might fit a master’s thesis, a dissertation proposal, or a presentation at professional Sociological meetings, such as the Midwest or the ASA’s.

Policy on late essay assignments and on incompletes: I will take a grade off a late short paper assignment. For instance, if you submit an assignment after class (after 12:00 on Tuesday), you will loose a part of your grade. Thus an A essay will be given an A minus and so on. For each subsequent day that an assignment is late, the grade will be dropped from A minus to B plus to B, and so on.

I will not accept late final papers. If I do not receive your paper by December 11^th a noon, you will loose 40% of your grade. It is my policy not to give you an incomplete in the graduate theory course. So excuses such as “my dog ate my ideas” will not work. However, under some circumstances, if you feel that you may need to apply for an incomplete, please discuss it with me before November 13^th. If I do not hear from you before November 13^th, I will assume that you will submit your paper by December 11^th.

Grading Policy:

Leading class discussion and participation: I will grade you on a 4 point scale.

93-100% 4.0 87-92% 3.5 80-86% 3.0 75-79% 2.5

70-74% 2.0 65-69% 1.5 60-64% 1.0 Below 60% Fail

Short paper critiques and research paper: I will grade the short papers and the research paper on the alphabetical grade: A (4.0), A- (3.5), B+ (3.25), B (3.0), B- (2.75), C+ (2.5), C (2.0), D (Less than 2.0).

COURSE SCHEDULE

• Durkheim, Emile. Sociology in France in the Nineteenth Century. In Emile Durkheim on Morality and Society, edited by Robert Bellah. 1973Chicago and London. University of Chicago Press.
• Turner J., Beeghley L. and C. Powers. 2002. The Emergence of Sociological Theory. (Fifth Edition). Belmont CA: Wadsworth. Chapter 1.

Emile Durkheim

• E. Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method. Chapters 1- 5.
• A. Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory. Part 2, Chapters 5 and 6.

• E. Durkheim, Suicide. Pages 41-397.
• A. Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory. Part 2, Chapters 7 and 8.
• Durkheim, Emile. 1912. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Various editions available.
• Durkheim, Emile 1997 (1893). The Division of Labor in Society. Free Press.
• Halbwachs, Maurice. 1992. On Collective Memory. Illinois, University of Chicago Press.

Karl Marx

• McLellan, Karl Marx: Selected Writings:
• Chapter 7: Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction.
• Chapter 8: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts.
• Chapter 14: The German Ideology
• Chapter 18: Communist Manifesto.
• A. Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory. Part 1, Chapters 1 and 2.
• Chapter 25: 18th Brumaire.
• Chapter 30: Critique of Political Economy.
• Chapter 32: Das Kapital.
• Chapter 46: Letters.
• A. Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory. Part 3, Chapters 3 and 4.
• Giddens, Anthony. 1995. A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism. Stanford. Stanford University Press.
• Tucker, Robert C. Edited. 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader. Second Edition. New York and London. W. W. Norton and Company.
• Wright, Eric Olin. 1996. Marxism after Communism. Pg 121- 45 in Social Theory and Sociology: The Classics and Beyond. Edited by Stephen P. Turner.

Max Weber

• Gerth and Mills, From Max Weber:
• Chapter III: Intellectual Orientation.
• Chapter VII: Class, Status, and Power.
• Chapter VIII: Bureaucracy.
• Chapter IX: Sociology of Charismatic Authority
• Chapter X: The Meaning of Discipline.

• A. Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory. Part 3, Chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12.
• G Becker, 1997. Replication and Reanalysis of Offenbacher’s School Enrollment Study: Implication for the Weber and Merton Theses. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1997, 36 (4).
• Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society. Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. Berkeley: University of California Press.

More on the Theorists

• A. Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory. Part 4
• Chapters 13, 14, 15, and postscript on Marx.
• Nancy Hartsock, Money, Sex, and Power: Toward a Feminist Historical Materialism: Introduction; Chapters, 10 and 11.

W.E.B. Du Bois

• P Zuckerman, The Social Theory of W.E.B. Du Bois. Pages 1-206.
• Du Bois, W.E.B. 1903. The Souls of Black People. Any edition would do.

Early Women Sociologists

• Mary Jo Dugan, 1981. Early Women Sociologists and the American Sociological Society. The American Sociologist. February.
• P. Lengermann and G Niebrugge. The Women Founders. Chapters 1-8.