Spring 2001
SYLLABUS SOCIOLOGY 5011
Course Title: Contemporary Sociological TheoryInstructor's Office: Institute of Behavioral Science
Building 2
1546 Broadway
492-2138
mayert@spot.Colorado.EDU
Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00 - 4:00 PM or
by appointment
Course Description
Sociology 5011 surveys the main currents in sociological theory since the end of World War Two. It provides a broad understanding of theoretical tendencies such as functionalism, conflict theory, neo-Marxism, symbolic interactionism, feminist theory, and postmodernism. The course also examines the historical and intellectual contexts within which modern sociological theories have developed. An important goal is to strengthen each student's capacity for independent and original theoretical analysis. The instructor links contemporary sociological theory with classical sociological theory (as taught in Sociology 5001) and assumes that all students enrolled in this class are familiar with the principal ideas developed within the classical tradition. We will emphasize class discussion and student presentations rather than lectures by the instructor. Familiarity with the assigned readings and regular participation in the discussions are essential if this is to be a valuable and intellectually stimulating course. Required Books
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. 480 pages.
An ambitious effort to explain why human history developed
differently on different continents. The book is characterized
by vigorous prose and wide erudition. It firmly rejects racist interpretations
of social development. The author, who is an evolutionary biologist, makes extensive
use of geographic concepts as well as characteristics of animal species and
food production to explain why Eurasian societies became dominant over others.
This book won 1998 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. It is included in
this course to help students think broadly about the development of human societies.
Peter Kivisto (ed.), Social Theory: Roots and Branches - Readings. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing, 2000. 445 pages.
A collection of readings about classical and contemporary
stretching from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The selections are
chosen for both relevance and accessibility. They tend to be somewhat longer
than readings included in comparable anthologies. Each of the 64 readings is
preceded by a paragraph relating it to the overall development of sociological
thought
George Ritzer, Modern Sociological Theory, Fifth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 625 pages.
A standard text on modern sociological theory originally published
in 1983 and now in its fourth edition. Ritzer's book is remarkable for its comprehensive
coverage, lucid exposition, and attention to biographical information about
sociological theorists.
Course Requirements
Each student in Sociology 5011 will participate in two class
presentation, and each presentation will be a collaboration by at least two
students. The instructor will assign students presentation topics towards the
beginning of the semester. A presentation about a theoretical position should
include the following elements: (i) a summary of the main ideas, (ii) statement
of a few testable propositions derived from the theoretical position, (iii)
brief sketch of a method for testing these propositions, (iv) critical analysis
of the theoretical position, and (v) a set of questions for class discussion.
The presenters are responsible for leading class discussion during the entire
session of the seminar, but the instructor will lend assistance as appropriate.
The instructor will also evaluate and provide feedback about the presentation.
Students will write an analytical review of the Jared Diamond's,
Guns, Germs, and Steel due on Tuesday February 13. This review should
not exceed six pages in length.
Students will write a take-home essay examination. The exam
will be due on March 20 and will be distributed two weeks before that date.
The ground rules for this examination will be discussed in class.
Each student will also write a term paper applying one of the
theoretical perspectives discussed in this course to a social problem of her
own choosing. The term papers are due on May 1 the day of the last class session.
All students should discuss her proposed topic with the instructor well in advance
to make sure she is on the right track.
Grades in Sociology 5011 will be based upon (a) class attendance (which will be taken regularly), (b) class presentations, (c) the review of Guns, Germs, and Steel, (d) the essay examination, and (e) the term paper.
Tuesday March 20: Take-home essay examination due.
Tuesday May 1: Term paper due.
Topics Schedule
Required reading:
Diamond 9-81
2. Food production and social organization (January
23)
Required reading:
Diamond 83-292
Recommended reading:
L.L. Cavalli-Sforza and F.C. Cavalli Sforza, The Great Human Diasporas (1995), pp. 126-163.
Marvin Harris, Cultural Materialism (1979), pp. 46-76.
3. The histories of five continents (January 30)
Required reading:
Diamond 295-425
Recommended reading:
Kivisto 149-153
Stephen Sanderson, Social Transformation (1995), pp.
181-243.
B.
Theories of social order (February 6 -13)
4. Structural functionalism (February 6)
Required reading:
Kivisto 172-185
Ritzer 58-68, 91-117
Recommended reading:
Robert Merton, "Manifest and Latent Functions", in Social Theory and Social Structure (1957), pp. 19-50.
Talcott Parsons, The System of Modern Societies (1971), chapters one, two, and eight.
5. Systems theory and neofunctionalism
(February 13)
Required reading:
Kivisto 186-199, 427-433
Ritzer 117-122, 181-200, 359-371, 387-396, 453-457
Recommended reading:
Jeffrey Alexander and Paul Colomy, "Toward Neo-Functionalism", Sociological Theory, 1985, 3: 11-23.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, "Social Structure",in Structural Anthropology (1967), chapter XV.
C. Theories of social tension (February 20-27)
6. Conflict theory (February 20)
Required reading:
Kivisto 112-114, 200-225
Ritzer 66-80, 122-134
Recommended reading:
Anthony Oberschall, "Theories of Social Conflict", Annual Review of Sociology (1978), pp. 291-315.
7. Critical theory
(February 27)
Required reading:
Kivisto 357-381, 419-426
Ritzer 135-152, 396-418, 432-452
Recommended reading:
Herbert Marcuse, An Essay on Liberation (1969), pp. 3-91.
Jürgen Habermas, "Crisis Tendencies in Advanced Capitalism", in Legitimation Crises (1975), part II.
D. Theories of social interaction (March 6
- March 20)
8. Symbolic interactionism (March 6)
Required reading:
Kivisto 226-253
Ritzer 52-57, 201-244
Recommended reading:
Erving Goffman, "Performances", in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959), chapter 1.
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, "Society as Subjective Reality", in The Social Construction of Reality (1966), part III.
9. Rational choice theory (March 13)
Required reading:
Kivisto 287-320
Ritzer 271-306
Recommended reading:
Richard Emerson, "Social Exchange Theory", Annual Review of Sociology (1976), 2: 335-362.
Jon Elster, "When Rationality Fails", in Solomonic Judgements (1989), chapter I.
10. Phenomenology (March 20)
Required reading:
Kivisto 254-286
Ritzer 73-76, 245-270
Recommended reading:
Clifford Geertz, "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive
Theory of Culture", in Martin and McIntyre (eds.), Readings in the Philosophy
of Social Science (1994), pp. 213-232
E. Theories of historical change (April 3-
0)
11. Structural and analytical Marxism (April 3)
Required reading:
Kivisto 15-22
Ritzer 152-180
Tom Mayer, Analytical Marxism (1994), chapters 2 and 3.
Erik Wright, "The Class Structure of Advanced Capitalist Societies", in Class, Crisis and the State (1978), chapter 2.
Recommended reading:
Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital (1974), chapters 1, 2 and 3.
12. World systems theory (April 10)
Required reading:
Ritzer 161-167
Christopher Chase-Dunn and Peter Grimes, "World-Systems Analysis", Annual Review of Sociology, 1995, 21: 387-417.
Terry Boswell and Christopher Chase-Dunn, The Spiral of Capitalism and Socialism 2000, pp. 17-49.
Recommended reading:
Samir Amin, "The Origin and Development of Underdevelopment", in Unequal Development (1976), parts 1-3 of chapter 4.
Immanuel Wallerstein, "World-Systems Analysis", in Giddens
and Turner (eds.), Social Theory Today (1987), pp. 309-324.
F. Theories of social standpoint (April 17-24)
13. Feminist theory (April 17)
Required reading:
Kivisto 154-171, 321-356
Ritzer 57-58, 307-355
Recommended reading:
Heidi Hartmann, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism", in Sargent (ed.), Women and Revolution (1991), pp. 1-41.
Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice (1982), chapters 1 and 2.
Evelyn Keller, "Feminism and Science", in Boyd, Gasper, and Trout (eds.), The Philosophy of Science (1991), chapter 15.
14. Postmodernism (April
24)
Required reading:
Kivisto 382-412, 434-445
Ritzer 83-85, 457-487
Recommended reading:
Michel Foucault, "The Human Sciences", in The Order of Things (1970), chapter 10.
Fredric Jameson, "Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism", New Left Review, 1984, 146: 53-92.
David Harvey, "The Condition of Postmodernity", in The Condition of Postmodernity (1990), part IV.
G. Summation and prospectus (May 1)
15. The present and future of sociological theory (May 1)
Required reading:
Ritzer 85-89, 489-505
Connell, Abbott, Smith-Lovin, Wallerstein, Stinchcombe, Heimer, Reskin, Atkinson, Becker; "Charting Futures for Sociology", Contemporary Sociology (March 2000), pp. 291-336.
Recommended reading:
Robert Friedrichs, "The Calling of Sociology", in A Sociology of Sociology (1970), chapter 12.
Stephen Best and Douglas Kellner, "Towards the Reconstruction of Critical Social Theory" in Postmodern Theory (1991), chapter 8.
James Coleman, "The Rational Reconstruction of Society", American Sociological Review, 1993, 58: 1-15.