996003 Major Themes in Social Theory (S) (SoSe 2009)

This course is designed to provide an overview of major theorists and theoretical traditions in the history of sociology. The intellectual historian Morton White once distinguished between the “annalist of ideas” and the “analyst of ideas.” The former attempts to locate theoretical thought in terms of the larger socio-historical context that informed and shaped it. The latter, by way of contrast, attempts to treat ideas on their own terms, focusing on the text rather than the context. This course proceeds with the assumption that both approaches are essential if students are to understand the significance of theory for sociology. Thus, we shall explore the intellectual and socio-political factors that shaped the thought of major classical and contemporary social theorists, and pay careful attention to their specific arguments. Coverage will range from the founding figures who have shaped the canon in profound ways—Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel—to major theorists from subsequent generations, including such recent and contemporary figures as Jeffrey Alexander, Zygmunt Bauman, Pierre Bourdieu, Manuel Castells, Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, Erving Goffman, Jürgen Habermas, Talcott Parsons, and Alain Touraine.

Bibliography

Required Reading:
Peter Kivisto, Key Ideas in Sociology, 2nd edition (Pine Forge Press, 2004)

Recommended Reading:
Essays by various theorists contained in Peter Kivisto, Social Theory: Root and
Branches, 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Suggested Readings:
Jeffrey Alexander, The Civil Sphere (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty (Polity, 2007)
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction (Harvard University Press, 2007)
Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society, Vol. I of The Information Age
(Blackwell, 2000)
Emilé Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (The Free Press, 1964)
Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization (Vintage, 1965)
Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity (Stanford University Press, 1990)
Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual (Doubleday, 1967)
Jürgen Habermas, Legitimation Crisis (Beacon Press, 1973)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (International Publishers,
1948)
Talcott Parsons, The System of Modern Societies (Prentice-Hall, 1971)
Georg Simmel, The Philosophy of Money (Routledge, 1990)
Alain Touraine, Beyond Neoliberalism (Polity, 2001)
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (4th edition, Oxford
University Press, 2008)