Social Theory  MLS 605 Social Theory Fall 2004

Semester Begins: August 30
Semester Ends:   December 19

Online: http://www.roebuckclasses.com/socialtheory

Course Facilitator: Paul Roebuck, Ph.D.

email paul@roebuckclasses.com
         paul.roebuck@regis.edu
no office, no phone, no fax

Course Description:

The Social Theory Course introduces students to major theorists of society and key concepts in the development of intellectual history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, geography, and economics. It helps students construct a framework with which to address pressing social and political issues and understand the nature of the cultures/societies in which we live. 

Why Study Social Theory?

(beyond gaining credit ... ) Studying social theory provides a key to self-understanding, for our ideas are largely responsible for shaping who and what we are, both in our social and personal selves. By acquiring an understanding of the development of social thought - moving beyond commons sense, students acquire a richer appreciation of the present and possibilities for the future.

Intellectual growth entails the development of academic skills. Effective reading, writing, thinking; analysis and synthesis of concepts; and understanding of key events, ideas and forces that have shaped the world, all contribute to the education the University seeks to provide. Gaining insight into the development of social theory, students expand their basis for understanding themselves and shaping their worlds and a reference point for respecting the autonomous development of diverse elements of all cultures.

Texts:

Required

Social Theory : The Multicultural and Classic Readings by Charles C. Lemert (Editor) Westview Press; 2nd edition, 1998 ISBN: 0813334721 available used for around $22 or new at $49.

Recommended:

 The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd ed. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978

The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism and Other Writings (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) Max Weber, et al $11.20

 Elementary Forms Of The Religious Life Newly Translated By Karen E. Fields  Emile Durkheim $19.95

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life [Paperback] Erving Goffman $9.56

The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory (Blackwell Companions to Social Theory) Bryan S. Turner, Bryan Turner $36.95

Course Objectives  

The Social Theory Course introduces students to major theorists of society and key concepts in the development of intellectual history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, geography, and economics. It helps students construct a framework with which to address pressing social and political issues and understand the nature of the cultures/societies in which we live. 

In this course we will 

- examine a selection of classic Social Theory texts, thinkers and ideas

- consider commentary on theoretical questions and discussions

- place theoretical discussions in their geographical and historical contexts, and 

- apply insights from the foundations of social philosophy to contemporary situations.

Students should:

- Become familiar with a variety of social theoretic discussions - the questions asked and answers offered especially in the classic tradition

- Situate different theoretical positions relative to others

- Be able to communicate different theoretical positions perspectives

- Get practice covering a large amount of material in a short period of time

- Gain experience in library and online research

- Hone synthesizing skills to produce graduate level analytic paper or other suitable project 

REGIS’ NINE UNIVERSITY-WIDE LEARNER OUTCOMES

Unit 1 Orientation	Read: Lemert's Social Theory  (hereafter ST) (ST) Introductory Essay: Social Theory Its Uses and Pleasures pp 1-20 (ST) Modernity's Classical Age pp 21-27   Review the People and Timeline resources   For background on intellectual history skim the following essays  Set 1 by Steven Kreis  Modern European Intellectual History: An Introduction The New Intellectual Order: Man, Nature and Society The Triumph of Science and the Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophe The Vision of Human Progress: Vico, Gibbon and Condorcet The Utopian Socialists: Robert Owen and Saint-Simon The Age of Ideologies (1): General Introduction The Age of Ideologies (2): Reflections on Karl Marx The Age of Ideologies (3): The World of Auguste Comte Darwin Friedrich Nietzsche and the Birth of Modernism set 2 by James Heartfield Intellectual currents of the twentieth century Analytic philosophy and the Vienna Circle American pragmatism Analysts and therapists Structuralists and functionalists Phenomenologists Existentialists Post-modernism For a brief look at the precursors of anthropology skim On the Origins of Modern Theoretical Anthropology Chicago SSR Prelim Notes The society for social research, department of sociology, University of Chicago, doctoral students post their cram notes for the preliminary exams. These are useful potted histories and worth a look. The introduction and index is here. Rousseau, Jean. 'On the Social Contract.' TS, pp. 119-25 Spencer, Herbert. 'The Nature of Society.' TS, pp. 139-43 Hobbes, Thomas. 'Of the Natural Condition of Mankind.' Theories of Society. Edited by Talcott Parsons et al., pp. 99-101. Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Garden City NY: Anchor Books, 1969, vol. 1, pt. 1 (chs. 4, 5), pt. 2 (chs. 1, 2, 4): pp. 58-98, 173-79, 189-95.
Unit 2	Karl Marx 1818-1883
	(ST) pp 29-69 Estranged Labour from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Tucker pp 70-79 Camera Obscura from the German Ideology Tucker pp 154 Class Struggle from Manifesto of the Communist Party Tucker 473-479 The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte Tucker pp 594-607 On Imperialism in India Tucker pp 662-664 The Values of Commodities from Capital, Vol. I Tucker pp 302-314 Fetishism of Commodities from Capital, Vol. I Tucker pp 319-322 Labour-Power and Capital  from Capital, Vol. I Tucker 336-343 Engels, from the Origin of Family Private Property and the State Tucker pp 735-6, 757-8. Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Marx, Karl. The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd ed. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978,  Marx on the History of His Opinions pp. 3-5, version 2 A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (pp. 16-25) version 2 Estranged Labour  70-81, version 2 German Ideology 143-75, version 2   version 3   Wage, Labor and Capital 203-17, version 2 The Critique of Capitalism 224-26,  The Method of Political Economy 236-44, version 2 Commodities 302-12,   The Fetishism of Commodities 319-29, version 2 Production of Relative Surplus Value 403-417version 2 Manifesto of the Communist Party 469-91, version 2 The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 594-617. version 2 Historical materialism and the critique of capitalism Mathieu Deflem
Unit 3	Max Weber 1864-1920
	(ST) pp 99-125 The Spirit of Capitalism and the Iron Cage  from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The Bureaucratic Machine from Economy and Society pp 196-198 224-230 What is Politics from  Essays in Sociology pp 77-79 The Types of Legitimate Domination from Economy and Society 212-216 Class, Status, Party from Economy and Society pp 927-939 Weber and Anthropology Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Weber, Max. Economy and Society. Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. New York: Bedminister Press, 1968, vol. 1, Conceptual Exposition, pp. 3-38 (Basic Terms), 212-54 (Legitimate Domination), 926-40 ( Class, Status, Party), 956-1005 (Bureaucracy). _________. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons. New York: Scribner, 1976. _________. Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences. Translated and edited by Edward Shils and Henry A. Finch. Glencoe IL: Free Press, 1949, pp. 50-112 (Objectivity essay). _________. General Economic History. New York: Collier, 1961, chs. 22, 27-30 (skip pp. 239- 49 [pp. 323-37 in Free Press edition]). _________. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Translated by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York: Oxford University Press, 1946, pp. 77-156, 267-301, 323-59 (Vocation essays, World Religion essays); (cf. corrected translation of pp. 293-94 in Appendix of Levine, The Flight from Ambiguity). The Rationalization of Society Mathieu Deflem
Unit 4	Emile Durkheim 1858–1917
	(ST) pp 69-99 Anomie and the Modern Division of Labor from Notes on Occupational Groups Division of Labor pp1-4 Sociology and Social Facts from Suicide a Study in Sociology pp 3-4 Suicide and Modernity Suicide a Study in Sociology pp 246-258 Primitive Classification and Social Knowledge from Primitive Classification pp 55-62, 81-88 The Cultural Logic of Collective Representation from Elementary Forms of the Religious Life pp 466-96 Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Durkheim, Emile On the Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press, 1964, book 1, chs. 1-4, 7; book 2, ch. 2; book 3, chs. 1-3. _________. 'Types of Suicide.' TS, pp. 213-18. _________. 'Anomic Suicide.' TS, pp. 916-29. _________. 'On the Normality of Crime.' TS, pp. 872-76. _________. Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1947 (orig. 1915). 'Introduction'; book 1, ch. 1; book 2, ch. 7; book 3, ch. 1; 'Conclusion.' The Science of Society as a Moral Order Mathieu Deflem
Unit 5	Psychoanalysis
	Sigmund Freud 1856–1939.  (ST) pp 125–148 The Psychical Apparatus and the Theory of Instincts Dream-Work and Interpretation Oedipus, the Child Remembering, Repeating, and Working-Through The Return of the Repressed in Social Life Civilization and the Individual Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Freud, Sigmund. 'The Libido's Attachments to Objects'and 'The Ego and the Superego.' TS, pp. 729-39. _________. 'Anxiety as Motivation' and 'Mechanisms of Defense.' TS, pp. 799-818. _________. 'Internal Sources of Behavioral Instability and Their Control.' TS, pp. 940-44.
	Eric Fromm 1900-1980  (ST) Psychoanalysis and Sociology pp 221–224
	Erik H. Erikson 1902-1994 (ST) Youth and American Identity pp 326-329
Unit 6	Self and Others
	Georg Simmel 1858–1918   (ST) The Stranger pp 184–188 Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Simmel, Georg Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms.. Edited by Donald N. Levine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971, chs. 3, 5, 6, 7, 16, 24. _________.The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Translated by Kurt H. Wolff. Glencoe IL: Free Press, 1964, Pt. 2 [ch. 1 ([the sociological] significance of [group size]), ch. 3 ('The Isolated Individual and the Dyad'), ch. 4 ('The Triad')], pp. 307-16 ('Knowledge, Truth, and Falsehood in Human Relations'), pp. 379-95 ('Faithfulness and Gratitude'). Forms of Social Life Mathieu Deflem
	Charles Horton Cooley 1864–1929 (ST) The Looking Glass Self pp 188 191 Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Cooley, Charles H. 'Primary Groups.' TS, pp. 315-18.
	George Herbert Mead 1863–1931 (ST) The Self, the I and the Me pp 224-229 Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Mead, George H. TS, pp. 163-617 ('The I and the Me'), pp. 739-40 ('Taking the Role of the Other'), pp. 829-30 ('Internalized Others and the Self'), pp. 999-1004 ('From Gesture to Symbol'). Mind Self Society Mathieu Deflem
	Simone de Beauvoir 1908-1986 (ST) Woman as Object pp 337-340
	Erving Goffman 1922-1983 (ST) On Face Work pp 330-334 Chicago SSR Prelim Notes Erving Goffman 1 Erving Goffman 2 Goffman deflem
Unit 7	Structuralism
	Ferdinand de Saussure 1857-1913 (ST) Arbitrary Social Values and the Linguistic Sign pp 148-157
	Claude Levi Strauss 1908 -  (ST) The Structural Study of Myth pp
Barthes	Roland Barthes 1915-1981 (ST) Semiological Prospects 314-318
Althusser	Louis Althusser 1918-1990 (ST) Why Theory? pp 317-321
Unit 8	Choose a tradition or a thinker, research in depth, write a reading reaction
Final Project

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on the extent to which their assignment and classroom work shows evidence of fulfilling the course objectives. Timeliness, accuracy of information, coherence, clarity of presentation, utilization of readings, critical thinking, comprehensiveness and creativity will be considered when evaluating superior performance. Additionally, the depth and breadth of knowledge gained and evidence of reflection thereon are important performance criteria.

 
Contribution of each activity to the total evaluation:

Reading Reaction Papers:   33% - 1 due each unit

Annotated Definitions:         33% - Due by end of semester

Scholarly Paper/Project:      33% - Due by end of semester

Class Procedures:

This course combines independent reading and research, in-class discussion (for classroom version) and special assignments. Students are invited to ask questions at any time in class, by phone or via email. 

Success in this course depends on participation. Come to each class prepared to question and discuss the issues at hand. Assigned readings must be completed prior to class. Keep good notes - it is your responsibly to be able to argue pro and con on the major discussion points.

To aide you in this, I recommend you repare discussion questions on reading assignments. These questions should highlight some of the important aspects of each topic keeping in mind our goal of understanding various ways of understanding ethics. Students will also submit short reading reaction papers. We may also work on cooperative learning exercises that involve group problem solving and presentations.

Late assignments, make-ups, retakes, and incomplete
If you have an emergency and cannot complete an assignment on time, discuss your need with the instructor (preferably in advance). In general, no late assignments or make-ups will be allowed. However, there are extenuating circumstances, so explain your situation. You must seek the approval of your instructor in advance for an incomplete, and justify your request with a validated medical emergency or a severe personal crisis. Incompletes are given if the student has completed the majority of the work for the course, has been unable to complete all of it for a valid reason, and will pass the course if they are given an opportunity to complete the required work within a specified time period.

Changing Grades
No one is perfect. Sometimes test questions are ambiguous or wrong. Graders make errors. I encourage you to challenge your grade on any assignment or test if you feel your efforts were graded incorrectly, but you must do so during office hours, before or after class within one week of an assignment's return date.

Any student who engages in prohibited conduct which constitutes a major offense of the University's Standards of Conduct while in this course will receive an "F" in the course.

 Academic misconduct includes scholastic dishonesty or class misconduct. Scholastic dishonesty consists of cheating in assignments; plagiarizing (misrepresenting as one's own anything done by another); depriving another of necessary course materials; or sabotaging another's work. Class misconduct is disruptive or disrespectful behavior in class. Denigrating comments, intolerant or extremely rude behavior are examples of class misconduct. Either scholastic or class misconduct is grounds for dismissal from the course. Please avoid it.

Note, turning in the same or substantially the same paper for two classes without prior permission is considered a form of academic dishonestly

Acknowledgements

All of us owe a debt of gratitude to scholars who have come before us. I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Phil Porter, my major professor, Fred Lukermann, Bill Cunningham, Ward Barrett and colleagues, Bill Lynn and Paul Phifer for their advice. David Elliot has been a stalwart supporter of these efforts.

Maps come from many sources. There are a number of maps from Tony Belmonte's Historical Atlas of Europe and the Middle East. Unfortunately Tony has disappeared from the web and I have not been able to track him down for permissions. My copies of Belmone's maps were graciously provide by Lynn Nelson, professor emeritus of the University of Kansas.

Right-clicking and checking properties will show the sources of many objects.

Every attempt has been made to preserve copyright on the class website. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. Use of this material is legal under TITLE 17 , CHAPTER 1 , Sec. 107 Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code.