Sociology 285.01	Sociology 285.02
Chris Hunter	Kent McClelland
Carnegie 114, ext. 3135	ARH 116C, ext. 3134
Fall, 2000	Fall, 2000
Tues 10:00-11:50, Thurs 10:00-10:50 ARH 317	Tues 10:00-11:50, Thurs 10:00-10:50 ARH 323

In this course we will examine the background assumptions, conceptual adequacy, logical consistency, and empirical testability of theoretical perspectives in sociology. We will try to obtain an overview of the "major" sociological perspectives by reading the text by Ruth Wallace and Alison Wolf, and we will examine short pieces by selected theorists in order to get direct contact with theory.

We will focus our attention particularly on contemporary theories and theorists, and will attend to the "masters" less, though Wallace and Wolf do discuss many of those precursors in order to provide background on current theories. We will complement these readings with articles in Kivisto's reader, Illuminating Social Life, which apply specific theories to real world issues. Both in papers and in class presentations, we will analyze central theoretical problems or themes that the theoretical works and their applications illustrate.

We have the following objectives for the course and see members of the class as having the following responsibilities:

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Objectives for Individual Learning

1.	To gain familiarity with a broad range of sociological theories and with the work of a variety of currently active theorists.
2.	To appreciate the importance of theory for making sense of the social world around us.
3.	To develop your "tastes" in sociological theory, so that you not only prefer one theory to another, but can explain and defend the reasons for your preference.
4.	To develop your standards of evaluation for theories, by selecting and using appropriate criteria to compare the conceptual adequacy, logical consistency, and empirical testability of at least two theories, both of which can be applied to the same sociological context.
5.	To develop your theoretical creativity, by exploring applications of theories to everyday life, and by proposing modifications and elaborations to the theories studied.
6.	To gain facility in writing understandable prose about abstract and challenging subjects.
7.	To gain facility in presenting and discussing complex sociological ideas in class.

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Responsibilities to the Class as a Whole

1.	To serve as a resource person to help the class in interpreting and criticizing at least two of the assigned reading selections.
2.	To work with the instructor to plan and lead classroom presentations on at least one assigned reading and on your final essay.
3.	To contribute to the environment for learning in the classroom by reading all of the assigned material when it is due, by coming to class prepared for discussion, and by striving always to be at your intellectual best in class.
4.	To cooperate with classmates to make sure that books, articles, and other library resources are freely available to everyone who needs them.

Requirements:

Sociology 285 is taught as a seminar: your instructor will participate in discussion but will not lecture, except to offer mini-lectures on occasion to get us started. Therefore, you must come to each class prepared to discuss the topics covered in the assigned readings. Since the success of this course depends on active participation, the quality of your participation will determine part of your grade.

A complex topic like sociological theory can't be fully assimilated until you spend some time articulating your own ideas about it to others and listening to them in return. While class sessions can provide many opportunities for talking and listening, most students can learn even more by participating in discussion groups or other informal exchanges out of class. Thus, you will be assigned to a working group of three or four students. Each group must then choose some medium for a regular exchange of ideas, and you will be asked to provide regular documentation of your group's activity. At the end of the semester, you will also be asked to turn in a self-evaluation of your own participation in this project, and group grades will be given based on the relevance and liveliness of your exchanges. This project will count toward the 10% of your grade for class participation.

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Working groups should choose from among the following formats for their interchange of ideas.

1.	OUT-OF-CLASS DISCUSSION GROUP - The working group holds a weekly meeting at a regular time and place for discussion of course topics. Students in the group rotate the responsibility for sending reports on their discussions to the instructor.
2.	A JOURNALING GROUP - The working group keeps a journal on reserve in the library to which all contribute. Each student makes a weekly entry and reads and responds to other student's entries.
3.	A WEBPAGE EXCHANGE - Working-group members make regular postings of their reflections on course topics to a discussion forum reached through the class web page. Students in the group read and respond to each other's postings.
4.	EMAIL EXCHANGE - Working-group members subscribe to an email list (in which messages posted to a central address are automatically sent out to all subscribers). Group members make regular postings of their reflections on course topics to this list and also read and respond to each other's postings.

Approximately 100 to 200 pages of readings are assigned per week. We have tried to indicate when we will be likely to discus each topic, but remember that our Tuesday class is twice as long as Thursday's and that we may not stay on schedule. Much of this material is hard to read and the assignments bunch considerably. Please plan your reading accordingly.

A useful technique that will help prepare you for these discussions is to take notes on the readings, focusing on what is said and on what you find unclear. Please bring to each class one written question for discussion; at each class meeting, some or all of you will write your questions on the board. Providing these discussion questions will influence your class participation grade.

We will use some other techniques to facilitate careful reading and discussion, too. First, you will be responsible for writing five short (2-4 page) reading memos (which we describe on the last page of this syllabus). For each, you are to do an analysis of some aspect of a theorist's work that you find interesting or problematic and explain why. These assignments are meant to help you to increase your comprehension of the reading and to participate more fully in class discussions. Everyone will need to complete three of these memos before fall break. These papers will count 40% of your grade.

We encourage you to rewrite these reaction papers, but you must get permission to do so and discuss the paper with your instructor before doing the rewrite. You will benefit most from doing a rewrite if you get to it soon after the first try, so the deadline for rewrites will be two weeks after the original submission.

Second, each of you will act as a resource person on two of the required readings (the selections from which you might choose are indicated by "R" on the syllabus); as a resource person, you will have studied this article with particular care and be ready to help us understand it. We encourage you to produce outlines, or diagrams, or definitions of key terms, or anything else that might help everyone understand the reading. This role will count 10% of your grade.

Third, you will act as a co-presenter (along with one other person from class) of two of the articles indicated by "P" on the syllabus. This role will involve offering a brief oral synopsis of the article and of your reactions to it (to be made available to the class) and then helping to lead discussion. This role will count 10% of your grade.

Finally, each of you will act as presenter of your own final paper and as critic of someone else's final paper during the last two weeks of the semester.

In this longer paper (from fifteen to twenty pages), on the basis of reading in original and secondary sources, you will argue for the superiority of one of the perspectives. A proposal for this paper is due on Nov. 2; a draft of the paper will be due in the last two weeks of classes, as will a class presentation and discussion of it. A mandatory rewrite of this final paper will be due about four days after the draft. Your instructor will provide written comments on the draft version and grade only the final version. The longer paper will count 30% of your grade.

Since we have split this course into two sections, using the same syllabus, we will on occasion bring the sections together for joint discussions or other activities.

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Required Texts:

Kivisto, Peter	Illuminating Social Life (1998) [LIFE]
Kivisto, Peter	Social Theory: Roots and Branches (2000) [READER]
Wallace, & Wolf	Contemporary Sociological Theory: Expanding the Classical Tradition (1999) [TRADITION]

Recommended Secondary Theory Texts:

Collins, R.	Four Sociological Traditions (1994)
Collins, R.	Theoretical Sociology (1988)
Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley	The Women Founders: Sociology and Social Theory 1830-1930 (1998)
Ritzer	Contemporary Sociological Theory (1992)
Turner & Beeghley	The Emergence of Sociological Theory (1982)
Turner	The Structure of Sociological Theory (1986)

Recommended Other Texts:

Chafetz	Feminist Sociology: An Overview (1988)
Collins, P.	Black Feminist Thought (1990)
England	Theory on Gender/ Feminism on Theory (1993)
Hage	Formal Theory in Sociology (1994)
Merton	On Theoretical Sociology (1967)

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NOTE: Throughout this syllabus, recommended articles are marked by an asterisk before the author's name. Articles suitable for selection by a resource person (R) or by a presenter (P) are marked accordingly.

Date		Assigned Reading		In-Class Roles
8/24	Thursday	Introduction
			TRADITION	1:1-15
			LIFE	1-6 (introduction); 145-150 (introduction)
			Ennis "The social organization of sociological knowledge: Modeling the intersection of specialities." ASR 57(1992):259-265
8/29	Tuesday	Functionalism I: Talcott Parsons
			TRADITION	2:16-45
			READER	II (Durkheim):36-65
				6. On Mechanical and Organic Solidarity	R
				7. What is a Social Fact?	R
				8. Anomic Suicide	R
				9. Primitive Classification (with Marcel Mauss)	--
				10. The Human Meaning of Religion	--
			READER	VII (Parsons): 180-185
				30. The Functional Prerequisites of Social Systems	R
			LIFE	3 (Durkheimian, by Hornsby):63-106	P
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8/31	Thursday	Functionalism II: Robert Merton, Neofunctionalism
			TRADITION	2:45-66
			READER	VII: 172-179, 186-199
				29. The Unanticipated Consequences of Social Action, Robert K. Merton	R
				31. Functional Differentiation, Niklas Luhmann	R
				32. After Neofunctionalism, Jeffrey Alexander	--
				Gans, "The positive functions of poverty." AJS 78(1972):275-289	P
9/5	Tuesday	Conflict Theory I: Karl Marx
			TRADITION	3:*67-78, 78-99
			READER	I (Marx):5-35
				1. Alienated Labor	--
				2. Theses on Feuerbach	--
				3. Manifesto of the Communist Party (with Friedrich Engels)	R
				4. Commodities	--
				5. The General Formula for Capital	R
			LIFE	4 (Marxian, by Walsh):107-144	P
			*Milkman "Redefining 'women's work': the sexual division of labor in the auto industry during World War II." Feminist Studies 8(1982):337-366		P
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9/7	Thursday	(continued)
9/12	Tuesday	Conflict Theory II: Critical Theory, C. Wright Mills, & Pierre Bourdieu
			TRADITION	3:100-117
			READER	XIII (Critical Theory): 357-368, 204-209
				53. Philosophy and Critical Theory, Herbert Marcuse
				54. Traditional and Critical Theory, Max Horkheimer
				56. The Divergent Rationalities of Administrative Action, Claus Offe	R
				34. Culture and Politics, C. Wright Mills	R
				62. Structures and the Habitus, Pierre Bourdieu	R
9/14	Thursday	Conflict Theory III: Max Weber
			TRADITION	3:67-78
			READER	III (Weber): 72-98
				12. The Spirit of Capitalism
				13. Bureaucracy	R
				14. The Nature of Charismatic Domination
				15. Class, Status, and Party	R
			LIFE	2 (Weberian, by Ritzer):37-62
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9/19	Tuesday	Conflict Theory IV: Lewis Coser, Ralf Dahrendorf, and Randall Collins
			TRADITION	3:118-153
			READER	VIII (Conflict Theory): 112-116, 200-204, 210-225
				18. Conflict as the Basis of Group Formation, Georg Simmel	R
				33. The Functions of Social Conflict, Lewis Coser	R
				35. Conflict Groups and Group Conflict, Ralf Dahrendorf	--
				36. The Basics of Conflict Theory, Randall Collins	R
			*Collins "On the microfoundations of macrosociology." AJS 86(1981):984-1014
			*Collins "Emotional energy as the common denominator of rational choice." Rationality and Society 5(1993):203-230 [photocopy]		P
9/21	Thursday	Macrosociological Perspectives I: World Systems Theory and Parsonian Evolution
			TRADITION	4:154-169
				Wallerstein, The Modern World System (1976), 3-11, 229-239
9/26	Tuesday	Macrosociological Perspectives II: Jürgen Habermas and Anthony Giddens
			TRADITION	4:169-188
			READER	XIII (Habermas): 369-375
				55. On Systematically Distorted Communication	R
			READER	XV (Giddens): 427-433
				63. The Time-Space Constitution of Social Systems	R
			LIFE	5 (Habermasian, by Dandaneau):151-182	P
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9/28	Thursday	(continued)
10/3	Tuesday	Symbolic Interactionism I: George Herbert Mead
			TRADITION	5:189-205
			READER	III (Weber): 66-71
				11. 'Objectivity' in Social Science and Social Policy	R
			READER	V (SI): 117-120, 130-135, 144-148
				19. The Stranger, Georg Simmel	--
				22. What Pragmatism Means, William James	R
				24. The Fusion of the 'I' and the 'Me' in Social Activities, George Herbert Mead	--
10/5	Thursday	Symbolic Interactionism II: Herbert Blumer
			TRADITION	5:205-227
			READER	IX (SI): 226-238
				37. Membership and History, Anselm Strauss	R
				38. Society as Symbolic Interaction, Herbert Blumer	R
			LIFE	7 (interpretavist, by Davidson):207-234	P
10/10	Tuesday	Symbolic Interactionism II: Erving Goffman, Arlie Hochschild, and Patricia Hill Collins
			TRADITION	5:227-251
			READER	IX (SI): 239-253
				39. Bases of Fun, Erving Goffman	R
				40. The Drama in the Routine, Stanford M. Lyman	--
			Hochschild, "Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure." AJS 85.5 (1979):551-575
			READER	XII (Patricia Hill Collins): 329-338
				50. Toward an Afrocentric Feminist Epistemology	P
			LIFE	8 (dramaturgical, by Kivisto):235-260	P
			*READER	XII (Chodorow): 350-356
				52. Rethinking Freud on Women	--
10/12	Thursday	(continued)
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10/14-10/22		FALL BREAK!!
10/24	Tuesday	Phenomenology I: Harold Garfinkel
			TRADITION	6:252-276
			READER	X (Phenomenology): 254-275
				41. Indirect Social Relationships, Alfred Schutz	--
				42. Rules of Conversational Sequence, Harvey Sacks	R
				43. The Rational Properties of Scientific and Common Sense Activities, Harold Garfinkel	R
10/26	Thursday	West/Zimmerman, "Doing gender." Gender & Society 1(1987):125-151			P
			*Rogers "They all were passing: Agnes, Garfinkel, and company." Gender & Society 6.2(1992):169-191 (plus exchange, 192-214)		P
			*Hilbert "Ethnomethodology and the micro-macro order." ASR 55(1990): 794-809
			*Emerson "Behavior in private places: sustaining definitions of reality in gynecological examinations." Pp. 73-100 in Dreitzel (ed), Recent Sociology 2 (1970) [HM1.R4]
10/31	Tuesday	Phenomenology II & III: Peter Berger and Dorothy E. Smith
			TRADITION	6:276-292
			Lengermann, The Women Founders (1998), 1:1-20		R
			READER	VI (Neglected Voices): 154-164
				26. The Dependence of Women, Charlotte P. Gilman	R
				27. Utilization of Women in City Government, Jane Addams	R
			READER	XII (Dorothy E. Smith): 339-349
				51. Sociology from Women's Experience: A Reaffirmation	R
			Longino, "Feminist standpoint theory and the problem of knowledge." Signs 19(1993):201-212		P
			*Hawkesworth, "Knowers, knowing, known: feminist theory and claims of truth." Signs 14(1989): 533-557		--

11/2	Thursday	Rational Choice Theories I: George Homans
			TRADITION	7:293-327
			READER	XI (Homans): 287-296
				45. Social Behavior as Exchange	R
			Final paper proposal due.
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11/7	Tuesday	Rational Choice Theories II & III: Peter Blau and James Coleman
			TRADITION	7:328-366
			READER	XI (Rational Choice): 297-320
				46. Human Capital and Social Capital, James S. Coleman	--
				47. The Emergence of Cooperative Social Institutions, Michael Hechter	R
				48. Formulation of Exchange Theory, Peter Blau	R
			Blau, "A fable about social structure." Social Forces 58(1980):777-788		P
11/9	Thursday	Paternoster/Simpson, AA rational choice theory of corporate crime.@ Pp. 37-58 in Clarke/Felson, Routine Activity and Rational Choice (1993)			P
		Uehara, "Dual exchange theory, social networks, and informal social support." AJS 96(1990):521-557			P
11/14	Tuesday	Sociology of the Body
			TRADITION	8:367-382
			READER	XII (Butler): 321-328
				49. Subversive Bodily Acts	R
			READER	XIV (Foucault): 389-395
				58. Panopticism	--
			LIFE	6 (feminist, by Lorber):183-206	P
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11/16	Thursday	Sociobiology
			TRADITION	8:382-399
			Ruse, "Sociobiology: A Philosophical Analysis" Pp. 355-375 in The Sociobiology Debate (1978)		P

11/21	Tuesday	Modernism, Postmodernism, and Multiple Perspectives
			TRADITION	9:400-421
			READER	XIV (Postmodernism): 396-412
				59. Postmodernity, or Living With Ambiguity, Zygmunt Bauman	R
				60. Modern and Postmodern, Mike Featherstone	--
				64. Queer-ing Sociology, Sociologizing Queer Theory, Steven Seidman	R P
			LIFE	9 (postmodernist, by Ritzer):261-283	--
11/23	Thursday	DAY OFF for Thanksgiving
11/28	Tuesday	CLASS PRESENTATIONS
			See final paper schedule below.
11/30	Thursday	CLASS PRESENTATIONS
12/5	Tuesday	CLASS PRESENTATIONS
12/7	Thursday	Conclusions

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FINAL ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS:
due during final two weeks of classes

The final paper (15 to 20 pages) represents your attempt to convince us that one of the theoretical perspectives we have studied this semester is better than the others. To do so, you must accomplish the following:

• Select three or four criteria which will permit you to evaluate these perspectives and explain clearly what these criteria are and how these criteria provide more-or-less "objective" standards (that is, standards we all might be willing to accept) for judging the relative adequacy of the perspectives.

• Apply the criteria to those two perspectives and explain clearly and convincingly why one of the perspectives emerges as superior. [If you wish, you may also indicate explicitly how the two perspectives could be combined into a synthesis which would be stronger than either one perspective alone.]

• Remember, as you write this essay, that others in the course will read your paper and get a chance to critique it in class, that one other member of the course (perhaps in the other section of the course) will write an evaluation of your paper, and that I will write comments on the draft version. Note that I will not put a grade per se on the draft: but I will write comments designed to help you improve the paper. The final, rewritten version of the essay should take advantage of all those wonderful comments.

Final Paper Schedule:

DRAFT OF FINAL PAPER

	11/27	Mon
	11/28	Tue
	12/3	Sun

Author: Make 2 copies of the polished draft of your paper. Put an electronic copy on the class folder on the "Projects" Storageserver and give one paper copy to me and one to your critic. Give a one-page precis to each member of the class and to me before class.

Critic: Read the paper carefully, making whatever stylistic or grammatical suggestions you feel comfortable making, but focus your comments mostly on the substantive arguments made. The goal of each paper is to be convincing, so indicate whether this paper is convincing. Email your comments to the author and to me.

Other class members: Read the precis of each of the papers scheduled for a given class. Pay particular attention to those papers which raise questions especially relevant to your own; you might read them on the Projects folder.

PRESENTATION & CRITIQUE

	11/28	Tue
	11/30	Thur
	12/5	Tue

Author: Distribute the precis to the class and present a brief, analytic, oral summary of your basic argument and conclusions. Be prepared to answer questions from members of class and from me.

Critic: Offer an oral substantive critique of the paper in class, raise questions suitable for class discussion, and provide a brief, constructive, written critique to the presenter (with a copy for me) at the end of class.

Other class members: Having read the precis of each paper, be prepared to ask questions about issues which confuse you and to make suggestions which might improve the author's argument.

FINISHED PAPER

	12/3	Sun
	12/5	Tue
	12/10	Sun

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Author: Give me the carefully revised and accurately proofread copy of your paper (along with the marked original).

I realize that five days may not seem like much time to do whatever rewriting you need to do, so remember that the better the first draft, the easier doing this rewrite will be.

Reading memos are short essays limited to three, typewritten, double spaced pages, which are intended to help focus your reactions to the readings and to facilitate discussion of them. You should focus, as you write these memos, on an audience of other sociology students at your level. You should assume, however, that members of your audience may not necessarily have read the particular readings that you are discussing.

Each memo should begin with a short paragraph introducing the theorist who wrote the selected reading. The introductory paragraph should also provide enough information to put the selection into the context of the theorist's other work. The remainder of the memo should be a creative response to the selection, not just a rehash or summary of its content. Thus, a variety of reading-memo formats are possible. For instance, you might try one of the following:

• Identify a claim in the selection that you dispute, and explain why you disagree with the logic or the facts of the claim.

• Suggest a method for resolving an issue raised by the reading.

A series of five reading memos will be assigned, gradually increasing in complexity. The purpose of these assignments is to help you develop the skills you will need for your final paper.

The first three memos are due during the first seven weeks of the semester, and you may select your own due dates. We will be asking you to choose firm due dates for these first three assignments by September 5. No more than one memo may be due in any given week. Any memo turned in after the date you select for it will be counted as late. The remaining two memos will be due no later than the eleventh week of the semester.

Here is a brief description of the five assignments.

1.	For the first reading memo, you may choose any of the assigned readings from the READER.
2.	For the second reading memo, you need to locate and read your selection in the original source, not just the condensed version in the READER.
3.	For the third memo, you must discuss an empirical application of theory presented in the selected reading. For instance, you might do one of the following:
	Describe a current event or news item that is an excellent example of an idea in the selection. Show how the example embodies or illustrates the author's idea.
	Show how something in the reading connects to "real" life, your own or somebody else's.
	Give a real-life counterexample to one the claims made in the reading. Explain why the theory is inadequate to deal with examples of this type.
4.	The fourth memo compares two selections. For example, you might want to highlight a point of disagreement between the two selected readings or show how the theory in one of them complements the other. This paper may be up to four pages long.
5.	The fifth memo compares two selections in their application to a single empirical example. This assignment, in effect, combines elements of memos three and four. This paper may be up to five pages long.

Please note two further stipulations about the reading-memo assignments:

• None of your memos may reuse a selection that you have previously used.

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