Sociology 475: Classical Sociological Theory Spring 2012 Instructor: Tod Van Gunten Email: vangunten@wisc.edu Class Location and Time: Social Science 6203, Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 AM 12:15 PM Office: 7133 Social Science, Phone: 890 4486 (preferably contact me by email rather than phone) Office Hours: Thursday, 12:15 1:15 or by appointment This class is an introduction to the work of four classic sociological thinkers: Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Alexis de Tocqueville. In spite of the word theory in the course title, the emphasis is not on abstract theorizing but on the concrete engagement of these sociologists with the major issues of their time: industrialization, capitalism, democracy, nationalism, individualism, modern religion, and so on. All of these aspects of social life emerged with the advent of modernity and became increasingly important during the 19 th century; all of them remain central issues for the social sciences today. Hence, this class is about the way that these classical thinkers shape the way we understand our world today. The class is organized around four major themes: modernity, capitalism and Industrialization, politics and democracy, and religion and culture. Although the focus is on famous authors and seminal works, the idea is to think about common themes and contrasts among them, rather than approach each author on their own. There is no way around it: the main task of this class is to read, understand and develop your own opinions about a set of extremely difficult books and essays. To a certain extent (but only a certain extent) this is a goal in itself: the experience of reading the classics. It turns out that reading the classics isn t easy. Readings for this class will take much, much longer than reading a textbook or most contemporary sociology: plan at least twice as much time as you normally would to read the same number of pages. You will need to read many sentences or paragraphs repeatedly to understand where the author is going. In some cases, you may need to re read the entire text a second time. You are not expected to memorize every word on every page, but you will be expected to understand key themes and ideas. Lectures are intended to 1) provide sufficient context and anticipate possible misunderstandings before you read, so that you get the most out of your reading and 2) clarify and deepen the interpretation of the readings after you read. Thus, each lecture will be dedicated in varying degrees to discussing the readings assigned for that day and those assigned for the next class, while leaving as much time as possible for questions and discussion. Lectures are not intended to substitute for reading: while I will make every effort to clarify the readings, the evaluations are designed to make sure you read as well as come to class. 1
The best way to succeed in this class is to approach the texts with the intent of establishing your own opinion about the authors. With what arguments do you most agree, and why do you disagree with the statements that you disagree with? Are you, in other words, a Marxist, a Weberian, a Durkheimian, or a Tocquevillian? If you can answer this question, you know what you need to know. Required Readings The required books for the class are on sale at the University Bookstore. They are (in no particular order): Tucker, Robert (Ed.), The Marx Engels Reader, ISBN 13: 978 0393090406, Second Edition, WW Norton Tocqueville, Alexis de (edited by J.P Mayer and Translated by George Lawrence), Democracy in America, ISBN 13: 978 0060956660, Harper Perennial Weber, Max (Translated by Stephen Kalberg), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, ISBN 13 ISBN13: 9780199747252, Oxford University Press Weber, Max (Edited by H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills), From Max Weber, ISBN 13: 978 0 415 48269 1, Routledge Durkheim, Emile (Edited by Mark Cladis and Translated by Carol Cosman), The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, ISBN 13 978 0199540129, Oxford University Press Durkheim, Emile, The Division of Labor in Society, ISBN 13 978 0684836386, Free Press Note that in many cases there are many different editions and translations of these books of various shapes, sizes, colors, flavors and prices. I have no objection to your using a different edition if it is cheaper or you have it from a previous class, but I strenuously recommend that you not attempt to use a different translation (check the name of the translator) and caution that in some cases it will be quite difficult to figure out which pages to read in a different edition (even if it is the same translation). Beware cheap kindle editions because there are complaints about some of these on amazon.com, but by all means use these if you can find decent editions. In addition, there are a small number of photocopies (well, scanned articles) that will be placed on learn@uw (INCLUDING ONE FOR THE SECOND CLASS), on reserve in the Social Science Reference Library (8 th floor on the lake side of the building; note that you have to go back on the 7 th floor and then take the back stairs or elevator up) and on e reserve. I may make small adjustments to the readings over the course of the semester. 2
Evaluation and Grading Mid term and final: there will be a mid term covering roughly the first half of the class and a final covering roughly the second half (i.e. the final is not cumulative). Both will consist of short answer questions and will be open book and open note. Short written assignments: in addition, you will be required to submit six of a possible nine short (1 2 single spaced pages) writing assignments. If you submit more than six, I will take the top six scores. Assignments will be given out in class or shortly thereafter by email on the days marked in the schedule and due at the beginning of class a week later. Generally, assignments will come at the conclusion of a particular theme or a major book. These are not formal writing assignments, and you will not be graded on composition (nor will written feedback be provided, though I ll be happy to discuss these with you). Rather, the purpose of these assignments is to further your understanding of the readings by asking you to discuss, using your own language and ideas, your interpretation, disagreements, and comparisons of the texts. In addition, these assignments are a kind of practice for the exams, which will be based on similar questions. Hence the grading scale for these assignments is: A (100) B (85) C (75) D (60) Excellent: Clear, well expressed views based explicitly on the readings Good: A solid effort to express a view, but not totally clear and/or the understanding of the readings is weak OK: Some sort of opinion is expressed, but is not based on the readings Poor: Opinions not at all clear and not based on the readings Here are a couple hints for both the exam questions and short written assignments: Refer to the texts: things like according to the definition that Marx gives of capital on page 427 or the distinction Durkheim draws between mechanical and organic solidarity show that you re basing your opinion on the text. You don t have to quote, necessarily, just make it clear what you re referring to. It s often helpful to draw contrasts between authors: Tocqueville views government in the U.S. as essentially democratic, but Weber writes that the essence of the state is the monopoly of legitimate violence. Participation: as with the short written assignments, the purpose of the participation grade is to encourage you to develop your own opinions and agreements or disagreements with the writers. The participation grade is based on your number of interventions in the class. Interventions are: Questions or comments in class (because you are being graded on participation, and because this is a largish class, I suggest that you email me after class when you ask a question or make a comment, at least until you ve reached an A for your participation grade). Questions or comments posted at learn@uw. Given the size of this class, I expect that this will be an easier and more comfortable way to make your participation grade. The idea is to get a 3
bit of a discussion going you can post either a question or a comment on previous questions. These can be posted either before or after class. The grading scale for participation is: A A/B B C D F 5 or more interventions 4 interventions 3 interventions 2 interventions 1 intervention 0 interventions Attendance: it s not that I think that everything I have to say is brilliant. But, I ve read this stuff before, and I think I can help in the process of wading through these texts. Full attendance gets an A; after two absences your attendance grade will be lowered a letter grade for each additional absence. Overall grade scale: A 93 100 A/B 88 92 B 82 87 B/C 78 81 C 70 77 D 60 69 F <60 4
Syllabus Addendum Sociology 475: Classical Sociological Theory Van Gunten Final grade breakdown 6 short written assignments 25% Mid term exam 25% Final exam 25% Participation 15% Attendance 10%
Sociology 475: Updated Class Schedule (as of February 14) Date Required reading Pages Total Assignments 1/24 Course Introduction Modernity and revolution 1/26 Nisbet: The Two Revolutions 23 34 Marx and Engels: Communist Manifesto (473 483) 11 1/31 Tocqueville: Introduction (9 20) 11 28 Weber: Introduction to the Sociology of Religion (233 250) 17 2/2 Marx: the 18th Brumaire (594 617) 23 34 Assignment 1 Tocqueville: Why great revolutions will become rare (V 2, Pt 3, ch21, 634 645) 11 Capitalism and industrialization 2/7 Weber: Capitalism and rural society in Germany (363 385) 22 28 Engels: Conditions of the Working Class (579 585) 6 2/9 Marx: Capital (329 361) 32 32 2/14 Marx: Capital (361 384) 23 23 2/16 Marx: Capital (384 419) 35 35 Assignment 2 2/21 Durkheim: Division of Labor: Intro (1 7) 7 40 Durkheim: Division of Labor: Pt 1, Ch 2 (31 64) 33 2/23 Durkheim: Division of Labor: Pt 1, Ch 3 (68 86) 18 18 2/28 Durkheim: Division of Labor: Pt 1, Ch 5 (101 123) 22 22 3/1 Durkheim: Division of Labor: Pt 2, Ch 2 (exerpt) 201 205 5 23 Assignment 5 Durkheim: Division of Labor: Pt 3, Ch 1 (291 308) 18 3/6 Weber: Protestant Ethic: Ch 1 (67 75) 9 31 Weber: Protestant Ethic: Ch 2 (76 98) 22 3/8 Weber: Protestant Ethic: Ch 3 (99 109) 10 31 Assignment 3 Weber: Protestant Ethic Ch 5 (158 179) 21 3/13 Marx: Capital (431 438) 6 19 Assignment 4 Marx: Society and Economy in History (136 242) 6 Engels: Letters on Historical Materialism (760 768) 7
3/15 REVIEW 3/20 MID TERM Politics and democracy 3/22 Tocqueville: Social State of the Anglo Americans (V 1, Pt 1, Ch 3, 50 57) 7 31 Tocqueville: Townships (V 1, Pt 1, Ch 5, 61 70 and 87 98) 20 Tocqueville: Associations (V 2, Pt 2, Ch 5, 513 517) 4 3/27 Tocqueville: Omnipotence of the majority (V 1, Pt 2, Ch 7, 246 261) 15 34 Tocqueville: Tempering the tyranny of the majority (V 1, Pt 2, Ch 8, 262 276) 14 Tocqueville: Democratic Despotism (V 2, Pt 4, Ch 6, 690 695) 5 3/29 Tocqueville: Individualism (V 2, Pt 2, Ch 1 3, 503 513) 10 17 Assignment 6 Tocqueville: Restlessless (V 2, Pt 13, Ch 13, 535 538) 3 Tocqueville: Agitation (V 2, Pt 3, Ch 17, 614 616) 2 Tocqueville: Perfectability (V 2, Pt 1, Ch 8, 452 454) 2 4/10 Weber: Politics as a vocation (77 128) 51 51 4/12 Weber: Three types of legitimate rule (photocopy) 12 27 Weber: Class, status, party (180 195) 15 4/17 Weber: Structures of Power (159 179) 20 30 Assignment 7 Weber: National Character and the Junkers (386 395) 10 Religion and culture 4/19 Durkheim: Elementary forms: Intro (3 21) 18 39 Durkheim: Elementary forms: Book 1, Ch 1 (25 46) 21 4/24 Durkheim: Elementary forms: Book 2, Ch 1 (87 100) 17 30 Durkheim: Elementary forms: Book 2, Ch6 (140 153) 13 4/26 Durkheim: Elementary forms: Book 2, Ch 7 (153 182) 29 29 5/1 Durkheim: Elementary forms: Conclusion (310 343) 33 33 Assignment 8 5/3 Weber: Social Psychology (267 301) 34 34 5/8 Weber: Religious Rejections of the World (323 359) 35 36 Assignment 9 5/10 REVIEW 5/15 FINAL EXAM
How to Read Difficult Sociological Theory Oriol Mirosa This is just a short summary of basic ideas to help you be more productive in your reading of sociological theory. The tips that you will find here are general and can be applied to any type of reading, but are particularly useful for academic texts. One of the main problems I have encountered when teaching this class in the past is that some students spend a considerable amount of time reading, even taking extensive notes, yet they find it very difficult to do well in the quizzes. When this happens, spending more time reading, reading the text over and over again, or taking more and more notes are not going to solve the problem. The problem in these cases has to do with how the readings are done and processed, and as long as this is not addressed devoting more time to reading will not improve the situation. A usual indicator of this problem is when the student takes way too many notes, because that reflects that s/he has not been able to identify what the key points of the reading are and cannot discriminate between primary and secondary ideas. In any given text there are many arguments. Some are crucial, others are accessory. In the same way, all texts contain examples, divagations and asides. All these elements play a role in making the text coherent and meaningful, but they are not all equally important or worth remembering. A point of clarification or an example might be useful to help you understand a given idea, but that is its only function and thus it does not require extreme attention or to be studied and retained. The idea it is referring to, however, is key, and that is what you need to learn to capture and remember. Reading efficiently involves learning to identify what is important and what is accessory. Thus contrary to what some of you might think, learning to read properly involves spending less time reading and taking fewer notes than would be the case otherwise. How can you be more efficient in your reading? The best advice I can give you is: do not start reading right away. You need to familiarize yourself with the text before starting to read it. If by the time you begin to read you already have an idea of what the text is about, how it is organized, and what the main concepts explored are, you will be able to identify when a passage is key or irrelevant, and you will be able to adapt your reading speed and level of attention, as well as decide whether it is worth taking notes or not. If it is a text you know nothing about and have never engaged before, the best way to familiarize yourself with it is by looking at its structure. Some authors are better than others at structuring their texts, but you can learn a lot about what the author is trying to say just by looking at the titles of sections and subsections. What is the title of the article? What are the sections labeled, and how long is each of them? Just by doing that you should have a general idea of what the text is about and what the author is exploring in detail and superficially. Sometimes it can be useful to do some further exploration of each section. If the title of the section does not clarify exactly what it is trying to do, you can read the first two or three paragraphs, or go through its pages to see if there is any paragraph that starts saying something like In summary, or if there are any concepts that the author seems to be repeating a lot. This might seem like a waste of time to you, but you should not be afraid to spend 10 or 15 minutes doing this type of exercise before you start reading. If you manage to get a relatively clear sense of what the piece is about and where the author is going, your reading of it will be much quicker and, even better, it will be much more efficient and productive. 7
This first phase of pre-reading is important, but it will be useless if you completely forget it when you start reading. I have come across many people who do a brilliant job in this first stage, but when the reading starts they are so involved in it and so close to the text that they are unable to step back and use what they have learned. Reading should not be a one-way process in which you only absorb the text as if you were an empty recipient of knowledge. You should be aware and alert when you are reading, interrogating the piece as you go along. Why is the author bringing this up here? How does this fit with his general point? Where is he going with this? Uh-oh, I got lost here. More than anything, as you read you should always try to keep this question in mind: what is the main argument that the author is making in this passage/section/chapter? Figuring out the answer to this question will be much easier if you have done the pre-reading exercises I mentioned above. But more importantly, keeping this question in mind will allow you to identify if you are actually understanding the text or not. If you do not get the main point yet, you might want to slow down a little or to go back to an earlier passage that seemed key but you did not understand. If you think you already got the gist of the argument, then you might want to go quicker through parts of the reading that are just repetitive, present examples, or make minor points and asides. This kind of understanding of the structure of the text will also allow you to take fewer and much more relevant notes. It is precisely to help you with all this process that, given the difficulty of the readings that we have for this class, I will be sending you guiding questions for the readings each week. There is a third stage that takes place after you have finished doing the reading. Very often students think they are done the very moment they finish reading a text, and either move on to the next one or just start doing something else. Have you ever found yourself in class the day after you read something and thought to yourself: I know I just read this, but I really cannot remember much of what the argument was or any details? The problem is that our brain needs to engage with the knowledge that we acquire, it needs to hear it more than once in order to remember it (this is what studying is), and it needs to think about it and use it in productive ways to really be able to process it and understand it fully (have you ever thought that you understood an argument only to realize that you did not know how to start explaining it to somebody else?) I know that once you are done with a reading spending a few minutes thinking about it seems like a waste of time. But is it not more wasteful if you forget everything that you have just spent hours reading? Does it not make sense to spend a few minutes more so that all the previous reading time does not go to waste? They key thing to do here is to go back through the main argument of the reading and its structure. You do not need to do this for a long time, but you need to able to answer these questions to yourself: what did the author say in this text? How did s/he say it? Just doing this will force you to go through the argument once more, and thus help you remember it. Moreover, as now you will be the one explaining it to yourselves you will be able to identify if you missed some part of the logical chain, if there is anything that you do not understand, etc. It is precisely this latter process of realization that I want to push you to do by evaluating your participation in class discussions and by making you write papers. I want to make you think about what you have read so that you become aware of whether you understood the text and so that you can identify what is unclear and ask questions about it. For some of you, who already read quite efficiently, what I have said in this short text will not be very useful. But if you have any problems understanding the readings, if you spend too much time reading, or if you take too many notes that turn out to be useless, please try following the advice presented here and see if that helps you improve. Be aware, however, that reading efficiently is a skill that is rarely learned overnight. It is a process and the results might take a while to become evident. But if you persist and work hard on doing the readings properly, I am convinced that everybody in the class can significantly improve 8
their performance in the reading quizzes. And moreover, this is a useful skill that will improve your performance in other classes and many other aspects of life as well. 9