SOCIAL THEORY AS.230.213, Spring 2012 Tuesday and Thursday 10:30-11:45 a.m. Gilman 75 COURSE SYLLABUS Instructor: Daniel Pasciuti Department of Sociology 410-516-7379 Email: pasciuti@jhu.edu Office: 203 Greenhouse Office Hours: M: 1:30-2:30, T: 2:00-3:00, or by appointment Course Description: This course provides an introduction to the classical sociological theories of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. The goals are to become familiar with important theories about how society works and to apply them in analyzing current social issues. Course Requirements: Students are required to read all material prior to class and be prepared to discuss the material. Students will be required to submit weekly response papers on the readings, make an in-class presentation, and write four essays covering the theories and events from your readings and class discussions. Required Reading (Books to be Purchased): Most of the readings are in the following books: 1) Robert Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition (NY: W. W. Norton, 1978) 2) Kalberg, Stephen, ed., The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism with Other Writings on the Rise of the West, Fourth Edition (NY: Oxford, 2008) 3) Kenneth Thompson, ed., Readings from Emile Durkheim, Second Edition (London: Routledge, 2004) 4) Roberto Korzeniewicz and Timothy Moran, Unveiling Inequality (NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2009) Daily Readings: Read the New York Times daily (Global version). Consider current events in light of the social theories introduced in this course (this will be necessary in order to write the essays). All other readings will be available on MSEL Course Reserves (password PAS213) http://reserves.library.jhu.edu/access/reserves/findit/articles/index.php
Class Attendance and Participation: Attending class sessions and participating in discussions in an essential component to the class. Since this is a seminar; participation in class discussions is very important and all students are expected to engage the material fully with both the instructor and other students. Student Presentation: Once during the semester each student must present a 5-minute in-class presentation on a recent story in the New York Times using theories from the theorist s texts of that week. You will paste or link the story on the class Blackboard discussion page by Monday of your week, and two students will each present on the Thursday of that week. You must begin your presentation with one quote of your choosing from the readings, which will also be posted on Blackboard, and then analyze the article for the class. There will be no powerpoint or reading from notes allowed. All that you can use is the theorist s quote on an index card. No teams, no repeats of articles, and you will be stopped at 5 minutes exactly consider it practice for real life. Essays: Write three short essays (4-5 double-spaced pages each) and one final essay (maximum 12 pages). In the first three essays you will use ideas developed by Marx, Weber, or Durkheim to analyze a current event recounted in a newspaper article (or articles) you may use your inclass presentation article for one of the essays. In the final essay, you will use the ideas of two theorists to analyze a current event, and then compare the resulting analyses. Instructor Meetings: Schedule four individual meetings with the instructor to discuss your essay proposals. Signup sheets will be provided so that everyone can meet with me. Course Grading: Class Discussion: 15% Class Presentation: 15% 3 Short Essays: 45% (3 @ 15% each) Final Essay: 25% Cell phones and laptops Please turn off cell phones in class and use laptops only for taking notes. Not using social media for two hours does amazing things for your clarity of mind.
Academic Integrity: The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alterations of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition. According to Article III of The Johns Hopkins University Ethics Board; Undergraduate students at The Johns Hopkins University assume a duty to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to the University's mission as an institution of higher learning. Students are obliged to refrain from acts, which they know, or under the circumstances have reason to know, violate the academic integrity of the University. Violations of academic ethics include, but are not limited to: cheating; plagiarism; submitting the same or substantially similar work to satisfy the requirements of more than one course without permission; submitting as one's own the same or substantially similar work of another... During this course students are expected to do their own work for all assignments and conduct themselves in a respectful manner toward their colleagues and the instructor. For more information students should consult the Ethics Board webpage at http://www.jhu.edu/~ethics/index.html. Reading List and Schedule (Readings marked with an * in the reading list below are available on e-reserves at the MSE library website. The password is PAS213):
Week 1: Introduction to Social Theory Tuesday 1/31; Introduction Thursday 2/2; A Genealogy of Sociology COURSE SCHEDULE Week 2: Marx Tuesday 2/7; Early Marx Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Manifesto of the Communist Party, in Tucker, pp. 469-500 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Theses on Feuerbach and The German Ideology, in Tucker, pp. 143-163 Thursday 2/9; Critique of Capitalism Friedrich Engels, Letters on Historical Materialism, in Tucker, pp. 760-767 Karl Marx, Wage Labor and Capital, in Tucker, pp. 203-218 Karl Marx, The Coming Upheaval and Class Struggle in Tucker, pp 218-220 Week 3: Marx (cont) Tuesday 2/14; Capital Karl Marx, Capital, in Tucker, pp 294-312, 319-343 Thursday 2/16; Capital Karl Marx, Capital Continued in Tucker, pp. 344-367, 419-438 Week 4: Marx (cont) Tuesday 2/21; Gundrisse Karl Marx, The Gundrisse in Tucker, pp. 221-261, 278-293 Thursday 2/23; Society and Politics Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte in Tucker, pp. 594-617 Friedrich Engels, The Origin of Family, Private Property and the State, in Tucker, pp. 734-759 Week 5: Marx and Weber Tuesday 2/28; Socialism Friedrich Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific, in Tucker, pp. 683-717 Thursday 3/1; Weber Introduction Stephen Kalberg, General Introduction: Max Weber and the Modern West, pp.vii-xviii Stephen Kalberg, Introduction to The Protestant Ethic, pp. 1-49 Meetings in Week 5 to discuss first essay topics ESSAY 1 DUE MONDAY 3/5
Week 6: Max Weber Tuesday 3/6; The Protestant Ethic Max Weber, Part I: The Problem, in Kalberg, pp. 61-100 Thursday 3/8; The Protestant Ethic Max, Weber, Part II: The Vocational Ethic of Ascetic Protestantism, in Kalberg, pp. 101-159 Week 7: Max Weber (cont) Tuesday 3/13; Power *Max Weber, Class, Status and Party, in Gerth and Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (NY: Oxford, 1958), pp. 180-195 *Max Weber, Open and closed social relationships, and The economic relationships of organized groups in Economy and Society, Volumes One and Two (1978), pp. 43-46, 339-348 *Max Weber, The Development of Caste, in Bendix and Lipset, eds., Class, Status, and Power (New York: The Free Press, 1966), pp. 28-36 Thursday 3/15; Science, Politics, and the Structures of Power *Max Weber, Structures of Power, in Gerth and Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (NY: Oxford, 1958), pp. 159-179 *Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation (part) in Gerth and Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (NY: Oxford, 1958), p. 77 to the top of p. 83 *Max Weber, "The Sociology of Charismatic Authority, in Gerth and Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (NY: Oxford, 1958), pp. 245-252 Week 8: Spring Break No Class: Have a great week. Week 9: Weber (cont) Tuesday 3/27; The Rise of Modern Capitalism Max Weber, Chapter 4: The Rise of Modern Capitalism, Parts III-VI, in Kalberg, pp. 377-406 Thursday 3/29; The Rise of Modern Capitalism *Max Weber, The expropriation of workers from the means of production, in Economy and Society, Volumes One and Two (University of California Press, 1978), pp. 137-140. Max Weber, Chapter 4: The Rise of Modern Capitalism, Parts IX-X, in Kalberg, pp. 416-430 Max Weber, Appendix I: Weber s Summary Statements on The Protestant Ethic Thesis, in Kalberg, pp. 431-448 Meetings in Week 9 to discuss second essay topics ESSAY 2 DUE MONDAY 4/2
Week 10: Durkheim Tuesday 4/3; Sociology Thompson, Kenneth, Introduction in Thompson, pp. 1-10 Emile Durkheim, Sociology and the Social Sciences and Review of Antonio Labriola in Thompson, pp.11-22 Thursday 4/5; Sociological Method Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, in Thompson, pp. 53-79 Week 11: Durkheim (cont) Tuesday 4/10; Division of Labour, Crime and Punishment Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, and Two Laws of Penal Evolution in Thompson, pp. 23-52 Thursday 4/12; Religion and Education Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life and Primitive Classification in Thompson, pp. 107-128 Emile Durkheim, The Evolution of Educational Thought and Moral Education, in Thompson, pp. 157-170 Week 12: Durkheim (cont) Tuesday 4/17; Politics and Suicide Emile Durkheim, Professional Ethics and Civic Morals and Socialism in Thompson, pp. 129-156 Emile Durkheim, Suicide in Thompson, pp. 81-105 Thursday 4/19; Understanding Classical Sociology *Hughes, Martin, and Sharrock, Conclusion in Understanding Classical Sociology: Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, 2 nd edition (London: Sage Publications, 1995), pp. 203-233 Meetings in Week 12 to discuss third essay topics ESSAY 3 DUE ON MONDAY 4/23 Week 13: Synthesizing Classical Social Theory Tuesday 4/24; Revisiting Marx *Erik Olin Wright, Understanding Class, New Left Review (60), pp. 101-116 *Giovanni Arrighi, Marx in Detroit, Smith in Beijing, in Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, (New York: Verso Publications, 2007), pp. 13-24 Thursday 4/26; Revisiting Durkheim and Weber *Randall Collins, The Durkheimian Tradition in Conflict Sociology in Jeffrey Alexander, ed., Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural Studies, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 107-128. *Peter Evans and James E. Rauch, Bureaucracy and Growth: A Cross-National Analysis of the Effects of "Weberian" State Structures on Economic Growth, American Sociological Review, 64; 5 (Oct., 1999), pp. 748-765
Week 14: Global Social Change Using the Sociological Toolkit Tuesday 5/1; Unveiling Inequality Korzeniewicz and Moran, Unveiling Inequality, Introduction and Chapters 1-3 Thursday 5/3; Unveiling Inequality Korzeniewicz and Moran, Unveiling Inequality, Chapters 4-6 (up to pg. 122) Week 15 (Reading Period) - Meetings to discuss final essay topics FINAL ESSAY DUE ON Monday 5/14 in Mergenthaler 533 before office closes.