Schedule of assignments and readings
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INTRODUCTION: THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
August 30
First day of class.
Mills, C. Wright. 1959. "The Promise." Pp. 1-24 in The Sociological Imagination. New York: Grove Press. [download from Blackboard]
Durkheim, pp. 284-93.
Questions to guide reading:
1. In the framework of C. Wright Mills (pg. 5), how has your "inner life" and "external career" been shaped by the "larger historical scene"?
2. What are the defining features of social facts? Which aspects of human behavior cannot be explained by these features?
KARL MARX: CLASS CONFLICT AND HISTORICAL CHANGE
September 6
Adam Smith, from The Wealth of Nations
(read "The Invisible Hand" through "The Division of Labor").Recommended reading:
Collins & Makowsky, chap. 2.
Giddens, chap. 1.
Questions to guide reading:
1. How does the "natural liberty" that Adam Smith endorses give rise to the industrial division of labor?
2. What social relations within the industrial division of labor does Marx illuminate?
September 11
Marx, pp. 57-71, 90-100, 135-52, 277-91 (Jeremy Rifkin).
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chaps. 2-3.
Questions to guide reading:
1. How is it that "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas" (pg. 60)? How do the relations of production affect the prevailing values and ideas of a society?
2. By pursuing its economic interests under capitalism, how does the bourgeoisie create the social conditions for its eventual decline? How is this a more general pattern throughout history?
September 13
Marx, pp. 157-73, 299-306 (William J. Wilson), 319-25 (Saskia Sassen).
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chap. 4.
Questions to guide reading:
1. According to Marx, how should the social and economic crises of his day resulting from the rule of the bourgeoisie lead to a workers revolution?
2. If the structural "contradiction" between the bourgeoisie's economic activities and the social conditions for their rule has not led to the revolution as Marx predicted, how has it nevertheless driven social change of the kinds described by Wilson and Sassen?
EMILE DURKHEIM: SOLIDARITY AND ANOMIE
September 18
Durkheim, pp. 32-49, 57-78.
Recommended reading:
Collins & Makowsky, chap. 6.
Giddens, chaps. 5-6.
Questions to guide reading:
1. What do suicide and crime indicate about the nature of social bonds?
2. What social changes cause "organic solidarity" to become predominant within a society?
September 20
Durkheim, pp. 193-5, 202-11, 218-226.
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chap. 7.
Questions to guide reading:
1. Under what conditions does social change generate the "pathological forms" of egoism and anomie?
2. How does Durkheim view the class conflict within modern societies differently than Marx?
September 25
First set of take-home essays due.
MAX WEBER: RATIONALIZATION AND STRATIFICATION
September 27
Weber, pp. 53-67, 125-41, 195-208.
Recommended reading:
Collins & Makowsky, chap. 7.
Giddens, chaps. 12, 15.
Questions to guide reading:
1. How does rationalism constrain the selfish pursuit of personal wealth and power in modern organizations?
2. In treating individuals impersonally and "fairly," how does bureacracy consolidate the power of organizations over people?
Weber, pp. 151-62, 297-306.
"Not Buying It" (New York Times, June 21, 2007)
"Say 'Hybrid,' and Many People Will Hear 'Prius'" (New York Times, July 4, 2007).
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chap. 11, pp. 163-8.
Questions to guide reading:
1. By involving "social action," how do status hierarchies result from group behavior (distinctions, identifications, exclusions, etc.) in ways that class hierarchies don't?
2. How is an ethnic group a kind of status group for Weber?
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL STRUCTURE
October 4
Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class, chaps. 1-4.
October 9
Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class, chaps. 5-14.
Recommended viewing:
October 11
In-class midterm.
October 15-19: Fall break.
FAMILIES AND EDUCATION
October 23
Lareau, Unequal Childhoods.
October 25
Lareau, Unequal Childhoods (continued).
"Investing in Human Futures" (David Brooks, New York Times, September 10, 2006).
Weekly hours of child care in American families: 1965-2000
Weekly hours of parents' free-time activities in American families: 1965-2000
Overlap of child care with other activities in American families: 1975-2000
October 30
Second set of take-home essays due.
FAMILIES AND EDUCATION: A SECOND LOOK
November 1
Marx, "Proletarians and Communists."
Marx, pp. 219-24, 371-8 (Erik Olin Wright).
November 6
Max Weber, "The Fundamental Concepts of Sociology" [read 1.1 - 1.7].
Weber, pp. 179-93.
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chap. 11, pp. 145-163.
November 8
Durkheim, pp. 226-230, 237-52 (including Talcott Parsons), 268-74, 281-2 (Viviana Zelizer).
CONSUMERISM AND THE ENCHANTMENT OF MODERN LIFE
November 13
Hannigan, Fantasy City.
November 15
Hannigan, Fantasy City (continued).
Barney's Holiday Windows displays
"Tweens Love Broadway, but Can't Save It Alone" (New York Times, October 2, 2007).
November 20
Hannigan, Fantasy City (continued).
November 22: Thanksgiving holiday.
November 27
Weber, pp. 75-119, 209-216, 321-7, 357-60 (George Ritzer).
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chap. 9.
November 29
Marx, pp. 120-5, 307-14 (Mike Davis), 379-86 (Nancy Fraser).
Recommended reading:
Giddens, chap. 14.
Third set of take-home essays due.
December 6
In-class final exam.
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