Office: Center for Labor Research, (LC) 3rd Floor
(305) 348-2371
e-mail: grenierg@fiu.edu
DATES & TIMES:
Class Hours: Monday 6:25-9:05 PM
OBJECTIVE:
To introduce the advanced undergraduate student to the major classical sociological theories. While a wide variety of theorists will be covered, particular attention will be paid to the works of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber, including an analysis of their philosophical premises and implications, and the historical conditions from which their ideas arose. Students will also be expected to become familiar with the web as a vehicle for communicating and discussing ideas. Regular discussions will be conducted and assignments completed on the course web site.
TEXT:
Sociological Theory: Classical Statements. David Ashley and David Michael Orenstein. Allyn and Bacon: Boston. Fourth Edition.
Additional Readings and Resources can be found on the course web site:
Grenier Notes on The Day the Universe Changed by James Burke.
Grenier Notes on Human Societies, by Lenski and Nolan.
Living Theory: The Application of Classical Social Theory to Contemporary Life, by Charles E. Hurst. Selected Chapters.
Recommended Readings:
Randall Collins. Four Sociological Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press. 1994.
Marx, Karl & Frederick Engels. The German Ideology. Edited by C.J. Arthur. New York: International Publishers, 1977.
Durkheim, Emile. The Division of Labor in Society. Translated by W.D. Halls. New York: Free Press, 1984.
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism: the Relationships Between Religion and the Economic and Social
Life in Modern Culture. Translated by
Talcott Parsons. New York: Charles
Scribner=s Sons,
1958.
REQUIREMENTS:
10% Assignment #1, Journal Article (40 points)
25% Daily Quizzes. Questions will be posted on the web during the week prior to the quiz. (Total of 12 quizzes. You can drop 2 lowest grades) (100 points)
25% Class Presentation on one of the theorists presented in the text. How to structure the presentation will be discussed in class but each presentation should compare the ideas of the theorist with the ideas of either Marx, Durkheim, or Weber. Written versions of the presentations will be turned in. (100 points)
25% Final Exam: Essay exam. List of questions will be posted at least a week before. Selected questions will be answered in class on exam day. (100 points)
A=360-400
B=320-359
C=280-319
D=240-280
F= <240
Schedule
| Week | Topic |
| 1/8 | What is sociology? What is theory?
Empirical Baseline. Historical and material conditions of the 18th and early 19th centuries. What were theorists and philosophers looking at and living in when they posited their ideas concerning man as both an intellectual and empirical being? Read Grenier notes on Lenski, Chapter 2, and The Day the Universe Changed, Chapters 1-5, on the web and Chapter 1 in text. |
| 1/14 | Empirical baseline continued. Quiz.. #1 |
| 1/21 | NO CLASS - MLK B-DAY |
| 1/28 | Intellectual Baseline. Intellectual environment of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. What ideas and intellectual traditions
were social theorists building upon when they posited their assertions
concerning society? Read Chapter 2 in text. Assignment #1 due.
Presentations and Discussion: Auguste Comte, Friedrich Hegel and Herbert Spencer. Read Chapters 3, 5, and 6. Quiz #2 |
| 2/4 | Introduction to the social thought of Karl Marx. Quiz #3 |
| 2/11 | Marx continued.
Presentations and Discussion: Vilfredo Pareto, George Simmel, Thorsten Veblen. Read Chapters 9, 11, 12. Quiz #4 |
| 2/18 | Marx, presentations and Durkheim Quiz #5. |
| 2/25 | Introduction to the sociology of Emile Durkheim. Read Chapter 4. Quiz #6 |
| 3/4 | Durkheim continued. Quiz #7. |
| 3/11 | Presentations and discussion: Friedrich Nietzche, Sigmund Freud, George Herbert Mead. Read Chapters 10,13,14. Quiz #8. |
| 3/18 | NO CLASS - SPRING BREAK |
| 3/25 | Introduction to the sociology of Max Weber. Read Chapter
8.
Presentations and Discussion: Living Theory, Chapters 1, 2, 3. Quiz #9. |
| 4/1 | Weber continued.
Presentation and Discussion: Living Theory, Chapters 4, 5 Presentations. Quiz #10. |
| 4/8 | Weber continued, start review.
Presentation and Discussion: Living Theory, Chapters 6,7 Presentations. Quiz #11 |
| 4/15 | Review. Chapter 15 Question and Answer. Does everyone
have the issues straight? Final Exam questions distributed. Quiz #12
|
| 4/22 | Exam 6:25-9:05 in same classroom--bring blue books |