THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH: THEORIES AND METHODS:
SCHEDULE AND READING INSTRUCTIONS
Fall 2015
Örjan Bartholdson
orjan.bartholdson@slu.se
Kjell Hansen
Kjell.hansen@slu.se
Date
Monday 31 August
Introduction
Time
10-12
Lecture room
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Why do we need theory: the act of theorizing
Linking research problems, methodology and theory
Required Reading
Boghossian, Paul, A. 2010. Relativizing the Facts. In Relativism. A Contemporary Anthology.
Pages 170-182. New York. Columbia University Press.
Inglis, David. 2012. An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 1-37
Latour, Bruno & Woolgar, Steve 1986: Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts.
Princeton: Princeton University Press. (excerpts)
Swedberg, Rickard. 2012. Theorizing in sociology and social science: turning to the context
of discovery. In Theory and Society. Vol. 41: 1-40
Thursday 3 September
10-12
13-15
To be announced later
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on the process of theorizing
Monday 7 September
10-12
To be announced later
The birth of social theory and the problems it addressed:
urbanism, social disintegration, class hierarchy, poverty, rural dispossession, from serfs
to rural workers, rural change, possession of resources, colonialism
Required Reading
Bratton, John, Denham, David. 2014. Capitalism and classical social theory. Introduction:
Why classical social theory? Pages 1-22. University of Toronto Press.
Inglis, David. 2012. An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 38-61
Marx, Karl & Engels, Friedrich 1848: Manifesto of the Communist Party. 53 pp
1
Recommended reading
Inglis, David. 2012. An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 189-207
Thursday 10 September 10-12
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion on how to explore and analyze modern society
Monday 14 September 10-12
How people make sense of their own life worlds:
hermeneutics and phenomenology
Required Reading
To be announced later
Frykman, Jonas & Nils Gilje 2003: Being There. In Frykman, Jonas & Nils Gilje (eds.): Being
There. New Perspectives on Phenomenology and the Analysis of Culture. Lund:
Nordic Academic Press. Page 7 – 49
Jackson, Michael. Introduction. In Things as They Are. New directions in phenomenological
anthropology. Indiana University Press. Page 1-50
Sharrock, Wes & Button, Graham 1991: The social actor: social action in real time. In:
Button, Graham (ed.): Ethnomethodology and the human sciences. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (p 137 - 171)
Stewart, Kathleen 1996: Chapter 4: Chronotopes. In: A Space on the Side of the Road.
Cultural Poetics in an "Other" America. Princeton: Princeton University Press ( p 90
- 116)
Recommended reading
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight. The Interpretation of
Culture. New York. Basic Books. Pages 412-454.
(check with Lars H. if he has any other text)
Inglis, David. 2012. Phenomenological paradigms. The symbolic interactionist paradigm. In
An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 86-128
Jackson, Michael. 2013. Chapter 1, chapter 3. Lifeworlds. Essays in existential anthropology.
Chicago. The University of Chicago Press. Pages 51-74.
Povrazonovic Frykman, Maja 2003: Bodily Experiences and Community-Creating.
Implications of Transnational Travel. In Frykman, Jonas & Nils Gilje (eds.): Being
There. New Perspectives on Phenomenology and the Analysis of Culture. Lund:
Nordic Academic Press. Page 53 – 74
2
Schutz, Alfred 1967: The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University
Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern
University Press.
Recommended reading
Evans-Pritchard. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Chapter 1 and chapter 8.
Oxford. Clarendon Press. Pages 1-17, 120-145
Thursday 17 September 10-12
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on how people organize and make sense of their life worlds
Monday 21 September 10-12
To be announced later
The Marxist tradition: basic categories, base, superstructure, mode of production,
ideology, primitive accumulation
Required Reading
Inglis, David. 2012. Marxist and Critical Theory Paradigms. In An Invitation to Social
Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 62-85
Thompson, E.P. 1993. Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism. Customs in
Common. Penguin Books. Pages 352-403
Wolf, Eric. 1982. Modes of Production. The Fur Trade. In Europe and the People Without
History. Berkely. University of California Press. Pages 73-100, 158-194
Recommended Additional Reading
Bloch, Maurice. The Past and the Present in the Present. In Man. Vol. 12(2): 278-292.
Thursday 24 September 10-12
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on the materialist tradition in a global perspective
Monday 28 September 10-12
The interplay between structure and agency
(Bourdieu and Giddens)
Required Reading
To be announced later
3
Bourdieu, Pierre; Wacquant, Lois. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Pages: 94-135,
167-173. Cambridge. University of Chicago.
Giddens, Anthony. 1986. Agency, Structure. Central Problems in Social Theory. Action,
Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis. Hong Kong. MacMillan. Pages 49-73
Inglis, David. 2012. Structurationist Paradigms. In An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge.
Polity Press. Pages 208-234
Recommended additional reading
Rehmann, Jan. 2013. Theories of Ideology.The powers of alienation and subjection. Chicago.
Haymarket Books.
Thompson, John, B. 2007. Ideology and Modern Culture. Ideologies in Modern Societies.
Polity Press.
Thursday 1 October
10-12
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on structure, agency, field and structuration
Monday 5 October
10-12
Classification, power and discourse
The legacy of Foucault
Required reading
To be announced later
Dean, Mitchell 2009: Governmentality. Power and Rule in Modern Society. Basic concepts
and themes. London: Sage. Pages 16-51.
Foucault, Michel 2011: 5 January 1983. First Hour. In Foucault Michel: The Government of
Self and Others. Lectures at the College de France 1982 - 1983. Pages1 - 21
Hacking, Ian. 2000. Why Ask What? The Social Construction of What? Cambridge. Harvard
University Press. Pages 1-35.
Recommended Additional Reading
Foucault, Michel 1991: Governmentality. In: Burchell, G.; Gordon, C; Miller P. (eds.): The
Foucault Effect. Studies in Governmentality. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester
Wheatsheaf.
Inglis, David. 2012. Structuralist and post-structuralist paradigms. Post-modernist paradigms.
In An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 165-207
Thursday 8 October
10-12
13-15
To be announced later
To be announced later
4
Discussion seminar on classification, power and discourse
Monday 12 October
10-12
To be announced later
Governmentality, policies and assemblages
Required reading
Dean, Mitchell. Governmentality. Power and rule in modern society. Chapter 1: Basic
concepts and themes. Los Angeles. Sage. Pages 1-51.
Foucault, Michel 1991: Governmentality. In: Burchell, G.; Gordon, C; Miller P. (eds.): The
Foucault Effect. Studies in Governmentality. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester
Wheatsheaf.
Recommended reading
Ferguson, James and Ghupta, Akhil. 2002. Spatializing states: Toward an Ethnography of
Neoliberal Governmentality. In American Ethnologist. Vol. 29(4): 981-1002
Inglis, David. 2012. Structuralist and post-structuralist paradigms. Post-modernist paradigms.
In An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 165-207
Thursday 15 October
10-12
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on governmentality and assemblages
Monday 19 October
10-12
To be announced later
To listen to the voice of others: from structuralism to post-structuralism
Required reading
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1987. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press. Page:
22-30, 87-95
Clifford, James. 1986. Introduction. Partial Truths. In Writing Culture. The Poetics and
Politics of Ethnography (ed. Clifford, James.; Marcus, George, E. 1986). University of
California Press. Pages 1-26
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. Small Places, Large Issues. An Introduction to Social and Cultural
Anthropology. Pluto Press. Page: 102-105
Inglis, David. 2012. Structuralist and post-structuralist paradigms. In An Invitation to Social
Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 165-188
Thursday 22 October
10-12
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on structuralism, post-structuralism and statistics
5
Monday 26 October
10-12
To be announced later
From gender relations to a feminist theoretical approach
Required reading
Lovell, Terry. 2003. Resisting with Authority: Historical Specificity, Agency and the
Performative Self. In Theory, Culture & Society. Vol. 20(1): 1-17
Moore, Henrietta. 1994. Kinship, labour and household: Understanding Women’s work.
Feminism and Anthropology. Cambridge. Polity Press. Page 42-73
Ortner, Sherry. 2005. Chapter 1: Making Gender. Chapter 2: Is Female to Male as Nature is to
Culture? Making Gender. The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Boston. Beacon Press.
Pages 1-42
Recommended reading
Alcoff, Linda. 1994. Cultural Feminism versus Post-Structuralism: The Identity Crisis in
Feminist Theory. Culture/Power/History. A reader in contemporary social theory (ed.
Direk, N.B., Eley, G., Ortner, S.B.) New Jersey. Princeton University Press. Pages 96122.
Thursday 29 October
10-12
To be announced later
13-15
To be announced later
Discussion seminar on gender and feminist theoretical approaches
Friday 30 October
Deadline exam 4 pm
Literature
You will only have to purchase the books marked with a *, that is, the first book
mentioned on the list below.
Books:
*Inglis, David. 2012. An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge. Polity Press.
Excerpts of Books:
Boghossian, Paul, A. 2010. Relativizing the Facts. In Relativism. A Contemporary Anthology.
Pages 170-182. New York. Columbia University Press.
6
Bourdieu, Pierre; Wacquant, Lois. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Pages: 94-135,
167-173. Cambridge. University of Chicago.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1987. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press. Page:
22-30, 87-95.
Bratton, John, Denham, David. 2014. Capitalism and classical social theory. Introduction:
Why classical social theory? Pages 1-22. University of Toronto Press.
Clifford, James. 1986. Introduction. Partial Truths. In Writing Culture. The Poetics and
Politics of Ethnography (ed. Clifford, James.; Marcus, George, E. 1986). University of
California Press. Pages 1-26
Dean, Mitchell 2009: Governmentality. Power and Rule in Modern Society. Basic concepts
and themes. London: Sage. Pages 16-51.
Foucault, Michel 1991: Governmentality. In: Burchell, G.; Gordon, C; Miller P. (eds.): The
Foucault Effect. Studies in Governmentality. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester
Wheatsheaf.
Foucault, Michel 2011: 5 January 1983. First Hour. In Foucault Michel: The Government of
Self and Others. Lectures at the College de France 1982 - 1983. Pages 1-21
Frykman, Jonas & Nils Gilje 2003: Being There. In Frykman, Jonas & Nils Gilje (eds.): Being
There. New Perspectives on Phenomenology and the Analysis of Culture. Lund:
Nordic Academic Press. Page 7 - 49Inglis, David. 2012. Phenomenological
paradigms. The symbolic interactionist paradigm. In An Invitation to Social Theory.
Cambridge. Polity Press. Pages 86-128
Giddens, Anthony. 1986. Agency, Structure. Central Problems in Social Theory.Action,
Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis. Hong Kong. MacMillan. Pages 49-73.
Hacking, Ian. 2000. Why Ask What? The Social Construction of What? Cambridge. Harvard
University Press. Pages 1-35.
Jackson, Michael. Introduction. In Things as They Are. New directions in phenomenological
anthropology. Indiana University Press.
Marcus, George E. Contemporary Problems of Ethnography in the Modern World System.
Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (ed. Clifford, James.;
Marcus, George, E. 1986). University of California Press. Pages 165-193.
Marx, Karl & Engels, Friedrich 1848: Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Moore, Henrietta. 1994. Kinship, labour and household: Understanding Women’s work.
Feminism and Anthropology. Page 42-73
Moore, Henrietta. 1999. Whatever Happened to Women and Men? Gender and other crisis in
anthropology. Anthropological Theory Today (ed. Moore, Henrietta). Cambridge.
Polity Press. Pages 151-171.
Ortner, Sherry. 2005. Making Gender; Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture? Making
Gender. The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Boston. Beacon Press. Pages 1-42
Hill, Polly 1995: Chapter 3: The Vain Search for Universal generalisations: 2. The poor
Quality of Official Satistics. In: Development Economics on Trial. The
7
anthropological case for a prosecution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (pp
30 - 50)
Sharrock, Wes & Button, Graham 1991: The social actor: social action in real time. In:
Button, Graham (ed.): Ethnomethodology and the human sciences. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (p 137 - 171)
Stewart, Kathleen 1996: Chapter 4: Chronotopes. In: A Space on the Side of the Road.
Cultural Poetics in an "Other" America. Princeton: Princeton University Press ( p 90
- 116)
Latour, Bruno 2005: Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. Introduction + Part 1 (=156 pp)
Outhwaite, William. 2009. Habermas. The Colonization of the Lifeworld. Cambridge. Polity
Press. Pages 80-105
Thompson, E.P. 1993. Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism. Customs in
Common. Penguin Books. Pages 352-403
Wolf, Eric. 1982. Modes of Production. The Fur Trade. In Europe and the People Without
History. Berkely. University of California Press. Pages 73-100, 158-194.
Articles:
Martínez, Maria, Laura. 2009. Ian Hacking’s Proposal for the Distinction between Natural
and Social Sciences. In Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Vol. 39: 212-234
Rose, Nikolas & Peter Miller 1992: Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of
Government. The British Journal of Sociology vol 43 (pp 173 – 205 = 29 pp)
Swedberg, Rickard. 2012. Theorizing in sociology and social science: turning to the context
of discovery. In Theory and Society. Vol. 41: 1-40.
Note that some literature might be added to the list and some may be changed or
omitted.
REFLECTION PAPERS TO BE HANDED IN EACH WEEK
You will be part of a student group who will hand in a weekly written reflection paper. The
group shall compose questions and at least two reflections based on the lectures and the
literature. The reaction paper shall consist of an introduction to the questions and reflections,
which makes it possible for the reader to comprehend the background of the
questions/reflections and why the latter are important. The papers can focus on vital aspects of
the literature/lectures, as well as important concepts and/or cases.
8
The papers shall amount to approximately 2-3 pages. The text must be in 12 pt. Times New
Roman. The reflection paper needs to be handed in before 18.00 on Thursdays. The group
will receive written feedback on the reflective papers.
DISCUSSION PAPERS
Discussion seminars will be held each Thursday, 10-12 or 13-15. At times the seminars will
last 10-15 (excluding lunch), but these prolonged seminars will be announced well in advance
The students will be divided into small groups and each group will be responsible for
organizing the seminars. The teachers will help the groups with questions and seminar forms,
if needed.
EXAM
The deadline of the exam is on Friday 4 pm on 30 October. The exam will take approximately
one week to accomplish.You shall write a paper of about 6-7 pages or approximately 2 500
words. The content of the examination will be based on the literature and the lectures. The
paper shall discuss a couple of central questions related to social theory. The questions to be
answered will be provided by the teachers, but the students may also formulate one question
of their own, which has to be approved by the teacher. The text must be double-spaced, and in
12 pt. Times New Roman.
9