SOCIOLOGY 339 Section 1, Winter 2012
INSTRUCTOR:
TIME and LOCATION:
OFFICE HOURS:
Ralph B. Brown
Tuesday/ Thursday
Tuesday, Thursday
CONTACT INFORMATION:
(Phone#) 422-3242
(Office) 2034 JFSB
(email) Ralph_Brown@BYU.edu
--12:05 - 1:20
--9:30 - 11:00
Room B030 JFSB
Before we get too far into this, a word of caution; this is
going to be a different course than many of you may be
accustomed to. Oh, it’s full of the regular academic stuff
for sure, lectures, grades, readings, and so forth. However, it is going to be centered much more
round your role in the delivery of the materials than on my role – I am going to be far more a
facilitator than a lecturer. It will be more “Seminar” format. For example, you will be required to
read, think about, understand and authoritatively critique (both verbally and in writing) a
considerable amount of material (remembering that critique does not just mean loading your
double-barreled intellectual shotgun with disgust and blowing things to smithereens. It also means
identifying and discussing those aspects that the author got right or did well, etc.). You will be
required to present results from your thinking in presentation and writing at an advanced college
undergraduate level. You will be required to think about issues to which there are arguably (and
FEAST or FAMINE!
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that is why they are arguable) no correct answers and to express your best thinking on these issues
in class. You will also be required to research a social change organization and write an in depth
critique of the organization and its ideology, domain assumptions, and methods. Finally, you will
be required to prepare and present some aspects of the lecture for class. The success of this class
literally rests in your hands. If you come to class prepared we will have more material than we
could ever hope to cover to discuss. If you don’t come prepared, the class will fall woefully short of
its potential. So please, come prepared.
Now, even a cursory examination of the above paragraph should tell you that you will be
responsible for much of what happens in this course (it should also tell you that I am going to be
parenthetically pulling things all over the place when I see a connection that can be made). My
teaching style is more conversational, if you talk and participate and give me material to work
with, there will be all the more connections we can make and you will get far more from the
course. So, to try and assure that happens as much as possible, I have taken the liberty to structure
it in where I can. Finally, I am asking you to commit yourself to doing what this course (well, me
actually) requires of you. If you cannot commit to that please drop it and take something else.
Here is my principle with a promise: If you stick this out, give it all it asks of you (and maybe a
little bit more), you will learn more sociology, more about sociology, and more how to use your
sociological imagination concerning social change than you ever realized. I design this class to be
your proverbial Mr. Miagi “Wax-on, Wax-off” course.
A basic element in the origins of the discipline of
sociology was the observation of three distinct but
related phenomena: 1) There is a Social World
that exists in addition to the individual; 2) That that Social World appears to be ordered, i.e.,
there are patterns that can be observed and predicted--social organization and structure, and 3)
That this ordered Social World is subject to change. It was through attempts to understand and
account for the massive social and economic changes occurring in European societies in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that the original sociological concepts of social structure
and change were generated.
Even with this brief introduction, it should be apparent
that one cannot talk of social change without understanding
first what it is that is supposedly changing--social order and the
structure of society. So, what is social structure and how does “The average person adapts
it change? These are the issues that you will explore in this
himself to society, the
course. You will explore them through a comprehensive
abnormal person refuses to
overview of the biological, ecological, social, political, and
do so. Therefore, all social
economic foundations of our modern era and how these are
change is dependent on
organized, how they change and have changed over time. You
abnormal people.”
will immediately come to realize that depending on what one
George Bernard Shaw
considers social structure to be, will determine to a great
degree the various mechanisms available to create change. In
other words, we will purposely be stepping off the terra firma
of “objectivism” (there is a social world out there governed by immutable laws, and to change it,
one must first understand the laws that govern it) and settling ourselves instead into the subjective
world of ideas and definitions (there is a social world out there constructed of our interactions with
COURSE DESCRIPTION
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it, and to change it, requires our changing our interactions with it) that can be objectified. Yet
another precautionary word: clearly, taking such a standpoint obviates me from taking a supposed
neutral standpoint that all theories of social structure and change are equally acceptable. I will
argue specific perspectives. My title is “Professor” my job is to “profess” in an informed manner. I
find it impossible to profess neutrality if I don’t believe in it. Therefore, if you are looking for a
course that is an “objective” information dump sans opinion (I will also make the argument that
even the “objective” view of the social world is just that -- a view, and thus subject (sorry about the
pun, but it does serve my purposes) to subjectivism. It doesn’t mean, however, it is without merit),
this is not the right place for you; let me make that very clear from the start. In the words of Jean
Paul Sartre, I believe we all have the capacity to act at any time, if we claim we cannot, we have
committed an act (note the irony) of “bad faith.” So, please be aware this is NOT a neutral course,
nor do I believe it is my job as a professor to try and “profess” neutrality. It is your job to think
through the informed opinions of those who profess and carve your
own terra firma. Thanks.
History will have to record
that
the greatest tragedy of
I will present the course materials in 3 major
this period of social
sections outlined below.
transition was not the
strident clamor of the bad
Section 1) The first section of the course is informed by four
people, but the appalling
articles and three books and will explore the problems of defining
silence of the good people. .
social structure and how these definitions, in turn, determine the
. Human progress is neither
various theories of social change (for example, are changes in
automatic nor inevitable...
structure teleological--historically inevitable? Is structure
Every step toward the goal
malleable, able to be altered through planned human intervention?
of justice requires sacrifice,
If humans have the ability to create history through their choices,
suffering, and struggle; the
do they have the ability to create the history of their choice? etc).
tireless exertions and
Therefore, the first question of Social Change is: “What is it that
passionate concern of
Changes?” And the answer is “social structure”. The problem
dedicated individuals . .
with this answer is that it does not address what we include in, or
.Human salvation lies in
consider components of, social structure. Social scientists have
the hands of the creatively
always assumed that to understand social organization/structure
maladjusted.
and social change, the uniquely human dimension of the issue
Martin Luther King, Jr.
cannot be excluded. It must be accounted for as humans and the
institutions they create are unique--this is the domain of human culture. In this context we will
discuss the dilemma of history for sociology as a discipline and its contemporary concepts of social
structure and social change. I will argue that anything that has a social (meaning built and
reproduced by human action) history also has structure; and if it has
structure, it also has culture. So, is it structure or culture that
changes in social change? These are not flippant questions.
Depending on how one answers them, will determine how free the
History is not a grave yard,
individual is to make changes in his or her society (or whether the
it is a battlefield!
“individual” even exists at all).
Philip Abrams
Thus all “Theories of Social Change” will inevitably come
back to issues of structure and agency and how this “duality” or
“dualism” can be resolved. One approach is to redefine what we
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mean by social structure. Consequently, throughout the course we will be forced to address the
question: Can culture be considered part of social structure? We will begin to examine this issue
through a discussion on “structuration,” individual agency, social agency, rational choice theory,
dualism, duality and how all of these relate to the problem of structure, culture and change. The
Bates and Peacock article presents a “hard structuralist” approach to the issue which dismisses the
subjective elements of the individual. You will then read two
other articles which present two less “rigid” approaches to the
problem of social structure -- Rubinstien and Hindess. The last
“He who has the bigger
article will introduce you to the agency/structure
stick gets to enforce his
debate—Dawe-- and how it relates to social structure and
view of reality”
change. You will read one of the new classics in sociological
Berger
and Luckman
literature--The Social Construction of Reality by Peter Berger
and Thomas Luckman. The crux of the book is that humans are
both subjects and social objects and the authors of social
reality. We will follow up this discussion by reading Peter
Berger and Anton Zijderveld’s In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a
Fanatic. Berger and Zijderveld do a marvelous job of showing
that civil discourse can still be “civil” and that all “truth’ is
dependent upon the acceptance of doubt as part of the equation.
“It enters a plea for
They juxtapose the “true believer” with the “relativist” and
historically grounded analyses
argue that both are equally removed from truth only in different
ways. This will further inform our discussion on just how social of big structures and large
processes as alternatives to the
structures are structured. Finally, you will read the first 5
timeless, placeless models of
chapters of John Parker’s Structuration. This book presents the
social change that came to us
various approaches which have been used to combine both the
with the nineteenth century
determining factors of structure and liberating factors of agency
heritage.”
and choice. With this broad-based introduction under your belt,
Charles Tilly
you will then begin in the next section to explore humans as the
composers of social change and the creators-of-history
argument.
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Section 2) Two books form the corpus of readings for this
second section of the course. The first reading--Charles
Tilly--Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons will
establish the importance of a historically-based sociology. Tilly
argues that contemporary sociology has inherited what he refers
to as “eight pernicious postulates” or harmful/erroneous
assumptions from its 19th century roots which continue to
plague sociology today making contemporary sociological
theory and methods a-historical. To overcome this problem,
Tilly argues that contemporary sociologists must examine social
organization and change through four historical levels. We will
approach the rest of the course through Tilly’s historical
approach.
The second reading is a classic book written at Tilly’s
Macro-Historical level: Karl Polanyi’s The Great
Transformation. Writing in 1944, Polanyi, a Hungarian Jew
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“Nowhere has liberal
philosophy failed so
conspicuously as in its
understanding of the
problem of change. . .
Economic liberalism
misread the history of the
Industrial Revolution
because it insisted on
judging social events from
the economic viewpoint.”
Karl Polanyi
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who escaped the Nazi terror, tries to explain how something as socially repugnant as
Fascism/Nazism could have developed in modern society where human behavior is perceived as
the product of individuals’ rational and free choices. The basis of his argument is that there is
universal primacy of the social over the economic and political spheres of human life. Therefore,
to understand social change and the structure of our contemporary world we must concentrate our
analysis at the social level as the basis of all social changes--be they political and/or economic
(Wax-on, Wax-off). You will note that this argument flies 100% in the face of conventional
wisdom today, i.e., that all social reality is premised on the basic economic ordering of individual
greed kept in check by the “law” of supply and demand. You will find if you are willing to look at
the history of the issue, you may feel compelled to draw a very different assumption as to the role
of the human actor and his/her motivations. We will then take this revelation and apply it to social
change contexts today in peasant and other agrarian economies for example.
Polanyi provides an incredibly comprehensive historical analysis of the rise of market
economies in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. His thesis: It was only through creating
“self-regulating” market societies that social agendas begin to be defined through economic
agendas. Through Polanyi's eyes, we will examine the "Great Transformation" from
pre-capitalistic forms of societies to our modern world. We will see how economies and polities
(despite how independently "real" they may appear or how much "power" over human volition and
human societies they seem to dictate--i.e., “reification” the interpretation of an abstract general
concept as real) are ultimately the products of human action and are thus socially based.
Therefore, to understand social organization and especially social change, one must look to the
basis of that organization and change, in other words, toward those things that are uniquely human.
Polayni’s book will further our discussion on the dilemma of history for sociology as a discipline
and its contemporary concepts of social structure and social change. It will also illustrate how the
seemingly micro-level-only concepts of Berger and Luckman’s Social Construction of Reality
thesis can be applied at a macro-historical level.
In the latter part of this section we will briefly turn our attention toward some specific
theorists who have grappled with these issues of organization and change as the world about them
changed. We will begin to examine specific theories of social organization and change and the
historical context of the theorists who proposed them. As you will discover throughout this course,
the importance of recognizing the specific historical context of each theorist's writings and ideas is
vital to an understanding of the larger issues of social organization and change. Specifically,
attention to the development of (and changes in, as the social, economic, and political world
changed) Marxian theory will be examined. We will use Marxian theory as an indicator of the
inseparable connection of a theory of society to a particular historical time and place. We will see
how successive theorists had to modify basic tenets of Marxism (considered one of the most
structural of all theories of social change) or their own theories that simply no longer reflected their
current social "reality". We will also briefly examine a Weberian approach to social change and
the power of the subjective idea. This will prepare us to discuss contemporary issues of social
change. Specifically, we will discuss in detail our current social world of “Jihad” versus the
Western “McWorld” of advanced capitalism and consumer culture.
Section 3) Two books form the reading for this last section. The first book is Barber’s Jihad vs.
McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World. What an incredible time to be
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studying social change! Is there any doubt that singular
events--ala September 11th and the market crash of September
“The social entrepreneur
2008--can and do change the world? What we must
changes the performance
understand, however, is what are the “histories” that set the
capacity of society. . . social
stage for the event that changed the world? The Barber book
entrepreneurs advance
allows us to examine the two head-on trains of globalism
systemic change . . . they
(western capitalistic/ consumeristic culture) and tribalism
shift behavior patterns and
(ethnicity and religion) and how the stage for a showdown is
perceptions David
being set and why. This book was written in 1996, when the
Bornstein
Taliban were first securing their power base in Afghanistan.
The book will not only set the stage for a specific discussion
of the world-altering events of Sept 11th, it will also allow for
an awful (because of its reality) test case for the concepts and principles we will have explored
through the semester.
The final book David Bornstein’s How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the
Power of New Ideas (2004) dramatically shifts the discussion back to the role of individuals as
social change agents. It is a fitting way to end our semester-long
discussion on social change. It brings the principles we will
have discussed back to the human actor and how they must
True compassionis
change the organizations and institutions of society in order to
effectuate lasting social change. Even so, it still holds to the
more than flinging a
premise that it is the human actor who acts compelled by the
coin to a beggar; it
power of a new idea, a better way. The book brings the
comes to see that an
“structuration” concepts to life in bold relief giving real-life
edifice which produces
examples of social entrepreneurs that have truly changed the
beggars needs
world around them, typically starting in the most humble of
restructuring
beginnings.
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Martinluther King Jr.
One last thing. As the semester progresses, do not lose
sight of the big picture in this course. We will be talking about
specific theories and theorists, but we will be using them as
indicators of the larger issue, understanding social organization
and change in our contemporary world. Therefore speaking
metaphorically, though we will be examining the individual trees
that make up the forest, it is the forest we ultimately want to
understand.
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“Progress moves in steps
that sometimes lurch
backwards; in history’s
twisting maze, Jihad not
only revolts against but
abets McWorld, while
McWorld not only imperils
but re-creates and
reinforces Jihad. They
produce their contraries
and need one another.”
Benjamin Barber
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Grades will be figured from a total of
300 points from the following
breakdown:
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Readings Critiques
110 points (11 @ 10 points
each)
Additional Points
20 points if you hand in all
11 Readings’ summaries on
time and achieve a grade of 6
or better on each.
Class Presentation on a Word or Phrase
70 points
Final Research Project
100 points
TOTAL = 300 Points.
Extra Credit
I strongly believe that credit is credit and thus “Extra” credit is an
oxymoron. However, I have decided that I will provide an opportunity for
you to sign up for extra credit but the burden will be on you – not me, if you choose to pursue it.
If I am going to provide you with the opportunity for extra credit, to balance Justice and Mercy,
I must also provide you with the opportunity for extra punishment if you fail to keep your
commitment to do it.
So, here is the deal: Mercy -- You must read an additional book from a list I will provide and
write a one page critique on that book in the same format as the assigned critiques above. The
critique will be worth 10 points. Two extra books will be worth 20 points etc. These
critiques will be due by April 13th, the last day of class.
Justice -- If you fail to read the book and write the critique, or if you get a 6 or less on the
critique, I will dock you 50 points. If you sign up for two books you will lose 100 points etc. You
must commit to doing the extra book by 5;00pm January 18th, the Add/Drop day. In other
words, if you want to do extra credit, I will provide the opportunity (the Mercy) but you will have
to carry all of the responsibility for it, not me (the Justice). If you sign up for it, you must do it
or lose the 50 points. If you don’t sign up for it, you will not have an opportunity to do so after
the drop date. If you want to sign up for extra credit, I will provide you a list of books to choose
from.
Reading Critiques: (110 Points plus 20 Additional Points = 130 Points)
You will be required to write a 1 PAGE double spaced (it must not exceed this length or
points will be docked) critique for each of the 11 required readings. (Papers must be in 12cpi,
Times New Roman font, have 1 inch margins all the way around, and use ASA --American
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Sociological Association--style.) It will consist of three parts: 1) you will identify the primary
thesis (thesis statement) of the reading -- what is the main point the author(s) wants you to walk
away with (answers like “a splitting headache” will not be acceptable here)? 2) a summary of the
primary findings and how they were derived -- the author(s)’ methods, theories, data, evidence,
etc., and 3) YOUR APPLICATION of the concepts from the piece B how can you go beyond the
book or article and apply the concepts from it? This is a good opportunity to tie into other ideas,
readings etc. you have stored in your heads from all these years in life, school, and sociology.
Bottom line here, I want to see you think about HOW this information you just acquired can be
applied. How YOU can apply it.
Each of these scholarly critiques will be worth 10 points. I will use your first critique from
the Bates and Peacock article to “critique your critiques.” I will give you a list of writing dos and
don’ts before the assignment is due. I and the TA will then thoroughly go over your papers doing a
copy-edit adding more dos and don’ts to the generic list if needed. We will then use this list as a
template by which to grade your papers. We will grade the papers more critically as the semester
progresses. You need to learn from your previous attempts and improve your writing over the
course. My intent is to help you become better writers and thinkers. Having to write a unique
critique about a reading will force you to think about it differently. Writing uses a different part of
your mental abilities than speaking. As you are being graded on your ability to write well and sell
your argument and your ability to improve over time (the social change part), the most important
portion of the one page critique will be the last section -- your application section. This should
comprise approximately one half of the one page of text.
WARNING!!!!
Please Read This Next Part Very Carefully As It Contains Important
Information That May Affect Your Academic Health
If you complete all 11 assignments and earn at least a score of 6 (i.e., a passing score) on
each of them, you will earn an additional 20 points; but only if you do ALL 11 and earn at least 6
on each. These critiques must to be handed in at the beginning of class on the dates they are
due. You may also email them as an attachment file to BrownSoc339@gmail.com at least 2
hours before class on the day it is due. You will be graded on the consistency of your logic, your
ability to argue your point, and on the mechanics of language, spelling and grammar. If you do not
arrive at class in time for your paper to be collected at the beginning, or, if you wish to turn in
your paper late, but still on the day it is due (until 5:00 pm), you may do so, but there will be an
automatic deduction of 2.5 points from a potential 10-point paper. These dates are listed in the
syllabus. You will need to email them to the above email address.
Class Presentation and Writeup: (70 Points)
You will be required to make a short (no more than 10 minutes) presentation to the class for
discussion on a word or phrase and provide a 1-page write up on it for each student in the class and
me. You will be able to sign up after the drop date for both a word and a date to present it. Your
presentation and write up must include:
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1)
Defining a particular word or concept for the class giving a brief but informative
history of the background and meaning of the word or concept. This would include
its etymological origins. Discuss how and why the word or phrase fits into our
larger discussion on social change and the concepts that undergird it.
2)
Give a contemporary example of how a particular concept tied to your word or
phrase is manifest in society. Use your imagination; articulate how your example
explains the meaning of the concept. Engage the class in this discussion.
3)
Share an article or book or other academic source that discusses the concept in
question. Provide the proper citation -- Websites will not be acceptable here. You
can use them to help you get to the primary sources.
My intent here is to get you more involved and keep me from doing all of the lecturing and
defining of terms, concepts etc. You will be graded on your preparation, delivery, and write-up.
You will need to type up your report to be given to me and your fellow students at the time of
presentation. Again, no more than one page of double-spaced text (12cpi, Times New Roman font,
1 inch margins all the way around). Same rules as described above on the reading critiques will
apply. As with all other writing assignments, writing and citation format needs to be in ASA
(American Sociological Association) style. This is available through the ASA website:
http://www.asanet.org/Quick%20Style%20Guide.pdf or from their journals, specifically, The
American Sociological Review, available in our library. It is your responsibility to get the
particulars on this style and use it on all of your writing assignments.
Final Research Project: (100 Points)
You will need to identify ONE organization (it can be an NGO -- Non Government
Organization, a governmental organization/agency), that is dedicated to creating social change in
some specific way. The link, however, CANNOT be indirect; targeted social change must be part
of the organization’s mission statement. Your job is to do a thorough investigation on the
organization of your choosing then write up a report on the following aspects--at a minimum:
1) What is the organization’s mission statement? What domain assumptions undergird their
mission statement? How do their domain assumptions affect/influence how they will envision
social change including access points, methodologies, strategies, etc.? These must ALL be
identified and well articulated by you.
2) What does your organization look like? What is its organizational flow-chart? Where is it
located, and why is it there? Is its organizational character compatible with its mission statement?
Why? or Why not? What are its capacities? Can they actually do what they claim to do? Again,
Why? or Why not? Do they actually do what they claim to do?
3) What do outside sources have to say about the organization, its successes and failures, its
approaches etc.? In other words, these cannot be self-reported indices. What are non-aligned
critiques (pro and con) of the organization? What set of domain assumptions are they working
from? You will need to do some investigatory research here.
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4) How does one either find employment or volunteer (if possible) in your organization? Give
specific web URLs, application forms etc. What types of people are they looking for and why?
How do these requirements square with their domain assumptions?
5) What is your prognosis as to the organization’s future (10 to 15 years down the road) and why?
Justify your answer through an analysis of how you see the organization and its ability to both
create change and adapt to it. Document your answers with appropriate literature. This should be in
essence, an evaluative research endeavor. It will be important to locate this discussion at both a
theoretical/conceptual level, and a practical level.
6) What improvements would you make to the organization to better match/fulfill its mission
statement if you had the ability to do so? Why would you make these changes? Justify your
response.
Secondly, if you really want to create social change, you can’t ignore the “social” in the equation -you must work with and depend on other people. I STRONGLY encourage you to share and work
with each other. These projects are not graded on the curve but on criterion grading -- if you meet
the criteria, you get the grade. You are NOT in competition with each other. You are only in
competition with a status quo. I encourage you to step out of the box and work together -- even on
your critiques. You will each need to hand in your own critique written by you that represents your
best thinking on the issues, but it can and should certainly be informed by your peers’ best thinking
as well. We work too much in isolation and competition. Let’s see if we can change the world a bit
through cooperation. As an appendix to your paper, I want you to also hand in a brief description of
whom else in the class you worked with and how they assisted.
This will be due the last day of class -- Tuesday, April 10th and is not to exceed 10 pages.
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7 REQUIRED BOOKS:
1) Berger, Peter L. and Thomas Luckmann. 1967. The Social Construction of
Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Anchor
2) Berger, Peter and Anton Zijderveld. 2009. In Praise of Doubt: How to Have
Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic. NY.: HarperOne
3) Parker, John. 2001. Structuration (Concepts in Social Sciences). Open
University Press. (Read Chapters 1-5)
4) Tilly, Charles. 1984. Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
5) Polanyi, Karl and Fred Block. 2001. The Great Transformation: The Political and
Economic Origins of Our Time. Beacon Press.
6) Barber, Benjamin R. and Andrea Schulz. 1996. Jihad vs McWorld: How Globalism
and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World. Ballantine Books.
7) Bornstein, David. 2004. How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the
Power of New Ideas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Recommended Books:
1)
Diamond, Jared. 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human
Societies. W.W. Norton & Company.
2)
Scott, James C. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human
Condition have Failed. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press.
3)
Bauman, Zygmunt. 1992. Modernity and the Holocaust. Cornell University Press. Ithaca:
New York.
4)
Clark, Christopher, 1992 (reprint edition) The Roots of Rural
Capitalism: Western Massachusetts, 1780-1860. Cornell Univ Press.
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Readings correspond with the three sections of the
course. They are to be read during the time-frame of
discussion for their respective sections. I realize that
for many of you, your first reaction will be to look at
this and think (either to yourself or out loud) “Flip!”
or “Fetch!” (both being good Mormonese for "@#$%*&!") "Look at all the readings!" You should
think to yourself, or thank the instructor out loud, "WOW!" "Thanks for all of the great
information!!!!! You are one great guy to provide all of this information for me!”
ARTICLES and BOOKS
listed by Course Section
All four 4 articles are on Black Board as PDF files. You are responsible for obtaining and
reading these articles (see below for specific titles and references). You can also get them
from the Library from the source books and journals if you want.
SECTION 1
1) Bates, Frederick L. and Walter Gillis Peacock. 1989. "Conceptualizing Social Structure: The
Misuse of Classification in Structural Modeling." American Sociological Review
54:565-577.
2) Rubinstein, David. 1986. "The Concept of Structure in Sociology" Pp. 80-94 in M.L. Wardell
and S. P. Turner (eds.) Sociological Theory in Transition. Boston, MA: Allen and Unwin.
3) Hindess, Barry. 1986. "Actors and Social Relations" Pp. 113-126. in M.L. Wardell and S. P.
Turner (eds.) Sociological Theory in Transition. Boston, MA: Allen and Unwin.
4) Dawe, A. 1970. AThe Two Sociologies.@ British Journal of Sociology 21:207-218.
5) Berger, Peter L. and Thomas Luckmann. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise
in the Sociology of Knowledge. Anchor
6) Berger, Peter and Anton Zijderveld. 2009. In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions
Without Becoming a Fanatic. NY.: HarperOne
7) Parker, John. 2001. Structuration (Concepts in
Social Sciences). Open Univ Press.
SECTION 2
8) Tilly, Charles. 1984. Big Structures, Large
Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York:
Russell Sage Foundation.
9) Polanyi, Karl. 1944. The Great Transformation:
The Political and Economic Origins. Boston:
MA. Beacon Press.
SECTION 3
10) Barber, Benjamin R. 1996. Jihad vs. McWorld:
How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the
World. (Paperback) Ballantine Books
11) Bornstein, David. 2004. How to Change the World:
Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New
Ideas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thank Heavens for
Gutenberg Press of 1457!
The reading assignments of this, and all of your
classes, are a direct result of that one invention!
12
Discussion and Reading Schedule
DATE
TOPIC for DISCUSSION
READINGS
Paper
Due Dates
SECTION 1
Jan 5 - Feb 10
Social Organization and Change and The Dilemma of History--What
Actually Changes and Why? How?
(Jan 18th Drop
day)
Collective Action, Agency, Rational Choice, Social Structure, Social
Construction of Reality and other sundry concepts, terms, themes, and theories
that we need to understand (not limited to but including: Social
(March 15th
Drop with a W)
Movements, New Institutionalism, etc.). Bourdieu, Giddens, Kant,
Habitus, Historistity etc. The problem of POWER and the making of
History/Social Change
Readings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Bates &Peacock,
Rubinstein,
Hindess,
Dawe,
Berger & Luckman
Beger and Zijderveld
Parker
#1 - 1/19
#2 - 1/24
#3 - 1/26
#4 - 1/26
#5 - 1/26
#6 –2/2
#7 -2/14
Tilly
#8 B 2/23
Polanyi
#9 B 3/13
Barber
Bornstein
#10 B 3/27
#11 - 4/5
SECTION 2
Feb 16 – 28
Feb 21
Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons
No Class B Monday Instruction day
March 1 B 15
BFeudalism and the Idea of /Self-Regulating Markets
--Social Foundations of Economic Realities
--Polanyi as Macro-Historical Analysis
B More Collective Action, Roots of Rural Capitalism
March 20 – 27
--Early Critiques of Self-Regulating Markets (Marx)
BA Weberian Theory of Social Change: Rationalization and the Power
of the IDEA.
SECTION 3
March 29 –
April 10
Jihad and the ever expanding world of the West
Social Change in the Modern Era
April 10
(Tuesday)
FINAL RESEARCH PAPER DUE TO ME In CLASS
13
Paper 4/10
Terms and Concepts
To Define and Present
Identify theorists who have used
or championed these terms
Name
Date
Empirical_______________________________________________________________
Epiphenomenal __________________________________________________________
Subjective/Subjectivity ____________________________________________________
Subjectivism_____________________________________________________________
Objective/Objectivity ______________________________________________________
Objectivism______________________________________________________________
Ontology/Ontological______________________________________________________
Teleology/Teleological_____________________________________________________
Immutable_______________________________________________________________
Deductive Reasoning_______________________________________________________
Inductive Reasoning________________________________________________________
Recursive________________________________________________________________
Discursive _______________________________________________________________
Nonrecursive_____________________________________________________________
Reflexivity_______________________________________________________________
Dualism ________________________________________________________________
Duality _________________________________________________________________
Semiotic________________________________________________________________
Hermeneutic_____________________________________________________________
Orthodox________________________________________________________________
Orthopraxic______________________________________________________________
Polymathic______________________________________________________________
Solipsism _______________________________________________________________
Praxis__________________________________________________________________
Proletariat_______________________________________________________________
Bourgeoisie______________________________________________________________
Historisity_______________________________________________________________
Structuration ____________________________________________________________
Habitus_________________________________________________________________
Interaction Ritual Chains___________________________________________________
Commodity______________________________________________________________
Rational________________________________________________________________
Rational Choice _________________________________________________________
Nonrational _____________________________________________________________
Illrational_______________________________________________________________
Reification ______________________________________________________________
Reductionism ____________________________________________________________
Dialectic________________________________________________________________
Functionary vs. Agent _____________________________________________________
Market_________________________________________________________________
Tautological_____________________________________________________________
14
A good source at your disposal is AThe Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy@ at the following
URL: http://www.iep.utm.edu/
AOn Line Dictionary of the Social Sciences@ (this may be of help as well)
http://bitbucket.icaap.org/
Yet another good source is AEncyclopedia.com@ http://www.encyclopedia.com/
And yet, one more: >Merriam-Webster On Line@ http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Another resource that may help you greatly as well:
15