SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY 1/14
Sociology 310: Love, Jealousy, and Envy: The Sociology of Emotions
Professor Gordon Clanton
Office: NH-218
E-mail: gclanton@mail.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619/594-4844
Fax: 619/594-1325
Mailbox in Sociology Department Office — NH-224
Sociology Department phone: 619/594-4826
Office hours:
GOAL
The goal of this course is that you discover previously overlooked social aspects of
emotions, including their historical and cross-cultural variability, their hidden social
usefulness, their relationships to social conflict and change, and their relationships to
family, education, economics, politics, and religion. A sociological approach views
emotions as responses to social situations that are shaped by social learning.
CATALOG DESCRIPTION
Sociological understanding of human emotions developed through consideration of
history of sex and love, social psychology of jealousy, and political implications of envy.
Understanding and management of emotions analyzed in context of community and
society.
RESOURCES
These required materials (listed in the order we shall read them) are available at:
KB Books, 5187 College Avenue, San Diego 92115. Phone: 619/287-BOOK
• Gordon Clanton. Sociological Vision. San Diego: KB Books, 1999.
• Gordon Clanton, ed. Love, Jealousy, and Envy: Readings. San Diego: KB Books,
1994.
• Gordon Clanton and Lynn G. Smith. Jealousy, 3rd edition. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America, 1998.
Also: Read a good newspaper every day and clip items relevant to this course.
Please bring 3x5 cards for in-class exercises.
Clanton: Sociology 310 Syllabus
2
COURSE OUTLINE
WEEK
1
INTRODUCTION. Read: This syllabus and the attached materials. Hereafter,
read each assignment before the class meeting at which it will be discussed.
2
THE SOCIOLOGICAL WAY OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD. Read:
Gordon Clanton, Sociological Vision, Preface and Chapters 1 and 2. Ask
yourself: How is sociology different from common sense? How is it different
from psychology? What, according to Mills in Box 1.5, is the most important
distinction with which sociologists work? What are the signature ideas of
Durkheim, Marx, Weber, and Mead? Apply them to emotions.
I. A HISTORY OF LOVE
3
GREEK HEDONISM. Read: Gordon Clanton, “A Historical Sociology of Sex
and Love” and Reay Tannahill, Sex in History, Chapter 4. Ask yourself: What
would your love life have been like if you had been an upper-class Greek man of
400-300 BC? An upper-class woman? What is pederasty? Who were the
hetaerae? How did Platonic philosophy influence Greek understandings of sex
and love?
4
CHRISTIAN ASCETICISM. Read: Tannahill, Chapter 6. Ask yourself: What
is celibacy? When and how did the anti-sexual motif develop in Christianity?
Who were the fathers of the Church?
QUIZ I
5
COURTLY LOVE and PURITAN MARRIAGE. Read: Tannahill, Chapter
10; Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror, pp. 66-69; Morton Hunt, The Natural
History of Love, pp. 215-231 and 251-252; and Edmund S. Morgan, “The
Puritans and Sex.” Ask yourself: In what ways did courtly love represent a
synthesis of Greek and Christian concepts of sex and love? Who were the
Puritans? What innovations did they introduce? How did Protestant religious
ideas influence attitudes toward sex, love, marriage, and family?
6
VICTORIAN PRUDERY and LOVE TODAY. Read: Hunt, pp. 314-321;
Gordon Clanton, “Social Forces and the Changing Family,” pp. 18-31 and 43-44;
and William J. Goode, “The Theoretical Importance of Love.” Ask yourself:
What are the distinctive characteristics, the social causes, and the contemporary
Clanton: Sociology 310 Syllabus
3
impact of Victorian prudery? How have sex, love, marriage, and family changed
in the 20th century? Since World War II? Since the 1960s? What social forces
encouraged these changes? In which societies do people “marry for love”?
Why? Prepare for class discussion of love in contemporary American society.
DUE: Paper 1 on “Puritans, Victorians, and Love Today.”
Be sure to include main points from today’s assignments.
DO NOT DISCUSS the planning or writing of your paper with anyone else.
II. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF JEALOUSY
7
EXPERIENCING JEALOUSY. Read: Gordon Clanton and Lynn G. Smith,
Jealousy, Prefaces, Introduction, Part I, and Appendices I and II. Ask yourself:
What is jealousy? How does it differ from envy? Is jealousy natural or learned?
Are women more jealous than men, or is it the other way around? Which of the
three articles in Part I is closest to your own experience of jealousy? What are
the social sources of the “new view” of jealousy?
QUIZ II
8
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF JEALOUSY. Read: Clanton and Smith, Part II
and Appendix III. Ask yourself: What are the distinctive features of the
psychoanalytic and cognitive approaches to the understanding of jealousy? To
what extent does each take account of social forces? What does the research of
David Kosins suggest about the relationship between adult jealousy and
disrupted attachment history, low self-esteem, and mental illness?
9
THE SOCIOLOGY OF JEALOUSY. Read: Clanton and Smith, Part III and
Appendix IV. Ask yourself: What is the social function of jealousy? How does
Kingsley Davis’s sociological explanation of jealousy differ from conventional
wisdom? What is revealed about jealousy by cross-cultural comparisons? What
are some common misconceptions about jealousy that sociology can correct?
DUE: Paper 2 on “Social Aspects of Jealousy.”
Be sure to include main points from today’s assignments.
DO NOT DISCUSS the planning or writing of your paper with anyone else.
10
MANAGING JEALOUSY. Read: Clanton and Smith, Part IV and Synthesis.
Ask yourself: To what extent do each of the approaches to jealousymanagement in Part IV take account of what sociology has discovered about
jealousy? From whom did you learn when and how to feel jealous? What can
sociology add to common sense and to psychological understandings of love and
jealousy?
Clanton: Sociology 310 Syllabus
4
QUIZ III
III. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF ENVY
11
A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ENVY. Read: George Foster, “The Anatomy
of Envy.” Ask yourself: What is envy? Which features of envy are universal?
Which vary from society to society? Compare the experience and the
management of envy in simple tribal societies and in modern industrial societies.
DUE for some: Make-up paper on “A Comparative View of Envy.”
Write this paper for a grade ONLY if you failed to write one of the first two
papers. Be sure to include the main points from today’s assignment.
DO NOT DISCUSS your paper with anyone else.
DUE for some: Optional Bonus Paper # 4 on The Managed Heart by Arlie
Hochschild. The paper should summarize the main points of the book and make
connections with the other work of the course. This extra paper is not
recommended for students who are struggling in the course.
12
ENVY AND THE SOCIAL ORDER. Read: Helmut Schoeck, Envy, Chapters
1 and 22. Ask yourself: How does envy threaten social order? What is the
function of envy? What is its cause and cure? How do Schoeck's political
views influence his analysis?
13
THE POLITICS OF ENVY. Read: Philip Slater, Wealth Addiction, Chapter 2.
Ask yourself: How does Slater feel about rich people? How do the political
views of Schoeck (on the right) and Slater (on the left) influence their
prescriptions for the management of envy in society? Why, according to Slater,
do non-rich Americans protect the rich from progressive taxation?
QUIZ IV
IV. EMOTIONS IN SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
14
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF EMOTIONS. Read: Gordon Clanton,
“The Social Construction of Emotions.” Ask yourself: What situations provoke
love, jealousy, envy, anger, and grief? What are the social functions of these five
emotions?
DUE: Paper 3 on “Social Aspects of Envy.”
This paper COUNTS AS TWO and cannot be skipped or dropped.
Clanton: Sociology 310 Syllabus
5
Be sure to include main points from Foster, Schoeck, and Slater.
DO NOT DISCUSS the writing of your paper with anyone else.
If you want your final paper and course grade mailed to you, attach a
stamped self-addressed envelope to the back of the paper. Or leave an envelope
(or grade report card) in my box in NH-224.
15
SUMMING UP
First hour. Brief review plus QUIZ V. This quiz COUNTS AS TWO quizzes;
it cannot be skipped or dropped. (If you miss Quiz V, contact the professor
immediately.)
Second hour. View and discuss video of Gordon Clanton talking about
jealousy on the Phil Donahue show. Extra credit Bring refreshments to share.
You are responsible for any changes we make as we go along.
See the attached material titled LEARNING TOGETHER
for further helpful information about this course.
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
Two-thirds of your course grade will be based on the average of your quiz scores after the
two lowest have been dropped. You may not skip or drop the last quiz. If your last quiz
is your lowest, none will be dropped. One-third of your course grade will be based on
your three one-page papers. The three papers are required: You must write them to pass
the course. If your three papers are turned in on time, you get to drop the lower of the
first two paper grades. You may not skip or drop the last paper. The last quiz counts as
two quizzes; the last paper counts as two papers. Prepare your papers according to the
directions provided in the attached material titled LEARNING TOGETHER. Listen in
class for further directions and suggestions for your papers. If you have questions about
the assignments or course requirements, please ask.
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations
for this class, it is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services
at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you
should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that
accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon
disability cannot be provided until you have presented your instructor with an
Clanton: Sociology 310 Syllabus
6
accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is
appreciated.
Clanton: Sociology 310 Syllabus
7