CEP Eastern Scholar: Boyan Znepolski
“Sociologies of Modernity” (one semester course)
Academic year 2001-2002 (second semester)
The main purpose of the course is to give students some general
and basic knowledge about the most important paradigms in
Sociology. The methodological ideas at the base of the course are that
there is no single Sociology or single mouvment of the sociological
thought. The History of Sociology is rather the History of its different
trends. In spite of the differences, these trends could however be
organized and put together according to the fundamental leitmotives
and topics they share. Social differenciation, rationalization, modern
condition of man are the topics that allow us to define and to clarify
the similarities and the differences of the Sociologies of Modernity.
The course is required for first year students in Sociology.
Form of teaching: lectures
Forms of examination: written works and oral exam
Assessment: final exam - 60 %, written works (three essays) - 30 %,
participation in class - 10%
Duration: 60 hours (30 hours each semester): First semester - Prof.
Georgi Dimitrov; second semester - Boyan Znepolski
Contact information: boyanzep@otel.net
Course schedule:
1) Introduction to the class. Administrative
presentation of the academic discipline.
issues.
General
I The social differenciation
2) Emile Durkheim. The perspectives of the social differenciation.
Emile Durkheim, De la division du travail social
Emile Dukheim, Education et sociologie
Philippe Steiner, La sociologie de Durkheim
3) Talcott Parsons. Possibilities and limits of the social integration
Talcott Parsons, The Social System
Talcott Parsons, Essays in Social Theory
R. Robertson, B. S. Turner (Eds), Talcott Parsons. Theorist of
Modernity.
3) Pierre Bourdieu. The fields and the habitus.
Pierre Bourdieu, Le sens pratique
Pierre Bourdieu, La distinction
Roger Brubaker, “Social Theory as Habitus” in Bourdieu: Critical
Perspectives
4) Niklas Luhmann. Differenciation and contingency.
Niklas Luhmann, The Differenciation of Society
Niklas Luhmann, “Remarques préliminaires en vue d’une théorie des
systèmes sociaux” in Critique, No 413, 1981
Niklas Luhmann, “The Paradox of System Differenciation and the
Evolution of Society” in Differenciation Theory and Social Change
II The Rationalization
5) Max Weber. Limits and ambiguities of rationalization.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism
Philippe Raynaud, Max Weber et les dilemmes de la raison moderne
Wolfgang Schluchter, Rationalism, Religion and Domination. A
Weberian Perspective.
6) Norbert Elias. The rationalization as autocontrol.
Norbert Elias, La civilisation des moeurs
Norbert Elias, What is sociology?
7) Herbert Marcuse. The destructive effects of rationalization
Herbert Marcuse, The One-Dimensional Man
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization
Gérard Raulet, Herbert Marcuse. Philosophe de l’émancipation
8) Michel Foucault. The rationalization as subjection.
Michel Foucault, Surveiller et punir
Michel Foucault, L’archéologie du savoir
Manfred Frank, Qu’est-ce que le néostructuralisme
9) Jürgen Habermas. Rationalization and democratization.
Jürgen Habermas, The Science and the Technics as Ideology
Jürgen Habermas, Morale et communication
Jean-Marc Ferry, Habermas. L’éthique de la communication
III The Modern Condition of Man
10) Georg Simmel. The Adventures of Modernity.
Georg Simmel, Sociology of Modernity, vol. I, II
Georg Simmel, La tragédie de la culture
François Léger, La pensée de Georg Simmel
11) The School of Chicago. The Modern urban life.
Robert Ezra Park, “La ville comme laboratoire social” in L’école de
Chicago
W. I. Thomas, F. Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America
(1918-1920)
12) Erving Goffman. The Modern Condition and the fragility of the
Subject.
Erving Goffman, La mise en scène de la vie quotidienne
Erving Goffman, Behavior in Public Places
13) Alain Touraine. The Subject of Modern Condition.
Alain Touraine, La production de la société
Alain Touraine, Sociologie de l’action
J. Clark, M. Diani (Ed.), Alain Touraine
14) Anthony Giddens. The Experience of Modernity.
Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity
Anthony Giddens, La constitution de la société
D. Held, J. B. Thompson, Social Theory of Modern Societies. Anthony
Giddens and his critics
15) Revision