Sociology 600, Fall 2008, Hogan, Purdue University
Office: Stone 307, Office Hours: MW 9:30-11:00 a.m.
phone: 49-44679; e-mail: hoganr@purdue.edu
website: http://icdweb.cc.purdue.edu/~hoganr
Classical Sociological Theory
This course provides a survey of classical sociological theory, focusing on the writings of
Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. As context for the development of sociological theory, we will
read some essays from classical conservative, radical, and liberal theorists, culminating in
enlightenment liberalism, represented by John Stuart Mill. Toward a bridge to contemporary
theory and to the material covered in SOC 602 and SOC 603, we will read some essays by Georg
Simmel, Sigmund Freud, and George Herbert Mead.
Each week there will be required and recommended readings. Students must do all of the
required reading and come to class ready to discuss what they have read. For each section, the
instructor will present an introductory lecture (on the first day). Thereafter, students are
expected to come to class with questions for discussion. Also, groups of students will read and
present (on the last class meeting for each major section) the recommended readings. Each
student will choose a section of particular interest to her/him, and we'll organize the groups on
the first day of class. Finally, for the last day of class, each student will choose one of the three
recommended readings (Simmel, Freud, or Mead), which they will read and come to class
prepared to discuss, in a roundtable discussion of the classics in Social Psychological (or micro)
theory.
Students will write three analytical essays (~10 pages each), exploring or applying each
of the major theoretical traditions. Students will also provide each member of the class with an
annotated bibliography and outline for their segment of their group presentation. These papers,
the in-class presentations, attendance, and class participation (plus a consideration of
effort/improvement, discussed below) will be the basis for assigning letter grades (A=excellent,
B=average, C=problematic, D=poor, F=unacceptable).
In addition to three analytical essays that will be graded, you will also be required to
write weekly essays that will be collected but not graded. These papers will allow you to express
your reactions to readings and discussions, to describe theories/theorists and topics that you
might wish to explore, to explore those topics as viewed from a particular theoretical approach,
and to compare and contrast different approaches to the same topic. All of these essays will help
you to write your way toward an analytical essay and will help me to help you in that effort.
Save all the essays that I return to you with comments. At the end of the semester (with your
final essay) you should return all of your essays to me. This will help me to appreciate both the
degree of effort and the degree of improvement, both of which will tend to raise your grade.
All books (except Comte and Saint Simon, which are hard to get) will be available at
Vons (you might want to buy a discount card to save 10%).
Schedule of Topics and Readings
1. Introduction and Overview (first class)
2. Pre-Sociological Theory (second class)
- Aristotle, Politics
- Saint Augustine, City of God
- Machiaveli, The Prince
- Moore, Utopia
- Rousseau, The Social Contract
- Locke, Of Civil Government
- Smith, Wealth of Nations
- Saint-Simon, Selected Writings
- Comte, General View of Positivism
- Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
- Hegel, Philosophy of Right
- Spencer, Herbert Spencer on Social Evolution
- Pareto, Rise and Fall of the Elites
- Tonnies, Community and Society
- Mill, On Liberty (required)
3. Marxism (weeks 3-6)
- Tucker reader (except Engels, three weeks: required)
- Engels (end of Tucker)
- Lenin, Imperialism
- The Civil War in France (Marx and Lenin)
4. Durkheim (weeks 7-10)
- Division of Labor (two weeks: required)
- Rules of the Sociological Method (required)
- Suicide
- Elementary Forms of Religious Life
5. Weber (weeks 11-14)
- Sociological Writings (2 weeks: required)
- Protestant Ethic (required)
- Sociology of Religion
- selections from Economy and Society (TBA)
6. Toward Contemporary Sociological Theory (last class: read one of the following)
- Simmel, Sociology of Georg Simmel
- Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
- Mead, Mind, Self, and Society
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Rules, etc.
As necessary, we will discuss the academic rules and the classroom rules involving turntaking, mutual respect, courtesy, etc. My impression (based on the past two decades or so of
teaching graduate students here at purdue) is that you all know how to read, write, and talk
within a classroom setting and have some sense of academic standards and practces. We will
discuss these more, in theory and practice, later on. For now, only one issue deserves special
attention.
Plagiarism: Presenting as your own ideas or words that you have borrowed from someone
else is plagiarism. Plagiarism is the most serious of academic sins. Plagiarism is grounds
for failure in the course and disciplinary measures that might include expulsion from the
university.
The typical case of plagiarism is when a student is attempting to describe something in
the assigned readings. If you are writing and your textbook is open then you should include a
reference to that page (Tucker, p. 100). In fact, if you are looking for the answer in the text then
you probably are not yet ready to write. Trying to rephrase the writing of a professional is much
too hard. Invariably you wind up borrowing. It is easier to simply quote the text, but you don’t
want your essay to be a string of quotes. The key is to read first, then think, then write. Repeat
as necessary.
Bibliography (required reading in bold)
Aristotle. Politics (Oxford University Press, 1995)
Augustine, Saint. City of God (Doubleday, 1958)
Comte, Auguste. General View of Positivism (Robert speller and Sons, 1957)
Durkeim, Emile. Division of Labor in Society (Free Press, 1984)
---
Rules of the Sociological Method (Free Press, 1982)
---
Suicide (Free Press, 1987)
---
Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Free Press, 1995)
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton, 1969)
Hegel, G.W. Philosophy of Right (Prometheus, 1996)
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Practical Reason (Prometheus, 1996)
Lenin, V.I. Imperialism: The Highest State of Capitalism (China Books, 1975)
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Locke, John. Treatise of Civil Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration (Irvington, 1965
Machiavelli, N. The Prince and Other Political Writings (Charles E. Tuttle, 1995)
Marx, K. and Frederick Engels, The Marx-Engels Reader (Edited by Robert C. Tucker)
(Norton, 1978)
Marx, K., V.I. Lenin, and Nikita Fedorovsky. The Civil war in France (International, 1993)
Mead, G. H. Mind, Self, and Society (Univ. Chicago, 1967)
Mill, J.S. On Liberty (Prometheus, ?)
More, T. H. Utopia (Dover, 1997 or St. Matin's, 1995?)
Pareto, V. The Rise and Fall of Elites: An Application of Theoretical Sociology (Transaction,
1991)
Rousseau, J. J. The Social Contract (C.E. Tuttle, 1993)
Saint-Simon, C. H. Selected Writings (Hyperion Press, 1994)
Simmel, G. The Sociology of Georg Simmel (Free press, 1964)
Smith, Adam. Wealth of Nations (Viking Penguin, 1962)
Spencer, Herbert. Herbert Spencer on Evolution (Edited by J. D. Peel) (Univ. Chicago, 1984)
To[e]nnies, Ferdinand. Community and Society (Transaction, 1988)
Weber, Max. Sociological Writings (Continuum, 1993)
--- Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Routledge, Chapman & Hall, ?)
---
Sociology of Religion (Beacon Press, 1993)
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