MARION FOURCADE
Department of Sociology
UC Berkeley
fourcade@berkeley.edu
Office Hours: Thursday, 11:30-1:30pm Barrows 474 (please sign up in advance):
http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hepeo
SOC102. CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY.
TuTh 9:30-11:00, 105 STANLEY
The second of two terms surveying fundamental ideas about modern society, via an
examination of contemporary works in sociological theory. The course concentrates on
three tasks: What are the main themes and arguments developed in these texts? To
what changes and problems in the social world were the ideas a response? How do
these ideas help us understand the world around us? The theorists considered in the
second term include Simmel, Mead, DuBois, Berger and Luckman, Schutz, Garfinkel,
Goffman, Fanon, Bourdieu, Foucault, West & Zimmerman, Rubin.
Books on order at the Cal Student Bookstore
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman. The Social Construction of Reality. Anchor Books.
Donald N. Levine, ed. Georg Simmel. On Individuality and Social Forms. University of
Chicago Press.
George Herbert Mead. Mind, Self and Society. University of Chicago Press.
Charles Lemert and Ann Branaman, eds. The Goffman Reader. Wiley-Blackwell.
bCourse and Reader
In addition, a reader (is available at Copy Central, 2560 Bancroft Way. All readings
marked with a  are also available from bCourse.
iClicker
You must also buy an iclicker for in-class quizzes (should be available from the
bookstore or from https://www1.iclicker.com/). Register your iclicker on bCourse, not
on the iclicker website (they will charge you for it).
Movies
Please note that the movie excerpts on the syllabus are all suggestions. I may decide to
select an excerpt from another movie (or not show the one that was planned, if we are
pressed for time). These can only be seen in lecture. This semester, there will be no
assignment specifically based on a movie.
REQUIREMENTS
Assignment
Paper #1
Mid-term exam (in class)
Paper #2
Section grade
Value
10 points
15 points
10 points
25 points
Date due
February 17
March 17 (70 minutes)
April 16
See with GSI
Random in-class quizzes
Final exam
Total
15 points
25 points
100 points
throughout
May 13 (3 hours)
Please note that the quiz grade will be calculated as follows:
Each quiz will have 7 questions. Each question counts for 1/2 point. The maximum
number of points available for performance on any one quiz is 3. (So you need only 6
correct answers to have a perfect performance score). In addition, each quiz will be
given 2 attendance points. The best grade on any one quiz is thus 5 points.
The total quiz grade for the semester is 15 points. I will count the best quizzes only,
typically 3 or 4 out of 6 or 7 quizzes, or some combination (the actual number of quizzes
given is not yet known).
SECTIONS - SCHEDULE
101 TuTh 8-9A, 224 WHEELER Matt Stimpson
102 TuTh 11-12P, 211 DWINELLE Matt Stimpson
103 TuTh 12-1P, 80 BARROWS Aya Fabros
104 TuTh 1-2P, 80 BARROWS Aya Fabros
105 TuTh 2-3P, 115 KROEBER Alex Barnard
106 TuTh 3-4P, 61 EVANS Alex Barnard
107 MW 8-9A, 80 BARROWS Rebecca Elliott
108 MW 9-10A, 103 WHEELER Rebecca Elliott
109 MW 10-11A, 31 EVANS Alex Roehrkasse
110 MW 11-12P, 31 EVANS Alex Roehrkasse
111 MW 12-1P, 50 BARROWS Jason Ferguson
112 MW 1-2P, 50 BARROWS Jason Ferguson
113 MW 2-3P, 115 KROEBER Shannon Ikebe
114 MW 3-4P, 115 KROEBER Shannon Ikebe
Academic honesty
You must in no way misrepresent your work or be party to another student’s failure to
maintain academic integrity. It is your responsibility to check the code of academic
integrity at http://sa.berkeley.edu/conduct/integrity. The standard penalty for
violations of academic integrity in this course will be a 0 on the assignment or 20 points
taken from your course grade of 100, whichever is highest. A second violation is an
automatic F grade for the course. All written assignments must cite directly from the
readings (not from my course slides), include complete bibliographies and follow
proper citation practices (including page numbers for direct quotes from scholarly
texts).
Grievances
If you wish to contest a grade, you must come first to your section leader and submit
him/her a one-page statement explaining why you think the grading is unfair. Only if
you are still dissatisfied should you contact the head GSI, and only after that should you
be in touch with me. Before I will listen to your case, I will first want to hear from your
GSI and from the head GSI. Please bear in mind that your grade may move upwards or
downwards should one of us decide to re-grade your paper.
Grading
You will accumulate points throughout the semester. The total # of points for all
assignments is 100 (see above). Your course grade will be calculated as follows.
A+
A
AB+
B
B-
>97%
93-96
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82
C+
C
CD
F
77-79
73-76
70-72
60-69
<60
JANUARY 20. INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE. SETTING THE STAGE.
Geoffrey Hawthorn, 2009, “History ignored” Pp191-216 in Enlightenment and Despair.
Cambridge University Press.
RW CONNELL, 1997, "Why is Classical Theory Classical?" American Journal of Sociology
102(6): 1511-1557 
online survey
PART I. THE SELF THROUGH SOCIAL INTERACTION
JANUARY 22. EUROPEAN ROOTS OF THE MICRO-INTERACTIONIST TRADITION: GEORG
SIMMEL (1858-1918). SOCIATION.
From Donald N. Levine, ed. 1971. Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms. Pp235. "How is Society possible?" "The Problem of Sociology"
From Donald N. Levine, ed. 1971. Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms.
“Introduction.”, pp iv-lxv
JANUARY 27. GEORG SIMMEL. SOCIAL GEOMETRY
From From the Sociology of George Simmel, trans. Kurt Wolff, “On the Isolated Individual
and the Dyad” Pp118-125; 135-142. 
From Donald N. Levine, ed. 1971. Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms. Pp251257 (“Group Expansion and the Development of Individuality”), 324-339 (“The
Metropolis and Mental Life”).
JANUARY 29. GEORG SIMMEL. SOCIAL TYPES.
From Donald N. Levine, ed. 1971. Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms. Pp143149 (“The Stranger”); 294-232 (“Fashion”).
Sergio Leone, A Fistful of Dollars (movie excerpt)
FEBRUARY 3. GEORGE HERBERT MEAD (1863-1931): SOCIAL BEHAVIORISM. COOLEY: THE
LOOKING-GLASS SELF
George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and Society. "The Point of View of Social Behaviorism"
(Pp1-18)
Charles Horton Cooley, “The Looking Glass Self” In Human Nature and the Social Order.
Pp136-178.

Charles Morris, "Introduction". Pp ix-xxxv in George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and
Society.
FEBRUARY 5. GEORGE HERBERT MEAD. THE SELF.
George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and Society. 117-125 (“The Mind”); 135-164, 173-178,
192-209 (“The Self”).
François Truffaut, The Wild Child (movie excerpt)
FEBRUARY 10. GEORGE HERBERT MEAD. SOCIETY.
George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and Society. 273-281, 303-310, 317-336 (“Society”).
Herbert Blumer, 1966. "Sociological Implications of the Thought of GH Mead." American
Journal of Sociology 71(5): 535-544
FEBRUARY 12. W.E.B. DU BOIS. (1868-2963). DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS.
W.E.B. Du Bois. 1994 (1903). The Souls of Black Folks. "Of our Spiritual Strivings" - "Of the
Dawn of Freedom." Dover.
Documentary excerpt: Spike Lee, When the Levees Broke

W.E.B. Du Bois. 1920. Darkwater: Voice from Within the Veil.
Movies: Spike Lee, Jungle Fever,
.
FEBRUARY 17: PAPER 1 DUE
FEBRUARY 17. SOCIAL PHENOMENOLOGY. COMMONSENSE.
Alfred Schutz. 1970. “The Lifeworld.” Pp72-76 in Helmut Wagner (ed.) On
Phenomenology and Social Relations.
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality. Pp1-18
("Introduction: The Problem of the Sociology of Knowledge.")
Recommended:
Schutz, “The Phenomenological Baseline” in Helmut Wagner (ed.) On Phenomenology
and Social Relations. 
FEBRUARY 19. PETER BERGER AND THOMAS LUCKMAN: SOCIETY AS OBJECTIVE AND
SUBJECTIVE REALITY
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality. Pp47-79
(institutionalization), 129-147 (Society as Subjective Reality).
Recommended:
John Meyer, 2010, "World Society, Institutional Theories, and the Actor", Annual Review
of Sociology 36: 1-20.
FEBRUARY 24. THE ETHNOMETHODOLOGY OF HAROLD GARFINKEL
Harold Garfinkel. 1963. “Studies of the Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities.” Social
Problems 225-250.
Recommended:
Michael Lynch. 2011. “Harold Garfinkel”. Social Studies of Science. 41(6) 927–942
Harold Garfinkel. 1974. “The Origin of the Term ‘Ethnomethodology’” Pp15-18 in Roy
Turner, ed. Ethnomethodology. Penguin.
Harold Garfinkel, 1967, “What is Ethnomethodology?” and “Passing and the Managed
Achievement of Sex Status in an 'Intersexed' Person.” In Studies in Ethnomethodology.
Prentice Hall.
FEBRUARY 26: ERVING GOFFMAN (1922-1982): DRAMATURGY
From Charles Lemert and Ann Branaman, eds. The Goffman Reader.
Chapter 2 (“Self Presentation”), Chapter 9 (“Social Life as Drama”)
MARCH 3: DOING GENDER.
Charles Lemert and Ann Branaman, eds. The Goffman Reader. Chapter 14 (“Frame
analysis of Gender”)
Candace West and Don Zimmerman, 1987, “Doing Gender”, Gender and Society 1: 125151.
MARCH 5. ERVING GOFFMAN: MORTIFIED SELVES
From Charles Lemert and Ann Branaman, eds. The Goffman Reader. Chapter 6 (“The
Mortified Self”)
Milos Forman, One Flew over a Cuckoo’s Nest (movie excerpt)
MARCH 10. SPOILED SELVES.
From Charles Lemert and Ann Branaman, eds. The Goffman Reader. Chapter 7 (“The
Stigmatized Self”)
MARCH 12. MIDTERM REVIEW
MARCH 17. MIDTERM EXAM (IN CLASS).
THE MIDTERM COVERS MATERIAL UP TO MARCH 10.
PART II. THE SELF THROUGH POWER
MARCH 19. OTHERING. FRANZ FANON & EDWARD SAID.
Franz Fanon, 1994, “The Negro and Language.” Pp17-40 in Black Skin, White Masks. New
York: Grove Press.
Edward Said, 1979, "The Scope of Orientalism: Knowing the Oriental" Pp31-49 in
Orientalism. Vintage Books.
Recommended
Homi Bhaba, "Framing Fanon", Foreword to The Wretched of the Earth.
MARCH 24 & 26 SPRING RECESS
MARCH 31. PIERRE BOURDIEU (1930-2002). INTRODUCTION. CLASSES.
Pierre Bourdieu, 1985, "Social Space and the Genesis of Groups", Theory and Society,
14(6): 723-731 only.
Pierre Bourdieu, 2002, "The Forms of Capital", Pp280-191 in Nicole Biggart, Readings in
Economic Sociology, Blackwell.
Pierre Carles, Sociology is a Combat Sport. (Movie Excerpt)
APRIL 2. PIERRE BOURDIEU. HABITUS.
Pierre Bourdieu, 1992, “Structures, habitus, practices”, Pp. 52-65 in The Logic of Practice,
Stanford University Press.
Begin Pierre Bourdieu, 1984, “The Habitus and the Space of Lifestyles.” Pp169-225 in
Distinction. Harvard University Press.
Recommended:
Pierre Bourdieu. “Social Space and Symbolic Power.” In In Other Words. Pp123-139.
APRIL 7. PIERRE BOURDIEU. HABITUS (CONTINUED).
Finish “The Habitus and the Space of Lifestyles.” Pp169-225 in Distinction. Harvard
University Press.
Analysis of online survey
Recommended:
Loïc Wacquant/Pierre Bourdieu. Pp132-137 (concept of habitus) in An Invitation to
Reflexive Sociology, University of Chicago Press.
Allan Metter, Back to school (movie)
APRIL 9. PIERRE BOURDIEU. SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE.
Pierre Bourdieu/ Loïc Wacquant, 1992, Pp 162-168 (concept of symbolic violence) in An
Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. University of Chicago Press.
Pierre Bourdieu, 2002, Pp33-53 in Masculine domination. Stanford University Press.
Recommended:
Pierre Bourdieu. "The Economy of Symbolic Goods" Pp92-124 in Practical Reason,
Stanford University Press
APRIL 14. PIERRE BOURDIEU. FIELDS. CONCLUSION.
Pierre Bourdieu, 1991, "Political Representation: Elements for a Theory of the Political
Field." Pp171-202 in Language and Symbolic Power. Harvard University Press. (focus on
pp171-183) 
Recommended:
Pierre Bourdieu, 1998, “The Scholastic Point of View.” Pp127-140 in Practical Reason.
Stanford University Press. 
Pierre Bourdieu/Loïc Wacquant, 1992, Pp62-74 (“Sociology As Socio-Analysis”) in An
Invitation to Reflexive Sociology, University of Chicago Press.
APRIL 16. PAPER 2 DUE
APRIL 16. MICHEL FOUCAULT (1924-1986). INTRODUCTION. DISCIPLINARY POWER.
Michel Foucault, 1995, “The Body of the Condemned” and “Panopticism” Pp3-31, 195226 in Discipline and Punish. Vintage.
Recommended
Paul Rabinow, ed., 1984, Pp3-29 in The Foucault Reader. Pantheon Books.
APRIL 21. MICHEL FOUCAULT. BIOPOWER.
Michel Foucault, 1978, “We Other Victorians” and “Right of Death and Power over
Life.” Pp3-13, 134-159 in History of Sexuality vol I. Pantheon Books.
(movie excerpt)
APRIL 23. MICHEL FOUCAULT. GOVERNMENTALITY
Michel Foucault, 1979, "Governmentality," Ideology and Consciousness 6: 5-22

APRIL 28. LIBERATION
Gayle Rubin, 1975, "The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex",
Pp157-210 in Rayna Reiter, ed. Toward an Anthropology of Women. Monthly Review
Press.
Darius Mehrjui, Leila (movie excerpt)
Recommended
Simone De Beauvoir, 1989, Second Sex, conclusion (pp673-687). Vintage.
Hélène Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa"
APRIL 30. LIBERATION (END). CONCLUSION OF THE COURSE.
Franz Fanon, 1963, Pp 1-8 (until "vomit them up") and 52-62 ("On Violence in the
International Context") in The Wretched of the Earth. University of Chicago Press.
May 5. REVIEW
MAY 13. FINAL EXAM 11:30-2:30PM