SOC 501

Classical Sociological Theory Fall 2001

Texts: Emile Durkheim: Suicide. New York: Free Press, 1951

Emile Durkheim: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: New York: Press, 1995

Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing, 1996

David McLellan (ed): Marxism: Essential Writings, Oxford UP, 1988

Sholomo Avineri: The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1970

Hans Gerth & C. Wright Mills (eds): From Max Weber. New York: Oxford UP, 1946

John Hughes, Peter Martin, W.W. Sharrock: Marx, Weber, Durkheim. London: Sage 1995.

This seminar is the first part of a two-semester survey of social and sociological thought. As such it is designed to introduce the student to the major sociologically relevant analytic conceptions developed in social and political philosophy, proto-social science, and classical sociology. The seminar's overall perspective is contained in the following considerations.

Sociology may be defined as the systematic study of the ways in which human beings manage their collective existence, and of the ways in which life in society shapes the external and internal fates of individuals. The intellectual concern with these issues is, of course, not of recent origin and far predates the emergence (around 1850) of sociology as a special discipline. What distinguishes this discipline from prior approaches - at least according to its favored self-interpretation - is its presumed "scientific" character. Yet since earlier treatments also claimed to be scientific, the distinctiveness of modern social "science" requires some elucidation. Here two features may be singled out: Its self-restriction to statements of fact (precluding the establishment of norms or values), and its concern with the discovery of nomic relationships ("laws").

Whether or not sociology has succeeded in being value-free and productive of nomological knowledge is a matter of debate. It has been argued that a value-free discipline is impossible or undesirable, and that the fixation on nomic relationships is misguided. Should these arguments have convincing force, the continued pursuit of mainstream sociology would not be justifiable as it would appear devoid of cognitive or more broadly informative value.

This seminar is designed as an introduction to the body of ideas that provides the intellectual background and context for the understanding and assessment of modern sociology as a rather peculiar approach to the analysis of social life. To become familiar with the ideas of the classical writers - Comte, Marx, Durkheim, Weber - and a number of earlier thinkers in social and political philosophy is useful for above all two reasons: First social science is not, as a purely inductivist or empiricist position would have it, mostly a matter of methodically deriving generalizations from masses of empirical data. Social scientists have always undertaken their empirical investigations with ideas and questions about presumed patterns and orderly relations in mind that emerged from theoretical debates. To understand why certain questions are being asked requires some knowledge of the universe of analytic ideas within which they were formulated. Second, the development of social thought issuing in the idea of social science as an enterprise worth undertaking is a peculiar feature of Western culture and as such a social phenomenon of great significance. No competent sociologist, therefore, can afford being ignorant on this score.

Topical Outline

• The Christian Synthesis: Understanding the Divine Plan
• Auguste Comte: Order and Progress
• Karl Marx: Production and Exploitation
• Emile Durkheim: Solidarity and Morality
• Max Weber: Economy, Politics, and Religion

Students in this seminar will be reading a good amount of primary texts. Specific assignments will be announced each week in class. To receive a grade, a student must submit two papers: one discussing and analyzing a book or idea authored by Marx, Durkheim, or Weber, the other dealing with any theoretical topic of his/her choice that is relevant to the seminar's subject matter.