Sociology 656
Social Change
Spring 2003
Dr. Scott Schaffer

Online Reading List

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W Jan 15: Introductory Discussion

Suggested reading: Sewell, "A Theory of Structure"

W Jan 29: Social Stasis and the Bureaucratic Order: Weber

Weber, selections from On Max Weber and Economy and Society

W Feb 5: "Top-down" theories of social change: Durkheim, Parsons, Skocpol

Marske, "Durkheim's 'Cult of the Individual' and the Moral Reconstitution of Society," Sociological Theory 5: 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 1-14.
Bellah, "Durkheim and History," American Sociological Review 24: 4 (Aug 1959), pp. 447-461.
Tiryakian, "Sexual Anomie, Social Structure, Societal Change" (in Durkheim Lives!), Social Forces 59: 4 (Jun 1981), pp. 1025-1053.
Emirbayer, "Useful Durkheim," Sociological Theory 14: 2 (Jul 1996), pp. 109-130.
Rueschemeyer, "Variations on Two Themes in Durkheim's Division du travail: Power, Solidarity and Meaning in Division of Labor", Sociological Forum 9: 1 (Mar 1994), pp. 59-71.
Parsons, “Evolutionary Universals in Society,” American Sociological Review 29: 3 (Jun 1964), pp. 339-367
Skocpol and Amenta, "States and Social Policies," Annual Review of Sociology 12 (1986), pp. 131-157.
Skocpol, "France, Russia, China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions," Comparative Studies in Society and History 18: 2 (Apr 1976), pp. 175-210.

W Feb 12: "Semi-structural" theories of social change: Marx and Huntington

Huntington, “The Change to Change: Modernization, Development and Politics,” Comparative Politics 3: 3 (Apr 1971), pp. 283-322
Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party

W Feb 19: Mobilization theories of social change: Gramsci and Tilly

Gramsci, selections from The Antonio Gramsci Reader (read Parts III, IV, VI, VII).
Tilly, "To Explain Political Processes," American Journal of Sociology 100: 6 (May 1995), pp. 1594-1610.
Snyder and Tilly, "On Debating and Falsifying Theories of Collective Violence," American Sociological Review 39: 4 (Aug 1974), pp. 610-613.
Tilly, "Does Modernization Breed Revolution?" Comparative Politics 5: 3 (Apr 1973), pp. 425-447.

Suggested readings:

Gramsci, "The Modern Prince".

W Feb 26: Resistance Without Revolution: Status-quo social change -- James Scott

Scott, "Resistance without Protest and without Organization: Peasant Opposition to the Islamic Zakat and the Christian Tithe," Comparative Studies in Society and History 29: 3 (Jul 1987), pp. 417-452.

W Mar 5: Opposition and Dissent in Eastern Europe

Suggested readings:

Gurr, “Psychological Factors in Civil Violence,” World Politics 20: 2 (Jan 1968)
Gurr, “The Revolution. Social-Change Nexus: Some Old Theories and New Hypotheses,” Comparative Politics 5: 3 (Apr 1973), pp. 359-392
Rustow, “Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model,” Comparative Politics 2: 3 (Apr 1970), pp. 337-363