Sociology 401: Sociological Theory
Fall 2001
Dr. Scott Schaffer
Office: Susquehanna House 105
Phone: 717/872.3567
Fax: 717/872.3942
Office Hours: Mon/Weds
1230pm to 2pm or by appointment
E-mail: scott.schaffer@millersville.edu
Course Description:
This course is designed to provide you with an in-depth study of theories of society and social life since 1800. Social theory may appear to be the most abstract part of your studies in sociology; however, social theory plays a number of roles in our everyday life: theory has helped in the development of our political system, our society, and our culture; theory helps us to understand some of the strange things people do in social settings; and theory attempts to show us how some of the wrongs done to others in the social world can be rectified. Sociological theory is also the foundation of the entire field of sociology; the best way to understand what goes on in sociology as a whole (and your other classes in particular) is through understanding social theory. But more importantly, social theory is a way of seeing the world - and this is the primary skill you will develop throughout the semester.
The thematic discussion for this semester will revolve around this issue of "theory as perspective on the world," and we'll focus in particular on ways of understanding social structure, agency, and freedom. In American society, we presume (and claim to the rest of the world) that we are "free"; but do we have any clear idea of what "freedom" is? We will explore the ways in which classical and contemporary social theorists have understood this issue, as well as the related topics of social structure and individual agency - in other words, the tension between the ways in which our social lives are structured by larger social processes and our ability to act in an autonomous, self-determining fashion. Without having a clear idea of the ways in which our lives are structured, we cannot understand (let alone claim) to be any more "free" than the rest of the world.
There are a number of tasks you will be asked to engage in this semester. First, the obvious - you must read all of the assigned readings before coming to class. Many of the readings are difficult, and the lectures are intended to illuminate the issues discussed in them. You should not - and this is your second task - presume that the ideas put forth in lecture are "the answers to the questions." One of the toughest parts of studying theory is the realization that there are no "right" or "wrong" answers, only better or worse ones, and it is your job to come up with those answers and to defend them. Third, you will be asked to engage the readings in a variety of ways - papers, written discussion questions, oral discussions in your groups, and in class. Finally, you are expected to open yourself up to the materials in this course. They are, as are most university courses, intended to bend your mind.
This course will be challenging - much of your effort will be devoted to trying to see how these texts and our discussions relate to your lives, and that's really the point of the course. Your continual preparation during the semester, though, will be crucial to your success. Do not rely on the lectures to substitute for the readings (and vice versa) - they can't. Ultimately, what you have to say about these texts will be up to you, making this your journey to a better understanding of the world in which you exist.
Course Texts:
Required Texts (in order of use in the course):- these texts are available at the Marauder Bookstore or online at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.
Karl Marx (R. Tucker, ed.), The Marx-Engels Reader (abbreviated MER)
Optional But Highly Recommended Text: Anthony Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory (abbreviated CMST)
Course Assignments: There are four types of assignments for this course. Successful and timely completion of all four are critical to your success in the course.
Papers: There are four papers required for this course - one after each of the three main texts, and a fourth due at the end of finals week. The first three build on one another in terms of both topic and approach, and will move from exegesis/explanation of one text, to a comparison of two texts, to a synthesis of all three main texts. The final paper will ask you to develop your own theoretical version of an "ideal society" utilizing the three main texts and other authors we'll read this semester. Pay careful attention to the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout - it contains everything you need to know about writing for me.
Discussion Groups: In the second class session, you will join a three-person discussion group, that will serve as both a site for discussing the weekly questions that are intended to guide you through the readings and as a moral support group for your journey through theory. The questions will be handed out in advance of each week's reading. You will be asked to develop consensual responses as a group to each of the questions presented on the discussion questions list and submit them the week after the readings. All group members must participate in the discussion and must sign the responses to verify their participation. Discussion question submissions will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis, so they're free grades. They will also help you prepare for the questions posed on the paper assignments.
Reading Journals: You will be asked to keep a journal throughout this course. How you use the journal in conjunction with the course is up to you; it is intended to provide you with another space in which you can deal with the issues that appear during the course. You will be asked to submit your journal twice during the semester - once with the second paper, and again with the final paper. I do read the journals, so you know. They will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis - you do at least an entry each week, you pass. You don't...
Class Participation: Your participation in this course is vital to your success. On some days, participation will simply be your attendance; on others, you'll be asked to submit prepared questions for address by the class; and on still others, you will need to engage the class in discussion on the materials and issues at hand for that day. In any case, this is not a class where slacking is healthy - the success of each and every class session rests in part on your contribution.
Note: I reserve the right to give a pop quiz at any time to ensure that you're keeping up with the readings. Any time I give a pop quiz, it will be graded on a letter-grade basis and will count as two sets of discussion questions. There are no makeup quizzes; if you're not there the day it happens, you receive a zero (0) for that quiz save in the event of an excused absence.
Grade Breakdown: Grades for this course will be letter grades with +/- modifiers, save for the discussion questions and journals which are pass/fail (A or F). You cannot pass the course without submitting all paper assignments and the journals.
First Paper:
10%
Second Paper:
15%
Third Paper:
20%
Final Paper:
30%
Discussion Questions:
10%
Journals:
5%
Class Participation:
10%
Timeliness, Presentation, and Academic Dishonesty Policies:
Timeliness: As you know, the tempo of the semester system does not allow one to fall behind, and everything in this course builds to the final research paper. As such, you are requested and required to submit all assignments on the time and date announced. Except in the case of a severe, catastrophic, and well-documented misfortune that befalls you (such as your departure from this mortal coil), no late papers will be accepted; in the event of a catastrophe, you must contact me by phone or e-mail as early as possible. Papers must be submitted to the instructor in person at the time and date due, to the Sociology Department office prior to the deadline, or by e-mail to me before the deadline.
Presentation: The research papers you will undertake in this course represent a significant portion of your time this quarter and are intended to get you to think about the nature of the society in which you find yourselves. The expectation is that you will pursue these assignments with vigor and a clear intent to do well in the development of your analytic and critical thinking skills. As such, you are required to proofread and spell- and grammar-check all work submitted during this course. There is no excuse for submitting shoddy work in a time when any decent word processing program can polish your work. Any paper submitted with copious errors will be returned for correction, and will be penalized one-third letter grade per day it is out for editing (up to three days, after which time it will not be accepted).
Academic Dishonesty: Absolutely NO form of academic dishonesty (defined as the use of prohibited materials during an examination, any kind of communication with another person other than the professor or an exam proctor during an examination, the representation of another's work as your own whether that work was purchased or freely offered) will be tolerated in this course. As it is contrary to both the mission of the university and to MU policies, any act of academic dishonesty will be met with an immediate failure on the exam or assignment at minimum, and referral to Student Affairs for judicial board proceedings at most. Just don't even think about it - it robs us all of the learning experience.
Lecture and Reading Schedule: Please note that you are expected to have completed the readings listed for each class session on the day they are listed. Discussion questions are linked to their week's readings.
Week 1: Introduction to the Course
F Aug 31: Structure, Agency and Freedom - read Sewell, "A Theory of Structure," in course reader)
Weeks 2-4: Weber, Social Action, and Agency
F Sep 7: PE pp. 1-38
M Sep 10: Paper 1 handed out and
discussed; PE pp. 39-50; recommended: CMST pp. 119-132
W Sep 12: PE pp. 51-80
F Sep 14: PE pp. 80-101
F Sep 21: Paper prep session - no reading
Weeks 5-8: Durkheim, Balance, and Social Structure
F Sep 28: OMS pp. 43-62
M Oct 1: OMS pp. 63-86; recommended:
CMST pp. 82-104
W Oct 3: OMS pp. 86-113
F Oct 5: OMS pp. 114-148
F Oct 12: OMS pp. 167-186
M Oct 15: OMS: pp. 187-224
W Oct 17: Durkheim closure discussion - no reading
F Oct 19: Paper prep session - no reading
Weeks 9-13: The Month of Marx: Capitalism, Social Structure, and the Reclamation of Agency
M Oct 22: PAPER 2 and journals DUE
at start of class; Marx - He's really a nice guy...: MER pp. 7-15; recommended:
CMST pp. 1-17
W Oct 24: MER pp. 26-53
F Oct 26: MER pp. 133-135, 143-145
F Nov 2: MER pp. 221-293
M Nov 5: Paper 3 handed out and discussed;
MER pp. 469-500; recommended: CMST pp. 35-45
W Nov 7: MER pp. 522-542
F Nov 9: MER pp. 556-576
F Nov 16: Paper prep session - no reading
M Nov 19: PAPER 3 DUE at start of
class; paper debriefing and transition session - no reading
W Nov 21: NO CLASS - Thanksgiving recess
F Nov 23: NO CLASS - Thanksgiving recess
Weeks 14-15: 20th Century Social Theory and the Struggle Against Structure
M Nov 26: Final paper handed out
and discussed; Horkheimer and Adorno, "The Culture Industry"
W Nov 28: Foucault, selections
from The History of Sexuality, vol. 1
F Nov 30: Fanon, selections from
Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth
F Dec 7: Closure discussion and paper prep session
(401.01) Sat Dec 15, 8am-10am: FINAL PAPER AND JOURNALS DUE at start of exam time - Discussion: Using theory to change the world
(401.02) Fri Dec 14, 8am-10am: FINAL PAPER AND JOURNALS DUE at start of exam time - Discussion: Using theory to change the world
Journal Assignment
The purpose of the journal is to help you do a number of things:
-
Understand, in whatever way you do, the reading assignments in a deeper manner;
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Prepare for the paper assignments by taking notes on the readings, thinking about the issues at hand in the class, etc.;
-
Further develop your awareness of the relevance of the theorists we read for understanding the social world in a deeper manner;
-
And provide you with an opportunity to "rant" back at me, this course, and anything that troubles you about the world around you.
Beyond this, what you do with the journal is up to you. You can use it for taking notes on the readings, musing about your life, discussing your responses to the course or to me - anything. It is, strictly speaking, your space, so please feel free to write what you want in whatever manner you want.
Over the years, I've found that the following usage works best for students in attaining all of the goals of this course:
1. Write in your journal on a daily basis - after each class session. This way, the ideas and issues discussed in class are fresh in your mind, and I've found that it's easier to integrate new ideas into your existing way of thinking if you try to work it out immediately after you've learned the stuff.
2. Keep in mind the goals of the course and the purpose of the journal. I'm not expecting this to be a "Dear Diary" sort of experience for you (though discussing events and goings-on in your personal life is perfectly acceptable to me). Rather, the journal is designed to help you further your sociological and analytic abilities, and as such, writing up each day's entry to focus on that day's class material will help you retain it, understand it, and give you an opportunity to see how it relates to your everyday existence.
3. Don't fall behind. I'll know it. And since this is intended to help you deepen your understanding of social life, falling behind will have an impact on your work in other areas of the course, most especially the papers.
Evaluation: Your journals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
-
Number and frequency of entries - and don't try to fake them all at the end of the course;
-
Depth of the entries - are they just "dear diary" types of things? or are they serious attempts at bridging the gap between the class materials and your daily existence?
-
Germaneness - are the entries relevant to the issues being discussed in class and the readings?
As with most everything else, a sincere effort will ensure that you do well on this segment of the course assignments, which will end up benefiting you on your other assignments as well.
These journals will be collected twice
- one with the second paper (on Mon Oct 22), and again during the final
exam period - and each collection date counts as 50% of your journals grade.
Failing to submit the first time will result in a 0 for that half, regardless
of whether or not the entries appear on the second submission. No late journals
will be accepted. back to syllabus
The discussion questions are an integral part of this course. They serve a number of purposes:
-
First, to provide you with a basis for understanding not just what each author says, but also why they see what they say, how they develop their argument, and how their ideas can be extended and translated into understanding other contexts;
-
Second, to give you an opportunity to gain regular feedback on your burgeoning understanding of these materials over the course of the semester, both from me and from others in the class;
-
Third, to participate in a fruitful exchange of ideas with your peers on a regular basis, so you end up getting a variety of perspectives on the issues being dealt with in the course;
-
And finally, to build a support group that can help you with clarifying questions you might have, a group of proofreaders to ensure your work is the best and most polished it can be, and hopefully, some new friends.
In the second class session, we'll set up discussion groups of three people (four is acceptable). Your task during that session is to exchange phone numbers and email addresses and to figure out a time where you can meet to discuss the questions on a weekly basis. It doesn't matter to me if this meeting is on campus, off-campus, or by email or telephone (hence the three people - three-way calling). You need to be sure to find a time that is generally acceptable to all of you; the written work you submit comes from the entire group, and all of you know how annoying it is to have a "free rider" who does none of the work. Don't be that free rider.
You are to meet with your discussion group and discuss these questions during this week of readings, as well as any other questions or ideas that might surface. The group will collectively write up brief responses to each of these questions and submit them, as well as any questions that come up during your discussion. Each member of the group who was in attendance at the meeting will sign the responses (and print your name, so I know who's in the group) attesting to their participation. If a member of your group does not participate in that week's discussion, their name should not appear on the submitted work.
You should note that the questions are "cumulative," so that the last question in each set builds on all the questions that come before it. Hence, skipping questions or splitting the questions into blocks that one person prepares does not help you in the long run - paper questions are more like the last question in each set than like any of the others.
Your written work is due on the first class meeting following the week for which the discussion questions are assigned; no late discussion questions will be accepted for credit under any circumstances.
-
Ensure that all sets of discussion questions are typed. Handwritten responses are unacceptable and indicate that you're splitting questions;
-
The questions must submitted in a unified set - all the questions must be stapled and printed off the same computer and appear in the same font. You can elect to have one person each week type up your responses, but do not use this as a justification for splitting questions;
-
You should note disparate responses by name; in other words, if someone disagreed with a statement the group comes to, put that response in and note who disagreed;
-
Each group member's name and signature must appear below this statement:
"Our signatures below attest that we fully participated in this week's discussion group."
Disputes within groups: If a dispute occurs within a group - someone keeps skipping group and expecting credit, or some other kind of internal problem appears - the group members should take care of it collectively. If it cannot be resolved internally, it is expected that you will come to me to resolve the situation, though I prefer not to get involved in this way. We're all adults - we can manage our own affairs. back to syllabus
More information on these guidelines and examples of what I expect is available
in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper"
handout, which will be given out with the first paper assignment. These,
though, are the overall guidelines in order of importance.
1. Strength and clarity of response to the paper topic's main question. Each paper assignment will ask you to respond directly to an argumentative question, and you should ensure that your paper contains a direct and clear response to this question.
2. Strength and cohesiveness of the argument. The papers you will write in this class are argument-based - it isn't enough to deliver a simple one-sentence statement that answers the question. Instead, you need to take the time to show me how it is you came to that response - the thought process you went through, the references you drew from in order to figure out your position, and how you put everything together. In algebra, it was called "showing your steps"; here, it's just good argumentation.
3. Accuracy in presentation and understanding of materials. While most of this course is devoted to the development of your own perspective on these thinkers and the world, there are some minimum "correct" and "incorrect" understandings of what the authors said. You need to be sure that you accurately represent what each author says, that you accurately and adequately cite any reference to the original text(s), and that you explain any unorthodox presentation of the authors' works.
4. Presentation - spelling, grammar, tone, and the actual submitted paper. As it's become ridiculously easy to ensure that your work is cleanly presented, you must ensure that your paper is spell- and grammar-checked prior to submitting it for evaluation. You should also endeavor to ensure that it's proofread, either by you, a discussion group member, or someone else - and this proofreading should be both for the technical matters and for clarity of argument. Otherwize, you're paper will appeer bad, even iff its the most briliant thing ever writen.
Deductions: The following are automatic deductions without appeal:
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Not reaching minimum page count: 1/3 letter grade per page the paper is short;
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Not utilizing minimum number of texts: 1/3 letter grade per text the paper is short;
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Not proofreading the paper: up to one full letter grade the first time, with revisions possible at my discretion; the second time, your paper will receive a zero (0);
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Not citing all references to original texts: 1/3 letter grade;
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Not including a bibliography when required by the assignment: one full letter grade.