Sabanc University Faculty or Arts and Social Sciences SOC 201: Social Theory Fall 2012 Tuesday 1:40

p.m. - 3:30 p.m. FASS 1089, Thursday 2:40 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. FASS 1101

Instructor: Ate Altnordu (FASS 2083, ext. 9283, atesaltinordu@sabanciuniv.edu; meeting by appointment) Teaching Assistant: Seda Aydn (sedaaydin@sabanciuniv.edu) Discussion Sections: (A) Friday 11:40 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. FENS L065 (B) Friday 12:40 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. FENS L065 Course description: This course provides an introduction to major works in classical and contemporary social theory. In the first half of the course, we will explore the writings of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. These classical texts on capitalism, individualism, religion, rationality, and domination will set the stage for the contemporary social theories of mid-to-late-twentieth-century that investigate the promises and consequences of Enlightenment rationality (Adorno and Horkheimer, Habermas, Foucault), the workings of power (Foucault, Bourdieu), the fabric of culture (Geertz, Sahlins, Barthes), the construction of modern subjects (Goffman, Foucault), and the cultural reproduction of social inequality (Bourdieu). Requirements: Students are expected to complete the assigned readings before class and actively participate in class discussions and discussion sections. The written assignments include three short papers (3-4 pages each, due November 19, December 17, and January 4). Final grades will be based on attendance and participation in class and section (25%) and three short papers (25% each). Attendance in discussion sections is mandatory. Academic Integrity: Cases of plagiarism will be directly referred to the Deans Office for disciplinary action for Sabanc University Academic Integrity Statement, see http://www.sabanciuniv.edu/eng/?genel_bilgi/felsefemiz/akademikdurustlukilkeleri.html Readings: All readings are available in the course website.

WEEK 1 - Introduction and Overview (September 25-27) Nisbet, Robert A., The Two Revolutions, The Sociological Tradition, New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 1993, 21-44.

WEEK 2 - Karl Marx: Alienation / Historical Materialism (October 2) Marx, Karl, Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right: Introduction, The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd edition, edited by Robert C. Tucker, New York and London: W.W. Norton, 1978, 53-65. Marx, Karl, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, The Marx-Engels Reader, 70-81. Marx, Karl, Theses on Feuerbach, The Marx-Engels Reader, 143-145. Marx, Karl, German Ideology, The Marx-Engels Reader, 148-175. Optional: Giddens, Anthony, Marxs Early Writings, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim, and Max Weber, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1971, 1-17. Optional: Giddens, Anthony, Historical Materialism, CaMST, 18-34.

October 4 - Cultural Studies Speaker Series: Roger Friedland, UC Santa Barbara and NYU Abu Dhabi, God, Gender, and Erotics in the American Hook-Up Culture (2.30 p.m., FASS 2034, attendance will be taken) WEEK 3 - Karl Marx: Exploitation / Class Analysis (October 9-11) Marx, Karl, selections from Capital, vol. 1, The Marx-Engels Reader, 302-336; 344-361. Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, The Marx-Engels Reader, 473-500. Optional: Giddens, Anthony, The Relations of Production and Class Structure, CaMST, 35-45 and The Theory of Capitalist Development, CaMST, 46-63.

WEEK 4 - Emile Durkheim: Social Facts / Mechanical and Organic Solidarity / Anomie (October 16-18) Durkheim, Emile, The Division of Labor in Society, New York: The Free Press, 1997, 18; 38-41; 83-87; 329-341. Durkheim, Emile, What is a Social Fact? The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: The Free Press, 1982, 50-59. Durkheim, Emile, Suicide, New York: The Free Press, 1951, 41-53; 171-276.
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Optional: Giddens, Anthony, Durkheims Early Works, CaMST, 65-81 and Durkheims Conception of Sociological Method, CaMST, 82-94.

* * Fall Break (October 22-29) * *

WEEK 5 - Emile Durkheim: Ritual / the Sacred-Profane Distinction / Collective Representations (October 30-November 1) Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, New York: The Free Press, 1995, 1-44; 99-126; 207-236; 303-354; 429-448.

WEEK 6 - Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic (November 6-8) Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London: Routledge, 1992, xviii-xlii; 3-80; 102-125. Optional: Giddens, Anthony, Max Weber: Protestantism and Capitalism, CaMST, 119132.

WEEK 7 - Max Weber: Domination / Rationality (November 13-15) Weber, Max, Economy and Society, vol.1, edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978, 21-38; 53-54; 212-254. Weber, Max, Politics as a Vocation, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, edited by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, New York: Oxford University Press, 1946, 77-128. * * 1st Short Paper Due - November 19 (Monday) * * WEEK 8 - Frankfurt School (November 20-22) Horkheimer, Max and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002, 1-34; 94-136.

WEEK 9 - Jrgen Habermas (November 27-29) Habermas, Jrgen, Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science and Politics, Boston: Beacon Press, 1970, 62-122.

WEEK 10 - The Cultural Turn (December 4-6) Barthes, Roland, The World of Wrestling, pp. 87-93 in Culture and Society: Contemporary Debates, edited by Jeffrey C. Alexander and Steven Seidman, Cambridge University Press, 1990. Sahlins, Marshall, Food as Symbolic Code, pp. 94-101 in Culture and Society. Geertz, Clifford, Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, Daedalus Vol.101 No.1 (Winter 1972), 1-37.

WEEK 11 - Erving Goffman: The Dramaturgical Approach (December 11-13) Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, 1-140, 238-255. * * 2nd Short Paper Due December 17 (Monday) * * WEEK 12 - Michel Foucault (December 18-20) Foucault, Michel, selections from The History of Sexuality, Truth and Power, and Discipline and Punish, pp. 295-321 in Contemporary Sociological Theory, edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, and Indermohan Virk. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell (2012).

WEEK 13 - Pierre Bourdieu (December 25-27) Bourdieu, Pierre, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984, 1-96; 466-484.

WEEK 14 - Final Discussion (January 3) * * 3rd Short Paper Due January 4 (Friday) * *