New York University

Department of Sociology
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY: GREAT BOOKS
SOC-UA 3
PROFESSOR JUAN E. CORRADI
295 Lafayette St., 4th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212 998 8356
juancorradi@gmail.com

FALL 2013

Preceptors:
Bryan Rosenberg bsr254@nyu.edu
Benjamin Persky bmp273@nyu.edu
Adaner Usmani adaner.usmani@nyu.edu
John Halushka jmh599@nyu.edu
Ercan Sadi ies219@nyu.edu
Erik Van Deventer evd226@nyu.edu

Course description: This course seeks to introduce students to classic and contemporary
ways of thinking about society, its structure, and dynamics through the examination of a
few path-breaking texts. These texts provide the basic concepts, methods, and topical
areas that have preoccupied many generations of sociologists. They have been selected
in terms of their significance in the development of the field, their continued relevance in
the illumination of contemporary issues, and their provocative theses and style.
Requirements: Class participation, the development of a glossary of basic sociological
concepts (40 concepts in 2 assignments, for 30% of the grade), the presentation of an
essay comparing any 2 required books (30% of the grade), and a final examination (40%
of the grade). Regular class attendance and participation are essential. There will be no
incompletes except ion cases of proven duress.
Required Readings:
C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination.
Ian Morris, Why the West Rules For Now.
Thorstein Veblen, The Higher Learning in America.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Emile Durkheim, The Rules of the Sociological Method.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Optional:

Students may substitute any of the required books above with either of the following
books:
Barrington Moore, Jr., Moral Purity and Persecution in History.
Anthony Giddens, The Runaway Society.
Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society.

Course Outline
Week 1. Introduction to the course and the discipline of sociology.
Readings: C.W. Mills, The Sociological Imagination, The Promise.
Week 2. Private troubles and social issues. Constraints, consciousness, and freedom in
contemporary societies.
Readings: C.W. Mills, The Sociological Imagination. Complete.
Week 3. How to study social facts.
Readings: Emile Durkheim, The Rules of the Sociological Method. Complete.
Week 4. Sociology and the Pattern of History.
Readings: Ian Morris, Why the West Rules For Now. Part I.
First glossary due
Week 5. The celebration of progress and the announcement of globalization. Social
class, social conflict, and social change.
Readings: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Complete.
Week 6. Religion and economic action. Contingency and fate. Rationality and
irrationality in society. The cage of the future.
Readings: Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Complete.
Week 7. Modernization. Cultural contradictions. How to interrogate the past.
Readings: Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Ian Morris, Why the West Rules For Now. Part II.
Week 8. How do institutions work? Functions and dysfunctions.
Readings: Thorstein Veblen, The Higher Learning in America.

Second glossary due

Week 9. Transcending National Societies.
Readings: Ian Morris, Why the West Rules For Now, Part III. Optional:
Anthony Giddens, The Runaway Society.
Week 10: Social Status and Invidious Distinctions.
Readings: a re-examination of previous readings in light of the analysis of social
distinctions. Marx, Mills, Veblen.
Week 11: From the Iron Cage to the Network Cage.
Readings: Ian Morris, Why the West Rules For Now, Part III re-examined.
Optional: Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society.
Week 12: Are there alternatives to existing social arrangements? The sociological
imagination revisited.
Readings: C.W. Mills, The Sociological Imagination. Last section on research
projects and how to design them.
Book reviews due
Week 13: Discussion of student projects.
Week 14: Retrospect and Prospect: sociology in the 21st century.
Final examination
End of Course