Contemporary debates in sociological theories (SOC 502)
| Course Code | Course Name | Semester | Theory | Practice | Lab | Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOC 502 | Contemporary debates in sociological theories | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Prerequisites | |
| Admission Requirements |
| Language of Instruction | Turkish |
| Course Type | Compulsory |
| Course Level | Masters Degree |
| Course Instructor(s) | Ali ERGUR aergur@gsu.edu.tr (Email) |
| Assistant | |
| Objective | To underline the importance of contemporary sociological theories by going through their classical roots. |
| Content | The sociological theory had a visible proliferation during the total twentieth century. Together with the collusion of variation and complexity in contemporary societies, the sociological theory whose goal is to get into the multiple logic of its relatively fast and multidimensional development, has been under different formulations, from this point, methodological perspectives and epistemological plans. After the Second World War, it has been already possible to read the social phenomenon through a series of sociological approaches, occasionally by opposite angles. However, at its birth, the sociology had adopted the ambition of an universal theory about the social action and it had realized the mission which is like a salvation for the industrial society, a seat for the unpredictable discussions, plus, despite the possibilities of emancipation towards a more successful life, an ultimate product of modernity accompanied by the rational man's ideal. By the way, the evolution of capitalism had needed the implementation of more fragmented and hyper specialized social life's organization. What it had, was naturally a direct effect on the sociological theory's future. At the end, the science of sociology was, from the beginning of twentieth century, like a trunk for multiple inclines and deviations. In addition to that, since 1960's, two major phenomena seem to have forged the sociological theory according to these implications of changing circumstances: The process of decolonization and the birth of postindustrial society from the emergence of a wide variety of minor and medium-range theories. It was also the end of the inclusive theories whose goal tries to explain the collection at social actions in an evolutionary or structural system. Contrary, since 1960's, the sociological theory was manifested by many facets that everyone tried to response for one of the incongruous aspects in that contemporary society. As the inevitable consequence of a fluid and discontinuous organization mode, the current social phenomenon translates itself into a plurality of sociological theories. Yet, this attempts' panoply of explication of 'social', occasionally opposite tendencies, are rooted in the same theoretical foundations which continue to generate the necessary sociological imagination for identifying, at the same time, the system and the social complexification. Also, first of all the course is based on rediscovering the general features of the three thinkers who construct the pillars of sociological thought in the twentieth century: Marx, Weber and Simmel. The fundamental aim wouldn’t be certainly to analyze 'per se' and depth of each one's thoughts, but it is more like showing the conceptual and methodological connections between the ideas of the sociology's founders and the developed ideas on their legacy. So, the course adopts the aim of presenting the contemporary sociological theory in a continuous genealogy, in spite of the delusional appearance which creates the impression of a theoretical mixed register of contradictions, which neutralizes, in the concept of the course, the inclusion of different tendencies, or else the sociological traditions, passing by the symbolical interactionism, the economical sociology or the critics of the thought of modernization. |
| Course Learning Outcomes |
At the end of this course, the student learns; 1. To study in depth contemporary sociological theories. 2. To attain a sufficiently developed level for being able to analyze the evolution of sociological thought. 3. To have sufficient knowledge for understanding the methodological approaches of sociological theories. 4. To establish the links between the contemporary sociology and the founding thinkers. 5. To analyze fundamental sociological texts and present them orally as well as in written form. 6. To acquire a certain conception of the historical context of contemporary sociological theories. 7. To make functional contemporary theories in his/her M.A. thesis. 8. To distinguish the conceptual links between the contemporary theories and their points of conflict. |
| Teaching and Learning Methods | Lecture; student presentations; discussions. |
| References |
(1) L’idéologie allemande : I. Feuerbach, 30p. (2) Le manifeste du parti communiste, 26p. (3) Travail salarié et Capital, 33p. (4) Critique de l’économie politique, 77p. (5) Salaire, prix et profit, 24p. (6) Le Capital, Livre Premier : Section 1, 42p., Section 2, 17p., Section 7, 63p. (Total : 312p.) (7) Coser : Les fonctions du conflit social, p.19-90. (79p.) (8) Dahrendorf : Class and class conflict in industrial society; Chapter IV, A Sociological Critique of Marx, p.117-154 (38p.), Chapter VII, Classes in Post-Capitalist Society I: Industrial Conflict, p.241-279 (39p.) (77p.) (9) Wright : Classes, p.64-104, 241-282. (81p.) (Total : 237p.) (10) Économie et société : Les catégories de la sociologie, (I) Les concepts fondamentaux de la sociologie, 73p. ; (III) Les types de domination, 106p. (IV) Ordres et classes, 10p. (11) L’organisation et les puissances de la société dans leur rapport avec l’économie, (I) Les relations fondamentales entre l’économie et l’organisation sociale, 39p., (II) Les relations économiques des communautés (économie et société) en général, 28p., (III) Les types de communalisation et de sociation dans leurs relations avec l’économie, 46p. (Total : 302p.) (12) Mead : Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Part III) (68p.) (13) Thomas : « The Behavior Pattern and the Situation » (9p.) ; « The Mind of Woman » (10p.) ; « The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (Part IV) » (40p.) (14) Park : « Social Attitudes » (12p.) ; « Human Nature, Attitudes and the Mores » (21p.); (15) « La ville, phénomène naturel » (12p.) ; « La communauté urbaine, un modèle spatial et un ordre moral » (16p.) (16) Addams : The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets, 51p. (Total: 239p.) (17) Parsons : The Social System, p.68-112. (44p.) (18) Parsons – Smelser: Economy and Society, p.39-100. (61p.) (19) Merton : Éléments de théorie et de méthode sociologique, p.198-290. (92p.) (20) Luhmann : Social Systems, p.137-176, 405-436. (70p.) (Total : 267p.) (21) Berger – Luckman : La construction sociale de la réalité, p.177-249 (82p.) (22) Garfinkel : Studies in Ethnomethodology, p.1-35, 116-185. (106p.) (23) Strauss : La trame de la négociation, « Négociataions, introduction à la question », p.245-268 (24p.), « Une perspective en termes de monde social », p.269-282 (14p.), « La méthode comparative continue en analyse qualitative », p.283-300, (18p.) (56p.) (Total : 244p.) (24) Hirschmann : Bonheur privé, action publique, 229p. (25) Granovetter : « The Strenght of weak ties », The American Journal Sociology, 78(6), 1973, p.1360-1380. (21p.) (Total: 250p.) (26) L’imagination sociologique, 229p. (27) Les cols blancs, p.249-328. (79p.) (Total : 308p.) (28) Sociologie, Chapitre 2, La détermination quantitative du groupe, p.81-159 (78p.) ; Chapitre 5, Le secret et la société secrète, p.347-404 (58p.) ; Chapitre 8, L’autoconservation du groupe social, p.491-598 (108p.) (29) Sociologie de l’amour, Psychologie de la coquetterie, p.123-145. (23p.) (Total : 267p.) (30) La présentation de soi (240p.) (31) Les cadres de l’expérience, p.132-159. (27p.) (32) Les moments et leurs hommes, p.186-227. (41p.) (Total : 308p.) (33) Blumer: Symbolic Interactionism, p.78-89, 153-170. (30p.) (34) Hughes: The Sociological Eye, p.87-105, 124-152. (48p.) (35) Becker: Outsiders, p.25-42, 171-188. (35p.) (36) Becker : Les ficelles du métier, p.36-117. (82p.) (Total : 195p.) (37) Giddens : La constitution de la société, p.163-285. (122p.) (38) Giddens : The Consequences of Modernity, p.79-111. (32p.) (39) Lash: Another Modernity, a different rationality, p.89-193. (102p.) (40) Beck : La société du risque, p.337-398 (62p.) (Total : 318p.) (41) Gramsci : La philosophie de la praxis contre l’idéalisme idéaliste L’anti-Croce (Cahier 10), 16p. (42) Gramsci : La philosophie de la praxis face à la réduction mécaniste du matérialisme historique, L’anti-Boukharine (Cahier 11), 41p. (43) Gramsci : Problèmes de civilisation et de culture, 1. La formation des intellectuels, 10p. (44) Gramsci : Problèmes de civilisation et de culture, 2. L’organisation de la culture, 20p. (45) Lukács : Histoire et conscience de classe, La réification et la conscience du prolétariat, 147p. (46) Althusser : Sur la reproduction, (II) Qu’est-ce qu’un mode de production ?, 31p. ; (VI) L’Etat et ses appareils, 24p. ; (IX) De la reproduction des rapports de production, 9p., (XII) De l’idéologie, 37p. (Total : 335p.) |
Theory Topics
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | General introduction |
| 2 | The roots of the idea of conflict : Marx et Engels. |
| 3 | The future of capitalism on era of globalization : Kautsky et Luxemburg. |
| 4 | The Understanding of Social Action against the Actor's inner Horizon: Weber. |
| 5 | The social connection around soi and his worlds definition : Mead, Thomas, Park. |
| 6 | The actors spontaneity and the sense of soi : Blumer, Hughes, Becker. |
| 7 | The reality as social construction : Berger-Luckmann, Garfinkel, Strauss. |
| 8 | The economical approach at human comportment : Hirschman. |
| 9 | The sociability like network's function : Granovetter, Burt. |
| 10 | The non-domesticated American sociology between Marx and Weber : Mills. |
| 11 | Tensions and possibilities of human interaction : Simmel. |
| 12 | The inter-psychology of Tarde and the other analysis of capitalism by Sombart. |
| 13 | The magic of interaction moment and the conception of dramaturgy : Goffman. |
| 14 | The idea of reflexive modernity for an alternative critic : Giddens, Lash, Beck. |
Practice Topics
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|
Contribution to Overall Grade
| Number | Contribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution of in-term studies to overall grade | 13 | 100 |
| Contribution of final exam to overall grade | 0 | 0 |
| Toplam | 13 | 100 |
In-Term Studies
| Number | Contribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 13 | 50 |
| Presentation | 13 | 50 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 |
| Project | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 |
| Quiz | 0 | 0 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 |
| Toplam | 26 | 100 |
| No | Program Learning Outcomes | Contribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | The student will be able to develop a critical perspective towards fundamental sociological theories. | X | ||||
| 2 | The student will acquire the necessary qualifications that will allow her / him to contribute to the theoretical and empirical accumulation of knowledge in the sociological domain. | X | ||||
| 3 | The student will be capable of applying different research techniques to different sociological issues. | X | ||||
| 4 | The student will be able to contribute to the invention of new methods of research by developing a critical point of view towards empirical research methods and techniques. | X | ||||
| 5 | The student will develop an intersocietal and intercultural viewpoint. | X | ||||
| 6 | The student will be able to develop her/his capacity of reflecting on the ethical problems of sociological research and of finding solutions to overcome them. | X | ||||
| 7 | The student will be able to identify the relation between the research objectives and the research design in order to propose and conduct a research proposal. | X | ||||
| 8 | The student will be able to evaluate the research data and to report the research results as well as will acquire the capacity of drawing theoretical and macro conclusions from these results. | X | ||||
| 9 | The student will acquire the ability to reason qualitatively departing from qualitative data. | X | ||||
| 10 | The student will acquire the capacity of producing knowledge with fundamental concepts belonging to the subfields of sociology. | X | ||||
| 11 | The student will be capable of analysing everyday life practices relating them to the sociological theories. | X | ||||
| Activities | Number | Period | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Hours | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Working Hours out of Class | 13 | 3 | 39 |
| Assignments | 13 | 2 | 26 |
| Presentation | 13 | 1 | 13 |
| Total Workload | 120 | ||
| Total Workload / 25 | 4,80 | ||
| Credits ECTS | 5 | ||