Sociology

The goal of this course is to provide you with a foundation in classical social theory. (Next semester’s course, 155B, covers more contemporary theory.) We focus on theorists who were largely writing in the period between the revolts of 1848 and the beginning of the Cold War. This is a period that corresponds with the birth of sociology as a discipline, and so we will encounter writers who are attempting to formulate some of the key concepts that subsequent sociologists would take for granted. For example, before Marx, no one had used the words “capitalism” or “alienation” before, at least not in their modern sense. Likewise, before Weber, few had tried to conceptualize the nature of bureaucracies, and before Du Bois and de Beauvoir, few had attempted to reconcile race and gender with capitalism, respectively. Thus, this course will focus on five classical theorists whose ideas have greatly influenced how we study and understand society: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, W.E.B. Du Bois and Simone de Beauvoir. The course is devoted to understanding how each theorist understood the origin, structure and historical dynamics of modern societies. In addition to comparing their theories, we will apply them to current social issues.