15. Sociological Classics
16. Constructing Social Theory
13F, 14F: 10A 14S: 10 15W: 2A
This course introduces and criticizes the work of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber, three seminal writers whose ideas are still of enormous significance in shaping perspective and framing terms of argument among many major contemporary social and political thinkers. Among specific subjects to be covered are the following: class and class conflict; culture and ideology; forms and symbols of social solidarity; and questions of how shared ideals or divisive interests affect not just the study of human society, but the course of history itself. Prerequisite: Sociology 1 or 2, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV. Dixon
Not offered in the period from 13F to 15S
How are societies organized? This course examines how social scientists answer this question by exploring a variety of contemporary theoretical perspectives, including those that focus on how conflict, functional needs, individual self-interest, cognitive perceptions, culture or symbolic interpretations organize society. Students compare, contrast and evaluate these and other theories of social organization in light of empirical studies that have tried to explain the genesis and dynamics of groups, formal organizations, social classes, nation states and global systems. Prerequisite: Sociology 1 or 2, or permission of the instructor. Dist: SOC. Goodman.
