Advanced Theories of Social Behavior
Dr. Myron Orleans;
Soc. 581; 3 Units; Thurs. 7-9:45; H414; Fall, 2000
Tel: 278-3868; Fax:
278-2001; e-mail: morleans@fullerton.edu
Office: H-725L; Off.
Hrs: Wed 7:9:00pm: Thurs. 5-7:00pm.
- To convey the essentials of a variety of sociological perspectives.
- To promote the ability to read and comprehend the writings of the great theorists.
- To demonstrate the role of theoretical constructs in the operation of sociological research and sociological practice.
- To encourage the application of sociological concepts to the examination of both large-scale social phenomena and the experience of everyday life.
- To move towards the integration of the various strands of social thought into a coherent body of sociological theory.
Kivisto, Peter, (editor),SOCIAL THEORY: Roots and Branches, Roxbury, 2000.
Johnson,
Allan G., THE BLACKWELL DICTIONARY
OF SOCIOLOGY: A User’s Guide To Sociological Language, Cambridge:
Blackwell, 1995.
Additional readings in theory are expected.
Book Search and Price Comparison: www.bookarea.com
Requirements:
1)Article Presentation—
You
will be assigned to serve as discussion leader and key resource person
for approximately four or five reading selections during the semester.
You are expected to read your assigned selections particularly closely
and, very importantly, read the original source material from which the
essay is derived and any other supplementary sources that will enable you
to clarify the theoretical significance of the article for our students.
It is expected that your presentation will demonstrate confidence and competence
in your mastery of the material.Upload
an 800-1000 word synopsis of the selection including material from the
original sources you have consulted to the course bulletin board prior
to the class session in which the selection is scheduled for discussion.
The current address for the board is:
http://fpwebs.fullerton.edu/morleans/Default.htm
2)Midterm
Exam—
A take-home midterm exam will be submitted on October 26. Students will be asked to compare how the sociological theories discussed in the first part of the semester respond to the basic sociological questions attached below.
3)Project—
Each student will write a seven to eight page research paper analyzing any social situation in everyday life, such as a business office, retail store, fitness club, bar, school, public agency or social program, etc. The theoretical concepts discussed in our course and presented in the texts will be used to perform the analysis. The student will conduct informal research by observing behavior and interaction and by listening to publicly available conversations. Data will be analyzed systematically applying the appropriate theoretical concepts from the class discussions and texts and using brief quotations. A fairly recent empirical quantitative research article from a recognized sociological journal will be used to inform the paper and to serve as a model for scientific writing style and format.
For this project you will explicitly apply selected theoretical concepts from the course, texts and (or) article to the hypotheses, methods, findings and conclusions in your research study. The questions that are produced and resolved by the theory in the research project will be analyzed to demonstrate your facility with theory applications. The ways in which theory is used and conceptualized in the research project will be clarified. Some linkage will be established between the micro social situation investigated and the macrosocial sphere of societal significance. The submitted project will include an annotated and highlighted copy of the journal article.
The paper will be word-processed accurately and carefully presented and ready for Web publishing. Please run a spell checker and a grammar checker to ensure that there are no errors. The paper will be scholarly in tone and will be organized similar to the research article. Contractions and colloquialisms are to be avoided. The past tense should be used throughout. The writer will not refer to him or herself in the first person. Section headings and subheadings that announce the application of particular concepts, e.g., "Anomic Tendencies," "Role Conflicts" etc., are to be used. Please use a 12 pt. Font, with at least 1” margins all around. The paper will be single-spaced with a blank line between paragraphs. Covers will not be accepted. A staple or two in the left hand corner will be sufficient for binding. Please provide sufficient copies of your paper for distribution to all other class participants. {An analysis of a social service agency using a theoretical approach may be substituted for the analysis of an ordinary life situation in this project.} A copy of the paper should be saved for your own files. The paper is Due November 30.
4)Final
Exam—
A take-home final essay exam focusing on the interrelationships and integration of different works of theory in relation to the basic questions of theory will be distributed on December 8 for submission and presentation on December 15.
5)Class
Participation—
Students are expected to attend all meetings or notify the instructor in case of absence. Participation in classdiscussions and communication on the course bulletin board are considered integral aspects of the course.
1) The article presentation will be evaluated in terms of the effectiveness of the presentation and the effort demonstrated in producing it. A total of up to 25 points will be allocated for all the presentations required during the semester.
2) The midterm will be worth up to 20 points depending upon the clarity, specificity and effectiveness of the student explications of the theorists’ resolutions of the basic questions of theory (see below for a list of questions).
3) The project is worth up to 25 points. It will be evaluated in terms of the basic knowledge of theoretical ideas displayed and the demonstrated ability to apply these ideas in the contexts of sociological research or practice.
4) The final exam is worth up to 20 points depending upon the clarity, specificity and effectiveness of the student explications of the theorists’ resolutions of the basic questions of theory (see below for a list of questions).
5) Class participation is worth up to 12 points and is evaluated in terms of attendance, activity on the bulletin board, and contributions to our collective effort to comprehend theoretical materials.
Late policy: A penalty of
3 course points will be imposed for a late submission of any of the course
requirements. "Lateness" is defined as failure to submit the assignment
as of 7:30 pm on the due date.
Grade tally: 102-90=A; 89-80=B; 79-70=C; 69-60=D; 59 and under= F.
The highest grade for an incomplete is a "B".
Our course syllabus is posted on the World Wide Web at the following address: http://hss.fullerton.edu/sociology/orleans/581.htm .This homepage will point you to sources of information that will significantly supplement our course materials. Links to sites of relevance to sociological theory will be added as we proceed through the semester. Please check our homepage regularly. Let me know via e-mail if any sites have moved or are defunct. E-mail additional site addresses to me and I will add them as appropriate. Any suggestions regarding this page will be considered as a form of class participation.
For
information on how to gain Web access and e-mail via CSUF:
http://www.access.fullerton.edu/general.html
General
Theory Links:
Please
note our own Journal of Mundane Behavior: http://www.mundanebehavior.org/
CSUF
Sociology Department 'Theory Corner'
CSUF Library Links to
Social Science Resources on the Web
Web sites
of general sociological interest
A political
typology according to Deborah Stickley
Dead Sociologists'
Society
ELR Sociology Resources
Links to Sociology
on the Web
Qualitative
Methods Workbook
Theory and Society,
a print academic journal
Economic
Sociology Homepage
Economic
Sociology
To
subscribe to the Economic Sociology List
To
subscribe to the Social Class List
To subscribe to the
Sociology Graduate Student List
To subscribe to the Teaching
Sociology List
The Progressive Sociology Network
Cafe
The World-System Network
General Directory for Listservs
International Studies Association
Network
International Sociological Association
International Sociological
Association Research Committee on Social Stratification
Red Feather Institute
CENTER FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH IN PHENOMENOLOGY, (CARP)
Asian Lesbians’ Discourse Thesis
Children’s Views of Cyberspace (Presentation)
Specific Theory Links
- Introduction to Sociological Theory
- Conceptual frameworks: paradigms
- Social philosophy
- Theoretical propositions
- Deductive and inductive theorizing
- Comte
- Spencer
- The Marx-Engels Archive
- The Communist Manifesto
- Tocqueville, Democracy in America
- Tonnies
- Simmel 1; 2
- [Darwin's, Voyage of the Beagle]
- Sociobiology
- Sociobiology and sociology
- Pareto
- DuBois The Souls of Black Folk
- Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class
- Parsonian macrofunctionalism:
- The System of Modern Societies
- Sex Roles in the American Kinship System Overview of Parsons work,(2)
- Merton, (2)
- Conflict theory: Dahrendorf,(2),
- NeoMarxian theory
- Critical sociology: the Frankfurt school, Habermas,(2)
- Anarchist social theory
- World-system theory: Wallerstein
- Cooley
- W. I. Thomas
- G. H. Mead,(2)
- Phenomenology
- Social exchange theory: Homans and Blau
- Gouldner: Norm of reciprocity
- Network Theory: Ethnicity and job networks
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman Herland
- Functionalist gender theory
- World-systems theory-modernization to globalization
- Subjectivist approaches
- Radical feminist theory,(2),(3),(4)
- Feminist response to the Human Genome Project
- Micro-Macro integration
- Agency-Structure integration
- Modernism
- Structuralism: Saussure, Barthes, Levi-Strauss
- Poststructuralism: Derrida, Foucault
- Foundations: Nietzsche
- Postmodernism: Baudrillard, Lyotard and Rorty
SOME BASIC QUESTIONS FOR THEORETICAL SOCIOLOGY
How is sociology possible?
- What are the limitations of sociology?
- Is sociological knowledge cumulative?
- What are the proper uses for sociology?
- How might sociology be abused?
- How fundamental is sociology to human knowledge?
- How does sociology relate to other forms of knowing?
- In what ways and to what extent is sociology scientific?
- In what ways and to what extent is sociology humanistic?
- What is the best way to learn sociology?
- What ought to be the emphases of sociology?
- What kinds of problems are sociological?
- What is the nature of sociology as a discipline?
- What ought to be the relationship between the individual and his/her scholarly work?
- How do cultural values, political expediencies, social pressures, and institutional forces influence sociological work?
- How is intersubjectivity possible?
- How is communication possible?
- How is social interaction possible?
- How is consensus possible?
- How do social groupings cohere?
- How is it possible for males and females to interact?
- How do different age groupings coalesce?
- How is everyday life possible?
- How is the human person possible?
- How is talk possible?
- How are institutions possible?
- How is social organization possible?
- How do humans groups function?
- What is the role of self-interest in group life?
- What is the role of altruism in group life?
- What is the role of individual volition in group life?
- What is the role of language in the formation of society?
- What is the role of religion in the formation of society?
- What are the patterns of societal evolution?
- How does rural life differ from urban life?
- How does social order cope with changes in scale?
- What is the social function of incest taboos?
- Do human societies have a direction?
- What is the relative influence of cooperation and competition within and between social groups?
- How is war possible?
- How is peace possible?
- How is world order possible?
- What are the consequences of international hegemony?
- How does the world system function?
- How does ideation preserve social order?
- How does socialization promote continuity?
- What are the functions of tension release activities?
- What role does the production of culture play?
- How do various concepts of the individual relate to the preservation of society?
- What role does human intention play in social change?
- How can adaptive change be distinguished from destructive change?
- Can rates of social change be measured?
- How does social change relate to scientific and technological change?
- How does cultural change relate to social change?
- What are the economic and political dimensions of social change?
- Is it possible to change oppressive social orders without resort to violence?
- What significance do racial, cultural, gender, religious, and economic factors play in the hierarchicalization of societies?
- What are the social functions of power?
- Is inequality inevitable?
- Is democracy possible?
- Is class warfare inevitable?
- How is class warfare be disguised?
- What social groups are most likely to conflict?
- How are the have-nots of society suppressed?
- What is the nature of the human genome?
- Is it possible to talk of human nature in a sociological sense?
- Are certain social forms more conducive to human well-being?
- What kinds of social organization foster freedom?
- Is capitalism a precondition of freedom?
- Is government inconsistent with personal freedom?
- How do the person and social order interact?
- What linkages exist between the microsocial and macrosocial levels of society?
- How does society and culture interrelate?
- How can diverse ethnic groups co-exist in one society?
- How can we know the future?
- Should we try to know the future?
- Does enhanced technology generally promote or diminish human well-being?
- Are human societies converging?
- Is sociological practice (social engineering) possible?
- Is social engineering desirable?
- How can theoretical sociology facilitate social change?