Theories of Society I

Catalog description

The wide range of theoretical paradigms that characterized the discipline of sociology from the emergent period of industrialization to the rise of modernity are investigated. More specifically, the major foundations of classical sociology theory as it emerged in the mid -nineteenth century, moving beyond the narrowly constructed cannon of Marx, Weber and Durkheim, toward a more accurate and inclusive look at our intellectual roots as manifested in the works of Gilman, Simmel, DuBois and Mead are explored. Throughout the course, we critically engage in a kind of "sociology of knowledge" as we situate these central ideas and schools of thought in the social, political and economic contexts of the larger society, as well as their specific social history of the discipline. Finally, we engage the course with a preview of the ways in which the wide range of theoretical paradigms that characterized the nascent years of the discipline of sociology set the stage for the development of the modernist and postmodernist traditions, including, but not limited to critical theory; structural functionalism; symbolic interactionism; and feminist and critical race theories.