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Course description
This course explores the major theoretical approaches in social science. It emphasizes the philosophical and/or scientific foundations of each approach and considers how social science concepts are constructed. In investigating these theories, the course will also highlight various debates between different disciplines in the social science and natural science. It focuses on the following topics: Positivism; Functionalism and Structuralism; Marxism; Weber; Modernity and Critical Theory; Postmodernism and Poststructuralism; Structure and Agency; Discourse Theories; Culture and Hegemony; Nation and State; Theories of Practice; Governmentality and Biopolitics; Feminism and Postcolonialism; Neoliberalism and Globalization; Theories of Space. -
Main themes
- Introduction to Social Science Theory and Positivism
- Functionalism and Structuralism
- Marxism
- Weber
- Modernity and Critical Theory
- Postmodernism and Poststructuralism
- Structure and Agency
- Discourse Theories
- Culture and Hegemony
- Nation and State
- Theories of Practice
- Governmentality and Biopolitics
- Feminism and Postcolonialism
- Neoliberalism and Globalization
- Theories of Space
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Learning outcomes
This course aims to provide students with various facets of the meaning of the word theory and the process of theory building. It also demonstrates how theorists explain and analyze social phenomena. -
Teaching and learning methodology
The design of the course is a combination of lectures, class participation/presentation, weekly journals, movies, and academic readings. -
Assessment methods and criteria
Weekly Journals: 70 %
Term paper: 30 %
Grading Scale:
85-100 A Excellent
75-84 B+ Very good
71-74 B Good
65-70 C+ Fairly good
60-64 C Fair
55-59 D+ Poor
50-54 D Very poor
<50 F Unsatisfactory -
Required readings
Week 1: Introduction to Social Science Theory and Positivism
Required:
Williams, Malcolm. 1999. “Social Science as Science”, Science and Social Science: An Introduction. Routledge. Pp. 49-69 and 142-149.
Rundell, John. 2003. “Modernity, Enlightenment, Revolution and Romanticism: Creating Social Theory”, in Handbook of Social Theory, George Ritzer and Barry Smart (eds.). SAGE Publication. Pp. 13-29.
Turner, Jonathan H. 2003. “The Origins of Positivism: The Contributions of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer”, in Handbook of Social Theory, George Ritzer and Barry Smart (eds.). SAGE Publication. Pp. 30-42.
Recommended:
Dupre, Louis. 2004. “The Origin of Modern Social Theories”, The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. Pp. 153-186.
Dupre, Louis. 2004. “A Definition and a Provisional Justification”, The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. Pp. 153-186.
Osborne, Thomas. 2005. “Aspects of Scientific Enlightenment”, Aspects of Enlightenment: Social Theory and the Ethics of Truth. OCL Press. Pp. 35-59.
Singer, Michael. 2005. “The Philosophy of Positivism”, The Legacy of Positivism. Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 3-18.
Week 2: Functionalism and Structuralism
Required:
Ritzer, George. 2010. “Emile Durkheim”, Sociological Theory. Eight Edition. McGraw-Hill. Pp. 76-111.
McGee, R. Jon and Richard L. Warms. 1996. “Structuralism” in Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. Mountain View, California; London; Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company. Pp. 310-344.
McGee, R. Jon and Richard L. Warms. 1996. “Functionalism” in Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. Mountain View, California; London; Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company. Pp. 154-200.
Week 3: Marxism
Required:
Ritzer, George. (2011). Sociological Theory (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, pp. 43-75
Cuff, E., Sharrock. W. & Francis, D. (2006). Perspectives in Sociology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, pp. 83-110.
Recommended:
Cuff, E., Sharrock. W. & Francis, D. (2006). Perspectives in Sociology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, pp. 35-57.
Week 4: Weber
Required:
Ritzer, George. (2011). Sociological Theory (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, pp. 112-157.
Cuff, E., Sharrock. W. & Francis, D. (2006). Perspectives in Sociology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, pp. 111-142.
Recommended:
Cuff, E., Sharrock. W. & Francis, D. (2006). Perspectives in Sociology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, pp. 35-57.
Week 5: Modernity and Critical Theory
Strinati, Dominic. 2004 “The Frankfurt School and Cultural Industry” in Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, pp.46-62
Benjamin, Walter. 1968. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations. New York: Schocken, pp. 217-251.
Week 6: Postmodernism and Poststructuralism
Required
Jameson, Fredric. 1991. Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, pp.1-54. London, New York: Verso.
Belsey, Catherine. 2002. Post-structuralism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Recommended
Lyotard, Jean-FranÇois. 1999. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Translated by Geoffrey Bennington and Brian Massumi, pp.71-82. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Harvey, David. 1989. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Inquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA & Oxford UK.
Derrida, Jacques. 2001. “Structure, Sign, and Play,” in Jacques Derrida Writing and Difference. Translated by Alan Bass. London and New York: Routledge.
Week 7: Structure and Agency
TBA
Week 8: Discourse Theories
Hall, Stuart. 1997. “The Work of Representation” in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage Publications, pp.15-64.
Schneck, Stephen Frederick. 1987. “Michel Foucault on Power/Discourse, Theory and Practice” Human Studies 10(1): 15-33.
Week 9: Culture and Hegemony
Femia, Josef V. 1981. “The Concept of Hegemony” in Gramsci’s Political Thought: Hegemony, Consciousness and Revolutionary Process. Oxford: Clearendonpress, pp. 23-60.
Ives, Peter. “Language and Hegemony in the Prison Notebook” in Language and Hegemony in Gramsci. London: Pluto Press, pp. 63-101.
Week 10: Nation and State
Required
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Duara, Prasenjit. 1995. Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China, pp.1-50. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Recommended
Balibar, Etienne. 1991. “The Nation Form: History and Ideology.” In Etienne Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein, eds., Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities, pp.86-106. London: Verso Press.
Bhabha, Homi K., ed. 1990. Nation and Narration. London: Routledge.
Breuilly, John. 1982. Nationalism and the State. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger Terence (eds). 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Week 11: Theories of Practice
Required
Bourdieu, P. Outline of a Theory of Practice.(r. Nice, Trans.) Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. pp. 1-30 (The Objective Limits of Objectivism) & 72-96 (Structures and the Habitus).
Recommended
Chapter five “Habitus: A Cultural Theory of Action” in Swartz, D. Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997. pp. 95-116.
Chapter three “Habitus” in Grenfell, MJ. Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts. Durham: Acumen, 2010. pp. 49-67.
Week 12: Governmentality and Biopolitics
Required
“Chapter 2: 17 January 1979” in Foucault, Michel. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures At the College De France, 1978--1979. New York: Picador, 2010. pp. 27-51.
“Introduction: Governmentality today” & “Basic Concepts and Themes” in Dean, M. Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society. London: Sage Publications, 2010. pp. 1-30.
Recommended
“Introduction: Foucault, Biopolitics, and Governmentality” in Nilsson, J and SO Wallenstein, eds. Foucault, Biopolitics, and Governmentality Huddinge: 2013. pp. 7-35
“Governmentality” in Foucault, Michel. Power: Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984. London: Penguin, 2002. pp. 201-22.
Week 13: Feminism and Postcolonialism
Required
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. Preface and p. 3-44.
Loomba, A. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. p. 1-19.
Recommended
Jabri, Vivienne. The Postcolonial Subject: Claiming Politics/governing Others in Late Modernity. London and New York: Routledge, 2013. p. 1-30.
Fanon, F. The Wretched of the Earth: Pref. By Jean-Paul Sartre. Transl. By
Constance Farrington. New York: Grove Press, 1963. p. vii-lxii. (forward & preface).
Haraway, D. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist studies (1988).
Week 14: Neoliberalism and Globalization
Required
Larner, Wendy & William Walters. 2004. “Globalization as Governmentality”. Alternative 29: 495-514.
Dean, Mitchell. 2014. “Rethinking Neoliberalism”. Journal of Sociology 50(2): 150-163
Recommended
Robinson, William. “Globalization and the Sociology of Immanuel Wallerstein: A Critical Appraisal”. International Sociology 26(6): 723-745.
Week 15: Theories of Space
Required:
Thrift, Nigel. 2009. Space: The Fundamental Stuff of Geography. In Nicholas J. Clifford, Sarah L. Holloway, Stephen P. Rice and Gill Valentine (eds.), Key Concepts in Geography, 2nd ed., pp. 85-96 Los Angele: Sage.
Recommended:
Castells, Manuel. 2010. The Rise of Network Society, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 6 The Space of Flows, pp. 407-459
Merrifield, Andy. 2006. Henri Lefebvre: A Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge. Chapter 6 Space, pp. 99-120.
Last updated: 18 August 2017