Contemporary Social Theory—post 1940’s



Contemporary Social Theory

Spring 2019

Rhacel Parreñas

Tuesdays, 8-11 311 HSH Building

This course is designed to provide a broad overview of contemporary social theory that have deeply influenced our discipline, introduce you to the writings of important social theorists of the mid 20th to early 21st century, and provide you with the tools to read, write, and think critically about socio-political-economic issues.

Goals in this class include 1) incorporating a multi-scalar perspective on social theory as we will consider theorizations focused on the macro, meso and/or micro; 2) critically tackling inequalities in knowledge production, asking how colonialism and race shape our perspectives on what counts as theory; and 3) challenging ourselves to move beyond engaging theory towards advancing theory.

Books to buy:

Pierre Bourdieu, The Outline of a Theory of Practice

Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life

Raewyn Connell, Gender and Power

Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality

Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity

Julian Go, Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory

Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity

Aldon Morris, The Scholar Denied

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation

Nikolas Rose, Governing the Soul

Jan. 8

Introductions

No Reading

I. THE LARGER STRUCTURAL CONTEXT

Jan. 15

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation

Recommended:

Granovetter, Mark. 1985. “Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness,” American Journal of Sociology 91: 481-510.

Zelizer, Viviana. 2000. “The Purchase of Intimacy,” Law and Social Inquiry 25(3): 817-48.

Fourcade, Marion and Kieran Healy. 2007. “Moral views of market society,” Annual Review of Sociology 33: 285-311.

Jan 22

Class Cancelled but read David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity

Jan 29

David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity

Feb 5

Julian Go, Postcolonialism and Social Theory

Recommended: Raewyn Connell, Southern Theory

II. THE INDIVIDUAL, THE SELF, AND THE SUBJECT

Feb 12

Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity

Recommended: Anthony Giddens, The Transformation of Intimacy

Feb 19

Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vol. I

Michel Foucault. 1988. “Technologies of the Self.” Pp. 16-49 in Technologies of the Self. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

Michel Foucault. 1991. “Governmentality.” Pp. 87-104 in The Foucault Effect: Studies on Governmentality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Michel Foucault. 1980. “Two Lectures.” Pp. 78-108 in Power/Knoweldge. New York: Pantheon Books.

Feb 26

Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

March 5

Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life

March 12

****Paper ONE DUE IN CLASS****

No Readings as we will discuss student papers.

III. MESO: INSTITUTIONS, ORGANIZATIONS

March 19

SPRING BREAK

March 26

Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice

April 2

Nikolas Rose, Governing the Soul

April 16

Aldon Morris, The Scholar Denied

April 23

Raewyn Connell, Gender and Power

****Final PAPER DUE: May 5 ****

Assignments:

1. Two papers over the course of the semester:

The FIRST paper will be 7-10 double-spaced pages, normal margins (or the equivalent in 1.5 spaced; print double-sided).

The SECOND will be slightly longer—10-15 pages. See below for more specifications.

2. Per class meeting. Two questions or two three-sentence comments, or a combination, on a reading or readings for the week. This must be distributed at least 24 hours before the class meeting.

3. Prepare classroom discussion with a partner two times during the semester. Provide a succinct summary of the book’s main arguments. Avoid providing a summary.

Grading:

40%: for each paper. However, if there is great improvement from the first to the second, more weight will go to the second—the better—paper.

20% of the grade is for class participation, including the questions and comments on the readings.

THE PAPERS—specifications

The papers should be written for the purpose of utilizing theory to advance your masters/doctoral thesis. They should at the very least be an exercise towards utilizing theory for any empirical investigation you might have as a sociologist.

To accomplish this goal, you must do the following:

1) Engage two or more of the course readings. The discussion of the course readings has to be at the very center of the paper. It has to engage the readings directly, and engage them with each other. An example would be the theme of resistance, comparing and contrasting De Certeau and Goffman.

2) Think about the empirical object that you might want to study for your masters/doctoral thesis, and write with the aim of clarifying the questions you might want to entertain. In what ways can the theorizations you engaged in class advance your understanding of your empirical focus.

3) Think about potential limits in the theories you are utilizing and how your empirical investigation might advance them. For instance, how would structural inequalities distinguish “time-space compression” (Harvey) or how would gender shape the utilization of “tactics vs strategies” (De Certeau) or how would colonialism advance our understanding of discipline (Foucault).

4) Combine the theory and the empirical. Develop a research design and questions that one might be able to research.

5) Other minor considerations:

a. The papers must have real titles, not “midterm 610.”

b. Your claims should always be validated. So do not begin from unproven assumptions, such as beginning your paper by claiming men of color would be more sensitive to gender inequality in the workplace because of their experience of racism or claiming sexism makes women more nurturing than men.

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