University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Soci250 001 Sociological Theory Summer I 2009 Professor Franc ois Nielsen 1 Times Places Contacts Your Presence Is Required on This Date TBA Midterm Tue 16 Jun 3 00 6 00 PM Final No Exception You must drop the course if you cannot be present on this date Classes Meet Mon Tue Thu 3 15 5 50 PM in Hanes 107 Instructor Professor Franc ois Nielsen Email francois nielsen unc edu Office Hamilton 163 Hours by appointment Phone 962 5064 Fax 962 7568 Web site http www unc edu nielsen Teaching Assistant There is no TA for this course 2 Course Description Goals I use the terms sociological theory and social theory interchangeably to mean the set of theories and approaches developed by sociologists and others for understanding society 1 As members of a society we all use theories in order to make sense of our lives and the institutions organizations and groups around us The authors we will study in this class have created complex explanations of the social world Many of the theorists we are studying are no longer living We continue to read their work because their ideas transcend space and time and still contribute to an understanding of our contemporary world We will read both classical theorists such as Marx Pareto Weber and Durkheim as well as more contemporary authors It is important to realize that these varied approaches to understanding social life are not presented here as the truth We will see that these social thinkers quite often do not study the same social phenomena and even when they do chances are they 1 This section is adapted from the syllabus of the course Social Theory taught by Indermohan Virk at Indiana University at Bloomington 1 Soci250 Sociological Theory 2 will diagree on the proper way to understand them I do not expect you to agree or even be interested in all these dead Germans or French or Italians In fact I disbelieve quite a bit of this myself as will quickly become obvious This course will have met its main goal if you come out of it able to comfortably assert that the King is naked while also empathizing with the thought processes of the thinkers who have produced these sometimes grand and inspiring ideas about the social world 3 3 1 Readings Books Most readings are from the following books available at the bookstore Calhoun Craig Joseph Gerteis James Moody Steven Pfaff and Indermohan Virk eds Forthcoming 2007 Classical Sociological Theory 2nd edition Blackwell Calhoun Craig Joseph Gerteis James Moody Steven Pfaff and Indermohan Virk eds Forthcoming 2007 Contemporary Sociological Theory 2nd edition Blackwell In addition the following two books are recommended for background reading Aron Raymond 2004 Main Currents in Sociological Thought Vol 1 Montesquieu Comte Marx de Tocqueville Sociologists and the Revolution of 1848 New Brunswick NJ Transaction Publishers Aron Raymond 2004 Main Currents in Sociological Thought Vol 2 Durkheim Pareto Weber New Brunswick NJ Transaction Publishers 3 2 Additional Readings Additional readings are available as pdf files from the course site A password is needed to access some of these documents 3 3 Class Notes and Presentations Lecture slides and student presentations and other documents will be linked to this syllabus for each class See course schedule You can download or print these documents as you wish I must reserve the right to revise update the slides presentations and other documents at any time during the session 4 4 1 Exams Requirements Honor Code The Honor Code will be in force for all examinations and assignments For more information on student duties under the Honor Code please see http honor unc edu students rights html Please note in particular the following section Soci250 Sociological Theory 3 It is the responsability of students To maintain the confidentiality of examinations by divulging no information concerning an examination directly or indirectly to another student yet to write that same examination However in preparing team presentations collaboration among members of a team as well as with students outside the team is allowed and encouraged All sources material or non material are to be aknowledged in the presentation just as one does in a scientific or scholarly paper 4 2 Requirements Your overall grade in the class will be based on three requirements 1 Student presentations 60 of course grade Each student will prepare and present individually 2 or 3 presentations of readings typically at different class periods At the time of writing there are 15 students registered with 41 presentation topics so most students will have 3 topics and a few student only 2 Presentation topics are numbered R1 to R41 on the course outline A typical presentation focuses on one of the readings and consists of 1 Summary of the reading 2 or 3 pages no more You should bring enough photocopies to class for eveyone present Alternatively send the electronic copy of the document to me in sufficient time that I can make copies at the Sociology department 2 Include in your presentation two or three questions for class discussion These can refer to passages of the reading that you feel need clarification or articulations of the argument that you think have interesting implications etc 3 Due at the next class period or the next day for the last class 3 multiple choice questions about the reading or the class discussion The final exam will be based in large part on the questions provided by students I will maintain a cumulative file of the questions linked to the syllabus 4 At the next class period or the next day for the last class also email me an electronic version of your reading summary discussion questions and multiple choice questions A few of the presentation topics such as R33 R40 and R41 are not based on a reading These special topics will be discussed in class 2 Final 30 of course grade The final will take place on Tue 16 Jun 3 00 6 00 PM The final will consist of multiple choice questions The final is cumulative and based in large part on edited versions of questions provided by student presenters As the final is a multiple choice exam you need to bring Soci250 Sociological Theory 4 a bubble sheet for electronic scanning used to be available free of charge at Student Stores now a small price a pencil 2 preferred with an effective eraser soft pink not hard and all dried up so you can erase your answer completely if you change your mind For examples of multiple choice questions of the