SOC403 Theoretical Sociology

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2017
Extent and Intensity
1/1. 12 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Bc. Lenka Kissová, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Ladislav Rabušic, CSc.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Soňa Enenkelová
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 15:15–16:45 U34
Prerequisites (in Czech)
!NOW( SOC661 Theoretical Sociology )&&! SOC661 Theoretical Sociology
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course’s goal is to cultivate the capacity of students for a thorough understanding of complex theoretical texts, the capacity to interpret and discuss these texts within broader contexts (theoretical and social/cultural), as well as the capacity to compare and asses the analytical value and limits of different theoretical approaches, concepts and ways of sociological explanation/interpretation. The relevance of application of various theoretical concepts and models of explanation to particular social and cultural issues is another skill that students acquire.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to the Course BLOCK I: SOCIOLOGY OF MEANING 2. Methodological introduction: social construction adn sociological reconstruction (the case of cultural sociology) 3. Modernity in the perspective of cultural sociology: collective identity 4. Modernity in the perspective of cultural sociology: generations 5. Memory, trauma, and collective identity 6. Triumphant and Traumatic Foundations of Collective Identity (lecture by Bernhard Giesen) 7. Cognitive sociology: recapitulation of block I 8. Reading week 9. Sociology and its metamorphoses in the context of modernity 10. Modernity: between cage and liquid 11. Modernity: between class society and society of networks and tribes 12. Modern personality: between individualism and narcissism 13. MOdernity as a social problem: individualization-differentiation-inclusion 14. Sociology as a critical discipline: between objectivity and practicality
Literature
  • ALEXANDER, Jeffrey C. The meanings of social life : a cultural sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, 296 p. ISBN 9780195306408. info
  • GOFFMAN, Erving. Frame analysis : an essay on the organization of experience. Northeastern University Pres. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1986, xviii, 586. ISBN 093035091X. info
  • SIMMEL, Georg. On individuality and social forms : selected writings. Edited by Donald N. Levine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971, lxv, 393. ISBN 0226757765. info
  • MANNHEIM, Karl. Essays on the sociology of knowledge. Edited by Paul Kecskemeti. 3rd ed. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964, 327 s. info
  • ALEXANDER, Jeffrey C. Cultural trauma and collective identity. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2004, ix, 314. ISBN 0520235959. info
  • GIESEN, Bernhard. Triumph and trauma. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2004, x, 196. ISBN 1594510393. info
  • ZERUBAVEL, Eviatar. Social mindscapes :an invitation to cognitive sociology. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999, viii, 164. ISBN 0-674-81390-1. info
  • WAGNER, Peter. A sociology of modernity : liberty and discipline. New York: Routledge, 1994, xv, 267. ISBN 0415081866. info
  • BOLTANSKI, Luc and Ève CHIAPELLO. The new spirit of capitalism. New York, NY: Verso, 2005, xlvii, 601. ISBN 9781844671656. info
  • WEBER, Max. Autorita, etika a společnost : pohled sociologa do dějin. Translated by Jan J. Škoda. 1. české vyd. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997, 294 s. ISBN 8020406115. info
  • BAUMAN, Zygmunt. Liquid modernity. 1st pub. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000, vi, 228. ISBN 0745624103. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. Distinction : a social critique of the judgement of taste. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 1996, xiv, 613. ISBN 0415045460. info
  • CASTELLS, Manuel. The power of identity. 1st pub. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1997, xv, 461 s. ISBN 1-55786-874-3. info
  • The rise of the network society. Edited by Manuel Castells. 2nd ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2000, xxix, 594. ISBN 0-631-22140-9. info
  • MAFFESOLI, Michel. The time of the tribes : the decline of individualism in mass society. Translated by Don Smith. London ;: Sage, 1996, xii, 176. ISBN 080398474X. info
  • LASCH, Christopher. The culture of narcissism : American life in an age of diminishing expectations. Norton paperback 1991 ed. New York: Norton, 1991, xviii, 282. ISBN 0393307387. info
  • BECK, Ulrich and Elisabeth BECK-GERNSHEIM. Individualization : institutionalized individualism and its social and political consequences. 1st pub. London: Sage Publications, 2002, xxv, 221. ISBN 0761961127. info
  • BAUMAN, Zygmunt. Individualizovaná společnost. Translated by Martin Ritter. Vyd. 1. Praha: Mladá fronta, 2004, 290 s. ISBN 802041195X. info
  • URRY, John. Sociology beyond societies : mobilities for the twenty-first century. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2000, 255 s. ISBN 0-415-19088-6. info
  • PARSONS, Talcott. The system of modern societies. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,Inc.,Englewood Cliffs, 1971, 152 s. ISBN 0-13-881540-1. info
  • ALEXANDER, Jeffrey C. Action and its environments :toward a new synthesis. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988, xii, 342 s. ISBN 0-231-06209-5. info
Teaching methods
The course combines lectureship with a seminar type of work in class. For each topic/seminar, the students are assigned an extensive theoretical sociological literature, partly by original authors, and partly as a secondary source on a given author or paradigm. For each assigned text, students prepare a position paper, which then serve as reference points for seminar discussion.
Assessment methods
Students are evaluated on the basis of their activity in classes, quality of their position papers, several interim tests throughout the semester, and a final test or essay
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět je vypisován pouze pro studující nižších Imatr. ročníků než 2017/18
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2000, Autumn 2000, Spring 2002, Autumn 2002, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Autumn 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Autumn 2015, Spring 2016, Autumn 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2017, recent)
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