Writing Out Loud

In the Rules of Sociological Method, Durkheim calls for a science of sociology based on the empirical examination of something called social facts. Social facts are not facts about society, however, but rather structures and norms that exist outside any single individual. Read the excerpt carefully and then answer the following question.

The title of Durkheim’s seminal work, The Division of Labor in Society, doesn’t quite do it justice. It is about so much more than the specialization of tasks or Adam Smith’s pin-makers. It is about how the fabric of society is woven into something greater than the sum of its parts. After reading the excerpt, respond to the following questions.

In Suicide, Durkheim looks at how the social order shapes something that we often think of as personal and private: suicide. After reading the excerpt, respond to the following questions.

When reading The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, it’s easy to think that Durkheim is cynical about religion. After all, according to Durkheim, religion is nothing more than a social invention. However, religion, like the division of labor, serves an important function--it is a collective representation of society’s ideals. Religion, for Durkheim, is comprised of a “whole world of feelings, ideas, and images that follow their own laws once they are born” and that are collectively held within a group. Keep this in mind as you answer the following questions.

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Garinkel’s breaching experiments expose the taken-for-granted absurdity and arbitrariness of everyday existence. Ponder the questions below as you work through the reading.

Latour wants us to take seriously the influence of non-human objects on behavior and activity. As you read, consider the following:

Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how we make reality meaningful through our taken-for-granted habits and assumptions about the world. Ponder the questions below as you work through the reading.

Granovetter’s theory of social networks and weak ties reads differently from most of the other theories in our textbook, relying on diagrams and abstract network descriptions (e.g., “the relationship between A and B”) instead of broad claims about society or individuals’ experiences. But his argument is just as important in helping us understand how social networks shape solidarity and distribute opportunity. As you read, consider the following questions.

In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels outline their theory of historical materialism, or the idea that social change happens through disruptions in the mode of production. In of their most eloquent passages, Marx and Engels argue that the ruling ideas of any period have always been the ideas of the ruling class. Keep this passage in mind as you answer the following questions about the reading.

Perhaps no piece of social theory is as well known (and, in some circles, notorious) as Marx’s and Engels’s Manifesto of the Communist Party. As you read the excerpt, think about what it would have been like to live in cities like London or Paris when Marx and Engels wrote their call to action, and then respond to the following questions.

Capital is Marx’s three-volume tour de force in which he critiques capitalism and its dependence on the exploitation of labor.  Although many have debunked Marx’s labor theory of value, his thoughts on commodities and exploitation continue to inspire many others. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Marx writes about human nature in his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts. Like Durkheim, Marx was interested in the effects of the economy on the human condition, although his take was a bit different. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

In “The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System,” Immanuel Wallerstein echoes Marx’s ideas on capital to explain world history and, in particular, its economic dimensions. For Wallerstein, world history is comprised of unequal economic exchanges between core countries and peripheral ones, which together comprise a capitalist “world system.” Answer the following questions as you complete the reading.

Much ink has been spilled over the effects of digital information and communication technologies on social life. Some of the most sophisticated work comes from Manuel Castells, who introduces us to the “network society.” As you read, pay close attention to how Castells takes the concept of networks and moves it beyond technology. Then answer the following questions.

Bourdieu is perhaps best known for his concept of cultural capital. He first used it to explain children’s educational outcomes in 1960s France, arguing that class’s culture--its attitudes, values, and norms--confers to its members advantages in the education system. In “The Forms of Capital,” Bourdieu defines cultural capital and its relationship to economic and social capital. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

In Distinction, Bourdieu reveals how social class determines individual tastes in things like art, food, and music. As he notes in the introduction to the book, taste is more than an outcome of class – it also does its own sort of classifying. Although the prose is dense in spots, many of Bourdieu’s observations of French culture in the 1960s can be applied to our own. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Weber’s most famous work remains one of sociology’s most beautifully written and influential works. In The Protestant Ethic and the Sprit of Capitalism, Weber asks: Why is the most advanced form of capitalism found in areas saturated with Protestants? After carefully reading the excerpt, answer the following questions.

In “Basic Sociological Terms,” Weber gives us a definition of sociology and, more importantly, social action. Please answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Weber is well-known for his work on power and legitimacy. In “Types of Legitimate Domination,” Weber gives us three types of legitimate domination. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Robinson is making the case that racial differentiation is fundamental to capitalism because it justifies treating classes of people as less-than-human in facilitating productivity. Keep this central point in mind as you respond to the following:

The 21st century has seen the rise of a new form of capitalism rooted in the collection of big data that allows companies like Google and Facebook to predict our behavior and sell those predictions to advertisers. As you read Zuboff’s analysis of this system, please consider the following:

In this reading, Ray and Qayum examine how employers and domestic workers in India experience their relationship today and how they remember it from the past. After completing the reading, please respond to the following questions.

Ah, bureaucracy – that endless hallway of never-ending paperwork and thick red tape. Weber introduced the idea of bureaucracy claiming that it is the most rational form of organization and domination, but it was not without its negative side. Take a look at the key components of bureaucracy and then answer the following questions.

Like Marx, Weber was also interested in how societies were stratified along class lines. However, unlike Marx, Weber suggests that class and status are distinct from one another. Whereas class can be identified objectively, status is something that is more socially determined. Read the excerpt carefully and then ponder the following questions.

In One-Dimensional Man, Herbert Marcuse serves up a scathing indictment of advanced industrial society. He is particularly critical of consumerism, which he argues contributes to the creation of “false needs” and the perpetuation of social control. As you read the excerpt, ask yourself: has much changed since Marcuse was writing? Then, answer the following questions.

In Toward a Rational Society, the Frankfurt School theorist Jurgen Habermas argues that modern societies are increasingly characterized by a tension between technology and the social life-world. As you read the excerpt, think about how Habermas explains this tension and what he thinks needs to be done to fix the problem. Then, answer the following questions.

The beginning of Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish is grim. Its vivid portrait of the torture and execution of Robert François-Damiens illustrates just how far the modern penal system has come. However, Discipline and Punish is not just a book about prisons – it is also about how we discipline and control our bodies. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Many of the scholars of rationality included in this text (Weber, Ritzer, Bauman, etc.) emphasize the destructive nature of rationality. Graeber has a different perspective: rationality, without visionary leadership, becomes trivialized, distracting us from truly transformative social change. After you complete the reading, please respond to the questions below.

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois examines how it felt to live as a black man in the early twentieth century US. This concept of double-consciousnesscaptures how people experience racism at the interpersonal level. After reading the excerpt, answer the following questions.

Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex remains a foundational work of feminist theory. It reads as more philosophical than many of the other classic works of social theory, but, like DuBois’s Souls of Black Folk, the power of the reading comes through in Beauvoir’s reflexive writing about her own experiences. In the introduction to her book included here, Beauvoir describes how being a female and being a woman is not necessarily the same thing. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Frantz Fanon’s two most important works–Black Skin, White Masks and Wretched of the Earth–contain some of the most powerful prose you may ever come across in a social theory class. In Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon looks at the insidious role language plays in the subjugation of the colonized. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Edward Said’s depiction of how Western literature, art, and scholarship perpetuates a systematic prejudice toward Asia and the Middle East in Orientalism remains a foundational piece of postcolonial theory. The selection in Social Theory Re-Wired is from the introduction to the book, but we recommend picking up the whole text when you get a chance. Ponder the following questions as you move through the excerpt.

In The Conceptual Practices of Power, Dorothy Smith turns positivist social theory on its head by introducing the concept of standpoints. As you read the selection, think back to the classical theorists that you have read so far. Do their theories hold up under Smith’s critique? Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Collins’ powerful work challenges us to rethink what we think we know not just about race and gender, but also about knowledge itself. As you read this selection from Black Feminist Thought, reflect on how Collins is using the lived experience of Black women to challenge the dominant epistemologies of many classical theorists you’ve read, and then answer the following questions.

Go argues for a subaltern approach to studying the social world--that is, one rooted in the experiences of people who’ve been oppressed and marginalized. After reading through Go’s argument, please respond to the following:

Benjamin examines how technology--which we often think about as inevitably making society better--can actually perpetuate some of the worst aspects of society, including inequality. After completing the reading, please respond to the following questions.

Mead suggests that the self emerges through social interaction, particularly when we are able to take on the roles and perspectives of others--that is, to see ourselves through their eyes. Please answer the following questions when you complete the reading.

The United Nations estimates that more than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. More than century ago, Georg Simmel reflected on the effects city living had on the minds of urbanites in “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” As you read the essay, answer the following questions.

Simmel wrote about different social types that individuals become through their interactions with others, including “the poor,” “the renegade,” and “the man in the middle.” Each of these social types reflects elements of the wider social structure, or the networks and contexts in which the individual lives and operates. Simmel’s most famous social type is the stranger. Read Simmel’s writing and then answer the following questions about this issue of distance.

Goffman’s most famous work is also one of the most influential books in all of sociology. As you join Goffman on his journey into the everyday, expect to find yourself recalling some of your own failed efforts to manage impressions. Answer the following questions after completing the reading.

Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is a seminal text in gender, feminist, and queer theory. Her argument about the performativity of gender--that is, gender is not a fixed identity but rather something that we act out over time--is also a sophisticated critique of feminist politics, which she outlines in the excerpt included here. Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.

In this reading, Giddens is concerned about the challenges of living in a modern world for our senses of self. As you read, please consider the following questions:

Turkle is concerned with what happens to our senses of self and our relationships when we’re always connected to stimulating communication technologies. After you complete the readings, please respond to the questions below.

Hall examines the meaning and social construction of cultural identity, highlighting how people construct identities through shared history, culture, and power. As you read, consider the following questions.