Classical Theory in Sociological Analysis (406-1-20)
Instructors
Vilna Francine Bashi
Vilna Bashi is the William and Cathy Osborn Professor of Sociology, and Faculty Fellow of the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. She is also a visual artist. She specializes in global inequality, race and ethnicity, and international migration. Bashi is the 2020 recipient of the Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award from the American Sociological Association for scholarship in service to social justice. Her book The Ethnic Project: Transforming Racial Fiction into Ethnic Factions was honored by placement on the Zora Canon, a list of the top 100 books ever written by an African American woman.
Meeting Info
University Hall 412: Thurs 9:30AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
This course offers an introduction to classical sociological theory. A "classical" work is thought to be a must-read, a foundational text that influenced the older (as opposed to contemporary or modern) ideas that undergird discipline of sociology, both the way we think about it and perform it. We will read many of them but focus mainly on Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Du Bois, exploring what they have to say about the sociological enterprise. Readings and graded assignments focus on determining these foundational disciplinary authors' (1) methods for viewing and understanding the socioeconomic world, (2) ideas about the proper objects and subjects of study and how sociology should be properly conducted, and (3) key contributions to early sociological thought. Ten weeks is a very short time to acquire and engage with this knowledge, so expect this course to be very reading and writing intensive.
Registration Requirements
This course is required for students in the doctoral program in sociology, and all first year students are expected to enroll. They get first priority in enrollments, so quite unfortunately there are few seats for students not matriculating in Northwestern's Sociology PhD.
Teaching Method
Seminar Format of Lecture/Discussion
Evaluation Method
Exams and/or Essays/Papers
Class Materials (Required)
This course will have required books/other materials.
Please bring your books or printed articles to class. To participate in the textual analysis that will take place during class sessions, it is necessary to use the specific editions listed below, and either purchase the paper (not digital, not hardcover) versions, or find a .pdf version. The page numbering and formatting of hardback and digital editions do not correspond with the pagination and format of the editions that will be used in class, thus make it almost impossible to follow the analysis as I refer to passages in class. I'll make most of the readings available on Canvas (under "Files" or using the links below), and mark them below with an asterisk. You may find most of the writings of Marx and Du Bois online for free. I suggest, however, that you consider purchasing the following:
Elementary Forms of Religious Life, by Émile Durkheim, translated by Karen Fields
Rules of the Sociological Method and Selected Texts on Sociology and Its Method, by Émile Durkheim, edited by Steven Lukes.
Hegel: Texts and Commentary, by G. W. F. Hegel, edited by Walter Kaufman.
The Marx-Engels Reader, edited by Robert C. Tucker
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, by Max Weber, translated by Talcott Parsons.
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, by Max Weber, translated by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills.
George Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms, edited by Donald N. Levine.
The Philadelphia Negro by W. E. B. Du Bois (Oxford U Press, edited by Henry Louis Gates)
The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois (Yale University Press, edited by Jonathan Holloway)
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Sociology/MORS PhD Students