The Hebrew University
Department of Sociology and
Anthropology
Sociological Theory
Learning Objectives :
1.Introducing key concepts and
theoretical approaches within sociology.
2.To consider the use of
contemporary theory in understanding the social world.
3.Encouraging students
to think critically about theoretical discourses and their application to
particular substantive areas.
4.To develop students' knowledge of
conceptual and theoretical issues current in the discipline of sociology
5.Exposing students to traditions of advanced sociological thinking and
traditions of theorizing society
6.To improve students' ability to talk
about, debate and theorise issues using social
theory.
T.A.:Noga Buber-Ben David
nogab01@pob.huji.ac.il
Tzach Ben-Yehuda
mailto:tzach.by@mail.huji.ac.il
Course Goals:
This course
introduces students to the nineteenth and twentieth century thinkers who shaped
the development of sociological theory. The course reviews social theory from
the great modern social theorists of the Nineteenth Century (Marx, Weber,
Durkheim, Simmel) to those of the postmodern era (Bourdieu, Foucault and
others). In exploring this theoretical heritage, we seek to foster an
appreciation of what theory is and how necessary and useful it is for studying
and understanding the social world. The course contrasts major schools of
thought and compares their epistemological, methodological and theoretical
orientations. In particular, the course emphasizes how contemporary theorists
have continued, extended or transformed the sociological understanding and focus
of classical sociology.
To do so, we discuss four themes:
A.
Classical thinking: The founding figures of sociological theory: Karl Marx, Max
Weber, Georg Zimmel and Emil Durkheim. We explore the intellectual and
historical context that influenced their thinking and writings, the analytical
tools they have shaped, their methodological assumptions, the central ideas and
hypothesis they have conceptualized while analyzing modern societies. In this
context, we shall delineate three central themes in classical sociological
thinking: Education, Religion and Economics.
B. We discuss
structural functionalism and conflict theory, the two central paradigms of
modern sociology,
C. We analyze the main unites of theoretical analysis
of the social order, presenting four analytical issue: 1. The society as a
mixture of codes and structures; 2. The social reality as a construction of
minds; 3. The social order as a mixture of interpretations of experiences,
meanings and actions. 4. The society as a product of personal interactions and
exchange of goods.
D. Critical Theory: Here attention is given to
how social theory has been affected by recent developments in feminism, critical
race theory, multiculturalism, postcolonial theories, and other movements
associated with oppressed groups.
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Vol.
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