Overview

Sociology 335 introduces some of the founding figures of social theory. Each of the theorists covered in this course came from a distinctive intellectual background. Some, like Adam Smith and Vilfredo Pareto, are best known for their contributions to the discipline of economics—or “political economy”—as it was originally called. Other theorists, like Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, are better known as philosophers. Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, and Herbert Spencer, however, saw themselves as pioneer sociologists; each tried to win respectability and legitimacy for the new discipline of sociology. Yet other theorists, such as Karl Marx and Max Weber, encompassed such a broad range of intellectual interests that it is difficult to know whether to classify them as political economists, economic or social historians, political philosophers, or social theorists. So wide was their breadth of learning and so broad was their intellectual scope, that each has resisted any simplistic classification or categorization. They walked like giants through the late 19th- and early 20th-century worlds of learning and scholarship. The purpose of this course is to show how many of the ideas of these classical thinkers are still of use to us when when analyzing the social problems in our contemporary world such as—globalization; war, conflict and terrorism; human rights; sexism or racism; or even environmental degradation. The unsolved problems of the past are often recycled into the theories of the present.

Outline

Evaluation

To receive credit for SOCI 335, students must achieve a grade of 60 per cent or better on the final examination and an overall course composite grade of at least 60 per cent. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbooks

Ritzer, George. 2008. Classical Sociological Theory. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.

Zeitlin, Irving M. 2001. Ideology and the Development of Sociological Theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prentice Hall.

Other material

The course materials include a study guide and a reading file and a video: Brook, Peter, dir. 1963. Lord of the Flies. (DVD) Criterion Collection. All other materials will be accessed online.