Course Information

Course Code: 1.07.061 (sow059)
Schedule: Wednesdays 10:00–12:00
Location: A07 0-030 (Hörsaal G)
Institution: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Semester: Winter 2024/2025
Instructor: Dr. Timur Ergen (te@mpifg.de)

This lecture introduces fundamental sociological concepts and selected theories of the social. Core problems at the center of the course include the different emergence contexts of theories, different concepts of theory, and different conceptualizations of social action, social order, and social change.

The course emphasizes active engagement with primary theoretical texts and the development of analytical skills for reading, analyzing, and classifying sociological theory.

Assessment

Students complete a portfolio consisting of:

  • Short test (45 minutes) covering lecture content and required readings
  • Essay (6-7 pages) on topics distributed in accompanying seminars
Course Materials
  • Complete Syllabus — Full course syllabus with detailed information and requirements

Required Reading:

  • Lizardo, O., 2014. The End of Theorists: The Relevance, Opportunities, and Pitfalls of Theorizing in Sociology. Lewis Coser Memorial Lecture, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Session 1: Einführung und Organisatorisches

October 16, 2024

Introduction and organizational matters.

Session 2: Was ist (Sozial-)Theorie?

October 23, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Abend, G., 2008. The Meaning of ‘Theory.’ Sociological Theory 26, 2,173–199.

Additional Literature:

  • Collins, R., 1997. A Sociological Guilt Trip: Comment on Connell. American Journal of Sociology, 102, 6, 1558–1564.
  • Connell, R. W., 1997. Why Is Classical Theory Classical? American Journal of Sociology 102, 6, 1511–1557.
  • Joas, H. & W. Knöbl, 2011. Sozialtheorie: Zwanzig einführende Vorlesungen, Kapitel 1: „Was ist Theorie?". Suhrkamp, S. 13–38.

Session 3: Karl Marx

October 30, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Marx, K. & F. Engels, 1990 [1848]. Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei. In: K. Marx & F. Engels, Werke, Bd. 4, Berlin: Dietz, S. 462–474.

Additional Literature:

  • Giddens, A., 1975. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, „Part 1: Marx". Cambridge University Press, S. 1–64.
  • Marx, K., 1966 [1867]. Das Kapital, Bd. 1, Kap. 8, „Der Arbeitstag". Dietz, S. 279–293, 315–320.
  • Marx, K., 1966 [1867]. Das Kapital, Bd. 1, Kap. 24, „Die sogenannte ursprüngliche Akkumulation". Dietz, S. 873–895, 914–930.
  • Müller, H.-P., 2021. Krise und Kritik: Klassiker der soziologischen Zeitdiagnose, Kap. 3, „Karl Marx und die ökonomische Revolution". Suhrkamp, S. 103–173.

Session 4: Max Weber

November 6, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Weber, Max, 1988 [1904]: Die Protestantische Ethik und der ‚Geist’ des Kapitalismus. In: Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie I, darin insb. „I.2. Der ‚Geist’ des Kapitalismus" (S. 30–62), sowie „2. Die Berufsethik des asketischen Protestantismus," (S. 84–121, 183–206). Mohr.

Additional Literature:

  • Bargheer, S., 2017. The Invention of Theory: A Transnational Case Study of the Changing Status of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic Thesis. Theory and Society 46, 6, 497–541.
  • Giddens, A., 1975. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, „Part 3: Max Weber". Cambridge University Press, S. 119–184.
  • Collins, R., 1980. Weber’s Last Theory of Capitalism: A Systematization. American Sociological Review 45, 925–940.
  • Müller, H.-P., 2021. Krise und Kritik: Klassiker der soziologischen Zeitdiagnose, Kap. 6, „Max Weber und die institutionelle Revolution der Rationalisierung". Suhrkamp, S. 287–346.

Session 5: Émile Durkheim

November 13, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Durkheim, Émile. [1930] 1992. Über soziale Arbeitsteilung. Studie über die Organisation höherer Gesellschaften. Suhrkamp, Buch 2, Kap. 1 (Lesen bis Seite 304) & 2; Buch 3, Kap. 2 (24 Seiten ingesamt).

Additional Literature:

  • Alexander, J., 2005. The Inner Development of Durkheim’s Sociological Theory: From Early Writings to Maturity. S. 136–159 in J. Alexander and P. Smith (Hg.), The Cambridge Companion to Durkheim. Cambridge University Press.
  • Dobbin, F., 2009. How Durkheim’s Theory of Meaning-Making Influenced Organizational Sociology. S. 200–222 in: P. S. Adler (Hg.), The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies. Oxford University Press.
  • Giddens, A., 1975. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, „Part 2: Durkheim". Cambridge University Press, S. 65–81.

Session 6: Pragmatismus & W.E.B. Du Bois

November 20, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Gross, N., 2007. Pragmatism, Phenomenology, and Twentieth-Century American Sociology. S. 183–224 in: C. Calhoun (Hg.), Sociology in America: A History. The University of Chicago Press.

Additional Literature:

  • Addams, J.,1905. Problems of Municipal Administration. American Journal of Sociology 10, 425–444.
  • Joas, H., 1992. Schluß: Die Kreativität des Handelns und die Intersubjektivität der Vernunft. S. 281–308 in: H. Joas, Pragmatismus und Gesellschaftstheorie. Suhrkamp.
  • Morris, A., 2015. The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology. University of California Press, Kap. 2.
  • Reed, I. A., N. L. Gross, and C. Winship, 2022. Pragmatist Sociology: Histories and possibilities. S. 1–30 in: dies. (Hg.) The New Pragmatist Sociology: Inquiry, Agency, and Democracy. Columbia University Press.

Session 7: Funktionalismus

November 27, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Parsons, T., 1959. The School Class as a Social System: Some of Its Functions in American Society, Harvard Educational Review 29, 4, 297–318.

Additional Literature:

  • Abbott, A. & J.T. Sparrow, 2007. Hot War, Cold War: The Structures of Sociological Action, 1940-1955. S. 281–313 in: C. Calhoun (Hg.), Sociology in America: A History. The University of Chicago Press.
  • Luhmann, N., 1984. Soziale Systeme: Grundriss einer allgemeinen Theorie. Suhrkamp, Einleitung und Kap. 1.
  • Luhmann, N., 1970. Funktionale Methode und Systemtheorie. S. 31–53 in ders., Soziologische Aufklärung I. Westdeutscher Verlag.
  • Merton, R. K., [1949] 1995. Manifeste und Latente Funktionen. S. 17–82 in R.K. Merton, Soziologische Theorie und soziale Struktur. De Gruyter.

Session 8: Pierre Bourdieu

December 4, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Bourdieu, P., 1989. Die feinen Unterschiede: Kritik der gesellschaftlichen Urteilskraft. Suhrkamp, 11–15 & 373–399.

Additional Literature:

  • Bourdieu, P., 2005. Principles of an Economic Anthropology. S. 75–89 in: R. Swedberg (Hg.), The Handbook of Economic Sociology. Princeton University Press.
  • Calhoun, C., 2012. For the Social History of the Present: Bourdieu as Historical Sociologist. S. 36–66 in: P. Gorski (Hg.), Bourdieu and Historical Analysis. Duke University Press.
  • Raphael, L., 1987. »Die Ökonomie der Praxisformen«: Anmerkungen zu zentralen Kategorien P. Bourdieus. Prokla 68, 152–171.
  • Wacquant, L., 2019. Habitus als Thema und Analysewerkzeug: Betrachtungen zum Werdegang eines Berufsboxers. LiThes 4, 5–23.

Session 9: Soziale Mechanismen

December 11, 2024

Required Reading:

  • Hedström, P. & R. Swedberg, 1998. Social mechanisms: An introductory essay. S. 1–31 in dies. (Hg.), Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory. Cambridge University Press.

Additional Literature:

  • Abbott, A., 2007. Mechanisms and Relations. Sociologica 2.
  • Aviles, N. & I. Reed, 2017. Ratio via Machina: Three Standards of Mechanistic Explanation in Sociology. Sociological Methods and Research 46, 4, 715–738.
  • Mayntz, R., 2004. Mechanisms in the Analysis of Social Macro-Phenomena. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 34, 2, 237–259.
  • Merton, R., 1968. On Sociological Theories of the Middle Range. S. 39–72 in: ders., Social Theory and Social Structure. The Free Press
  • Swedberg, R., 2012. Theorizing in Sociology and Social Science: Turning to the Context of Discovery. Theory and Society 41, 1–40.

Session 10: Institutionen & institutioneller Wandel

December 18, 2024

Required Reading:

  • DiMaggio, P. & W. Powell, 1983. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48, 147–160.

Additional Literature:

  • DiMaggio, P. & W. Powell (Hg.), 1991. Introduction. S. 1–38 in: The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago University Press.
  • March, J. & J. Olsen, 1989. Rediscovering Institutions. The Organizational Basis of Politics. The Free Press, 21–38; 159–172.
  • Meyer, J. & B. Rowan, 1977: Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83, 340–363.
  • Padgett, J. & W. Powell, 2012. The Emergence of Organizations and Markets. Princeton University Press, 1–29 (‚The Problem of Emergence’).
  • Streeck, W. & K. Thelen, 2005. Introduction. S. 1–39 in: W. Streeck and K. Thelen (Hg.), Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford University Press.

Session 11: Neuere kultursoziologische Perspektiven

January 8, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Lamont, M. & M. Small, 2008. How Culture Matters: Enriching Our Understandings of Poverty. S. 76–102 in: The Colors of Poverty: Why Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist, herausgegeben von A. Lin & D. R. Harris. Russell Sage Foundation.

Additional Literature:

  • Swidler, A., 1986. Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. American Sociological Review 51, 273–286.
  • Patterson, O., 2014. Making Sense of Culture. Annual Review of Sociology. 40, 1–30.
  • Lizardo, O. et al., 2016. What are Dual Process Models? Implications for Cultural Analysis in Sociology. Sociological Theory 34 (4), 287–310.
  • Lamont, M., 2012. Toward a comparative sociology of valuation and evaluation. Annual Review of Sociology 38 (1), 201–221.
  • Lareau, A., 2011. Unequal Childhoods. Class, Race, and Family Life. University of California Press, Kapitel 1 & 2, 1–37.

Session 12: Kritische Theorie & Soziologie der Kritik

January 15, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Fassin, D., 2017. The endurance of critique. Anthropological Theory 17 (1), 4–29.

Additional Literature:

  • Boltanski, L. & L. Thévenot, 1999. The sociology of critical capacity. European Journal of Social Theory 2 (3), 359–377.
  • Butler, J., 2002. Was ist Kritik? Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 50(2), 249–265.
  • Honneth, A., 1994. The social dynamics of disrespect: on the location of critical theory today. Constellations 1 (1): 255–269.
  • Horkheimer, M.,1937. Traditionelle und kritische Theorie. Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 6 (2): 245–294. (Besprechung von A. Demirovic unter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5-TEIU81Pg).
  • Marcuse, H., 1967. Der eindimensionale Mensch. Studien zur Ideologie der fortgeschrittenen lndustriegesellschaft. Luchterhand, Vorrede & Teil 1 „Die eindimensionale Gesellschaft", 11–136.
  • Walzer, M., 1993. Interpretation and Social Criticism. Harvard University Press.

Session 13: Postkoloniale Perspektiven

January 22, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Go, J., 2023. Thinking against empire: Anticolonial thought as social theory. The British Journal of Sociology 74 (3), 279–293.

Additional Literature:

  • Bhambra, G. K., 2007. Sociology and Postcolonialism: Another `Missing’ Revolution? Sociology, 41(5), 871-884.
  • Chibber, V., 2014. Capitalism, class and universalism: Escaping the cul-de-sac of postcolonial theory. Socialist Register 50, 63–79.
  • Go, J., 2020. Race, Empire, and Epistemic Exclusion: Or the Structures of Sociological Thought. Sociological Theory 38 (2), 79–100.

Session 14: Abschlussbesprechung & Klausurvorbereitung

January 29, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Lizardo, O., 2014. The End of Theorists: The Relevance, Opportunities, and Pitfalls of Theorizing in Sociology. Lewis Coser Memorial Lecture, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.