| WEEK # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is Theory? Debating the Case of Captain Cook |
Sahlins, Marshall. "Captain James Cook, or The Dying God." Pp. 104-135. Obeyesekerre, Gananath. The Apotheosis of Captain Cook. Chap. 1, 3 and 4 (pp. 3-22, 49-73, 102-119). |
| I. Collectivity and Structure | ||
| 2 | Emile Durkheim and the Collective Conscience |
Durkheim, Emile. The Division of Labor. (Excerpts.) Durkheim, Emile. Rules of Sociological Method. (Excerpts.) Durkheim, Emile. Suicide. (Excerpts.) |
| 3 | Marx, History, and Materialism: Political Economy |
Marx, Karl. Selections on Historical Materialism and Alienated Labor. Marx, Karl. Selections from Marx Engels Reader: "Society and Economy in History" (pp. 136-142), "Theses on Feuerbach" (pp. 143-145), "The German Ideology," Part I (up to "The Real Basis of Ideology"), pp. 146-176. Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. Lipsitz, George. Time Passages. (Excerpts). Chambliss, William. "A Sociological Analysis of the Law of Vagrancy." Hay, Douglas. "Property, Authority, and the Criminal Law." Thompson, E. P. "The Rule of Law." Mintz, Sidney. Sweetness and Power. (Excerpts.) Griswold, Wendy. " The Ideas of the Reading Class." |
| 4 | Marx, History and Commodity Fetishism |
Selections from Marx, Karl. Capital. Vol. 1. Especially: 1.1. "The Two Factors of the Commodity." 1.2. "The Dual Character of Labor Embodied in Commodities." 1.4. "The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret." 2. "The Process of Exchange." 4. "The General Formula for Capital." 26. "The Secret of Primitive Accumulation." |
| II. Subjectivity and Structure | ||
| 5 | Weber, Rationalization and Modernity |
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber, Max. "The Fundamental Concepts of Sociology." In The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Weber, Max. "The Ideal Type." Weber, Max. "The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism." Weber, Max. Excerpts on Rationalization. Ritzer, George. The MacDonaldization of Society. |
| 6 | Structuralism in Anthropology | Levi-Strauss, Claude. The Elementary Structures of Kinship. (Excerpts.) |
| 7 | The Foucauldian Subject of Power and Discourse |
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 1. (Excerpts.) Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. (Excerpts.) Foucault, Michel. "Two Lectures." Foucault, Michel. "Truth and Power." |
| 8 | Categorization |
Durkheim and Mauss. Primitive Classification. (Excerpts.) Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger. (Excerpts.) Douglas and Wildavsky. Risk and Culture. (Excerpts.) |
| 9 | Negotiating Agency and Structure in Practice |
Bourdieu, Pierre. "The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups." Bourdieu, Pierre. "Time Perspectives of the Kabyle." Bourdieu, Pierre. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. (Excerpts.) Laberge, Suzanne, and Joanne Kay. "Pierre Bourdieu's Sociocultural Theory and Sport Practice." |
| 10 | Face to Face Interaction |
Goffman, Erving. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. (Excerpts.) Goffman, Erving."Fun in Games." In Encounters. (Excerpts.) |
| III. Post-Structural Critique | ||
| 11 | Representation in Anthropology |
Clifford, James. The Predicament of Culture. (Excerpts.) Clifford, James, and George Marcus. Writing Culture. (Excerpts.) Marcus, George, and Michael Fischer. Anthropology as Cultural Critique. (Excerpts.) Ortner, Sherry. "Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties." Collier, Jane, and Sylvia Yanagisako. "Theory in Anthropology Since Feminist Practice." Rosaldo, Renato. "Subjectivity in Social Analysis." Smith, Dorothy. "No One Commits Suicide." |
| 12 | Globalization and Modernity |
Appadurai, Arjun. "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy." Silbey, Susan S. "Let Them Eat Cake: Globalization, Post-modern Colonialism and the Possibilities of Justice." Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. |
| 13 | Conclusions | |
