Abstract: This syllabus is designed to teach undergraduate students classical and contemporary sociological theory using primary texts, individual and group-based writing assignments, a creative project, film and current events analyses, and extensive class discussion. The readings, assignments, and films are carefully selected and organized to help students appreciate the historical development of social thought as well as the conceptual linkages and debates between various paradigms. The course provides students with opportunities to apply theory to contemporary, historical, local, and global social problems. This syllabus provides instructors with a comprehensive resource by packaging a course outline, major assignments with grading rubrics and peer evaluation forms, and a class participation rubric. Nearly all of the assigned readings are contained in an affordable, widely available reader; additional readings are available through most college library’s digital resources. The syllabus uses critical and collaborative pedagogies; as such, this syllabus is especially well-suited for courses that emphasize discussion and other forms of student participation, but can also be used for lecture based courses.
The course covers classical theory, symbolic interactionism, structural-functionalism, conflict theory, critical theory, and contemporary theories of power, deviance, the body, social media, cultural and social capital, gender, race, ethnicity, and identity. The theorists included in the reading list are Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Mead, Blumer, Goffman, West and Zimmerman, Merton, Mills, Dahrendorf, Marcuse, Foucault, Bourdieu, DuBois, Appiah, Hill Collins, and other contemporary theorists.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-03-19
Language: en
Type: article
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