This is the second semester of our two semester course devoted to the history of social theory. Last semester we studied the development of Marxism beginning with the writings of Marx and Engels followed by Lenin, Gramsci and Fanon. This semester we will study various critical responses to Marxism, beginning with Durkheim and Weber, and then moving on to contemporary theorists, namely Foucault, De Beauvoir, and MacKinnon. Although the critique of Marx and Marxism has loomed large in sociological theory, we can also construct a dialogue among Durkheim, Weber, Foucault and feminism. Thus, we will see how Weber can be viewed as a response to Durkheim, how Foucault combines and moves beyond both of these and how feminism, assimilates, rejects and moves beyond the entire sociological canon.

As last semester, we will study our theorists through the lens of the division of labor and the inspiration this gives to their different conceptions of history. We will see how the major historical divide is not, as it was for Marxism, between a communist future and a pre-communist past, but between "modern," "rational-legal," "industrial" and "disciplinary" society on the one side and "traditional," "patrimonial," "feudal," and "repressive" society on the other. The communist future is denied in different ways. The optimistic Durkheim argues that "socialism," or something like it, is almost already with us whereas the pessimistic Weber argues that "communism" can only lead to deeper bureaucratization. Foucault goes even further to dismiss conceptions of any utopian future as dangerous while feminists naturally ask what happens to male domination in this classless utopia.

For each theorist "the division of labor" signifies something different. Where Marxism examined the consequences of the division of labor for "class", Durkheim is interested in the relationship of the division of labor to "solidarity," Weber its relation to "rationalization," Foucault its relation to "power," and feminism its relation to "gender." To gain insight into each theorist we will continue to ask about the form, origins, conditions of existence, mechanisms of development and future of the division of labor. In the process we will see which collective identities each theorist recognizes and we will also examine how each understands the relation of the division of labor to "individuality" and "individualism." We will pay particular attention to where the "individual" comes from, how "it" is produced, how "it" is fitted into the division of labor and with what consequences.

There will be two mid-term papers. The first will deal with Durkheim and the second will revolve around Weber and Foucault. The first mid-term will be worth 20% and the second mid-term 30% of the final grade. The final examination will cover the entire year's work and count for 25% of the final grade. The remaining 25% will be allocated on the basis of participation in sections.

A xerox reader containing materials from Weber, MacKinnon, and Collins will be available at Copy Central on Bancroft. Durkheim's The Division of Labor in Society, Weber's, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Foucault's, Discipline and Punish, and De Beauvoir's, The Second Sex are all available from the ASUC Bookstore.

My office hours are from 2.00p.m.- 4.00p.m. p.m. on Mondays and 4.00p.m. - 6p.m. on Tuesdays in Barrows 454. Please sign up ahead of time. Your Graduate Student Instructors are: Natalie Boero, Jennifer Chun, Cristina Eguiarte, Fabrizio Rigout, Jeff Sallaz, Chris Wetzel, and Kerry Woodward.
 

Those articles marked with an "*" are contained in the xerox reader.
 

January 18    Introduction: Why Durkheim, Weber, Foucault and De Beauvoir?
 

DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

January 20     Roots of Durkheim. Sociology as Science. Is the division of labor a pathology or normal?
                     The Division of Labor in Society, Preface to First Edition (pp.xxv-xxx); Introduction (pp.1-8)

January 25     The Argument. The functions of the division of labor? What are Durkheim's two notions of solidarity? How to measure solidarity? What is the relation between division of labor and solidarity? How to explain conflict and disorganization?
                     The Division of Labor in Society, Book I, chapter 1 (pp.11-30)

January 27    What is a Crime? What is the Function of Punishment? What is the form of punishment? Mechanical Solidarity and the State.
                     The Division of Labor in Society, Book I, chapter 2 (pp.31-67)
February 1    What is organic solidarity? Restitutive Law. Durkheim's criticism of Spencer. Organic solidarity and the state.
                     The Division of Labor in Society, Book I, chapter 3 (pp.68-72; 77-87) and chapter 7 (pp.149-175)

February 3    What happens to the collective consciousness under organic solidarity? What are the origins and impetus behind the development of the division of labor.
                     The Division of Labor in Society, Book I, chapter 5 (pp.118-123) and Book II, chapter 2 (pp.200-225)

February 8    Normal and Abnormal division of labor. Anomic, forced and discontinuous division of labor.
                     The Division of Labor in Society, Book III, chapters 1, 2 and 3 (pp.291-328)

February 10   Why Durkheim? Marx and Durkheim? Ransacking Durkheim.
                      The Division of Labor in Society, Conclusion (pp.329-341)

February 14   FIRST PAPER DUE

WEBER (1864-1920)

February 15    What Does Weber mean by Rationalization and by Modern Western Bourgeois Capitalism?
                       Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.13-34

February 17    What is the Spirit of Capitalism?
                       Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.35-78

February 22    What is the Protestant Ethic? The difference between Luther and Calvin?
                       Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.79-128.

February 24    What is the connection between the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism? What is the difference between the origins of the Capitalist Division of Labor and its reproduction?
                       Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp.155-183

February 29    From Capitalism to Bureaucratization. What is Bureaucracy?
                       Bureaucracy*, Sections 1 and 2, (pp.196-204).

March 2 What are the Conditions and Origins of Bureaucracy?
                       Bureaucracy*, Sections 3 (pp.204-9), 9 (pp.224-228), and 11 (pp.230-232).

March 7         What is the tensions between democracy and bureaucracy? Between power and knowledge?
                      Bureaucracy*, Sections 12 (pp.232-235), and 14 (pp.240-44)

March 9        Why is bureaucracy so permanent? Whose interests are served by bureaucracy? What threatens bureaucracy? Weber vs. Lenin?
                      Bureaucracy*, Sections 6 (pp.214-216), 10 (pp.228-30), and 7 (ONLY pp.220-1)

March 14      What are the types of legitimate domination? Weber vs. Gramsci. Legitimacy vs. Hegemony?
                     Types of Legitimate Domination*
 

FOUCAULT (1926-1984)

March 16     Summary: division of labor, the individual and the periodization of history. Introduction to Foucault.

March 21     Compare Durkheim and Foucault with respect to (a) punishment, (b) restitutive law and discipline, and (c) occupational associations/workplace and the microphysics of power?
                    Discipline and Punish, pp.3-31

March 23     Discipline: Hierarchical Observation, Normalization and Examination
                    Discipline and Punish, pp.170-194

March 27 - March 31 SPRING BREAK

April 4        The Plague and the Leper. Panopticon vs. Hegemony and Bureaucracy.
                  Discipline and Punish, pp.195-215

April 6        The Disciplinary Society. Foucault's vs. Durkheim, Weber and Gramsci.
                  Discipline and Punish, pp.216-228.

April 10 SECOND PAPER DUE
 

FROM SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR (1908-1986) TO CATHARINE MACKINNON

April 11     Film: Daughters of De Beauvoir

April 13     Women as Other. Why do women submit to male domination?
                  The Second Sex, Introduction (pp.xix-xxxvi)

April 18     The fallacy of biological destiny. Man-made history.
                  The Second Sex, Chapter 1, The Data of Biology. (pp.3-37); Chapter 8 (ONLY pp.128-138)

April 20     Women's Life Today: Situation and Character; The Woman in Love; The Lesbian.
                  The Second Sex, Chapter 15 (pp.404-424); Chapter 21 (pp.597-628); Chapter 23 (pp.642-669).

April 25     Liberation and the independent woman.
                  The Second Sex, Conclusion (pp.716-732).

April 27     Marxism and Feminism. Work and Sexuality.
                  Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for Theory*, pp.227-239

May 2       Sexuality and Gender. Objectification. Objectivity. Consciousness Raising.
                  Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for Theory*, pp.240-256

May 4 SUMMARY