50142 Social Theory

Handbook description

This subject tackles the work of some key classical and contemporary social theorists by focusing on a range of key theoretical concepts and their potential use in helping to open the structure and experience of social life to further questioning. Throughout the subject, a conceptual toolkit is developed to help in thinking through two broadly applicable questions about the nature of social life:

• How are social selves structured, enacted, and reproduced?
• Where does the body fit into the reproduction of social life?

Though this subject focuses on the work of theorists appearing throughout the last century, it is not a 'survey' of the recent history of social theory. Students engage with a series of central theoretical concepts which offer a starting point for critically interrogating the subject's theoretical concerns from differing historical and philosophical standpoints. The juxtaposition of theorists deliberately encourages debate about resonances between different approaches and underlines the need to read widely, and to not be afraid to draw on theoretical work of all kinds in engaging with social issues. Centrally, the subject involves collective and individual engagement with the process of reading, understanding, debating, evaluating, and using theory.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

1. use theory to question their own relation to the social world;
2. use theory to ask questions about the process of theorising itself;
3. develop the beginnings of a conceptual 'toolkit' for exploring and interrogating the social world;
4. develop the confidence to read, discuss, and evaluate the work of dominating social theorists;
5. demonstrate a sound understanding of key theoretical concepts 'in motion' by actually using concepts to question and explain every day social phenomena;
6. develop a sense of their own capacities for theoretical thought and application.

Contribution to graduate profile

The course:

• provides students with the conceptual base for further studies based on social theory
• equips students with conceptual skills to address professional work in the Social Sciences.

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject has a one hour lecture and two hour tutorial format. Involvement with the subject material will be through reading, class discussion, leading tutorials, journal work and one major essay.

Reading
As detailed below, you will be expected to prepare readings each week and be able to discuss key issues as well as raise any questions in tutorials. As well as the basic readings used in tutorials, there are many sources you may wish to use. See the attached reading list for some useful suggestions. Remember that secondary texts cannot replace the sometimes hard (and rewarding!) work of grappling with original texts.

Lectures
Lectures will be delivered as a key starting point for following tutorial discussion. In general, each lecture will introduce and examine the work of one key theorist.

Tutorial structure and preparation
Tutorials will usually focus on a close reading of one aspect of a theorist's work. Tutorials should be seen as a continuation of discussion started in the lecture.

Completing weekly tutorial readings (available in the subject reader) is a compulsory component of the subject. The weekly tutorial reading will usually consist of two original pieces from a particular theorist's work and a third reading which will be helpful in discussing and reflecting on the theorist's work. This third reading is not a commentary on the earlier readings but may provide an example of a particular concept being used or act as a vehicle for reflection and debate about the relevance of a particular concept.

There will be one suggested short and accessible secondary reading relating to each key theoretical concept and/or theorist available through eReadings (see section on UTS Online). The focus of your reader will be primary theoretical texts, but these short introductory pieces will offer a basic, useful orienting perspective if you need it. Wider reading material is suggested in the reading list at the back of this course outline.

Set readings are deliberately focused and manageable in size. The readings also frame tutorial participation, so it is imperative that you do them!

Each student will be expected to take a turn at presenting a response to a tutorial question and then leading tutorial discussion.

UTS Online

UTS Online will be used to post announcements and extra subject material. The Discussion Board will be home to weekly eReadings (which can be viewed by just clicking on the link), lecture overheads, and other helpful resources. It is your responsibility to activate your UTS email address for UTS Online.

Content

The subject begins with a consideration of the two driving theoretical problems of how individual actors are shaped by the social world, and how the human body is a key vehicle through which the individual both shapes and is shaped by the social world. Following this, the subject further develops these themes as they have been differently theorised by a range of key social theorists over the last century. Students are exposed to contrasting theoretical traditions which through their differences contribute to a deepened appreciation of the individual and body as both socially produced and socially productive.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Journal

Assessment item 2: Essay

Minimum requirements

Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g., illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.

Attendance is particularly important in this subject because it is based on a collaborative approach which involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas. Students who attend fewer than ten classes are advised that their final work will not be assessed and that they are likely to fail the subject.

Indicative references

TEXTS AND REFERENCES

Help with referencing:

Online (and printable) referencing guide: www.bell.uts.edu.au
For further referencing details see: Style manual for authors, editors and printers 2002, rev. Snooks & Co., John Wiley & Sons, Milton, Queensland.

Below are just a few of the many specialist dictionaries that might be useful as a starting point for reading. Also check for glossaries at the back of collected works on social/cultural theory.

Abercrombie, N., Hill, S & Turner B. 2000, The Penguin dictionary of sociology, 4th edn, Penguin, London
Audi, R. (ed.) 1999, The Cambridge dictionary of philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Mitchell, G. D. 1979, A new dictionary of the social sciences, Aldine Publishing Co., New York.
Williams R. 1983/1988, Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society, Fontana, London.
Overviews of social theory which include commentary, collected readings, and suggested readings on particular theorists:

Alexander, J. & Seidman, S. (eds.) 1993, Culture and society: Contemporary debates, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Baert, P. 1998, Social theory in the Twentieth Century, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Barker, C. 2000, Cultural Studies: Theory and practice, Sage, London.
Beilharz, P. (ed.) 1991, Social theory: A guide to central thinkers, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Bauman, Z. & May, T. 2001, Thinking sociologically, Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford.
Bounds, M. 2004, Urban Social Theory: City, Self and Society, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Calhoun, C., Gerteis, J., Moody, J., Pfaff, S. & Virk, I. 2002, Contemporary sociological theory, Blackwell Publishing Company, Oxford.
Coser, L. & Rosenberg, B. 1982, Sociological theory: A book of readings, 5th edn, Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, Ill.
Fraser, M. & Greco, M. (eds) 2005, The body: A reader, Routledge, London.
Giddens A, Held D, Hubert D, Seymour P & Thompson J. 1994, The Polity reader in social theory, Polity, Cambridge.
*Harrington, A. 2005, Modern social theory: An introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Miles, S. 2001, Social theory in the real world, Sage, London.
*Ritzer, G. & Smart, B. (eds), Handbook of social theory, Sage, London.
*Ritzer, G. (ed.) 2000, The Blackwell companion to major social theorists, Blackwell Publishers, Malden, MA.
Seidman, S. & Alexander, J. C. (eds), 2001, The new social theory reader: Contemporary debates, Routledge, London.
Shilling, C. 2003, The body and social theory, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
The Polity reader in cultural theory, 1994, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Turner, B. (ed) 1997, The Blackwell companion to social theory, Blackwell, Oxford.
Wallace, R. & Wolf, A. 1980, Contemporary sociological theory: Expanding the classical tradition, 5th edn, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Welton, D. 1999, The body: Classic and contemporary readings, Blackwell Publishers Ltd., Oxford.

Wider Reading
As well as the full texts from which the reader excerpts are taken, there are many other useful and interesting texts which will be helpful for wider reading and essays. Some of these texts have good chapters on particular concepts/theorists. The following are some suggestions only:

Ahearne, J. 1995, Michel de Certeau: Interpretation and its Other, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Allen, J. & Young, I.M. 1989, The thinking muse: Feminism and modern French philosophy, Indiana University Press, Bloomington. (good chapter by Young using Merleau-Ponty)
Burns, T. 1992, Erving Goffman, Routledge, London.
Bourdieu, P. 1990, The logic of practice, trans. R. Nice, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Bourdieu, P. 1977 Outline of a theory of practice, trans. R. Nice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Bourdieu, P. 1998, Practical reason: On the theory of action, Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd., Cambridge.
Buchanan, I. 2000, Michel de Certeau: Cultural theorist, Sage, London.
Cataldi, S.1993, Emotion, depth and flesh - A study of sensitive space: Reflections on Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of embodiment, State University of New York Press, Albany.
Crang, M & Thrift, N. (eds) 2000, Thinking space, Routledge, London. (chapters on Bourdieu and de Certeau)
Crossley, N., 2001, The social body: habit, identity and desire, Sage, London. (good on Bourdieu and Merleau-Ponty)
Dean, M. 1999, Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society, Sage, London. (good on Foucault)
Drew, P. and Wootton, A. (eds) 1988, Erving Goffman: Exploring the interaction order, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Durkheim, E. 1964, The Division of labour in society, trans. G. Simpson, The Free Press, New York.
Fine, G & Smith, W.H. 2000, Erving Goffman (Volumes II and III in particular), Sage, London.
Foucault, M. (Gordon, C. ed.) 1980, Power/Knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977, trans.
C. Gordon, L. Marshall, J. Mepham, K. Soper, Harvester Press, Brighton.
Game, A. 1991, Undoing the social, Open University Press, Buckingham.
Gane, M. 1998, On Durkheim's rules of sociological method, Routledge, London.
Giddens, A.1971, Capitalism and modern social theory: An analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Grosz, E. 1994, Volatile bodies: Towards a corporeal feminism, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. (good chapter on Merleau-Ponty)
Kristeva, J.1991, Strangers to ourselves, Columbia University Press, New York.
Lechte, J. 1991, Julia Kristeva, Routledge, London.
Lukes, S. 1975, Emile Durkheim: His life and work, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.
Manning, P. 1992, Erving Goffman and modern sociology, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Mansfield, N. 2000, Subjectivity: Theories of the self from Freud to Harraway, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. (good chapters on Kristeva and Foucault)
McAfee, N. 2003, Julia Kristeva, Routledge, New York.
McHoul, A. & Grace, W. 1993, A Foucault Primer: Discourse, Power and the Subject, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1973, The Visible and the Invisible, trans. A. Lingis, Northwestern University Press, Evanstan.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1964, Signs, trans. R. McCleary, Northwestern University Press, Evanston.
Morrison, K. 1995, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, London, Sage.
Oliver, K. (ed) 1993, Ethics, politics, and difference in Julia Kristeva's writing, Routledge, London.
Priest, S. 1998, Merleau-Ponty, Routledge, London.
Shusterman, R. (ed.) 1999, Bourdieu: A Critical Reader, Blackwell Publishers Ltd., Oxford.
Smart, B. 2002, Michel Foucault, Rev. edn, Routledge, London.
Turner, B. 1984, The body and society: Explorations in social theory, Basil Blackwell, Oxford. (good chapters on embodiment and on Foucault)
Ward. G. (ed) 2000, The Certeau reader, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.
Webb, J., Schirato, T & Danaher, G. 2002, Understanding Bourdieu, Sage, London.