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EUROG005
Social Theory
Dr Mark Hewitson
20 credits
Term 2
Wednesday 11am-1pm
Room - B3, 16-18 Gordon Square
This course examines the development of modern social theory by looking in detail at the ideas of European thinkers such Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Freud, Adorno and Horkheimer. It aims to investigate how such thinkers conceived of society and social change, exploring themes such as historical materialism and capitalism, religion and suicide, rationalisation, civilisation and taboo, and communication and the culture industry. It also explores the methodological and philosophical premises of social theory.
Week 1.-2. Marx
Philosophy and history
Politics and economics
Week 3.-4. Durkheim
Society and the division of labour; suicide
Religion and the forms of religious life
Week 5.-6. Weber
Capitalism and religion
Interpretative sociology
Week 7.-8.Freud
Ego, super-ego, and id
Repression and civilisation
Week 9.-10. Frankfurt School
Critical theory
The culture industry
Basic Reading
Texts
D.McLellan ed., Karl Marx: Selected Writings Durkheim, Suicide, Elementary Forms of Religious Life
W.G.Runciman ed., Weber: Selections
Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
B.O’Connor, The Adorno Reader
Adorno/Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment
Secondary Literature
D.McLellan, Marx, 2 nd ed (Modern Masters)
A.Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory
Anthony Storr, Freud
David Held, Introduction to Critical Theory
J.Elster, An Introduction to Karl Marx
G.Cohen, Karl Marx’s Theory of History
S.Lukes, Emile Durkheim
Frank Parkin, Max Weber, Chs 1, 3, 4
P.Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time
E.Gellner, The Psychoanalytic Movement
T.Bottomore, The Frankfurt School, Intro
Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination
Simon Jarvis, Adorno: A Critical Introduction
K.Morrison, Marx, Durkheim, Weber
I.Hampshire-Monk, A History of Modern Political Thought, Ch 10
W.J.Mommsen, The Political and Social Theory of Max Weber
P.Roazen, Freud: Political Theory and Social Thought
J. Abramson, Liberation and Its Limits
