SOCI 302/322 Perspectives in Social Theory

Meaning of perspectives in social theory; Structuralism versus agency/action debate in Sociology; Philosophies of positivism and phenomenology and their influence on sociological theories and research methods; Structural functionalism: from Durkheim, Parsons, Merton to Alexander; Marxism and Conflict Theory: from Marx, Neo-Marxism (Althusser, Lukacs, Gramsci) to Critical Theory; “Non-Marxist” Conflict theory: Dahrendorf and Coser.; Historically-Oriented Marxism (Dependency and World System Theory: Latin American Structuralism, Frank, Amin, Rodney,Nkrumah, Wallerstein, etc.); Symbolic Interactionism: Mead, Blummer and Goffman; Ethnomethodology: the works of Garfinkel, etc., Feminist Theory.