soc116
Dan Ryan » soc116

History of Sociological Thought + Anthropological Theory = Theories of Social Order

Mills College Fall 2015

Tu-Th 9:30-10:45 NSB 217
Instructor: Dan Ryan

Pages
Course Summary 2015 | Class | Exam3 Fall2015 | Exam2 Fall2015 Flash Card | Exam2 Fall2015 Scratch | Midsemesterevaluation2015 | Home 2015v0p0 | Home 20150901 | Exam2 Fall2015 | Hierarchy Class Iv | Exam1 Fall2015 | Storyboard | Problems For Pitch And Catch | Pitch And Catch: Individuals as Solution to Problem of Social Order | Pitch and Catch | Problems | H&H Intro to Individuals as Source of Social Order | What Is Order? | Nav Top | Syllabus Boilerplate | Gilman | When Social Order Goes Away | soc116 | Durkheim Suicide and Modernity | Quotes About Theory | Exams Policies Etc | Exam Individuals 2012 | Final Exam 2012 | Life Of A Pencil | Game Theory | Exam Markets 2012 | Markets And Agents Exercise | Hierarchy Exam 2012 : Creative Representations | Extensions | Notes Hobbes Leviathan Text | Exam1 2012 Student Questions | Exams | Slides | Durkheim " The Human Meaning Of Religion" | Durkheim On God | Quiz Question List | Show All SOC116 Quizzes | Social Order Quiz | Create Quiz Questions for soc116 | Sample Quiz | All SOC116 Quizzes | Quiz Creation Page | quiz-trial | Public Goods Game | Course Summary | Types of Social Action | Social Order and Social Theory 2012 | Class Notes | Page Tree | Wrong "The Problem Of Order" | Standard Essay Format | Media Use Survey | Debates and Social Theory | Course Exercises | Descriptions, Typologies, and Mechanisms | Examples of Social Order | Exercises | Course Overview | Terms | cooperation | Preliminaries | H&H "The Problem of Social Order" (r001) | Test02 | Test01 | Thoughts And Ideas About Textbook | All soc116 Problems | Miscellaneous | Next Time | Network Visualizations | thinkers | Simmel Materials | Varshney "Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society: India and Beyond." (R034) | Granovetter:"The Strength of Weak Ties" (R033) | Simmel: "The Web of Group-Affiliations" (R032) | Gluckman "The Peace in the Feud." (R031) | Gellner "Trust, Cohesion, and the Social Order." (R030) | Networks As Solution To Problem Of Order | Groups Collective Action Movements | Recent Changes | Wiki Fill In The Blanks | Wiki Deadlines | poletta-freedom-is-an-endless-meeting | radio-show-on-cooperation | Hechter, et al. "...Social Order in Heterogeneous Societies" (R029) | Centola, Willer, and Macy: "The Emperor's Dilemma" (R028) | Horne: Group Cohesion and Metanorms (27) | xColeman: "The Emergence of Norms" (R026) | Hechter: "Principles of Group Solidarity" (R025) | Tocqueville, "Individualism and Free Institutions" (024) | Durkheim, "Anomic Suicide" (023) | Durkheim, "Egoistic Suicide" (022) | Freud from "Civilization and Its Discontents" (r021) | Goffman "The Arrangement Between the Sexes"(R020) | Groups As Solution To Problem Of Order | Adam Smith Sources | Annotated Full Text, Smith: Division of Labour | Axelrod "Live and Let Live" (R018) | Zimmer: "From Ants to People, An Instinct to Swarm" (R019) | Axelrod: "The Evolution of Cooperation" (R017) | generic-reading-summary-page | Leading Question | Adam Smith : The Division of Labor (R016) | Markets As Solution To Problem Of Order | Hayek Keynes Raps | Hayek Cosmos Taxis Leading Questions | Hayek "Cosmos & Taxis" (R014) | 2012 | Schelling: "Micromotives, Macrobehaviors" (R015) | Wikipedia Assignment Weeks 5 And 6 | Hierarchy As Solution To Problem Of Order Tweets | weber-and-islam | text:weber-iron-cage | Notes on Weber's "Ideal Type" | notes-weber-class-status-party | Weber Politics As A Vocation From Ssr Archive | notes-weber-politics-as-a-vocation | Weber's Protestant Ethic: A Short Outline | notes-weber-politics-as-a-vocation | notes-weber-the-bureaucratic-machine | weber-max | Engels' Speech at Marx's Funeral | collins-why-is-sociology-not-a-science | Basic time/event/idea maps of social theory | The Pre-Sociologists | queuing-and-social-theory | Wrong : The Problem of Order from Hobbes to the Present | Twitter | Willis, "Learning to Labour" (R013) | Weber, "Types of Legitimate Domination" (R012) | Engels, "Origins of the State" (R011) | Hobbes, from "Leviathan" (R010 ) | Hierarchy As Solution To Problem Of Order | Individuals as Solution to Problem of Order | Cohen Meanings of Violence | Mead, "Play, the Game, and the Generalized Other" (008) | Fleck, Genesis of a Scientific Fact | Durkheim, from Elementary Forms | Marx, Production of Consciousness | "Individuals" | Kanazawa "De Gustibus Est Disputandum" (r004) | Fehr and Gintis "Human Motivation and Social Cooperation" (r003) | What Is Theory? | Hechter & Horne, "Motives and Mechanisms" | test7 | graphic-template | soc116:lifespan | Weber Biography | Free Digital Social Theory Text Sources | Weber, Max. 1921. "Types of Social Action" (r002) | scratch | london-riots-theory | Hechter & Horne, "The Problem Of Social Order" | Agenda | Lecture Notes | Blog | Cite | Feedback | Course Materials 2011 | Diagrams | Projects 2011 | Assignments 2011 | wikipedia | wikipedia-editors | Help How To Set Up A Wikipedia Account | Help How To Set Up A Twitter Account | Page Point Nine System | Help How To Tweet A Reading | Help | Reading Summaries | Collins: "The Nonrational Foundations of Rationality" | Hedstrom, Peter. 2005. "Dissecting the Social" (r001) | Library | soc116: Initial Exercises | Order Theory Riots | List All SOC116 Pages | wikipedia | plan-2011 | Calendar 2011 | Hechter & Horne: Theories Of Social Order | READINGS | Images | Durkheim | problem of order | Syllabus | Course: History of Sociological Thought |
Questions
Pages
0459 Best article of the course | 0458 | 0457 Groups Incentives and Regulation | 0456 | 0455 | 0454 Rewriting "When Society Disappears" | 0452 | 0451 | 0450 Centola-Schelling | 0449 Hechter group solidarity | 0448 Tocqueville | 0447 Tocqueville | 0446 Tocqueville | 0445 Tocqueville | 0444 | 0443 Durkheim egoistic suicide vocabulary | 0442 | 0441 Durkheim egoistic suicide | 0440 Durkheim anomic suicide vocabulary | 0439 Freud and Durkheim on conscience | 0438 Durkheim anomic suicide advertising | 0437 Durkheim anomic suicide globalization | 0436 Durkheim anomic suicide | 0435 Durkheim-Marx-Engels-Weber | 0434 Durkheim anomic suicide | 0433 Durkheim anomic suicide | 0432 Durkheim anomic suicide | 0431 Durkheim anomic suicide | 0430 Durkheim anomic suicide | 0429 Freud guilt | 0428 Freud CAID | 0427 | 0426 | 0425 Axelrod Live and Let Live | 0424 Hierarchy Summary | 0423 Zimmer Ants and People | 0422 Axlerod | 0420 Why Willis' Learning to Labour? | 0419 Hayek teleological shorthand | 0418 Axelrod propositions | 0417 Axelrod cheap words | 0416 Axelrod one-shot v repeated play | 0415 | 0414 Axelrod International Relations | 0413 Axelrod PD | 0412 Axelrod Prisoner's Dilemma | 0411 Axelrod's Problem | 0410 Schelling Models | 0409 Willis and Punk | 0408 | 0407 | 0406 | 0405 | 0404 | 0403 Engels democracy | 0402 Engels state for ruling class | 0401 Weber legitimacy | 0400 Willis class reproduction | 0399 Willis shopfloor and school culture | 0398 Willis shopfloor culture | 0397 Willis lads resistance culture at school | 0396 Willis 'ear'oles | 0395 Willis vocabulary | 0394 Weber routinization of charisma | 0393 Weber social levelling | 0392 Weber bureaucratic impersonality | 0391 Weber bureaucracy | 0390 Weber charismatic authority | 0389 Weber traditional authority | 0388 Weber legal authority | 0387 Weber legitimate domination vocabulary | 0386 Engels origin of state | 0385 Engels vocabulary | 0384 State of nature, no industry... | 0383 Vocabulary in Hobbes | 0382 Government matters | 0381 H&H summary of hierarchy section | 0380 The efficiency of different types of authority | 0379 Marx Engels ideology | 0378 Weber coercion too expensive | 0377 | 0376 Engels on class | 0375 Hobbes and Engels | 0374 Coercion and state of nature | 0373 Necessary but not sufficient | 0371 Storyboarding Kanazawa | 0370 Storyboarding Cohen & Vandello | 0369 Storyboarding Fleck | 0368 Storyboarding Durkheim on collective representations | 0367 Storyboarding Weber | 0366 Storyboarding Mead | 0365 Storyboarding Marx | 0364 | 0363 Weber types of social action | 0362 Culture poured into the self | 0361 | 0360 Cohen & Vandello, structural background | 0359 Marx summary | 0358 Fleck summary | 0357 Durkheim summary | 0356 Mead summary | 0355 Marx Consciousness | 0354 Hedstrom on realism | 0353 Hedstrom on statistical explanations | 0352 Hedstrom on decomposition | 0351 | 0350 | 0349 language as social | 0348 Mead's two step socialization | 0347 | 0346 | 0345 | 0344 | 0343 | 0342 | 0341 Mead Self Consciousness | 0340 Nominalism and Realism | 0339 Fleck Thought Collective | 0338 Fleck Thought Collective | 0337 Fleck Cognition as Socially Conditioned | 0336 Fleck Thought Collective | 0335 Marx, Consciousness, and Work | 0334 Social Order and Policy | 0333 Weber: Types of Social Action | 0238 Fehr and Gintis | 0237 Centola, Willer, and Macy “The Emperor's Dilemma" | 0236 Axelrod: "The Evolution of Cooperation" | 0235 Schelling "Micromotives, Macrobehaviors" | 0234 Hayek "Cosmos & Taxis" | 0233 Hobbes, from "Leviathan" | 0232 Durkheim, “Collective Representations” | 0218 Axelrod: "tit-for-tat" | 0217 Axlerod: Cooperation | 0216 Smith: "Division of Labor" | 0215 Smith: "Division of Labor" | 0214 Schelling, Akerlof, Lemons | 0213 Hayek: "Cosmos and Taxis" | 0212 Hayek: "Cosmos and Taxis" | 0211 Hayek: "Cosmos and Taxis" | 0210 Hayek: "Cosmos and Taxis" | 0209 Hayek: "Cosmos and Taxis" | 0208 Hayek: "Cosmos and Taxis" | 0201 Schelling's "dying seminar" | 0200 Game Theory: Equilibrium | 0199 Game Theory: Lame Ducks | 0198 The "tit-for-tat" strategy | 0197 Prisoner's Dilemma | 0196 Prisoner's Dilemma | 0195 It is not from the beneficence of the baker…. | 0194 "the invisible hand" | 0193 Hayek: "Cosmos & Taxis" | 0174 | 0163 Durkheim: "Origin of Beliefs" | 0162 Durkheim: "Origin of Beliefs" | 0161 Fleck: "Genesis and the Development of a Scientific Fact" | 0160 Fleck: "Genesis and the Development of a Scientific Fact" | 0150 Marx Production of Consciousness | 0070 Coordination and cooperation, examples | 0069 Coordination, define |
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NOTE: You Can't Read Everything…

"Sociological" and/or "Anthropological" Theory are impossibly large bodies of knowledge to "cover" in a single semester course. And if you add "History of" to the course title, the task becomes silly even to contemplate doing with any sense of completeness.
Any practicing sociologist or anthropologist has taken many "theory" courses during the course of their training. In one's first course, one will scratch the surface and leave an endless number of theorists unread. Below is an incomplete list of thinkers I've either studied in theory courses or that have appeared in the theory syllabi in my own or my colleagues courses over the years. If you like theory, start anywhere in the list; there's lots to read.

+ Who We Won't Read

Introduction to Theory & the Course


W1Th 8.27 Lecture We will begin by laying out the how of the course - how things will work and how to succeed - and then the what of the course - what it is all about, what the idea landscape we are about to traverse looks like.

Where does this course fit in the sociology and anthropology curricula? How is "theory" conventionally taught and will this course be different? What is our motivation for the change? How does this course at this time fit into YOUR education and intellectual development? What trajectory will the course follow? What are the work expectations and course requirements? What are your expectations, hopes, anxieties?

Before things get underway, look at Sociological Theory, Anthropology, and Sociology in Wikipedia, and have a look at this time line of social theory.

Warm-Up Assignment: When Social Order Disappears

What is Order?


W2Tu 9.1 Lecture

Readings

  1. Philosophy Talk. "Cooperation and Conflict" (radio show)
  2. Hechter & Horne, "Preface" pp.xi-xiv (PDF). NOTE: Unless otherwise indicated, all readings are found in Hechter, Michael and Christine Horne (editors), 2009. Theories of Social Order. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (SECOND EDITION)
  3. Hechter & Horne, Part I: "The Problem of Social Order"pp 1-5 (PDF)
  4. Wrong, Dennis. 1994. "The Problem of Order from Hobbes to the Present," pp. 14-36 in The Problem of Social Order: What Unites and Divides Society. (PDF) (Notes)
  5. Fehr, Ernst and Herbert Gintis. 2007. "Human Motivation and Social Cooperation"

Exercise
Class Activity: Public Goods Game

What is Theory?


W2Th 9/3Lecture What makes something a theory? What makes a theory a good theory?

Readings

  1. H&H "What is Theory?" pp. 7-11
  2. Hedstrom, Peter. 2005. "Dissecting the Social" (notes)
  3. H&H "Motives and Mechanisms" pp. 17-22 (notes)
  4. Weber, Max. 1921. "Types of Social Action" from Economy and Society (notes)
  5. Kanazawa, Satoshi. 2001. "De Gustibus Est Disputandum" (notes)

See Also

  1. Collins, Randall. "The Irrational Foundations of Rationality" pp. 3-29. (Notes)
  2. Goetz, Aaron T., Todd K. Shackelford, and Steven M. Platek. 2009. "Introduction to evolutionary psychology: A Darwinian approach to human behavior and cognition," pp. 1-21 in Platek and Shackelford (eds.) Foundations in Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience (Mills 612.8233 F7714 2009)

Individuals and the Problem of Order

W3Tu 9.8 Lecture When we say "individuals as solution to the problem of order" we are suggesting that there is something about the kind of thing human individuals are that permits them to be "wired" or "programmed" or "trained" for cooperation and coordination. In conventional terms, we are referring to the idea that culture and beliefs can be "put into" individuals with the result that they behave in a manner that is conducive to order.

Readings

  1. H&H: "Solutions to the Problem of Order: Individuals" pp 41-45
  2. Marx, Karl. 1845-6. "The Production of Consciousness,” from The German Ideology.
  3. Mead, George Herbert. 1934. "Play, the Game, and the Generalized Other," from Mind, Self, and Society.
  4. Emile Durkheim. 1912. "The Origin of Beliefs," from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
  5. Fleck, Ludwick. 1935. "Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact," from Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact.
  6. Cohen, Dov and Joe Vandello. 1998. "Meanings of Violence"


W3Th 9.10 Pitch and Catch (What is Pitch and Catch?)


W4Tu 9.15 Exercise


W4Th 9.17 Storyboarding

See Also


W5 9.22-24 Exam 1 Intro + Individuals (ORAL)

Hierarchies and the Problem of Order


W6Tu 9.29 Lecture By "hierarchy" we mean, in effect, organizations. In this section of the course we consider hierarchy (organizations) together with markets because one of the fundamental arguments of social science hinge around the question "market or hierarchy?" Along the way we'll ponder hierarchy and the state, hierarchy and formal organizations, hierarchy and law.

Readings

  1. Hechter & Horne: "Hierarchies" pp 82-87
  2. Hobbes, Thomas.  1651.  "Leviathan"
  3. Engels, Friedrich. 1884. "The Origin of the State"
  4. Weber, Max. 1921-2. "The Types of Legitimate Domination" (see also: DJR Slides)
  5. Willis, Paul. 1981. "Learning to Labor"

W6Th 10.1 Pitch and Catch

W7Tu 10.6 Exercise

W7Th 10.8 Storyboarding (click for Class Activity)

See Also

  1. Perrow, Charles. "Why Bureaucracy?" (DL)
  2. Chambliss, William. "A Sociological Analysis of the Law of Vagrancy."
  3. Hay, Douglas. "Property, Authority, and the Criminal Law."
  4. Thompson, E. P. "The Rule of Law."

MIDSEMESTER COURSE EVALUATION

Markets and the Problem of Order

W8TU 10.13 Lecture Sociologists and anthropologists are often knee-jerk critics of markets; in this section of the course we will equip you not to reprise that kind of ignorance.

Readings

  1. Markets# H&H, "Markets," pp. 134-139.
    1. Wikipedia Editors, Market.
  2. Hayek, Friedrich A. 1976. "Cosmos and Taxis"
    1. EconStories.tv, "Fight of the Century"
    2. EconStories.tv, "Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem
  3. Schelling, Thomas C. 1978. "Micromotives and Macrobehavior"
  4. Smith, Adam . 1776. "The Division of Labor"
  5. Axelrod, Robert. 1984. "The Evolution of Cooperation"
  6. Axelrod, Robert. 1984. "The Live-and-Let-Live System in Trench Warfare in World War I"
  7. Zimmer, Carl. 2007. "From Ants to People, and Instinct to Swarm"

W8TH 10.15 Pitch and Catch

W9TU 10.20 Exercise Markets and Agents

W9TH 10.22 Storyboarding

See Also

  1. Essay on Markets and Social Order
  2. Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  3. The Life of a Pencil

W10 10.27-29 MORE MARKETS


W11 11.3-5 Exam 2 Hierarchy and Markets(ORAL)

Groups and the Problem of Order

W12Tu 11.10Lecture
Groups, Culture, Beliefs, Norms

Readings

  1. Goffman, Erving. 1977. "The Arrangement between the Sexes"
  2. Freud, Sigmund. 1930. "Civilization and Its Discontents"
  3. Durkheim, Emile. 1897. "Egoistic Suicide"
  4. Durkheim, Emile. 1897. "Anomic Suicide"
  5. De Tocqueville, Alexis. 1848. "Individualism and Free Institutions"
  6. Hechter, Michael H. 1987. "Principles Of Group Solidarity"
  7. Coleman, James S. 1990. "The Emergence of Norms"
  8. Horne, Christine. 2001,4. "Group Cohesion and Metanorms"
  9. Centola, Damon, Robb Willer, and Michael Macy. 2005. "The Emperor's Dilemma"
  10. Hechter, Michael, Debra Friedman, and Satoshi Kanazawa. 1992. "The Attainment of Social Order in Heterogeneous Societies"

W12Th 11.12Pitch and Catch
W13Tu 11.17Exercise
W13Th 11.19Storyboarding

Networks as Solution to the Problem of Order

W14Tu 11.24 Lecture

Readings

  1. Gellner, Ernest. 1987. "Trust, Cohesion, and the Social Order"
  2. Gluckman, Max. 1955. "The Peace in the Feud"
  3. Simmel, Georg. 1922. "The Web of Group-Affiliations"
  4. Granovetter, Mark S. 1973. "The Strength of Weak Ties"
  5. Varshney, Ashutosh. 2001. "Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society: India and Beyond"

W15Tu 12.1 Pitch and Catch (or similar)
Exercise
Storyboarding

See Also
  1. "Networks: Neither Market nor Hierarchy"
  2. Selection from Stack, Carol B. 1974. All our kin: strategies for survival in a Black community. New York, Harper & Row (301.451 S775a)

W15Th 12.3 Wrapup

  1. Presentation Slides
  2. Wrapup 2012


12/10-14 Exam 3 Course Final (ORAL)