This course is no longer offered

10367 Classical Sociological Theories 1

Credits: 6 advanced credits in Sociology and Anthropology

Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Introduction to Sociology and two additional courses in Sociology and Anthropology. Students must also fulfill all English requirements.

Recommended: The Age of Revolution: 1760-1830

The course deals with the theoretical approaches of seven of the founding fathers of sociology: Comte, Marx, Tocqueville, Pareto, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel. It presents the key issues, intellectual and methodological, that surround debates in classical sociology.

The course is based on a translation of Raymond Aron, Main Currents in Sociological Thought, and on a collection of articles, most in English.

The course presents the thinking of the most important (early) classical sociologists, as well as the social and intellectual background against which sociology developed. It also helps students to understand the theoretical basis underlying many of the modern studies they encounter in the course of their studies, as well as the classical “roots” of competing schools in contemporary sociology.

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1Students may not submit a seminar paper in this course.