Syllabus (SOCIOLOGY)

Course Type: MAJ-2

Semester: 2

Course Code: BSOCMAJ02T

Course Title: Classical Sociological Thought

(L-P-Tu): 5-0-1

Credit: 6

Practical/Theory: Theory

Course Objective: One objective of this course is to enable the students to have an elementary understanding of what sociological thought is. Another objective is to make the students appreciate how a few early theorists of social life once laid the foundation stone of s

Learning Outcome: After learning the content of this paper the students will understand the works of the foundational thinkers in sociology. The students will be able to develop their own sociological imagination through linking abstract concepts and theories with the conc

Contents of the Course

1. The Rise of Sociological Thought

2. Karl Marx

Labour – Creative and alienated forms

Critique of religion

Dialectics

Materialist conception of history: Modes of production; Class and class struggle

Critique of the capitalist mode of production

3. Emile Durkheim

Social fact

Division of labour in society: Mechanical and organic solidarity; Collective conscience and collective representations; Repressive and restitutive laws

Suicide: Definition and types

Society and Religion

4. Max Weber

Theory of social action

Methodological concerns: Verstehen, Nature of social science, Value-orientation and ethical neutrality, Ideal types and causality

Authority and its types

Religion and economy

Rationalisation and bureaucracy

5. Georg Simmel

Simmel’s approach to sociology: Sociations and formal sociology; Dialectical thinking

Sociology of culture: Subjective and objective culture; Ambivalence of modern culture

Readings and References

1. Ritzer, George. 1966. Sociological Theory. New York: McGraw Hill Companies.
2. Coser, Lewis A. 2012. Masters of Sociological Thought. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
3. Aron, Raymond. 1967. Main Currents in Sociological Thought (Vol. 2): Durkheim, Pareto, Weber. London: Penguin.
1. Zeitlin, Irving, M. 1968. Ideology and the Development of Sociological Theory. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
2. Ritzer, George and Jeffrey Stepinsky. 2018. Classical Sociological Theory. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
3. Giddens, Anthony. 1971. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

4. Hughes, H. Stuart. 1972. Consciousness and Society. New York: Routledge.

5. Morrison, Ken. 2006. Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formation of Modern Sociological Thought. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
6. Swingewood, Alan. 1984. A Short History of Sociological Thought. Macmillan.
7. Abraham, Francis and John Henry Morgan. 1985. Sociological Thought from Comte to Sorokin. Madras: Macmillan.
8. Seidman, Steven. 2013. Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today. Wiley-Blackwell.
9. Turner, Bryan S. 1999. Classical Sociology. London: Sage.
10. Worsley, Peter. 2002. Marx and Marxim. London: Routlege.
11. Parkin, Frank. 2002. Max Weber. London: Routledge.
12. Thompson, Ken. 1982. Emile Durkheim. London: Routledge.
13. Frisby, David. 2002. Georg Simmel. London: Routledge.
14. Fischer, Ernst. 1996. How to Read Karl Marx. New York: Monthly Review Press.
15. McLellan, David. 1975. Marx. London: Fontana Press.
16. Marx, Karl. 1975. Early Writings. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
17. Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. 1948. The Manifesto of the Communist Party. New York: International Publishers.
18. Durkheim, Emile. 1958. The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: The Free Press.

19. Durkheim, Emile. 1951. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. New York: The Free Press.

20. Durkheim, Emile. 1964. The Division of Labour in Society. New York: The Free Press.

21. Durkheim, Emile. 1995. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: The Free Press.

22. Gerth, H. H. And C. Wright Mills (eds.). 1946. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
23. Weber, Max. 1947. The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. New York: The Free Press.
24. Weber, Max. 2002. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London: Blackwell Publishers.
25. Wolff, Kurt H. (ed.) 1950. The Sociology of Georg Simmel. The Free Press of Glencoe
26. Simmel, Georg. 1971. On Individuality and Social Forms. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
27. Frisby, David and Mike Featherstone.1997. Simmel on Culture. Sage publications.
28. Lukes, Steven. 1972. Emile Durkheim: His Life and Works. New York: Harper & Row.
29. Bottomore, Tom and Robert A. Nisbet (eds.)। 1978. A History of Sociological Analysis. New York: Basic Books.
30. দত্তগুপ্ত, বেলা. ২০০৬. ওগুস্ত কঁৎ থেকে কার্ল মার্ক্স: কলকাতা: প্রগতিশীল প্রকাশক.
31. দত্তগুপ্ত, শোভনলাল (সম্পা.). ২০২০. মার্কস ২০০: একুশের ভাবনা. কলকাতা: আনন্দ পাবলিশার্স.
32. ঘোষ, শান্তনু. ২০০০. সমাজতাত্ত্বিক চিন্তাধারা. কলকাতা: চ্যাটার্জি পাবলিশার্স.