SOC 503 CLASSICAL SOCIAL THEORY (original) (raw)

This course is designed to introduce graduate students a broad introduction to the history of classical sociological thought. Students are going to learn and discuss not only the essential scholars and their theories but also epistemological and ontological grounds that shaped the discipline of sociology. The class will focus on some of the founding thinkers and sociologists not only from the Western tradition but also from the Islamic tradition such as Al-Mawardi (d. 1058), Ibn Bajja (d. 1138), Ibn Tufail (1185), Kınalızade Ali Çelebi (d. 1572), Saint-Simon (d. 1825), A. Comte (1857), H. Martineau (d. 1876), Karl Marx (d. 1883), E. Durkheim (d. 1917), G. Simmel (d. 1918), M. Weber (1920), and T. Parsons (1979) in a comparative way. Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) is not going to be covered in this class because students who are taking this class are having another mandatory graduate course on Ibn Khaldun at the same time in this semester. In this course, students will learn and analyze how these thinkers and sociologists made great contributions in the historical context and played important roles in the histories of sociology in different parts of the world. In other words, this course “explore possibilities in thinking about the classics’ legacy in a manner that contextualizes, provincializes and pluralizes a powerful metanarrative that shapes the discipline of sociology” (Curato, 2013: 274). Here, there is need to emphasize that there is no single history of the discipline of sociology and sociological thought which has diverse epistemological and ontological traditions in various civilizations. In this course, students are expected to become familiar with leading and founding theorists, sociologists and their thoughts through some of their primary/selected texts in order to be able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of social and cultural phenomena. This course will help students to start to develop their skills for a deeper understanding of social world and critical thinking by utilizing sociological theories.