SUNY College at Old Westbury
Department of Sociology

SY 4540 Contemporary Sociological Theory
also known as
SY 4540 Theories of Dead (mostly) White Men

Prof. Heller
hellerj@oldwestbury.edu
 
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C-320, Tower C-2 in Academic Village

Hours: 1:30- 2:30 pm, M/W and
     by appointment

   
Presentations
(click HERE for schedule)

Presentation Guidelines

1. Explain the main points of the reading (enough for someone who hasn’t read it to know what the reading is about):

            - what's the subject

            - what's the argument

            - perhaps select one or two key quotations that crystallize the argument?

2. Some aspects you found interesting… (2 or 3)

3. Present some critique of the ideas you've described…

            - formulate "study questions" – how and why – about the material

 

 

date

topics

read

presenter(s)

feb 20

structural functionalism (cont'd.)

"Categories of . . . Action" (Parsons)
"Sex Roles…" (Parsons)
"Manifest & Latent…" (Merton)

Heller
Richard/Vanessa
Nancy

feb 25

critical theory

   chapter 3 in Appelrouth & Edles

Heller

feb 27

critical theory (cont')

Eclipse of Reason (Horkheimer)
"Culture Industry…" (Adorno)

One-Dimensional Man (Marcuse)

Heller?
Heller?
Learie/Thomas

mar 3

recap/catch-up/review

all previous readings

---

mar 5

à first midterm exam ß

all previous readings

---

mar 10

exchange theory/rational choice

   chapter 4 in Appelrouth & Edles

Heller

mar 12

exchange theory/rational choice (cont'd.)

"Social Behavior as Exchange"(Homans)
Exchange and Power… (Coleman)

Kashirah
Thomas

mar 17

spring break

no classes

 

mar 19

spring break

no classes

 

mar 24

psychoanalysis

to be distributed

???

mar 26

symbolic interactionism

   chapter 5 in Appelrouth & Edles

Heller

mar 31

symbolic interactionism (cont'd.)

"The Methodological Position…" (Blumer)
"Presentation of Self…" (Goffman)
"Working on Feeling" (Hochschild)

The Managed Heart
(Hochschild)

??/Rosemary
Margaret/Tami
Tami
Lena/Jennifer

apr 2

feminist theory

   chapter 7 in Appelrouth & Edles

Heller

apr 7

feminist theory (cont'd.)

Institutional Ethnography (Smith)
The Everyday World…
(Smith)

??/??
Jennifer/Shaniquia

apr 9

feminist theory (cont'd.)

Black Feminist Thought (Collins)
The Reproduction of…
(Chodorow)

Shaniquia/Richard
Rosemary/Taiesha

apr 14

recap/catch-up/review

all previous readings

 

apr 16

à second midterm exam ß

all previous readings

 

apr 21

post-isms 

   chapter 8 in Appelrouth & Edles

Heller

apr 23

 post-isms (cont'd.)

Discipline and Punish (Foucault)
Simulacra and Simulations
(Baudrillard)
The Postmodern Condition (Lyotard)

Vanessa/Nathaniel
??/Kevin
??/Nancy

apr 28

recent developments 

   chapter 9 in Appelrouth & Edles
"Social Space and…"
(Bourdieu)
"Outline of  Sociological…"
(Bourdieu)

Heller

apr 30

recent developments (cont'd.)

"Civil Society, Public…" (Habermas)
"Tasks of a Critical…" (Habermas)

 

may 5

recent developments (cont'd.)

The Constitution of Society (Giddens)
Consequences of Modernity (Giddens)

Tiffany
Kevin

may 7

recap/catch-up/review

all previous readings

 

may 12

 

take-home final exam questions due

 

HAVE A LOVELY, RELAXING AND PRODUCTIVE SUMMER