02504 - History of Sociological Thought

Learning outcomes

This course aims to foster: • the acquisition of knowledge of the historical trajectories of the main classical sociological theories; • an understanding of how the study of social theories from a historical perspective constitutes a key element for critically analysing highly important current issues.

Course contents

This course aims to retrace the history of sociological theories by providing deepened knowledge concerning the theoretical perspectives and the hinge concepts of sociological thought. The theories and the concepts studied during this course will be put to work through analysis of broad issues in the public discourse – among which, social change, status and material inequalities, government of populations, social cohesion.
Toward this end, the course will particularly, though not exclusively, focus on the following theoretical issues of sociological thought and their political implications:
• the role of organicist metaphors;
• the distinction between normality and abnormality (or deviance);
• the ways power and its less visible dynamics, especially in the field of bureaucracy, are theorized and described.
This course, therefore, aims to provide students the ability to master important categories of social analysis and interpret them critically and from a historical perspective. The course will particularly stress the centrality of looking at different theories not as alternative lenses through which to understand the social world, but as the expressions of spatiotemporally particularistic priorities, interests, concerns, and points of view.

Readings/Bibliography

Given that this is an optional third-year course, knowledge of the basic categories and the main authors of sociological thought is considered a prerequisite. The preliminary reading of a manual text is highly recommended. Especially, the first 8 chapters of Jedlowski P., Il mondo in questione. Introduzione alla storia del pensiero sociologico, Carocci, 2009 (or following edition).

The reference book, to read mandatorily, is Procacci G. and Szakolczai A., La scoperta della società. Alle origini della sociologia, Carocci, 2003.

Other mandatory readings are divided into two different groups: a) and b). Students are allowed to choose which path to focus on, and consequently are expected to do the related readings.

When possible, texts will be made available on Virtuale.

a) Organicistic methapors in sociological theory and the concepts of "norm" and "normality":

mandatory readings for the group a):

1. Dal Lago A., La produzione della devianza. Teoria sociale e meccanismi di controllo, Ombre Corte, 2000;
2. Campesi G., Norma, normatività, normalizzazione. Un itinerario teorico tra Canguilhem e Foucault, in "Sociologia del diritto", n. 2, 2008;
3. Bovero M., Paradigmi e modelli politici nell’età moderna, in Ripensare i paradigmi del pensiero politico: gli antichi, i moderni e l’incertezza del presente, a cura di de Luise F., n. 3 dei "Quaderni del Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università degli Studi di Trento, 2013;
4. Gallino L., Dizionario di sociologia, UTET, 1978 (soltanto le seguenti voci: Dinamica sociale, Divisione del lavoro, Evoluzione sociale (e culturale), Funzionalismo, Morfologia sociale, Organizzazione sociale, Sistema sociale, Statica sociale, Struttura sociale.

integrative (non-mandatory) readings for the group a):

1. Durkheim E., Le regole del metodo sociologico, Edizioni di comunità, 1996;
2. Canguilhem G., Il normale e il patologico, Einaudi, 1998.
   

b) Domination and its dynamics, between politics and bureaucracy:

mandatory readings for the group b):

1. Weber M., Economia e società. Dominio, Donzelli, 2012 (parti scelte: Avvertenza, di Massimo Palma; Dominio (con relativa Nota editoriale); Burocratismo (con relativa Nota editoriale));
2. Marra R., Razionalità formale e razionalità material del diritto, in "Sociologia del diritto", n. 2/3, 2005;
   
3. Rusconi G., Razionalità, razionalizzazione e burocratizzazione, in Max Weber e l'analisi del mondo moderno, Einaudi, 1981;
4. Anter A., Power and Rulership in Max Weber. Context and Effect of a Conceptual Pair, in "Scienza & Società", n. 63, 2020.

integrative (non-mandatory) readings for the group b):

1. Palma M., Note sul dominio patrimoniale in Weber, in "Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridici", n. 2, 2014;
2. Bobbio N., La teoria dello stato e del potere, in Max Weber e l'analisi del mondo moderno, Einaudi, 1981;
3. Ferraresi F., Genealogie della legittimità. Città e Stato in Max Weber, in "Società Mutamento Politica", n. 9, 2014.

Teaching methods

The course will consist mainly in lectures, aimed at developing the course contents. Within these lessons, student participation, in the form of questions, remarks, and contributions, will be highly encouraged.
Some lessons could explicitly involve a more active participation from the students, who could be asked, on a voluntary basis, to prepare a PowerPoint presentation on a previously arranged topic.

Assessment methods

Student apprehension will be assessed through a written exam, consisting of open-ended questions aiming at verifying the cross acquisition of the main concepts of the course and the ability to link them to one another.

Teaching tools

Audio-visual materials and PPT presentation.

Office hours

See the website of Enrico Gargiulo