SOC672 SOCIOLOGY AND HISTORY II
| Course Code: | 2320672 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3 (3.00 - 0.00) |
| ECTS Credit: | 8.0 |
| Department: | Sociology |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Masters |
| Course Coordinator: | Assist.Prof.Dr BARIŞ MÜCEN |
| Offered Semester: | Fall or Spring Semesters. |
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, students will comprehend the formation of social structures in a long-term historical perspective and as an ongoing process.
Course Content
This course, which runs over two semesters aims at an in-depth study of historical sociology. Characteristic for this tradition within sociology is not only that a historical dimension is added the analysis of sociological (or social) problems, but that society is perceived of an ongoing process, which has to be evaluated in a long-term perspective. This approach, characteristic for classical sociology, was lost under the spell of the specialization on different branches within sociology, which came to dominate the discipline after the Second World War. This tradition has, however, been taken up again, both by historians and sociologists, and it is especially these 20th century carries of the classical sociological tradition that will be the focus of this course. The fundamental idea behind historical sociology is that long-term history cannot successfully be carried out without a theory about society. On the other hand, sociology with a long-term processual perspective cannot do without proper historical scholarship. Therefore these two disciplines can only develop by learning from each other. The 20th century sociologists who has been more articulated on this issue than most others is Norbert Elias, and for that reason the first part of this double course, will concentrate on his extensive work, starting from his The Civilizing Process. In the second part of the course several other representatives of long-term processual perspectives will be analyzed, like Ferdinand Braudel, Marshall Hodgeson, Eric Hobsbawn, Charles Tilly, Michel Foucalt, Pierre Bourdieu. Special emphasis will be given according to the interests and preparations of the student.
Course Learning Outcomes
Student, who passed the course satisfactorily will be able to:
- identify the changes in social forms in different historical contexts.
- explore the necessity of focusing on social dynamics to understand to current social affairs.
- discuss different theoretical perspectives that focus on the analysis of social dynamics.