Week 4: Max Weber and Rationalization

Discussion of “History of Sexuality” and “Discipline and Punish”

In this episode we discuss excerpts from "Distinction" and "The Forms of Capital" as well as key concepts including Cultural Capital, Habitus, and Symbolic Violence. 

This episode discusses DuBois’s life and work, his theoretical and methodological innovations in sociology, and two of this important texts: “Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880” and “The Souls of Black Folk.”

In this episode we’ll dive into Weber’s classic texts “Bureaucracy” and “The Types of Legitimate Domination” as well as into our own pantry cupboards to talk about Weber’s theory of rationalization.

This week we’ll move from conflict theory to functionalism as we discuss two works by French Sociologist Emile Durkheim. In Part 1 we’ll talk about “The Division of Labor in Society” and in Part 2 we’ll discuss “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.”

A bit of context and some key concepts from Marx’s mature theory of political economy. Part 1 briefly covers 1850s London and Marx's life there as well as the Preface to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859. Part 2 covers Ch.1 of Capital Vol. 1. A slideshow to accompany this episode can be found on your Learn page. 

This is Episode 1 of Sociological Theory: Podcast Edition. In this episode we will tackle the reading from Week 1: Theses on Feuerbach, The Manifesto of the Communist Party, and The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.  There are 3 parts to the episode:  Part 1 covers the Theses on Feuerbach and sets the stage for the Manifesto Part 2 covers the Manifesto of the Communist Party Part 3 covers The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte You will find a PowerPoint to accompany this episode on your Learn page!