Classical Sociological Theories: Major Works

Description

This course aims to contribute to advanced training in Sociology through in-depth work on classical theories. It involves studying reference works by founding and classical authors to promote a clearer understanding of the specificities, divergences, and fundamental affinities in sociological theories. Emphasis is also placed on how contemporary authors appropriate classical theories and on the role of classical works in social reflexivity processes and the construction of contemporaneity. The main skills to be developed in this course are: - deepening knowledge of the main theories and concepts of classical authors and reference works in sociology; - developing the ability to interpret texts and construct theoretically and logically grounded arguments; - developing communication skills both written and oral, and the ability to work individually and in teams. 1. Classical theories: antiquity and contemporaneity 1.1. Modernity and social science 1.2. Sociological theories and social reflexivity 2. Reference works 2.1. Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (1835-40) 2.2. The German Ideology, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1846) 2.3. The Philosophy of Money, Georg Simmel (1900) 2.4. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Émile Durkheim (1912) 2.5. Economy and Society, Max Weber (1922) 3. Sociological theories: diversity, canonization and