KSOD 2280 - Foundations of Sociology

The course introduces students to key authors of the sociological tradition. The aim is to present the main contributions and works of authors central to the discipline. Students will be encouraged to discover essential texts and to connect the foundations of sociology with present developments of the discipline. The course does not discuss all thinkers who significantly contributed to develop the discipline, but will rather invite students to think sociologically while reading selected seminal texts and critiques.

The introduction has the function to propose a general map of the main sociological traditions and present the plan of the course. At a very broad level, the course will highlight the endeavour to make sociology more scientific in the 19th and 20th century. After the introduction, the course illustrates the contribution of foundational thinkers – Tocqueville, Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Merton – and will provide insights on the relations between sociology and other social sciences, such as economics (Mauss, Veblen, Pareto and Polanyi), anthropology (Durkheim and Mauss) and history (Thompson).

At the end of the course, students will be able to discern key sociological traditions and link past work to modern sociological research questions. This course is intended to provide the basic means to reflect sociologically and align past lessons to present issues.

Frontal lectures

The final exam will be a commentary of a text (selected among the authors discussed during the course).

Students will be invited to read a certain number of key sociological texts every week.