Day: Every other Wednesday. First class meeting is January 16.
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Location: Santa Cruz Classroom
Enrollment Code: 59188
Description:
How can we explain social behavior? Is it the individuals (their innate talents, their genetic capacities, their natural intelligence, their rational choices or their moral character) that we should look to as an explanation for social events? Or is it the social institution (the social structures, cultural logics, systems of inequality, styles of socialization) that is the proper starting place for explaining social outcomes? The tension between these two approaches to social theory was established at the beginning of the enlightenment and argued through much of the classical social and political philosophy of the 17th-19th century. In spite of the longstanding and constantly evolving debate over these two perspectives, the issue is still unresolved and continues to be debated in the context of most major policy issues in America today. In this seminar we will compare these two schools of thought, look at some of the classic social theoretical expressions of each and trace these arguments down to contemporary times.
Professor John Mohr, Sociology, studies organizations and the sociology of culture. He has done research on the history of the welfare state, and more recently on affirmative action policies in higher education. He usually teaches methods classes (on content analysis), theory classes on power, and introduction to sociology.
Email: mohr@soc.ucsb.edu
