Course Objectives

1. to provide an understanding of the ways in which transformations of contemporary societies are reflected in the research agenda of the social sciences
2. to enhance the knowledge about social, cultural, political and economic aspects of contemporary society's development

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. engage actively and critically with the arguments of key social theorists by discussing their works and considering how they increase our understanding of contemporary societies;
2. pick up the threads of theoretical approaches to understanding recent transformations of society;
3. debate the limits of interdisciplinary approaches;
4. articulate own arguments in relation to the topics we have studied in this class and link them to current events; and
5. apply theoretical concepts in their own writing.

Schedule:

Week 1 – Introduction to the Course

Week 2 – What is Social Theory?

Reading:

Steven Seidman, Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today, 6th Ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2017 - ‘Preface’; ‘Introduction’; Chaps. 1-4 (vii-ix; 1-63).

Week 3 – Postmodernism and the Consumer Society

Readings:

Steve Matthewman and Douglas Hoey, ‘What Happened to Postmodernism?’, Sociology, 40(3), 2006, 529-547.

Steven Seidman. “The End of Sociological Theory: The Postmodern Hope.” Sociological Theory 9(2), 1991, 131–46.

Week 4 – Globalization

Readings:

Roudometof, Victor. “Gusts of Change: The Consequences of the 1989 Revolutions for the Study of Globalization.” European Journal of Social Theory 12, no. 3 (August 2009): 409–24.

Bude, Heinz, and Jörg Dürrschmidt. “What’s Wrong with Globalization?: Contra ‘Flow Speak’ - towards an Existential Turn in the Theory of Globalization.” European Journal of Social Theory 13, no. 4 (November 2010): 481–500.

Week 5 – Postcolonialism

Readings:

McLennan, Gregor. “Sociology, Eurocentrism and Postcolonial Theory.” European Journal of Social Theory 6, no. 1 (February 2003): 69–86.

Bhambra, Gurminder K. “Sociology and Postcolonialism: Another `Missing’ Revolution?” Sociology 41, no. 5 (October 2007): 871–84.

Week 6 – Multiculturalism

Readings:

Rundell, John. “Strangers, Citizens and Outsiders: Otherness, Multiculturalism and the Cosmopolitan Imaginary in Mobile Societies.” Thesis Eleven 78, no. 1 (August 2004): 85–101.

Hartmann, Douglas, Gerteis, Joseph. "Dealing with Diversity : Mapping Multiculturalism in Sociological Terms. Sociological Theory; Vol. 23, No. 2. 2005: 218-240.

Week 7 – Reading Week

Week 8 – Civil Society

Readings:

Arato, Andrew, and Jean Cohen. “Civil Society And Social Theory.” Thesis Eleven 21, no. 1 (May 1988): 40–64.

Volker Heins. Civil Society’s Barbarisms. European Journal of Social Theory. 2004, 7(4): 499-517.

Week 9 – New Capitalism

Readings:

Kemple, Thomas M. “Spirits of Late Capitalism.” Theory, Culture & Society 24, no. 3 (May 2007): 147–59.

Fenwick, Tara J. “Transgressive Desires: New Enterprising Selves in the New Capitalism.” Work, Employment and Society 16, no. 4 (December 2002): 703–23.

Week 10 – Transformations of Identity

Readings:

Orchard, Vivienne. “Culture as Opposed to What?: Cultural Belonging in the Context of National and European Identity.” European Journal of Social Theory 5, no. 4 (November 2002): 419–33.

Adams, Matthew. “Hybridizing Habitus and Reflexivity:: Towards an Understanding of Contemporary Identity?” Sociology 40, no. 3 (June 2006): 511–28.

Week 11 – Post-Communism

Readings:

Ray, Larry. “At the End of the Post-Communist Transformation? Normalization or Imagining Utopia?” European Journal of Social Theory 12, no. 3 (August 2009): 321–36.

Blokker, Paul. “Post-Communist Modernization, Transition Studies, and Diversity in Europe.” European Journal of Social Theory 8, no. 4 (November 2005): 503–25.

Week 12 - The Styles of Writing in Social Theory

Reading: Ben Agger, ‘Books Author Authors, But Reading Writes: A Social Theory of the Text’, Current
Perspectives in Social Theory, 20, 2000, 3-26.

For the list of Required Readings, see MOODLE

https://dl1.cuni.cz/enrol/index.php?id=3942&lang=en