Course Information
SemesterCourse Unit CodeCourse Unit TitleT+P+LCreditNumber of ECTS Credits
1SOC 603Advanced Readings in Classical Sociological Theory3+0+038

Course Details
Language of Instruction English
Level of Course Unit Master's Degree
Department / Program PhD Program in Sociology (English)
Type of Program Formal Education
Type of Course Unit Compulsory
Course Delivery Method Face To Face
Objectives of the Course Define epistemological, sociological and anthropological grounds and frames of classical social theory.

2. Learn about classical social thought in both Western and Islamic traditions.

3. Identify fundamental aspects of theories of founding thinkers and sociologists.

4. Discuss major earlier works in the history of sociological thought and in the history of discipline of sociology.

5. Analyze the relationship between theoretical frameworks and ethnographic research on social phenomena.

6. Criticize theoretical and methodological problems emerged in the history of social theory.
Course Content Students are going to learn and discuss not only the essential scholars and their theories but also epistemological and ontological grounds that shaped the discipline of sociology. The class will focus on some of the founding thinkers and sociologists not only from the Western tradition but also from the Islamic tradition such as Al-Mawardi (d. 1058), Ibn Bajja (d. 1138), Ibn Tufail (1185), Kınalızade Ali Çelebi (d. 1572), Saint-Simon (d. 1825), A. Comte (1857), H. Martineau (d. 1876), Karl Marx (d. 1883), E. Durkheim (d. 1917), G. Simmel (d. 1918), M. Weber (1920), and T. Parsons (1979) in a comparative way. Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) is not going to be covered in this class because students who are taking this class are having another mandatory graduate course on Ibn Khaldun at the same time in this semester.

In this course, students will learn and analyze how these thinkers and sociologists made great contributions in the historical context and played important roles in the histories of sociology in different parts of the world. In other words, this course “explore possibilities in thinking about the classics’ legacy in a manner that contextualizes, provincializes and pluralizes a powerful metanarrative that shapes the discipline of sociology” (Curato, 2013: 274). Here, there is need to emphasize that there is no single history of the discipline of sociology and sociological thought which has diverse epistemological and ontological traditions in various civilizations. In this course, students are expected to become familiar with leading and founding theorists, sociologists and their thoughts through some of their primary/selected texts in order to be able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of social and cultural phenomena. This course will help students to start to develop their skills for a deeper understanding of social world and critical thinking by utilizing sociological theories.
Course Methods and Techniques lecture & seminar mode
Prerequisites and co-requisities None
Course Coordinator Prof.Dr. IRFAN AHMAD
Name of Lecturers Prof.Dr. IRFAN AHMAD
Assistants None
Work Placement(s) No

Recommended or Required Reading
Resources Ma’an Ziyadeh. “Ibn Bajja's Book Tadbir al-Mutawahhid: An Edition, Translation and Commentary”. (MA Thesis, McGill University, 1968).
Lenn E. Goodman. “Ibn Bajjah” in History of Islamic Philosophy, S. Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (eds.), New York: Routledge, 1996), 294-313.
Abu Bakr ibn Tufail. Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. Translated by Simon Ockley. (New York: Frederik A. Stokes Company Publishers, 1979).
Mehmet K. Karabela. “Cedel ile Burhan Arasında: İbn ?ufeyl’in ?ayy b. Ya??an Adlı Eseri Üzerinden Klasik Dönem Sonrası İslam Du¨şu¨nce Tarihini Okumak” Anakara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 54: 2 (2013): 77-93.
Harriet Martineau. Society in America Vol 1-2-3 (New York: Routledge, 1981).
Harriet Martineau. Retrospect of Western Travel (University Press of the Pacific, 2005).
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1878.
Attendance, academic integrity, including collaboration and plagiarism

Officially, there is min. of 70 % of attendance in graduate courses. However, the instructor of this class highly values the attendance of students in this course. Students with absence of more than four weeks (30 %) will fail in the class. There are no accepted excuses for absence.

Plagiarism:
Academic integrity is crucial. Students are just allowed to collaborate in writing their papers (concerning developing English writing skills) with the help of writing center or other experts. Students have to write their research papers in their own thoughts and words. The ideas or passages taken from another source must be acknowledged by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper referencing such as footnotes or citations. Students should take responsibility of outcomes of such act and s/he must know that plagiarism is a major academic offence. Students who are plagiarizing will get 0 mark and Fail in this course.

In short, students who commit plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty when completing an exam or a project will receive an ‘F’. This is the bare minimum depending on how the infringement has been committed. Other penalties will be expected in line with the university policy.

Late-Make-up Policy:
Students are expected to submit their assignments in time by following due dates. There is not a guarantee of extensions for deadlines and due dates.

There will be make-up for not conducted lectures due to absence of lecturer (conferences, meetings, health problems etc.) and students are expected to attend this classes that are going to be determined (day-hour) with consultancy of students in class.

Aan Jaelani. “Religion, Economy, And State: Economic Thought of Al-Mawardi In Adab Al-Dunya Wa-Al-Din” MPRA, Paper no. 72090 (2016). Abu Bakr ibn Tufail. Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. Translated by Simon Ockley. (New York: Frederik A. Stokes Company Publishers, 1979). Ahmad Mubarak al-Baghdadi. The Political Thought of Abu Al-Hasan Al-Mawardi. (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburg, 1981): 97-130. Al-Mawardi. Kitab Adab Al-Dunya Wa-al-din. Bryan S. Turner. Classical Sociology (New York: Sage Pu

Course Category
Social Sciences %100

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods
Activities are given in detail in the section of "Assessment Methods and Criteria" and "Workload Calculation"

Assessment Methods and Criteria
In-Term Studies Quantity Percentage
Assignment 1 % 20
Attendance 2 % 10
Project 1 % 40
Final examination 1 % 30
Total
5
% 100

 
ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload
Activities Quantity Duration Total Work Load
Course Duration 14 3 42
Hours for off-the-c.r.stud 14 3 42
Assignments 6 3 18
Project 1 48 48
Final examination 1 96 96
Total Work Load   Number of ECTS Credits 8 246

Course Learning Outcomes: Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
NoLearning Outcomes
1 Understand major epistemological, sociological and anthropological discussions in the history social thought
2 Demonstrate how we might think sociologically about social and cultural phenomena in the light of works of founding figures.
3 Distinguish between epistemological frameworks in the Western and Islamic scholarship.
4 Explain main theoretical and methodological problems emerging in the classical texts.
5 Design and write a critical research paper of his/her own on one of the works of classical thinkers or sociologists.
6 Identify importance of social theories in the labor of understanding social phenomena.


Weekly Detailed Course Contents
WeekTopicsStudy MaterialsMaterials
1 Introduction Syed Farid Alatas and Vineeta Sinha. “Introduction: Eurocentrism, Androcentrism and Sociological Theory” in Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017): 1-16.
2 What is Theory? Gabriel Abend. “The Meaning of ‘Theory’”, Sociological Theory, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2008), pp. 173-199. Jeffrey Alexander. “The Centrality of the Classics” in A. Giddens and J. Turner (eds), Social Theory Today. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988): 11-57. R. W. Connell. 1997. “Why is Classical Theory Classical?”, American Journal of Sociology Vol. 102, No. 6 (1997): 1511-1557.
3 Non-Western Epistemologies Nicole Curato. “A Sociological Reading of Classical Sociological Theory”, Philippine Sociological Review Vol. 61 (2013): 265-288. Arthur L. Stinchcombe. “Should Sociologists Forget Their Mothers and Fathers”, The American Sociologist, Vol. 17, no. 1 (1982): 2-11. Ismail Raci Al-Faruqi. Islamization of Knowledge: General Principles and Work Plan. (Washington DC: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1982). Recommended: Dipesh Chakrabarty. Provincializing Europe: Post-Colonial Thought and Historical Difference (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000). Immanuel Wallerstein. 1996. Open the Social Sciences: Report of the Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Julian Go. “For a Post-Colonial Sociology”, Theory and Society Vol. 32, No. 1 (2013): 25-55.
4 The Roots of Social Thought in Medieval Islam: Al-Mawardi Al-Mawardi. Kitab Adab Al-Dunya Wa-al-din. Ahmad Mubarak al-Baghdadi. The Political Thought of Abu Al-Hasan Al-Mawardi. (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburg, 1981): 97-130. Aan Jaelani. “Religion, Economy, And State: Economic Thought of Al-Mawardi In Adab Al-Dunya Wa-Al-Din” MPRA, Paper no. 72090 (2016). file:///Users/ramazan.aras/Desktop/maward,%20econom,%20religion%20and%20state.pdf
5 The Roots of Social Thought in Medieval Islam: Ibn Bajja Ibn Bajja. Tadbir al-Mutawahhid (the Governance of the Solitary). Ma’an Ziyadeh. “Ibn Bajja's Book Tadbir al-Mutawahhid: An Edition, Translation and Commentary”. (MA Thesis, McGill University, 1968). Lenn E. Goodman. “Ibn Bajjah” in History of Islamic Philosophy, S. Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (eds.), New York: Routledge, 1996), 294-313. Recommended Readings: M. Abid El-Cabiri. “Ibn Bacce ve Tedbirü’l Mütevahhid”, Felsefi Mirasımız ve Biz, içinde, Istanbul: Kitabevi, 2003), pp. 179-227. Yaşar Aydınlı. Ibn Bacce’nin İnsan Görüşü (Istanbul: Marmara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Vakfı Yayınları, 1997).
6 The Roots of Social Thought in Medieval Islam: Ibn Tufail Abu Bakr ibn Tufail. Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. Translated by Simon Ockley. (New York: Frederik A. Stokes Company Publishers, 1979). Mehmet K. Karabela. “Cedel ile Burhan Arasında: İbn ?ufeyl’in ?ayy b. Ya??an Adlı Eseri Üzerinden Klasik Dönem Sonrası İslam Du¨şu¨nce Tarihini Okumak” Anakara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 54: 2 (2013): 77-93. Recommended: Lawrence I. Conrad (ed). The World of Ibn ?ufayl: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on ?ayy ibn Yaq?an (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996).
7 Socio-Political Thought in the Ottoman Era: Kınalızade Ali Çelebi Kınalızâde Ali Çelebi. Ahlak-ı Alai Siyaset. (Istanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 2005).
8 Saint-Simon and A. Comte Emile Durkheim. Socialism and Saint Simon (New York: Routledge, 1959). J. Turner, L. Beeghley and C. H. Powers (eds.). “The Sociology of Aguste Comte” in The Emergence of Sociological Theory (London: Sage Publications, 2012), pp. 1-54.
9 Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau. Society in America Vol 1-2-3 (New York: Routledge, 1981). Harriet Martineau. Retrospect of Western Travel (University Press of the Pacific, 2005). R Recommended: Vineeta Sinba. “Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)” in S. F. Alatas and V. Sinha (eds.). Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), pp. 79-112. Michael R. Hill and Susan Hoecker-Drysdale. Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 2001).
10 Karl Marx Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1878. Karl Marx. “Critique of Capitalism” in The Marx-Engels Reader. Robert C. Tucker (ed.), pp. 203-468. Recommended: Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels Reader (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1978). Ali Shariati. Marxism and Other Western Fallacies: An Islamic Critique (Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1981).
11 Emile Durkheim E. Durkheim. The Division of Labor in Society (Free Press Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2014).
12 George Simmel G. Simmel. On Individuality and Social Forms. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1971). Recommended: Kurt H. Wolf (ed.). The Sociology of George Simmel (New York: The Free Press, 1964). Michael Kaern, Bernard S. Philips and Robert S. Cohen (eds.). George Simmel and Contemporary Sociology (Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990).
13 Max Weber Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York: Routledge, 2005).


Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7
All 4 5 5 4
C1 3 4 5 4
C2 3 4 2
C3 4 3 4
C4 5 5 4
C5 3 5 5 4
C6 4 4 4 5

Contribution: 1: Very Slight 2:Slight 3:Moderate 4:Significant 5:Very Significant


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