LFU:online

Institut für Soziologie Institut für Soziologie

Univ.-Prof. Ph.D. Keith Doubt Univ.-Prof. Ph.D. Keith Doubt
Univ.-Prof. i. R. Dr. Alan Scott Univ.-Prof. i. R. Dr. Alan Scott

408018

Culture and Society: Cases from the USA and UK

VO 3

wöch.

keine Angabe

Englisch

The objective of this course is to develop a critical, sympathetic, and historical understanding of the American social character and the ways it has changed through history. Competing sociological perspectives are presented. Students are asked to evaluate the character and limits of these perspectives.

The content of this course is the “collective consciousness” of American society and the various ways in which it is represented in popular culture, in particular, in American television series. The subject is examined through different conceptual perspectives: for instance, a Weberian perspective (David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd), a Marxian perspective (C. W. Mills’s White Collar), a Durkheimian perspective (Robert Bellah’s Habits of the Heart), and a postmodern perspective (Jean Baudrillard’s America). These readings are used to analyze different television series such as “Father Knows Best,” “Family Ties,” “Pickett Fence,” “The Simpsons,” “Coprock,” and “Desperate Housewives.” The television series are selected not to provide a comprehensive survey of American television, but to exemplify the arguments of sociological literature on American social culture. Prof. Scott: Using Britain as an example, these lectures examine a range of sociological approaches to understanding contemporary culture and society.

First, we will re-visit selected writings from the sociological tradition (Max Weber, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Georg Simmel). Then, we will study how these classical texts inform American sociology as it addresses the subject of its national social character. Finally, we will interpret television series through these studies. Grades will be based on oral exams in small groups at the end of the semester. Students have the option of submitting a written final exam in lieu of an oral exam.

1. Brief excerpts from Max Weber, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Georg Simmel 2. Short chapters from David Reisman, C.W. Mills, Jean Baudrillard, Barbara Ehrenreich, W. E. B. DuBois, Alexis de Tocqueville, Robert Bellah, and Talcott Parsons. *Readings, study questions, and discussion forums will be available electronically through Moodle, an online course software at Wittenberg University. Prof. Scott: Course books (recommended purchases) Abercrombie, N. Warde, A. et al (2000); Contemporary British Society, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Begrenzte TeilnehmerInnenzahl: 30, Computeranmeldung, Die Veranstaltung ist dreistündig, 2 SWS finden in der wöchentlichen Sitzung statt. 1 SWS wird als Blockveranstaltung angeboten.
Beginn: 07.03.07