SOC303

This course introduces the undergraduate to the important theoretical paradigms that have historically oriented the discipline of sociology. Classical sociological theory emerged in the works of Durkheim, Marx, Weber, and Weber, among others. Out of the ideas of these thinkers evolved the major schools of modern sociology, in particular Structural-Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, Neo-Marxism, and Neo-Weberian theories of modernity. Throughout the 20th century, new critical paradigms have emerged to challenge the modern schools, including postmodern and cultural critiques, as well as feminist, race, and queer theories. More recently, theories of globalization have attempted to synthesize a diversity of sociological paradigms to explain contemporary social phenomena.