syl-453-13-spr.html

Course Content & Structure:

Course Content: The course explores the theoretical vision and methodological approaches and techniques used by a variety of nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars working at the intersections of social theory and history, viewed on a grand scale. We examine the research agendas that they followed, the basic theoretical assumptions they made about the nature, dynamics, and direction of society and history, and how these assumptions informed the questions they asked and the kinds of answers they offered. Specifically, we seek to understand how these scholars used various sources of evidence and ways of thinking about the past to define periods & eras, to pursue case studies or comparisons between social groups, nations, or world systems & civilizations. In the course of exploring the vision & method of renowned historical social scientists, students will be exposed to a variety of social, economic, political, and cultural topics, historically grounded and theoretically informed, typically at the macro level.

Course Format: The course has a "hybrid" format, and as such, has three components: (1) Lecture sessions, on Mondays & Wednesdays, from 10:00 am to 11:15 am, at BDC 264B; (2) Laboratory sessions, on Monday & Wednesdays, from 11:15 am to 12:30 pm, at WS Library Cmptr Lab 14; and (3) Reading & writing activities, on Fridays, independently done by each student, for one hour and a quarter - anytime before Friday midnight.

(1) The lecture sessions follow two stages, in sequence: Firstly, we will analyze and evaluate the theoretical framework, research designs and methods used by ten well-known contemporary historical social scientists in their most important works, following the Skocpol book. Then we will take an in-depth look at the vision and method of a single great work of historical social science, the prescient collaborative effort embodied in the 1999 Arrighi & Silver book -- written after the end of the Cold War and the First Gulf War, but before the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks in Washington, the U.S. wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, and the 2008 U.S. financial meltdown. Fully vindicated by events since its publishing, it is a classic example of how theorizing history can help explain the present and anticipate the future of our social world.

(2) The lab sessions will be the proactive research and writing component for the students, based on the reading assigned for the lecture on the same day. To that effect, students should come to class with a DRAFT TEXT already prepared - saved in Word in a USB-thumb drive - of what they got out of the assigned reading for that day following this loose template: a) What is the reading's subject matter all about? b) What is the main theoretical perspective or claim of the author? c) What is the main methodological approach or techniques used by the author? What are some of the key historical and sociological findings, and how well does the author explains them? d) What are some of the strengths and criticisms that may leveled against the author's vision & method? e) Where else could you fruitfully apply the author's vision and method?

Students should take notes during the class lecture & discussion, and then, during the lab session following, INCORPORATE as the new insights into the draft text, research and add further using the internet, and when you are done, upload your LAB JOURNAL entry for that day. The lab journal function in Blackboard will be accessible after 11:00am and before 12:45pm on each day there is a lab. Drafts should be at least one page long and final journal entries should be at least 3 pages long - double spaced in normal font 12. Do not attach or paste the initial drafts onto Blackboard, rather work in Word first. When you are done, the final journal entries can be attached as a Word file (named with your last name and the date; e.g. "Smith 4-15-13.docx") or copy/pasted into the text field in Blackboard (in the latter case, do not worry about any formatting problem that arises). Save everything.

Of course, none of this makes any sense unless students arrive to the lectures & labs having already read the assigned reading for each session and prepared a draft journal entry. No lab journal entries can be entered from outside the computer lab (students must be present in the lab) or outside it's time frame - no late entries will be allowed. Dr. Santos will be available at the lab to consult with students.

Lab Journals will be graded for organization, clarity, analytical depth & factual accuracy, length & analytical breath, and critical thinking.

(3) Lastly, the Friday independent reading & writing activity is similar to the lab session, except that students read and write a Friday Article journal entry entirely on their own, so long as the the entry is uploaded before 11:59pm that Friday. Articles assigned for each Friday are placed on Blackboard in PDF format for students to download. Everything else about these Friday journal entries is the same as the lab journal entries - content-, length-, and grading-wise. They will be given the same grading weight as the lab entries, as well.

Research paper: Each student will write an individual research paper on a relevant topic of historical sociology or renown author(s). Prior approval by Dr. Santos is required for each individual paper topic. The papers need to be submitted in electronic form (attached as a Word file) in the course's Blackboard account. The paper is due on Thursday June 13, before noon. The papers can begin to be turned in on Tuesday, June 11, after 8:00am.

Each paper should include a title page and an abstract, then between 8 and 10 pages of text (excluding the bibliography), a bibliography, and finally an appendix for whatever charts, maps, and figures are included. For a precise guide on the paper's format and citation style, go to:

Grading: The combined lab journal & Friday journal entries (28 total) are worth 70 points (2.5 points each). The research paper is worth 30 points. Absence/tardiness for the lectures and the labs will be penalized beyond loss of journal entries. Perfect attendance to all lecture and lab sessions will be rewarded with 5 extra points. The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:

Office Hours and Email Communication with Dr. Santos & Ms. Rafik: Dr. Santos's office hours are posted above - Ms. Rafik will meet only by appointment. Students may communicate with both Dr. Santos & Ms. Rafik by email to the class email address above. Ms. Rafik, who will help grade the lab & Friday journal entries, may also be reached, privately, at her own email address above. Please be advised that email communication has to be very brief and to the point. Expect a one line reply. Always sign off with your FULL NAME - do not assume we know who you are! You may also reach or leave messages for Dr Santos at his office phone (above). If you send an email message to Ms. Rafik requesting an appointment or a call back, please include a phone number.

Week	Monday Lecture & Lab	Wednesday Lecture & Lab	Friday Assignment
1 April 1, 3	HOLIDAY	INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE	Marx & Engels. Communist Manifesto Chapter 1
2 April 8, 10	SKOCPOL 1. Sociology's Historical Imagination	SKOCPOL 2. The Social & Historical Landscape of Marc Bloch	Régis Debray: Socialism: A Life-Cycle
3 April 15, 17	SKOCPOL 3. The Holistic Social Science of Karl Polanyi	SKOCPOL 4. The Historical Sociology of S. N. Eisenstadt	Mike Davis: Planet of Slums
4 April 22, 24	SKOCPOL 5. The Comparative Sociology of R. Bendix	SKOCPOL 6. The historical Sociology of Perry Anderson	Perry Anderson: Two Revolutions
5 April 29, May 1	SKOCPOL 7. E.P. Thompson: Understanding History	SKOCPOL 8. Charles Tilly: Collective Action	Retort: Afflicted Powers
6 May 6, 8	SKOCPOL 9. The World System of Immanuel Wallerstein	SKOCPOL 10. The historical Sociology of Barrington Moore	Andre Gunder Frank: Immanuel & Me With-Out Hyphen
7 May 13, 15	SKOCPOL 11. Recurrent Strategies in Historical Sociology	ARRIGHI & SILVER Introduction	Amelia & Faist: De-naturalizing the national: key concepts of transnational studies in migration
8 May 20, 22	ARRIGHI & SILVER 1. Geopolitics & High Finance: Dutch & British	ARRIGHI & SILVER 1. Geopolitics & High Finance: U.S.	Bloch & Chimienti: Irregular migration in a globalizing world
9 May 27, 29	HOLIDAY	ARRIGHI & SILVER 2. The Transformations of Business Enterprises: Dutch & British	ARRIGHI & SILVER (BOOK) 2. The Transformations of Business Enterprises: U.S.
10 June 3, 5	ARRIGHI & SILVER 3. The Social Origins of World Hegemonies: Dutch & British	ARRIGHI & SILVER 3. The Social Origins of World Hegemonies: U.S.	G. Arrighi & Lu Zhang: A New Bandun
11 June 10	ARRIGHI & SILVER 4. Western Hegemonies in World-Historical Perspective & Conclusion	Research Paper due on Thursday, June 13, in Word format, placed on Blackboard, before noon.