Princeton University
Department of Sociology
Fall '94
SOCIOLOGY 599: BIG STRUCTURES AND HUGE COMPARISONS
Professor: Miguel
Centeno
The point of this course is to take on a series of "big books"
(in all meanings of the term). Rather than reading selections or
secondary analyses, we will devote the time and attention needed to
absorb and analyze a series of grand historical and comparative
works. One of the goals is simply to expose students to some of
the basic classics most often cited in the literature (and a couple
of more recent additions). A second is to provide students with
the historical background which is too often neglected. The
substantive focus will be what we may best call the "creation of
modernity". We will try to critically compare the different
trajectories and paradigms while also looking for missing voices
and representations. We will also study the methodological
problems involved in this type of scholarship. Do such large works
hold together? What kind of evidence is relevant? Again, we will
be analyzing the sources and analytical models for evidence of
exclusion and asking how this might be best remedied.
Since these works require a great deal of time, I have chosen
to lengthen the course by a semester (only one semester of credit
will be granted). This allows us to have 2 weeks between meetings
giving everyone at least a fighting chance of doing the reading.
The only other requirement is an informal 1-2 page memo on each of
the readings that will serve to guide class discussion.
Introduction
Meeting 1: Issues of Method
- Charles Tilly, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge
Comparisons
You may also want to look at: Kai T. Erikson, "Sociology
and the Historical Perspective", The American Sociologist
5,4, (1970): 331-38; E.J. Hobsbbawn, "The Contribution of
History to Social Science", International Social Science
Journal, 33,4, 1981, 624-40; Theda Skocpol, ed., Vision
and Method in Historical Sociology; Philip Abrams,
Historical Sociology Daniel Chirot, "The Uses of History
in Sociological Inquiry", Social Forces 55, 2, 1976; F.
Braudel, On History; E.P. Thompson, The Poverty of Theory
and Other Essays. You might also want to look through
some of the leading journals of the field: Comparative
Studies in Society and History, International Journal of
Comparative Sociology, Past and Present, Journal of
Social History, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History.
Creation of the Global Economy
Meeting 2: The Longue Duree
- F. Braudel, The Mediterrenean and the Mediterranean
World in the Age of Phillip II, Volume I.
Meeting 3: World Systems
- I. Wallerstein, The Modern World System, Vol. III
Meeting 4: Including the Losers
- E. Wolf, Europe and the People without History
Origins of the State
Meeting 5: End of Feudalism
- P. Anderson, The Lineages of the Absolutist State
Meeting 6: Role of War
- C. Tilly, Coercion, Capital and European States
Meeting 7: The Key is in the Details
- R. Bendix, Kings or People
Meeting 8: Putting it all Together?
- M. Mann, Sources of Social Power, Volume II
Structural and Ideological Breaks
Meeting 9: Roads to Modernity
- B. Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
Meeting 10: The State and Revolution
- T. Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions
Meeting 11: Demography is All
- J. Goldstone, Revolution and Rebellion in the Early
Modern World
Meetings 12: Nationalism
- E. Hobsbawn, Nations and Nationalism (plus excerpts from
Invention of Tradition and "long 19th Century" trilogy.)
Meeting 13: Radical Thoughts
- R. Wuthnow, Communities of Discourse
Back to the Graduate Courses!
sociolog@princeton.edu sept '94