1.8 Aims and Claims of this Course

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From the course by University of Amsterdam

Classical Sociological Theory

894 оценки

University of Amsterdam

Classical Sociological Theory

894 оценки

This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will offer the participants an introduction into the most important classical sociological readings between the 18th and 20th century. Highly influential social science scholars, such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, will be discussed during 8 sessions. Combined with small tests, based on the video’s and recommended readings, the participants will be encouraged to dive deeply into the complex texts and get familiar with classical sociological concepts that are still very relevant today.

From the lesson

Session 1: Classical Sociological Theory - An Introduction

In this session the field of classical sociological theory will be introduced. It explains the historical roots of sociology. It shows you why classical sociological theories are still important in modern societies and it explains the Aims and Claims of this Course.

1.1 What is this course about?5:17

1.2 Implicit Theories in Everyday Life5:06

1.3 What is Sociological Theory?4:59

1.4 Founding Fathers5:46

1.5 Sociology in the Modern Industrial Age5:49

1.6 Linking Classical to Contemporary Theories6:07

1.7 The Sociological Theoretical Field6:44

1.8 Aims and Claims of this Course5:23

Meet the Instructors

Bart van Heerikhuizen
Dr.
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

In an academic course,

the teacher has to make clear what the student can expect from the program,

its didactic organization in the light of its academic goals.

Often those aims and claims of the course are presented in

formal language with boring lists with bullet points that

experienced students have learned to skip as soon as they come inside.

But please stay with me when I want to say just a few words,

very informal words, on this subject.

My children were born here in Amsterdam, and as a responsible father,

I had to teach them how to ride a bicycle,

because that is our main means of transportation here.

In the beginning, you are running next to the bike, trying to catch your child every

time they threaten to lose their balance and fall in the grass or fall off bike.

But after a few days of lightly bruising their arms and knees, and

maybe after a few tears, they surprisingly quickly discover the trick.

And at the end of the week,

you see them disappear between the trees in the distance.

Seeing them drive away, still a bit unsure, that for me was the best part.

You know that from now on they can do this without you.

That one week of bicycle lessons captures in way what it is to be a parent,

steering your children to independence.

What I really do hope to achieve here is that you will be able to

read the original texts of the great thinkers of social science,

and that you can understand them and that you can use them in your own work,

whether that is to work as a sociologist or a journalist or

a creative writer or a civil servant or maybe a minister of the church.

And I hope that in time, you will find it so easy to read

some of these authors that you will experience genuine pleasure in doing it.

The intense satisfaction of being intellectually challenged and

stimulated by the intriguing thoughts of some of the sharpest minds in the history

of mankind living in another social world and yet so close to us.

That is what I really want for you.

To learn to understand the texts written by some early sociologists,

and maybe one day you will discover a few treasures in the works of an author whose

contributions were not mandatory readings for this book.

Let's say the works written by Herbert Spencer or the great Georg Simmel.

If you can read them all on your own,

then you have acquired a new and a very important skill.

That is our main aim for this course.

The second aim is that we want you to become acquainted with a certain style of

reasoning, a way to approach the subject matter of sociology,

the dynamics of human societies.

Although our offers differ from one another, they share at least one thing,

the passionate wish to scientifically study all the aspects of social life.

They want to anchor their arguments in hard data.

They may have many differences.

Some are devout Catholics, some are raised in the Jewish faith,

others are outspoken atheists, but they all share this wish to explain

social life without having recourse to heavenly interference,

and here we see the beginnings of principles and empirical attitude.

We recognize an early version of sociology as new science.

And the third and final goal of this course is to raise your sensitivity for

the relationship between theories and empirical research.

We intend to show you how new data inspired great

thinkers to come up with new theoretical options, and how, on the other hand,

new theories led to new testable hypotheses, and

to the collection of data that were not considered interesting before,

because they appeared to have no theoretical relevance.

And then there is something else that I would like you to achieve,

that is a goal that you will not find in the official lists.

I hope that this course will be an interesting and

maybe even exciting journey for you.

I hope that this course, from time to time, will make you happy.

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