These
lectures were given in November 2001 in the Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Cambridge. They were part of a course on theory and
methods in anthropology designed for second year social anthropology
undergraduates. They were filmed by Xiaoxiao Yan.
The purpose
of this course is to look at the foundations of modern social theory
through an examination of social thought in its political, economic
and ideological context since about 1700 A.D. Each lecture deals with
a major theoretical paradigm and is illustrated by a case study of
the life, methods and conclusions of one major thinker.
There
are the eight lectures of the course and an extra lecture on F.W.Maitland
from a parallel course on property and corporations.
Lecture
1. A rough map of social theory: 1000-2000 A.D.
Lecture
2. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Lecture
3. Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Lecture
4. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
Lecture
5. Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Lecture
6. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Lecture
7. Max Weber (1864-1920)
Lecture
8. Ernest Gellner (1925-1995)
Extra
Lecture. F.W.Maitland (1850-1906)
Overviews
and general reading
Raymond
Aron, Main Currents in Sociological Thought (2 vols: 1965).
E.E. Evans-Pritchard, A History of Anthropological Theory (1981)
Anthony Giddens, Capitalism and modern social theory (1971)
Clifford Geertz, Works and Lives (1988)
Jack Goody, The Expansive Moment, (1995), appendix 2.
Geoffrey Hawthorn, Enlightenment and Despair: A history of Sociology
(1976)
Robert Lowie, History of Ethnological Theory (1937)
Alan Macfarlane, The Riddle of the Modern World: Of Liberty, Wealth
and Equality (2000)
R.A.Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition (1967)
G.Stocking, Victorian Anthropology (1987)
Fred Voget, A History of Ethnology (1975)
[These
books will be referred to below in detailed reading lists by short
titles, eg. Aron, Currents or Hawthorn, Enlightenment]
There
are useful articles on numerous theoretical topics (e.g. social structure)
and individual thinkers (e.g. Montesquieu) in both the first and second
edition of Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, a multi-volume work.
It is often worth starting with an overview from an article in this
source. There are also helpful overview articles in The Macmillan
Student's Guide to Sociology, ed. Michael Mann (1983).
Also
see my own writing on Encounters
with Social Theorists