SASS 610—THEORIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR: MACRO AND MICRO-DIMENSIONS
Jeffrey Longhofer, Ph.D., LISW
Fall Semester 2008
T 1:00-3:00
Office Location: MSASS Mailing Address: CASE/Mandel School
Office Phone: (216) 368-0160 10900 Euclid Avenue
Email: jeffrey.longhofer@case.edu Cleveland, OH 44106-7164
This required course, Theories of Human Behavior, Macro and Micro-Dimensions, concentrates mainly on the work of social theorists and cultural analysts who have attempted to place human behavior and development of the self in relation to psychological processes, social contexts, and history. Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, George Herbert Mead, Sigmund Freud, Irving Goffman, Nancy Chodorow, Julia Kristeva and Jean Baudrillard are among the social theorists covered. We will look at current conceptualizations of the self in relation to identity politics, the sociology of personal relationships and intimacy, and the politics of sexuality. We will draw extensively on contemporary social and cultural theory: symbolic interactionism; critical realism; feminist and queer theory; psychoanalysis; and postmodernism. We will as well consider key debates on the relationship among the self, human behavior, and development through an analysis of several connected themes: the complex relation between self and society; the importance of the interpreting self in social life; the reshaping of processes of self-formation; and, the changing character of identity politics.
Course Requirements:
"Plagiarism is defined as the submission of work done by another with the intent that it be viewed and evaluated as one's own. Thus copying on an examination, turning in a term paper or homework assignment done by someone else, intentionally using or presenting false data and making extensive use of sources without acknowledging them are all interpreted as acts of plagiarism."
Statement on Disability
Wording: If you need accommodations for a disability, please contact the Office of Disability Services
Required Texts
Elliott, A. 2007. Concepts of the Self.
Required Readings: Most of the assigned articles are available through the Kelvin Smith Library e-journal portal. I will distribute what is not available electronically.
Week 1 August 26
Topics
Elliott, A. Concepts of the Self. Introduction, pages 1-22.
Week 2 September 2
Topics
Boyne, R. (1996). Structuralism. In, The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. London: Blackwell.
Week 3 September 9
Topics
Relational/Intersubjective
Socio-cultural
The teleological fallacy
The conflation fallacy
Readings:
Abrams, S. (1983). Development. Psychoanalytic Studies of the Child, 38:113-139.
Kegan, J. (2003). Biology, context, and developmental inquiry. Annual Review of Psychology, 54: 1-23.
Greenfield, P.M., Keller, H., Fuligni, A. & Maynard, A. (2003). Cultural pathways through universal development, Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 461-490.
Week 4 September 16
Topics
Week 5 September 23
Student Presentations, synthesizing three perspectives on human development
Week 6 September 30
Elliott, A. Concepts of the Self, Chapter 1, Self, Society and Everyday Life, pages 22- 45.
Stryker, S. (2008). From Mead to a Structural Symbolic Interactionism and Beyond. Annual Review of Sociology, 34: 15-31.
Cohen, I.J. (1996). Theories of Action and Praxis. In, The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. London: Blackwell Press.
Recommended Reading:
Plummer, S. 1996. Symbolic Interactionism in the Twentieth Century: The Rise of Empirical Social Theory. In, The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. London: Blackwell Press.
Week 7 October 7
Topics
Emirbayer, M., Williams, E.M. (2005). Bourdieu and social work. Social Service Review, 79, 4: 689–724.
Recommended Readings.
Fram, M.S. (2004). Research for progressive change: bourdieu and social work. Social Service Review.
Sallaz, J.J., Zavisca. (2007). Bourdieu in american sociology, 1980-2004. Annual Review of Sociology, 33: 31-41.
Hanks, W. (2005). Pierre bourdieu and the practices of language. Annual Review of Anthropology. 34: 67-83.
Fram, M.S. (2004). Research for progressive social change: bourdieu and social work. Social Service Review.
Week 8 October 14
Topics
Elliott, A. The Repression of the Self, Chapter 2, pages 46-77.
Week 9 October 21
Topics
Week 10 October 28
Topics
Elliott, A. Technologies of the self, Chapter 3, pages, 78-103.
Foucault, Michel. (2002). The west and truth of sex. In, Dean, T. Lane, C. eds., Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 51-56.
Recommended Readings:
Chambon, A., Irving, A., Epstien, L. (eds). (1999). Reading Foucault for Social Work. New York: Columbia University Press.
Week 11 November 4
Topics
Elliott, A. Technologies of the self, Chapter 3, pages, 78-103.
Week 12 November 11
Scott, A. (2000). Risk Society or Angst Society? Two Views of Risk, Consciousness and Community. (Eds.)_ Adam, B., Beck, U. and Van Loon, J In, The Risk Society And Beyond : Critical Issues For Social Theory. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Press.
Week 13 November 18
Topics
Chodorow, N. (1995). Gender as a personal and cultural construction. Signs, 20(3): 516-54.
Harris, A. (2000). Gender as a soft assembly: tomboys' stories. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 1:223-250.
Elliott, A. Self, Sexuality and Gender, Chapter 4, pages 103-121.
Abrams, L.S., Curran, L. (2004). Between women: gender and social work in historical perspective. Social Service Review, 78(3): 429–446.
Recommended Readings:
Lovell, T. (1996). Feminist social theory. In, The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. London: Blackwell Press.
Diamond, M. (2004). The shaping of masculinity. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 85: 359-380.
Week 14 November 25 (we will meet on a different day)
Topics
Ferguson, H. 2008. Liquid social work: welfare interventions as mobile practices. British Journal of Social Work, 38, 561–579.
Recommended Readings:
Smart, B. 1996. Postmodern social theory. In, The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. London: Blackwell Press.
Week 15 December 2
Student Presentations