Manchester (UK) Summer 2022 IN-PERSON Reading Group: What is society?
“Society is a reality sui generis; it has its own characteristics that are either not found in the rest of the universe or are not found there in the same form."
"Society is a sui generis being with its own special nature, distinct from that of its members, and a personality of its own different from individual personalities."
— Emile Durkheim
Saturdays, 18:00-20:00
LOCATION WILL SHIFT EACH WEEK AND WILL BE POSTED AHEAD OF EACH WEEKLY SYLLABUS BELOW
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( • required / + recommended readings)
Required background reading:
• Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
Recommended supplemental parallel reading:
+ Theodor W. Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
+ Adorno, Introduction to Sociology (1962 lecture series)
+ Adorno, Philosophical Elements of a Theory of Society (1964 lecture series)
+ Adorno, Philosophy and Sociology (1960 lecture series)
Preliminary readings:
• Adorno, “Society” (1965)
• Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)
Charts of terms:
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
Week 1: Saturday 4th June, 2022
Location: Duck & Drake Public House, Leeds
• Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology (1981/95) selections:
Preface for 1995 reprint
1. The Antinomies of Sociological Reason
7. With What Must the Science End?
Week 2: Saturday 11th June, 2022
Location: Chapter One Books, Manchester
• Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) (Giddens' introuction and the translator's preface are optional)
Week 3: Saturday 18th June, 2022
Location: THERE WILL BE NO IN-PERSON READING GROUP THIS WEEK; WE WILL BE JOINING THE IN-PERSON READING GROUP ON TUESDAY THE 21st OF JUNE
• Auguste Comte, Introduction to Positive Philosophy (1830-42) selections:
I. The nature and importance of the positive philosophy
• Comte, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, Vol. III selections:
Book VI. Social Physics
VII. pp. 1-11
XI. pp. 199-216
XII. pp. 277-344
• Comte, A General View of Positivism selections:
II. The Social Aspect of Positivism, pp. 63-78
VI. The Religion of Humanity, pp. 340-426
Week 4: Monday 27th June, 2022
Location: Chapter One Books, Manchester
+ Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016)
• Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I
Part I. The Data of Sociology
I. Super Organic Evolution
II. The Factors of Social Phenomena
III. Original External Factors
IV. Original Internal Factors
Part II. The Inductions of Sociology
I. What Is a Society?
II. A Society is an Organism
• Spencer, On Social Evolution
IV. Evolution in General
15. Societal Typologies
16. Militancy and Industrialism
V. The Analysis of Institutions
18. Ceremonial Institutions
19. Political Institutions
• Spencer, The Man Versus the State
VI. The Great Political Superstition
Week 5: Saturday 2nd July, 2022
Location: TBC
• Emile Durkheim, On Morality and Society selections:
II. Sociology and Social Action, Chapter 3: "The Principles of 1789 and Sociology" (1890)
• Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) selections:
Introduction
• Durkheim, On Morality and Society selections:
V. Social Creativity, Chapters 11-12
Week 6: Saturday 9th July, 2022
Location: TBC
• Durkheim, On Morality and Society selections:
IV. The Learning of Morality, Chapter 10: "The Dualism of Human Nature and Its Social Conditions" (1914)
II. Sociology and Social Action, Chapter 4: "Individualism and the Intellectuals"
• Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (1893) selections:
Introduction
• Durkheim, On Morality and Society selections:
III. The Evolution of Morality, Chapter 6: "Progressive Preponderance of Organic Solidarity"
Week 7: Saturday 16th July, 2022
Location: TBC
• Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (1893) selections:
Selections TBA
• Durkheim, On Morality and Society selections:
III. The Evolution of Morality, Chapters 7-9
• Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (1893) selections:
Preface to the Second Edition
Week 8: Saturday 23rd July, 2022
Location: TBC
• Frankfurt School, Aspects of Sociology (1956) selections:
Preface by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno
Chapters I-VI, XII
• Adorno, "Society" (1965)
