Objectives: After completing weeks 2-5 of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand, explain and give examples of contemporary applications of the social concepts (constructs) developed by the classic or seminal theorists
• Analyze how the ideas of the early theorists build on each other, differ, and evolve to create the major theoretical perspectives that we use to understand social phenomena today
• Apply the ideas of the early theorists to identify, explain and respond to the needs, issues and problems that face communities today

Allan

Pp. 105-136 First Ed.; 137-168 Second Ed.

Blackshaw

Pp. 32-47 -- Liquid Modern Communities, Postmodern Communities

Other Preparation

Watch this interview with Grace Boggs, one of Detroit's most famous social activists (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79cVXCvkwNY). As you watch, consider how Boggs' comments do or do not reflect basic concepts developed by Mead & Simmel, such as objective culture, the I and the Me, conflict, role-taking and rational and organic group membership.

Additional Materials

Adger, W.N., Dessai, S., Goulden, M., Hulme, M. et al. (2009). Are there social limits to adaptation to climate change? Climatic Change 93 (3-4), 335-354.

Aminzadeh, F., Dalziel, W.B., Molnar, F.J. & Garcia, L.J. (2009). Symbolic meaning of relocation to a residential care facility for persons with dementia. Aging & Mental Health 13 (3), 487-496.

Barak, B. (2009). Age identity: A cross-cultural global approach. International Journal of Behavioral Development 33 (1), 2-11.

Caliskan, N. (2009). The body language behaviours of the chairs of the disputes according to the disputants. Education 129 (3), 473-487.

Carayol, N. & Roux, P. (2009). Knowledge flows and the teography of networks: A strategic model of small world formation. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 71 (2), 414-427.

Driskell, R.B. & Lyon, L. ( ). Are virtual communities true communities? Examining the environments and elements of community. City & Community 1(4), 373-390.

Gross, N. (2009). A pragmatist theory of social mechanisms. American Sociological Review 74 (3), 358-379.

James, E.C. (2009). Neomodern insecurity in Haiti and the politics of asylum. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry 33 (1), 153-159.

Keilbach, J. (2009). Photographs, symbolic images, and the holocaust: On the (im)possibility of depicting historical truth. History & Theory 47 (2), 54-76.

Nohl, A. (2008). Spontaneous action and transformative learning: Empirical investigations and pragmatist relfections. Educational Philosophy and Theory 41 (3), 287-306.

Schensul, J.J. (2009). Community, culture and sustainability in multilevel dynamic systems intervention science. American Journal of Community Psychology, 43 (3-4 ), 241-256.

Schwartz, B. (2009). Collective forgetting and the symbolic power of oneness: The strange apotheosis of Rosa Parks. Social Psychology Quarterly 72 (2), 123-142.

Stern, M.J. & Fullerton, A.S. (2009). The network structure of local and extra-local voluntary participation: The role of core social networks. Social Science Quarterly 90 (3), 553-575.

Stryker, S. (2008). From Mead to a structural symbolic interactionism and beyond. Annual Review of Sociology 34 (1), 15-31.

Van Ham, L. (2009). Reading early punk as secularized sacred clowining. Journal of Popular Culture 42 (2), 318-338.

Wirtz, D., Chiu, C., Diener, E. & Oishi, S. (2009). What constitutes a good life? Cultural differences in the role of positive and negative affect in subjective well-being. Journal of Personality 77 (4), 1167-1196.

Xing, Xiaoyan. (2009). Marching in the glory: Experiences and meanings when working for a sport mega-event. Journal of Sport Management 23 (2) 210,237.