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Chad Alan Goldberg |
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin (on sabbatical, 2011-2012) |
Resources for students
The course is intended to provide an introductory overview of the discipline of sociology, including: (1) its main sub-fields and specialized areas of research; (2) the theoretical approaches most commonly used in the discipline; and (3) the principal research methods used by sociologists, both quantitative and qualitative. In addition to learning about sociology, you will also learn to write as a sociologist, conduct some forms of sociological research, present your findings, and analyze what sociologists have written.
The primary goal of the course is to investigate the civil emancipation of European Jews – the process by which the Jews of Europe acquired full and equal citizenship – from the French Revolution in 1789 to the Russian Revolution in 1917. The primary objective of the course is not simply to learn about events in modern Jewish history, but to identify historical patterns and to construct sociological explanations for them. To achieve this goal, the course takes a comparative-historical approach, focusing on Britain, France, Germany (which was not unified until 1871), the Austrian Empire, and Russia (a case of failed emancipation prior to 1917). The course is also intended to introduce students to some key themes and ideas in political and comparative-historical sociology, including state formation, citizenship, nationalism, ethnic conflict, and social movements. To this end, we seek to relate emancipation to the broader social forces that transformed Europe in the nineteenth century, especially the development of the modern state and the modern capitalist economy.
This course has an illustrious history; it was originally taught by the labor historian Selig Perlman and later by the emigré sociologist Hans Gerth. The primary goal of the course as I teach it is to examine the historical development of capitalism, socialism, and democracy in the United States, paying close attention to how the past shapes subsequent politics and policy outcomes. Throughout the semester, we will try to see what social and political theory have to say to American history and vice versa. The course is organized chronologically in several parts, including the Progressive era; the New Deal; postwar challenges to and criticisms of the New Deal, from the left and the right; the Great Society, the civil rights movement, and the New Left; and the rise of the New Right since the 1970s. As the course moves forward in time, we revisit some general questions that help to give the course thematic unity and coherence. These include questions about the changing and contested meanings of democracy, the relationship between capitalism and democracy, why there has been no significant socialist movement or labor party in the United States, and how the meaning and boundaries of American citizenship have changed over time.
In this course we investigate and assess the ideas of four theorists whose works are foundational for sociology: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), Karl Marx (1818-1883), Max Weber (1864-1920), and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). We examine their ideas as efforts to understand and resolve the key social problems and conflicts that transformed Europe (and the United States) in the nineteenth century. At the same time, we seek to understand how classical social theory remains relevant for understanding the problems of twenty-first century societies. The course focuses on the themes of freedom, rationality, individuality, inequality, and solidarity.
Areas of specialization: Comparative-historical, cultural, and political sociology; social movements and collective action; social theory.
Research interests: My primary research interest is the comparative-historical and political sociology of citizenship, broadly understood to include the development of citizenship rights and duties over time, changing levels and forms of civic engagement and political participation, and shifting patterns of civil inclusion and exclusion.
"Struggle and Solidarity: Republican Elements in Pierre Bourdieu’s Political Sociology," European Sociological Association, Geneva, Switzerland, Sep. 2011.