ANTH 303 Anthropological Theory Fall 2019
I acknowledge that St FX is in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People.

Bahamian relief donations: If you have clothes, canned goods and personal hygiene products to contribute to this endeavour, the donations collected will be sent to the Bahamas through Dalhousie University. Boxes are present in Bloomfield next to the information desk and in residences. There is also a donation box present in Pharmasave on campus. Donations will be collected until the end of September 16 (today).

What did you come up with from your perusal of journals?

Finish Marx.

Marx quiz.

Plagiarism quiz.

Part I: Canonical theory
Sep. 16:    READ: Weber, Max (1946) “Class, Status, Party” In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 180-195;  available at https://archive.org/stream/frommaxweberessa00webe#page/180/mode/2up
        
The following questions will help guide our discussion as we try to make sense of this, and other, theories. In addition, we will apply the theory to your anthropological question..

How can this theory be seen as a product of the historical period in which it was created?
What questions does this theory ask?
What information does this theory see as important?
What are other relevant assumptions made by the theory?
How does the theory analyse this information to answer the questions it sees as important?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Some key concepts from Weber:
- power
- class
- status
- party
- “empirical sociology”
- rationalization, reason:
- ideal type
- modernity
- interpretive sociology: meaningful action; again rational choice
- relationship between the individual and society
- norm versus rule (or law)
- bureaucracy
- enchantment/disenchantment
- charismatic leadership
- traditional authority
- rational-legal authority)
- Weber’s notion of history (as distinct from Marx’s; why is a theory of history important?)
- interest in religion (e.g. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism)

- how might you use Weber answer your anthropological question?:
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