We return to Weber's idea of domination, Herrschaft. Herrschaft has been translated into English as "authority" and as "domination." The translation into domination highlights the elements of power and legitimacy that are co-mingled in the concept as well as the importance of the suggestion of the asymmetrical power relationship within the concept of domination. We turn to the first way leaders legitimate their authority or domination: tradition. The primary forms of traditional rule are patrimonialism and patriachialism. For Weber, the chief difference between these forms of rule is that the patriarch rules without a staff and the patrimonial leader requires a staff that obeys his authority by virtue of personal loyalty and tradition. We end with the primary tension between traditional authority and capitalism: traditional authority systems are not motivated by profit but by satisfaction of needs.

Reading assignment:
Weber, Economy and Society, Chapter 3, pp. 226-241; 255-266

1. Introduction
2. Hobbes: Authority, Human Rights and Social Order
3. Locke: Equality, Freedom, Property and the Right to Dissent
4. Montesquieu: The Division of Powers
5. Rousseau: Popular Sovereignty and General Will
6. Rousseau on State of Nature and Education
7. Mill: Utilitarianism and Liberty
8. Smith: The Invisible Hand
9. Marx's Theory of Alienation
10. Marx's Theory of Historical Materialism
11. Marx's Theory of Historical Materialism (cont.)
12. Marx's Theory of History
13. Marx's Theory of Class and Exploitation
14. Nietzsche on Power, Knowledge and Morality
15. Freud on Sexuality and Civilization
16. Weber on Protestantism and Capitalism
17. Conceptual Foundations of Weber's Theory of Domination
18. Weber on Traditional Authority
19. Weber on Charismatic Authority
20. Weber on Legal-Rational Authority
21. Weber's Theory of Class
22. Durkheim and Types of Social Solidarity
23. Durkheim's Theory of Anomie
24. Durkheim on Suicide
25. Durkheim and Social Facts

This course provides an overview of major works of social thought from the beginning of the modern era through the 1920s. Attention is paid to social and intellectual contexts, conceptual frameworks and methods, and contributions to contemporary social analysis. Writers include Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Marx, Weber, and Durkheim.

Course Structure:
This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Fall 2009.