Exploring Sociological Theory

The Davis–Moore hypothesis, sometimes referred to as the Davis–Moore  theory, is a central claim within the structural functionalist paradigm  of sociological theory, and was advanced by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert  E. Moore in a paper published in 1945.[1] The hypothesis is an attempt  to explain social stratification. As a structural functionalist theory,  it is also associated with Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton. [from  Wiki, Davis-Moore hypothesis]

The Communist Manifesto, originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is an 1848 political document by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt, the Manifesto was later recognised as one of the world's most influential political documents. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and then-present) and the conflicts of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms. 

Ch. 3 of Critical Social Theory

From Durkheim's seminal work Suicide, which explores suicide rates in the context of Durkheim's theory of social cohesion is an integral feature of the structure of human society, and as an individual necessity which protects us from self-harm.

from Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes.

1978

Reality Construction in Society -- Holzner, Ch 10

Reality Construction and Society Ch 4

Bauman delivers on a more useful definition of Utopia.

A focus on the creative abilities of humans to choose from among multiple threads from now into the future. That we are not determined by our circumstance, at least not if we (humans) are thinking critically about it!

A classic. Short and sweet. I aspire to be the benevolent stranger, but in Simmel's sense. You would call us friends :)

Scheff _ Microsociology _ Ch 1

Emotions as central to understanding social interaction, on a micro level. And implicitly an argument that this micro-interaction is crucial in understanding the macro.

There's a lot of repeats in this chapter. Wasn't the most well-put-together reading, but there are some really beautiful ideas here. I hope you enjoy.