本課程旨在探討和求索「自傳社會學作為社會學之分支、次領域」之可能，擘畫此一次領域之議題、方法論、及研究方案。透過幾個重要的自傳文本，以「生命書寫・歷史旁白」的兩個平行軸線進行社會學考察。
　　從英文自傳（autobiography）一詞的希臘文字源來看，自傳指的是書寫記錄（graphia）自己（auto）生平（bios）的一種行為。自傳作為一個文類大約肇始於17世紀，到18世紀中葉之後才愈見顯著，大約與小說的興起同步發展。自傳作為彼時一種新興的文體，其成因與西方現代性的進程有直接關係，從社會結構漸趨城市化的歷史過程中，傳統農業社會之紐帶亦隨之漫漶崩解，符映了Tonnies所說的從共同體到社會的過渡。鄉村生活屬共同體（Gemeinschaft），而城市則是一個社會（Gesellschaft）意義上的組織。城市的興起意味著傳統村落共同體的解體。因此，隨著農村人口遷徙至都市，原初的傳統紐帶與價值觀開始斷裂，城市中的個人被迫在孤獨中生活，個人意識逐漸萌生，且不得不為內心無所依傍的自我確立生存的憑藉，加上自前現代聖俗一元統治的共同體崩潰後，個人不能再依附傳統價值，變成「自然狀態」下的「原子化個人」，近代自我才逐漸形成，自我必須不斷進行自我確認，對內外在事物必須不斷賦予意義，此個體化的發展也終於促使近代自傳的誕生。盧梭和斯湯達爾的自傳即都寫於此時。他們寫作的目的也都是為了展現自我內在靈魂，為了知道自己是什麼人，才引發了想寫自己一生的動機。
　　就個人知識所及，社會學家非常少有自傳的書寫。這倒是一個令人值得從知識社會學反思的有趣議題。個人是歷史、文化和社會的存有，個人的自我形構與社會建構密切相關。社會學家的生命敘事，可從社會學家的敏感與理論視野，解自己的身世之謎，將會是有趣的社會學研究實作。社會學研究中過去即有生命史的研究取向，致力於研究個人檔案，包括自傳、日記、及書信等，去揭示個體如何與其經驗世界進行協商，因而創造或理解社會世界的規則和角色。芝加哥學派的符號互動論傳統，在Robert Park的倡導下，也運用生命史方法進行一系列的都市生活研究，雖然研究的對象都不是自己。C. Wright Mills 也曾在Sociological Imagination一書中倡議我們可將個人煩惱（personal trouble）提升到公共議題（public issues）的層次，自傳的社會學書寫不就是一個很好的嘗試與挑戰嗎？Making sociological sense of oneself. A sociological narrative of self.

This course aims to explore and explore the possibility of "autobiographical sociology as a branch and subfield of sociology" and to outline the issues, methodologies, and research plans of this subfield. Through several important autobiographical texts, sociological investigation is carried out on two parallel axes of "life writing and historical narration".
Judging from the Greek origin of the English word autobiography, autobiography refers to the act of writing and recording (graphia) one's own (auto) life (bios). Autobiography as a genre began approximately in the 17th century and became increasingly prominent after the mid-18th century, developing approximately in tandem with the rise of the novel. As an emerging literary genre at that time, autobiography was directly related to the process of Western modernity. As the social structure gradually became urbanized, the bonds of traditional agricultural society also disintegrated, reflecting what Tonnies calls the transition from community to society. Rural life belongs to a community (Gemeinschaft), while a city is an organization in the sense of a society (Gesellschaft). The rise of cities means the disintegration of traditional village communities. Therefore, as the rural population migrates to the city, the original traditional bonds and values begin to break. Individuals in the city are forced to live in loneliness. Personal consciousness gradually emerges, and they have to establish a basis for survival for the inner self that has no one to rely on. In addition, since the pre-modern sacred and secular monolithic rule, the common After the collapse of the body, individuals could no longer rely on traditional values and became "atomized individuals" in the "state of nature". Only then did the modern self gradually take shape. The self must constantly confirm itself and give meaning to internal and external things. This individualized development finally led to the birth of modern autobiography. The autobiographies of Rousseau and Stendhal were both written at this time. The purpose of their writing is to reveal their inner souls and to know who they are, which triggers the motivation to write about their own lives.
As far as personal knowledge is concerned, sociologists rarely write autobiographies. This is an interesting issue worthy of reflection from the sociology of knowledge. Individuals are historical, cultural and social beings, and individual self-construction is closely related to social construction. The sociologist's life narrative can help solve the mystery of one's own life experience from the sociologist's sensitivity and theoretical perspective, which will be an interesting sociological research practice. The past-life-history research orientation in sociological research is dedicated to studying personal archives, including autobiographies, diaries, and letters, to reveal how individuals negotiate their experiential world and thereby create or understand the rules and roles of the social world. The symbolic interactionist tradition of the Chicago School, advocated by Robert Park, also uses life history methods to conduct a series of studies on urban life, although the subjects of the research are not themselves. C. Wright Mills also proposed in Sociological Imagination that we can elevate personal troubles to the level of public issues. Isn’t the sociological writing of autobiographies a good attempt and challenge? Making sociological sense of oneself. A sociological narrative of self.

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