GFCP 242 POLITICS OF MODERNITY
Instructor: Echeverri-Gent
Office: 145 Cabell, Ph: 924-3968,
E-mail: jee8p@virginia.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday
4:50-5:50PM or by appt.
This course is designed to investigate
the development of modern society and how modernity has shaped politics through
the study of three classic theorists:
Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. We will also have a brief introduction to the work of Michel
Foucault. While each of the classic
theorists shared a belief in the Enlightenment credo of progress through
history, each was profoundly ambivalent about the changes brought on by
modernity. Foucault is much more
pessimistic about the enlightenment project.
In his own way, he amplifies some of the classic theorists
concerns. We will attempt to understand
each scholar's mixture of optimism and concern by comparing their examination
of key features of modern society including: capitalism, rationality, division
of labor, alienation, the nation-state, and modern legal system. Each theorist believed that the development
of modern society had a profound impact on politics. We will examine the ways in which modernity affects politics and
the prospects for politics to redress problems of modern society.
The course begins with a brief
effort to come to terms with the proliferation of modern organization in
contemporary society and how it affects our lives. Next, we briefly consider the contribution of science to the
temperament and world view of modernity.
We then critically examine how capitalism has shaped modernity. We investigate different aspects of the
relationship between modernity and the nation-state. In this examination we play particular attention to state
formation, bureaucracy, legal systems, and modern systems of social
discipline.
The course is meant as an
introductory survey. Students can take
it with no previous background as long as they are willing to keep up with the
reading. There is extensive and sometimes
difficult reading. Students should be
careful to budget their time to keep up with the assignments.
Students will be evaluated in
four ways:
1.
Expression of your questions and opinions plays an important role in making
class a stimulating experience for everyone. As a consequence, class participation, including attendance, will
account for 10 percent of your final
grade.
2.
Students will be required to write two sets of essays concerning issues raised
by the course. These essays will
address issues arising from our course readings. Each set will be worth 25 percent of the final grade. Questions for the first set of essays will
be handed out on September 27. They are
due on October 9. Questions for the
second exam will be handed out on November 1.
They will be due at the beginning of class on November 13.
3.
The third component of their grade, students will write an open-book, take-home
final examination. This last exercise
will consist of two 5-6 page essays.
The final exam will be distributed at the end of class on December 4.
All finals and papers should be turned in to Cabell 232 no later than 5:00 PM on December 12.
Books available for purchase are
also on reserve at Clemons library.
Articles not included in these books are available through electronic
reserves linked to the ITC Toolkit website.
The following books are
available for purchase at Newcomb Hall Bookstore:
Marshall
Berman. All That Is Solid Melts Into Air.
New York: Penguin, 1988.
Emile
Durkheim. The Division of Labor in Society.
New York: The Free Press, 1984.
Michel
Foucault. Discipline and Punish. New York: Vintage, 1977.
H.H.
Gerth and C.W. Mills. From Max Weber. Oxford University Press, 1946.
George
Ritzer. The McDonaldization Thesis.
Sage 1998.
Robert
C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels Reader. New
York: W.W. Norton, 1978.
Max
Weber. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London Routledge.
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
1.August
30 Introduction
No assignment
2.
September 4 Bureaucracy: Efficiency or Red Tape?
Ritzer, pp. 1-99. (You are not
responsible for this due to confusion at the bookstore.)
3.
September 6 Modernity: Liberation or
Imprisonment? Appearances and Reality?
Ritzer, pp. 59-119.
Jeremy Rifkin, “Anatomy of a
Cheeseburger,” Grantha 38 (Winter 1991) pp. 87-102.
4.
September 11 Context and Meaning: Historical Materialism
Karl Marx, "The German
Ideology," in Tucker, pp. 146-200.
Extra Credit Assignment I is
due: See “ Memento” and write 300
word essay on the importance of time and context for meaning in the film. Can meaning be independent of context? Does time or sequence affect meaning? How does this relate to historical
materialism?
5.
September 13 Max Weber: Multi-causal
Explanation and the Virtues of "Theoretical Tensions"
Randall Collins, Max Weber: A Skeleton Key, pp. 9-79.
6.
September 18 The Scientific “Revolution” and the Development of Modern Social
Theory
Stephen Toulmin. Cosmopolis:
The Hidden Agenda of Modernity.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990, pp. 89-137.
Max Weber, “Science as a Vocation,” in Gerth and Mills From Max Weber pp. 129-156;
IV. MODERNISM AND CAPITALISM
7.
September 20 Modernism as Change
Marshall
Berman. All That is Solid Melts Into Air. Pp. 5-86.
8
. September 25 Modernism, Change and Globalization
Marshall Berman. All
That is Solid Melts Into Air. Pp. 87-129;
Karl Marx and Frederich Engels,
"Manifesto of the Communist Party, in Tucker, pp. 469-500.
9.
September 27 Alienation and History
Karl Marx “Economic and Philosophical
Manuscripts,” in Tucker, pp. 66-125.
Extra Credit Assignment II is
due: See either “Fight Club” or
“The Story of Adelle ‘H’” Write a 300
word essay explaining how the film depicts alienation. Who is alienated? What are the consequences of alienation for his or her life. In what ways is the depiction of alienation
in the film consistent with Marx’s understanding ? In what ways does it contradict it?
*** Essays Questions will be
distributed at the end of class on September 27. They will be due at the beginning of class on October 9.
10
.October 2 Ideas, Callings, and the
Rise of Modern Capitalism
Max Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism pp. 13-78.
11.
October 4 The Rationality of
Irrationality
Max Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism pp. 79-127; 155-185.
12.
October 9 Primitive Accumulation and
Institutional Explanations for the Rise of Capitalism
Marx in Tucker, pp 431-38.
Max Weber, General Economic History pp. 275-369.
*** First essays are due at the
beginning of class.
13.
October 11 The Structural Dynamics of
Capitalism
Capital Vol. I in Tucker pp. 302-376.
October
16 Fall Break, Enjoy!
14.
October 18 The Division of Labor and
the Rise of Capitalism
Capital Vol. I in Tucker pp. 376-438.
Extra Credit Assignment III
is due: See “Modern Times.” Write a
300 word essay explaining how the film depicts the consequences of the machine
and the assembly line for modern life. In what ways is the depiction consistent
with that presented by Marx? In what
ways does it contradict it? Which
points of view do you find more persuasive?
15.
October 23 Formation of the Modern
state
14 Charles Tilly, “War Making
and State Making as Organized Crime,” in Peter B. Evans et al. eds. Bringing
the State back in , pp. 169-91.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined
Communities pp. 36-46*(NB p. 36 is the concluding section of chapter 2)
Karl Marx, “On the Jewish
Question,” in Tucker 25-52.
Anthony W. Marx, Making Race and Nation pp. 1-24.
16.
October 25 The Question of State
Autonomy
Marx “18th Brumaire
of Louis Bonaparte,” in Tucker pp. 594-617.
Jon Elster, Making Sense of
Marx, pp. 398-428.
17.
October 30 Ideal-Types and Political
Development
Max Weber, "The Types of Legitimate
Domination," in Max Weber Economy
and Society vol 1.
pp.
212-298.
18.
November 1 Bureaucracy: The
Infrastructure of the Modern State
Max Weber,
"Bureaucracy," in Gerth and Mills From
Max Weber pp. 196-244;
***
Recommended: David Beetham, "The Limits of Bureaucratic Rationality,"
in Max Weber and the Theory of Modern
Politics, pp. 63-89.
*** Essay topics will be passed
out at the end of class. They will be
due at the beginning of class on November 13.
19.
November 6 The Ambiguities of Political
Leadership
Max Weber, "Politics as a
vocation," in Gerth and Mills pp. 77-128.
20.
November 8 The Pluralism of Social
Organization
Max Weber, "Class, status,
and party," in Geerth and Mills, pp. 180-195; Collins, pp. 132-38; and
David Beetham, "Society, Class and State: Germany," Max Weber and the Theory of Modern Politics
pp. 151-179.
***Second essay is due at the
beginning of class.
21.
November 13 Types of Solidarity and
Types of Legal Systems
Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, pp.
ix-xxx; 1-100.
22. November 15
The Dynamics of Change and the Social Underpinnings of Contracts
The Division of Labor in Society, pp. 101-175.
23.
November 20 Social and Political
Consequences
The Division of Labor in Society, pp. 269-341.
November
22 Thanksgiving Vacation !!!!
24.
November 27 From Torture to ‘Gentle
Punishment’
Michel Foucault, Discipline
and Punish, pp. 3-131.
25.
November 29 ‘Docile Bodies’ and
‘Correct Training’
Michel Foucault, Discipline
and Punish, pp.135-194.
26.
December 4 The Disciplinary Society
Michel Foucault, Discipline
and Punish, pp. 195-308.
*** Questions for the final essays
will be distributed after class. They
will be due no later than 5:00 PM December 12.
Exams should be turned into Cabell 232.
27.
December 6 Escape from Rationality?
Lawrence Scaff, "Fleeing the Iron Cage: Politics and Culture in the thought of Max Weber," American Political Science Review 737-56; and David Beetham, "Weber as a Protagonist of Bourgeois Values," in Max Weber and the Theory of Modern Politics pp. 36-62.
Ritzer, pp. 117-191.