* POL 305
/ SOC 320
/ GER 312
- Spring 2011-2012
(EM)
Radical Political Thought
This course will examine traditions of political thought--mostly, but not only, on the Left--which challenge mainstream conceptions of liberal democracy and modern capitalist society. The main focus will be on Marxism, anarchism, feminism, religious radicalism, ecological thought, and critiques of alienation in everyday life. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between political and cultural criticism, and to the philosophical anthropologies underlying different theories as well as the mechanisms for social change they envisage. We also ask if liberal democratic thought can effectively respond to radical challenges.
Sample reading list:
Marx and Engels,
The Communist Manifesto
Michel Foucault,
The Birth of Biopolitics
Frantz Fanon,
The Damned of the Earth
Simone de Beauvoir,
The Second Sex
Antonio Gramsci,
The Prison Notebooks
Guy Debord,
The Society of the Spectacle
Reading/Writing assignments:
150-200 pages per week. Two 6-8 page papers. A term paper of approximately 25 pages may be substituted for the final examination with the instructor's permission.
Requirements/Grading:
Take Home Final Exam - 40%
Papers - 40%
Precept Participation - 20%
Other information:
Take home final exercise or final project of 25 pages.
Schedule/Classroom assignment:
-
Class number: 42177
Section: L01
Time:
11:00 am
-
11:50 am
Days:
M
W
Building-Room:
Lewis Library
120
Enrolled/Limit:
39/
-
Section: P01
Time:
11:00 am
-
11:50 am
Days:
T
Building-Room:
Corwin Hall
126
Enrolled/Limit:
11/
13
-
Section: P02
Time:
1:30 pm
-
2:20 pm
Days:
W
Building-Room:
Friend Center of Engineering
304
Enrolled/Limit:
5/
13
-
Section: P03
Time:
3:30 pm
-
4:20 pm
Days:
W
Building-Room:
Friend Center of Engineering
304
Enrolled/Limit:
6/
13
-
Section: P04
Time:
12:30 pm
-
1:20 pm
Days:
Th
Building-Room:
Corwin Hall
126
Enrolled/Limit:
15/
13