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George Mason University Sociology Graduate Program Political

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George Mason University Sociology Graduate Program Political George Mason University Sociology Graduate Program Political Sociology Sociology 833/633 – 001 (CRN 77945) Professor John Dale Fall 2017 email: [email protected] innovational Hall 209 phone: 703-424-5711 T 4:30—7:10 pm office location: Robinson B 319 office hours: R 1:30-3:30 pm or by appt. Course Description This course introduces graduate students to the sociological study of politics. Relations of power and authority, social institutions, networks, and culture are just some of the fundamental “gateway” concepts (variously theorized) that political sociologists rely on to make sense more innovative concepts for exploring dynamic contemporary politics. The overarching theme of the course is the struggle for democracy (and efforts to better understand it) in diverse, complex, and changing modern societies. While the concept of democracy is ubiquitous, its practice remains elusive. Does fetishizing the concept block rather than exercise the democratic imagination? What is democracy? And what is it good for? What are the structural preconditions necessary for democracy? How do people who organize and participate in democratic initiatives understand the purpose of their participation? How do they understand the appropriate methods and norms of participation? Where do they locate the boundaries between participation and something else, whether elite decision-making, managerial prerogatives, or the operation of the market? What happens when market principles are extended into the state and beyond it in civil society and, seemingly, everything “social”? Are we losing our appetite for democratic values as liberty is increasingly individualized and recast as a form of market conduct? What counts as equality and what counts as a breach of it? What happens when competing views of the “demos” clash, i.e., when they cannot be harmonized through processes that are mutually recognizable as democratic? We will see that while democracy today seems to be generally in retreat, social and political struggles for more of it remain -- new projects of democratic experimentation continue to emerge in communities around the world. Required Texts • Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory (The MIT Press, 1994). [Many used copies available online in hardback, paperback, and kindle from as low as $3.70 to $50.00 – shop wisely!] • Hans Joas and Wolgang Knöbl, Social Theory: Twenty Lectures (Cambridge University Press, 2010). [Paperback $13.77 (used) to $43.85; Kindle $16.35 (rent) to $31.02 (buy) – “Every sociology grad student should read this prior to taking the comprehensive exams.” – Prof. Dale] • Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (University of Chicago Press, 2007). [Paperback from $13 to $20] • Hanna Arendt, Crisis of the Republic: Lying in Politics; Civil Disobedience; On Violence; Thoughts on Power and Revolution (Mariner Books, 1972). [Paperback $10.95 to $16.93; Kindle $9.99] • Michael Foucault, Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison (Vintage Books, 1995). [or any edition; paperback $10.94; Kindle $11.99] • W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (Dover Publications, 1994). [or any unabridged edition; Paperback $4.75; Kindle $0.99] • W.E. Burghardt Du Bois, John Brown (New York: International Publishers, 1962). [or any edition; Paperback $7.50; Kindle $5.99] • Roger Gould, Insurgent Identities: Class, Community, and Protest in Paris from 1848 to the Commune (University of Chicago Press, 1995). [Paperback $16.95 (used) to $22.65 (new)] • Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1992 (Blackwell Publishers, revised paperback edition, 1992) [This edition has an additional chapter, “Soldiers and States in 1992,” that examines the implications of Tilly’s theory for Third World state formation. Paperback $29.39] • Michael Mann, Fascists (Cambridge University Press, 2004). [Paperback $7.35 (used) to $23.34 (new); Kindle available for purchase or rent] • Kenneth H. Tucker, Jr. Workers of the World, Enjoy! Aesthetic Politics from Revolutionary Syndicalism to the Global Justice Movement (Temple University Press, 2010). [Kindle $22.76 or Paperback $23.96; Many used copies from $18.00] • Michael Loadenthal, The Politics of Attack: Communiques and Insurrectionary Violence. (Contemporary Anarchist Series, Manchester University Press, 2017). [Kindle $16.17 or Paperback $29.95; available after August 30, 2017; pre-order now!] • Inderpal Grewal, Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms (Duke University Press, 2005). [Paperback $25.01] • Paul Amar, The Security Archipelago: Human-Security States, Sexuality, Politics, and the End of Neoliberalism (Duke University Press, 2013) [Paperback $19.46 (used) to $26.17 (new)] • Yann Moulier Boutang, Cognitive Capitalism (Polity Press, 2011). [Paperback $21.14] • Jens Beckert, Imagined Futures: Fictional Expectations and Capitalist Dynamics (Harvard University Press, 2016). [Kindle $37.93; Hardback $30.53 (used) to 39.93 (new)] Note: Prices listed above are based on Amazon as of August 28, 2017. Better deals may be available at other sites, and over time. All other readings will be made available to students in electronic format which can be downloaded at no cost from the course [Blackboard] website. Use of Technology in the Classroom GMU students taking this class will need to familiarize themselves with Blackboard. All announcements and most of the readings will be distributed on Blackboard. Unless you are registered for the course through GMU, you will be not be able to access Blackboard. Students are welcome to use personal laptops or iPads to take notes during class, but please do not use them to chat or surf during class if you cannot do so without causing distractions for your fellow 2 classmates. The same principle applies to the use of cell phones and “smart” phones. You may keep your phone on for emergencies, but please them in vibrate mode – and take all calls and messages outside the classroom. Please refrain from texting, or wearing headphones or earbuds, during class. Again, if you must respond to an urgent matter, please attend to this outside the classroom. Do not tape or video record lectures without the prior permission of the professor. All lecture material is proprietary, and should be cited if used in your own scholarship. GMU students enrolled in this course who wish to contact Professor Dale should contact his office phone, or do so through GMU e-mail accounts only. Non-GMU e-mail will often be filtered as junk mail and is more susceptible to spreading e-viruses. Course Requirements I will post a full schedule of reading assignments for the semester on the course website. The course requires a healthy dose of reading, and you should keep pace with the scheduled assignments. Class participation starts before you come to class, with having done the readings and thought about what seems useful and illuminating, what seems wrong or unclear. A good practice would be to take brief notes on your week’s reading – indicating what issues you found most interesting or most problematic – and therefore most worth attention during class meetings. Doing so will facilitate not only your comprehension of the lectures, but also regular class discussion, which is a central aspect of the course. Active, effective contribution means being attentive to the flow of the class’ discussion, and being able to distinguish an apt intervention in an ongoing argument from an attempt to redirect the discussion to a new topic. In this graduate seminar, students are expected to actively engage with issues raised in classroom discussions. It is useful to remember that the diversity of our student body can be an asset to classroom conversations and student learning. Students and professors are expected to interact respectfully with one another in class, as well as in course-related communication with each other outside of class. Please be sure to read the George Mason University Diversity Statement: http://cte.gmu.edu/Teaching_at_Mason/DiversityStatement.html Note: GMU students enrolled in this course who wish to contact Professor Dale should do so through GMU e-mail accounts only. Weekly Analytic Memos (50%) Write a typed 3-page (double‑spaced) weekly memo that shows your analytical/critical engagement with the assigned reading materials starting with the assignments listed in Week 2. You must write 10 memos in all, skipping any four of these weeks that you choose. For the week of Columbus Day and the following week, you can also combine two memos (worth ten points, if you chose to write a 6-page analytical memo. [Note that one of your ten memos will count toward the Oral Presentation assignment (discussed below). Thus, each of these assignments is worth 5% of your grade. The longer memo that you write for the day of your oral presentation, combined with the work of preparing and giving your presentation, means that you will receive a grade based on 20 points (5 points for the paper; and 15 for the presentation).] During weeks that you choose not to write a memo, you are still responsible for reading assigned that week. Come prepared to discuss. Throughout this course, we will be attempting to connect what we are learning from our reading to contemporary politics unfolding around us. In lieu of a memo, bring to class 3 an example from (I risk being contentious) a “real” news source (e.g., The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, or The Financial Times -- all of which are available for free through GMU’s Fenwick Library) that you can draw on to speak (or speak back) to concepts or ideas in that week’s assigned readings. I am open to your using other sources of news. We will begin each class meeting with a brief 5-10 minute discussion of the news items from those who did not submit a weekly memo. Be prepared to keep your point succinct – the one minute pitch. After everyone with a news article (i.e., everyone who did not submit a memo) has their turn, we will use the remainder of our 5-10 minutes to focus on one of these articles or topics.
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