Spring 2009 Advance Course Information

This information effective for spring 2009. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Politics

[ POLI-105C ]

105C. Modern Political Thought

Instructor: Megan Thomas
Office: Merrill 163
Hours:  t.b.a.; also available by appointment
Phone: 9-2026 (office)

Note: This syllabus is from spring 2008 and is subject to revision.

Course Description

This course surveys 19th- and 20th-century political theory, emphasizing continental European thought.  In the first two units of the course, we will read texts that investigate the themes of human consciousness, labor, and alienation.  The third unit of the course groups works that address issues of freedom and morality, and the fourth and final unit is on capitalism and culture.  By keeping these themes in mind, we will compare and draw together texts that in many ways have quite divergent methods, styles, and concerns; at the same time, as we try to make connections between works, we will still also try to pay attention to their differences and to the particular concerns that each theorist raises.  Authors covered include Fanon, Foucault, Gilman, Hegel, Horkheimer and Adorno, Kollontai, Marx and Engels, Mill, Nietzsche, and Weber.

Lectures      

days and time tba         
location t.b.a

Discussion Sections

Sections begin on the first day of class: Monday, March 31, 2008.

Course Requirements and Grading

Attendance and Participation

Students are expected to attend all lectures and sections well prepared, and to participate in discussions in section, and, sometimes, in the larger lecture setting.  You are always responsible for any changes in the readings, schedule, etc. that may be announced in class; if you need to miss a class, find out from one of your classmates what you missed before you approach any of your teachers to ask for clarification, if you need it.

Preliminary Exam

Exams for this course are designed to test your knowledge of the assigned readings and of material presented in lectures; they are also designed to encourage you to synthesize and analyze the course materials.  They will be in-class, closed-book and closed-note exams.  They will consist of a section of multiple choice and short answer/ID questions, and a section of an essay or essays.  The preliminary exam is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22. during our regular class meeting time.  Only in the case of true emergencies will a make-up exam be administered. 

Paper-Option Prelim

You may choose to write a paper (4-5 pages) instead of taking the preliminary exam; you may prefer to do this if you want extra practice writing essays that are formally evaluated.  Paper topics will be distributed from which you can choose.  You must complete the paper before the preliminary exam begins—if you do not hand in a paper by 10:00 on the morning of the exam, you must sit for the exam at that time.  There will be no exceptions to this, except in case of true emergencies.  Technological difficulties do not constitute emergencies.  This option is not available for the final exam. 

Paper

There is one paper required for this course (two, if you opt to write a paper rather than sit for the prelim); this is an opportunity for you to work through a text or texts as thoroughly as you can, develop an argument about them, and work to present your argument in the most polished way possible.  Paper topics will be distributed from which you can choose.  The paper (6-7 pages) is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, May 20 at 10am; once lecture begins that day, any paper arriving will be considered late.  Papers will be marked down for lateness at the rate of 1/3 of a letter grade a day: 1/3 of a grade for up to 24 hours late, 2/3 of a grade for 24-48 hours late, one  full grade for 48-72 hours late, etc.  (Please note: This late policy is only applicable for this paper; no late papers will be accepted as an option for the prelim exam).

Final Exam

The final exam will follow roughly the same format as the prelim exam; it will, obviously, be longer.  It is comprehensive—you may be asked about any of the material that was covered in the entire course.  The final exam is scheduled for t.b.a according to registrar’s schedule  Only in the case of a true emergency will a make-up exam be allowed.  You must plan to attend the final exam to make it possible for you to pass the course.

Re-Write Option

Students may choose to submit a re-written version of their paper for a new grade (in which case the final grade for that paper will be an average of the original grade and the grade of the re-written paper).  Re-written papers will only be read and graded if the following conditions are met: 1) The original paper must have been submitted on time.  2) You must meet with your TA about your paper re-write before submitting it (it is up to you to leave enough time to schedule this before the re-write is due).  3) You must submit, along with the re-written version of the paper, the original paper with your TA’s comments and original grade.  4) The re-written paper must be a substantive revision of the original paper (when you meet with your TA make sure that you understand what this means).  Submitting a re-written paper does not guarantee that the revised paper will earn a higher grade than the original.

Grading

Final grades for the course will be determined as follows:

     Section Grade (includes class participation and informal work)               20%
     Preliminary Exam (or paper, as applicable)                                          15%
     Paper (6-7 pages)                                                                             30%
     Final exam                                                                                        35%

Academic Integrity

Familiarize yourself with the University’s principles, policies, and procedures regarding breaches of academic integrity.  These can be found on the “academic integrity” website at:

http://www.ucsc.edu/academics/academic_integrity/undergraduate_students/ 

If you are unsure about anything that you read on this website, or what is acceptable or not acceptable in completing assignments for this course, talk to your TA or to me.  No offenses against standards of academic integrity will be tolerated. 

Required Reading

Texts are at the heart of this course; you need to be able to read them as thoroughly as you can.  The best format for doing this is print, and so though some of these books are available in whole or in part electronically, you must have a print version (whether original or photocopy).  Because we will frequently refer to the text in lectures and sections, you must bring the assigned reading with you to all meetings.  It will be easiest for you if you buy all of the required books and the reader.  Both books and the reader are for sale at The Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust St. [near Cedar St.] in downtown Santa Cruz, open Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm.  The store’s website is: http://www.literaryguillotine.com/. 

You might be able to locate these books used, or in different editions.  I recommend that you use the editions I’ve specified as it will make it easier for you to locate passages when we refer to them in lecture and discussion sections; if you use another edition you are responsible for making sure that it includes in full the sections that we will read for class, and it will be up to you to keep track of the differences in page numbering, translation, etc. (and you must cite and quote from these editions for the paper[s] that you write for the class).  These books (including those from which reader selections are drawn) will also be available on 2-hour loan at the Reserves desk (not e-Res) at McHenry Library.

Books

• Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin White Masks. Translated by Charles Lam Markmann. New York: Grove Press, 1967. (Reissue, October 1991. ISBN: 0802150845, list price $13)
• Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage, 1979. (Reprint, 1995.  ISBN: 0679752552, list price $14)
• Robert C. Tucker (ed). The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2nd edition, 1978.  (ISBN: 039309040x, list price $28)
• Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. New York: Dover Publications, 2002.  (ISBN: 0486421309, list price $2.50)
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. Translated by Walter Kaufman. New York: Vintage, 1967. (Reissue, 1989. ISBN: 0679724621, list price $13)
• Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons.  New York: Dover Publications, 2003.  (ISBN: 048642703X. list price $9.95)

Reader Contents

• Hegel, G. W. F. 1977. Phenomenology of Spirit. Translated by A. V. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  (selections: pp. 46-57, 104-138).
• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. 1998.  Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications (selections: Chapters I and XI, pp. 1-11, 111-122).
• Kollontai, Alexandra. 1977. “Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth.” In Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai. Translated by A. Holt. Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company, pp. 276-292.
• Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno. 2002. "Enlightenment as Mass Deception." In Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 94-136.
  

Course Schedule

Please note that this schedule and specific page numbers of readings are subject to change.  All readings should be done in advance of the class meetings under which they are listed.

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