SOCY 031: Conservative Politics in a Time of Fake News and Irrelevant Truths Fall 2018 Tuesday & Thursday 9:00 10:15 AM in WTS A68 Professor Ian Mullins Department of Sociology ian.mullins@yale.edu 204 Prospect St., Room 207 Office Hours: Tuesday 10:30-11:30 or by appointment The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election has raised urgent questions about the role knowledge plays in conservative politics. Scholars are turning their attention to the proliferation of fake news on the internet and what might be a new era of post-truth politics in the United States. This course investigates the lineage of conservative politics that is instrumental to the present state of U.S. politics. Students will learn about the history of the conservative movement and the Republican Party, as well as sociological approaches that will help them better understand the role of truth and knowledge in conservative politics today. REQUIREMENTS Students will each write two annotated bibliographies and two expository papers. Students must complete all assignments to pass this course. Their final grade consists of the following: First annotated bibliography 15% Second annotated bibliography 20% First Paper 30% Final Paper 35% SEMINAR FORMAT The professor will make prefatory comments at the beginning of each class that situate the assigned reading within the broader arc of the course and to introduce theoretical perspectives that are relevant to the readings. Students will discuss an author or authors argument and use evidence on the author s own terms. They will then extend the author or authors argument to discuss the assigned readings in relation to relevant news and events. 1
ATTENDENCE Students who miss roll at the beginning of class may be counted as absent. Students who miss four or more classes will automatically fail this course. Exceptions may be made for students who miss four or more classes due to a documented medical or unexpected non-medical emergency. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Students are expected to be familiar with the university s academic integrity policies and guidelines, which can be found at http://catalog.yale.edu/undergraduate-regulations/policies/definitionsplagiarism-cheating/. Students who violate these policies or guidelines will fail this course, and will be referred to Yale s Executive Committee. COURSE MATERIALS Students are required to have their own copy of the following four books. York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. Radical Right. New York, NY: Doubleday. All other required readings are available on the course website on Canvas. SCHEDULE August 30: Introduction No assigned reading. September 4 & 6: Problems of the Wealthy Martin, Isaac W. 2013. Rich People s Movements: Grassroots Campaigns to Untax the One Percent. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. P. 24-43. Phillips-Fein, Kim. 2009. Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan. New York, NY: W.W. Norton. P. 3-25. Radical Right. New York, NY: Doubleday. P. 1-26. 2
Skocpol, Theda. 2015. Making Sense of the Koch Network. Scholars Strategy Network Policy Brief. https://scholars.org/brief/making-sense-koch-network. September 11 & 13: Funding a Movement Radical Right. New York, NY: Doubleday. P. 27-59. Radical Right. New York, NY: Doubleday. P. 92-140. September 18 & 20: Groundswell of Activism McGirr, Lisa. 2001. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Pages 54-110. Klatch, Rebecca. 1999. A Generation Divided: The New Left, the New Right, and the 1960s. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. P. 97-133. September 25 & 27: Counter-Intelligentsia Gross, Neil. 2013. Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservative Care? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. P. 220-249. Gross, Neil. 2013. Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservative Care? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. P. 250-300. October 2 & 4: Merchandising Doubt York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. P. 1-35. York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. P. 36-65. *First Annotated Bibliography due Friday, October 5 at 3PM. October 9 & 11: The Politics of Doubt 3
York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. P. 66-77, 101-135. York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. P. 216-240. October 16 & 18: Making the Modern Republican Party Hacker, Jacob, and Paul Pierson. 2010. Winner Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. P. 164-176, 199-222. Hacker, Jacob, and Paul Pierson. 2016. American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. P. 231-237, 238-269. October 23 & 25: Conservative Outrage Media Berry, Jeffrey, and Sarah Sobieraj. 2014. The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. P. 3-30. Skocpol, Theda, and Vanessa Williamsom. 2012. The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. P. 121-153. October 30 & November 1: Cognitive Bias Berinsky, Adam. 2015. Rumors and Health Care Reform: Experiments in Political Misinformation. British Journal of Political Science 47: 241 62. Swire, Briony, Adam J. Berinsky, Stephan Lewandowsky, and Ullrich K. H. Ecker. 2017. Processing Political Misinformation: Comprehending the Trump Phenomenon. Royal Society Open Science. *First Paper Due on Friday, November 2 at 3PM November 6 & 8: Partisanship Pacewicz, Josh. 2016. Partisans and Partners: The Politics of the Post-Keynesian Society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. P. 1-27. Pacewicz, Josh. 2016. Partisans and Partners: The Politics of the Post-Keynesian Society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. P. 195-225. 4
November 13 & 15: Resentment in Politics (and Midterm Election Debrief) Hochschild, Arlie. 2016. Strangers in Their Own Land. New York, NY: The New Press. P. 3-82. *Second Annotated Bibliography due Friday, November 16 at 3PM November 19: Fall Recess No assigned reading. November 27 & 28: Free Speech on Campus Binder, Amy J., and Kate Wood. 2013. Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. P. 1-28. Binder, Amy J., and Kate Wood. 2013. Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. P. 76-112. December 4 & 6: Race in the Republican Party Fields, Corey D. 2016. Black Elephants in the Room: The Unexpected Politics of African American Republicans. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. P. 1-26. Fields, Corey D. 2016. Black Elephants in the Room: The Unexpected Politics of African American Republicans. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. P.116-140. December 19: Final paper due at 9AM. 5