SOCI 537: Political Sociology Department of Sociology, Fall 2013 Dan Lainer-Vos, dlainervos@gmail.com Class: Monday 2:00-4:50, Sociology Seminar Room (HSH, 303) Office Hours: Tuesday 2:00-3:00 or by appointment (HSH 207) Course Description and Objectives Political sociologists explore extraordinary range of political systems and political phenomenon. The purpose of the course is not to provide a comprehensive survey but rather to introduce you to key debates in the field, whet your appetite, and encourage you to use insights from political sociology in your research. The course is divided into three sections. In the first section, we will examine the basic concepts of politics and power. In this section, we will focus on the writings of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt, and Michel Foucault. Equipped with some understanding of power and politics, the second section will examine key political institutions and processes: state formation, nation building, democratization, and citizenship. The third section will focus on actors. We will start with traditional actors, classes, parties, elites, social movements, and then move on to focus on more currents actors like lobbies, and experts. I invested a lot of energy in creating a diverse and exiting syllabus. Ultimately, however, the class is designed to meet your interests and needs. If you have an interest in a process or an institution that is not addressed by the syllabus please let me know as soon as possible. I will be happy to make changes so as to better meet your needs (as long as I can see how these changes contribute to the course goals and meet other students interests). Requirements and Expectations This seminar is built around active student participation. All students are expected to attend weekly class meetings and participate in discussions. I will do my best to catalyze discussions, clarify obscure points when needed, and sometimes flesh out links between readings but student participation is absolutely central. In addition to attendance, reading and participation, you will be required to complete the following tasks: 1) Each week, after the second, one student will be required to prepare a brief memo. The memo should include quick overview of the themes covered in the readings and identify key concepts (not more than a single page, double spaced). In addition, the memo will include a list of outstanding thoughts and questions for discussion (not more than a single page, double spaced). These memos will be posted online on the course blog at least 24 hours before the class (i.e., Sunday 2:00). The rest of the class is expected to read this memo before we meet.
2) A term paper for this class which can take different forms. One option is to write a brief research paper. This option is relevant if you have some prior acquaintance with the field and, perhaps, an idea for study. Alternatively, you can write a research proposal or a grant application that will serve as a starting point for research beyond this seminar. Finally, you can also submit an analytical literature review that explores particular topic of interest to you (in a way that makes a meaningful connection to the materials we study). Either way, the goal of the final paper is to advance your studies so the choice of what to do is yours. To make sure that you are on the right path you are required to attend my office hours ASAP but no later than week 7. In the final meeting of the semester, you will present your work to the rest of the class. The materials covered in this course are not easy and developing a research proposal on materials that you just now encounter is a daunting task. Please use my office hours as frequently as possible so that together we can make it happen. Statement for Students with Disabilities Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776. Statement on Academic Integrity USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another s work as one s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/scampus/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/sjacs/. Readings There are 6 required books for the course: Schmitt, Carl (1996 [1932]). The Concept of the Political. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Lukes, Steven. 1974. Power: A Radical View. New York: Palgrave Tilly, Charles. 1990. Coercion, Capital ad European States, AD 990-1990. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. Revised ed. London. Verso. Traugott, Mark. 1985. Armies of the Poor: Determinants of Working-Class Participation in the Parisian Insurrection of June 1948. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Eyal, Gil. 2006. The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Other readings are available online either on JSTOR or on blackboard (the asterisk indicates items that are available via blackboard). Course outline and readings Week 1 August 26: Introduction what is political sociology? Part I. Concepts and definitions Week 2 September 9: What is politics? Schmitt, Carl (1996 [1932]). The Concept of the Political. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Week 3 September 16: Power, authority and domination * Weber, Max. TBA Lukes, Steven. 1974. Power: A Radical View. New York: Palgrave Week 4 September 23: Foucault s challenge * Foucault, Michel. 1976. Discipline and Punish. Chicago: Chicago University Press. (Chapters TBA) Part II. Institutions and Processes Week 5 September 30: State building Tilly, Charles. 1990. Coercion, Capital ad European States, AD 990-1990. Cambridge: Blackwell (chapters 1, 2, 3). * Foucault, Michel. 1991. Governmentality. Pp. 87-104 in The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmetality, eds. Graham Burchell, Peter Miller, and Colin Gordon. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Mitchell, Timothy. 1991. The limits of the state: beyond statist approaches and their critics. American Political Science Review, 85:1, 77-96. Week 6 October 7: Other kinds of states
Wedeen, Lisa. 1998. Acting as if : symbolic politics and social control in Syria. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 40:3, 503-523. Wedeen, Lisa 2003. Seeing like a citizen, acting like a state: exemplary events in Unified Yemen. Comparative Studies in Society and History 45:4, 680-713 * Glaeser, Andreas. 2000. Divided in Unity: Identity, Germany, and the Berlin Police. Chicago: Chicago University Press. (Chapters TBA) Week 7 October 14: Nationalism and nation building Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. Revised ed. London. Verso. (Chapters 1, 3, 4, 10, 11) * Brubaker, Rogers, Margit Feischmidt, Jon Fox, and Liana Grancea. 2006. Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (chapters TBA) Surak, Kristin. 2012. Nation-work: a Praxeology of Making and Maintaining Nations. European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes De Sociologie 53:2, 171 204. Week 7 October 21: Citizenship * Shafir, Gershon. 1998. The Citizenship Debates: A Reader. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (chapters TBA). * Ong, Aihwa. 1999. Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logic of Transnationality. Durham: Duke University Press (chapters TBA). Week 8 October 28: Democracy and Democratization * Moore, Barrington. 1993. The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston: Beacon Press. (Chapters TBA) * Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1960. Political Man: The Social Basis of Politics. New York: Doubleday. (Chapter 2) * Mann, Michael. 2005. The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mitchell, Timothy. 2009. Carbon Democracy. Economy and Society 38:3, 399 432. Note: research proposal is due in class. Part III: Actors and their struggles Week 9 November 4: Class and class conflict
* Marx, Karl. 1978. Economic and philosophical manuscripts of 1844. Pp. 66-105, in The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: Norton. Traugott, Mark. 1985. Armies of the Poor: Determinants of Working-Class Participation in the Parisian Insurrection of June 1948. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. (Chapters TBA). Week 10 November 11: Social movements * McAdam, Douglas. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: Chicago University Press. * Amenta, Edwin. 2005. Political contexts, strategies, and challenger mobilization: the impact of the Townsend Plan. Pp. 29-64, in Routing the Opposition: Social Movements, Public Policy, and Democracy, edited by Helen Ingram, Valerie Jenness, and David S. Meyer. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Lainer-Vos, Dan. 2006. Social movements and citizenship: a comparison of conscientious objection movements in France, the United States and Israel, Mobilization, 11(3): 221-239. Week 11 November 18: Parties * Michels, Robert. 1962 [1915]. Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Dover. (Chapter TBA) * Sartori, Giovanni 1966. European political parties: the case of polarized pluralism. Pp. 137-176 in Political Parties and Political Development, edited by Joseph LaPalombera. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Padgett, John F., and Christopher K. Ansell. 1993. Robust action and the rise of the Medici, 1400-1434. The American Journal of Sociology 98:6, 1259 1319. Schwartz, A. Mildred. 1994. Party organization as a network of relations: the Republican Party of Illinois. Pp. 75-102, in Kay Lawson (Ed.) How Political Parties Work. Westport: Praeger. Parigi, Paolo and Laura Sartori. 2012. Political party as a network of cleavages: disclosing the inner structure of Italian political parties in the seventies. Social Networks, mmmm Week 12 November 25: Think tanks and lobbies * Clemens, S. Elisabeth. 1997. The People's Lobby: Organizational Innovation and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925. Chicago: Chicago University Press. * Medvetz, Thomas. 2012. Think Tanks in America. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Week 13 December 2. Rule of Experts Eyal, Gil. 2006. The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State. Stanford: Stanford University Press. (Selected chapters) * Carroll, Patrick. 1996. Science, Culture, and Modern State Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press.