Brooklyn College
Department of Political Science
Core Studies 3: People, Power, Politics
Spring 2002
Core Studies 3 will introduce students to fundamental concepts and analytical tools in the social sciences. The aim is to encourage critical thinking about the nature of power and the way that power manifests itself in contemporary society. Core Studies 3 presents students with a variety of viewpoints to encourage students to come to their own conclusions about how power operates and circulates, how it creates advantages and disadvantages for individuals and groups. Readings and assignments are structured to give students the opportunity to examine critically the operations of power in American society, including the dynamics of class, race, and gender. Seyla Benhabib, a contemporary political theorist, has written recently the following:
Complex modern democratic societies since the Second World War face the task of securing three public goods. These are legitimacy, economic welfare, and a viable sense of collective identity. These are 'goods' in the sense that their attainment is considered worthy and desirable by most members of such societies; furthermore, not attaining one or a combination thereof would cause problems in the functioning of these societies such as to throw them into crises. ("Toward a Deliberative Model of Democratic Legitimacy," in Democracy and Difference (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996) 67.)
Core Studies 3 aims to understand how such 'public goods'--legitimacy, economic welfare, and collective identity-- are determined by and in turn delimit the conceptual field in which power plays and in which citizenship matters.
TEXTS
1. People, Power, and Politics (8th edition)
2. A photocopy Course Packet.
SCHEDULE
1. Concepts of Power
Immanuel Ness, "The Three Dimensional Introduction to Power and Authority."
Gary Wasserman, "Who Wins, Who Loses: Pluralism versus Elitism."
2. Classic Liberalism
John Locke, selections from The Second Treatise on Government.
3. Economic Liberalism
Adam Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations.
4. Marxism
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party."
Karl Marx, selections from Capitaland The Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts.
George R. Vickers, "Karl Marx and the Process of Change."
5. Max Weber on authority, status and class
Max Weber, selections from Economy and Society
Max Weber, "Postscript: The Concepts of Status Groups and Classes."
Sidney Aronson, "Max Weber and Social Stratification."
Michael Kahan, "Max Weber and the Vocation of Politics."
Paul Montagna, "Operational and Definitional Introduction to Power and Authority."
6. Republicanism and Association
James Madison, Federalist Paper #10.
James Madison, Federalist Paper #51.
Sidney H. Aronson, "Introduction to Federalist Papers."
Howard Zinn, "Shay's Rebellion."
Tocqueville, "Political Association in the United States."
7. Pluralism/Elitism & Class
C. Wright Mills, "The Higher Circles."
Richard Sennett, "The Divided Self" in Hidden Injuries of Class.
8. Race
W.E.B. Du Bois. "The Conservation of Races."
W.E.B. Du Bois, selections from The Souls of Black Folk.
Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet."
Patricia Williams. Selection from The Alchemy of Race and Rights.
James P. Levine. "Racism and the Constitution: 200 years of Inequality."
Joe R. Feagin and Clairece Boohr Feagin. "Theories of Discrimination."
Andrew Hacker, "The Myths of Racial Division."
9. Gender
Nancy Fraser. "After the Family Wage."
Diana Pearce, "Welfare is Not for Women."
Studs Terkel. Selection from Working.
(Recommended: Verta Taylor, "The Future of Feminism.")
10. Intersections of Class, Race, and Sex
William Chafe. "Sex and Race: The Analogy of Social Control."
Richard Walker. "California's Collision of Race and Class."