Winter 2005

History 410/510 Modern European Social Thought (CRN 27369/27370)

Modern European Social Thought

What's at stake in modern Europeans’ debates about capitalism, socialism, and utopia; democracy, liberty, and tyranny; bureaucracy and the rationalization of social life; sexuality and feminism; power and resistance; and multiculturalism? This course surveys one of the central areas of European intellectual history since the eighteenth century by focusing on a series of powerful analyses of these issues as they emerged in the European version of modernity. We will begin with the Enlightenment and take the story right up to our own times, including contemporary authors.

How the course will work

This is a course in intellectual history. That means two things: we need to understand the contexts of the issues we are examining; and we need to think carefully and in detail about the texts themselves. All required readings are in primary sources—writings by the thinkers themselves rather than about them.

Tuesdays and the first part of Thursdays will be devoted to lectures, with questions always welcome. The second part our session on Thursdays will be reserved for discussion. The lectures will set up the week’s readings by providing contexts--personal, social, political, and ideological—for the readings, and are intended to pave the way for intensive discussion of the texts themselves. Attendance at discussions and informed participation in them are central—and required—parts of this course.

 Prerequisites and level

There are no specific prerequisites for this course. It is intended for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students from a variety of disciplines. I would ask that sophomores speak with me before enrolling. An interest in the issues is essential. Some knowledge of the general outlines of modern European or American history, or the history of social and political issues, or the history of philosophy will be helpful.

 Required work

•Undergraduates:

1. attendance and informed participation, very important = 20% of course grade;
2. a midterm exam on Tuesday, February 8 = 20%;
3. a final exam = 20%;
4. two analytical papers of approximately five pages each, based on the course readings, one in each half of the term (due dates: Tuesday, February 15 and Thursday, March 10) = 20% + 20%.

•Graduate students: please see me.

Texts

The following books are available at the University Bookstore. All these books are also available under the authors’ names on two-hour reserve in Knight Library. (Some are in different editions than those for which page numbers are given, since it is impractical for the library to own all editions of a text.)

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (Prometheus)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Basic Political Writings (Hackett)
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Writings ( Cambridge)
Karl Marx, Selected Writings (Hackett)
Max Weber, From Max Weber ( Oxford)
Simone de Behavior, The Second Sex (Random)
Michel Foucault, The Foucault Reader (Pantheon)
Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition ( Princeton)

Course schedule

Week 1: The Market Economy and Commercial Society: Adam Smith (January 4, 6)

Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations

   Book I:

Ch. I, “Of the Division of Labour”

      Ch. II, “Of the Principle which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labour”

     Ch. III, “That the Division of Labour is limited by the Extent of the Market,” first

paragraph only

Ch. IV, “Of the Origin and Use of Money,” first paragraph only

     Ch. V, “Of the real and nominal Price of Commodities,” 36-39

     Ch. VI, “Of the component Parts of the Price of Commodities”

     Ch. VII, “Of the natural and market Price of Commodities”

     Ch. VIII, “Of the Wages of Labour,” 68-73

      Ch. X, “Of Wages and Profits,” 105, 134-138

   Book III:

Ch. I, “Of the natural Progress of Opulence”

   Book IV:

     Ch. I, “Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System,” 326 (first

paragraph), 345-347

Ch. II, “Of Restraints Upon the Importation from foreign Countries…” 348-354

On reserve in the two-volume Oxford edition; all the assigned readings are in volume one.

Page numbers will vary.

Week 2: Smith, the Market, and Commercial Society (continued) (January 11, 13)

   See week 1 for readings.

Week 3: Regenerating the Community: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (January 18, 20)

   Rousseau, The Basic Political Writings:

   “Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts,” p. 2 and Part Two, 10-21

   “Discourse on Inequality,” 37-81

   “On the Social Contract”

     Book I, Chs. 1, 3, 5-8 (141, 143-4, 147-151)

     Book II, Ch. 11 (170-172)

     Book III, Chs. 4, 11, 15 (179-180, 194-195, 197-200)

     Book IV, Ch. 8 (220-227)

Week 4: A Theory of Liberty: John Stuart Mill (January 25, 27)

   Mill, On Liberty, Chs. I-III

   Mill, The Subjection of Women, Chs. I-II

Week 5: Socialism, “Utopian” and Otherwise: Karl Marx (February 1, 3)

   Marx, Selected Writings:

   “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts,” 58-68

   “Communist Manifesto,” part I (158-169)

   The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 188-192 only

   Capital, volume 1:

   “The Fetishism of the Commodity and Its Secret,” 230-243

   “The Sale and Purchase of Labor Power,” 264-273

   “The Labour Process and the Valorization Process,” 274-277, 282 only

   “The Secret of Primitive Accumulation,” 294-297

   “The Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation,” 297-300

   “Critique of the Gotha Program,” 320-321, 328 only

   On reserve, look for The Marx-Engels Reader (page numbers will vary)

Week 6: Midterm and Freud (February 8, 10)

Tuesday, February 8: Midterm exam in class

Thursday, February 10: Psychoanalysis: The Trouble with Freud

there is no reading for this lecture

Week 7: Rationalization and the Disenchantment of the World: Max Weber (February

15, 17)

   Weber, From Max Weber

   A. On Capitalism

   Not in the Weber reader: conclusion to The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (to be read in class)

   B. On Bureaucracy:

   1. "The Characteristics of Bureaucracy," 196-198

   6. "Technical Advantages of Bureaucratic Organization," 214-216

   8. "The Concentration of the Means of Administration," 221-224 (continued)

Weber, continued

   9. "The Leveling of Social Differences," 224-228

   10. "The Permanent Character of the Bureaucratic Machine," 228-230

   11. "Economic and Social Consequences of Bureaucracy," 230-232

   12. "The Power Position of Bureaucracy," 232-233 only

   C. On Charisma:

   1. "The General Character of Charisma," 245-248

   2. "Foundations and Instability of Charismatic Authority," 248-249 only

   D. On Rationalization (from "Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions")

   1. "Motives for the Rejection of the World: The Meaning of Their Rational Construction," 323-324

   3. "Directions of the Abnegation of the World," 327-328 only

   4. "The Economic Sphere," 331-333

   5. "The Political Sphere," 333-336 only

   6. "The Esthetic Sphere," 340-343

   7. "The Erotic Sphere," 343-350

   E. On Values in a Disenchanted World

   "Science as a Vocation," 134-135, 138-end.

Week 8: Feminism: Simone de Beauvoir (February 22, 24)

   Beauvoir, The Second Sex:

   “Introduction,” xix-xxxv (be sure to read Beavoir’s introduction!)

   Ch. VIII, “Since the French Revolution: the Job and the Vote”

   Ch. IX, “Dreams, Fears, and Idols,” 139-169 only

   Ch. XI, “Myth and Reality,” 253-263 only

   Ch. XIII, “The Young Girl,” 328-342 only

   Ch. XIV, “Sexual Initiation,” 371-374 only

   Ch. XIV, “The Married Woman,” 425-430 only

   Ch. XXV, “The Independent Woman,” 679-704 only

Week 9: Power and Resistance: Michel Foucault (March 1, 3)

   Foucault, The Foucault Reader, ed. Rabinow:

   Selections from Discipline and Punish, 170-237

   Selections from The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, 292-329

Week 10: Why Multiculturalism?: Charles Taylor, Jürgen Habermas, Anthony

Appiah (March 8, 10)

Taylor et al., Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition

   Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition,” 25-73

   Habermas, “Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State,” 107-148

   Appiah, “Identity, Authenticity, Survival: Multicultural Societies and Social

Reproduction,” 149-163

Wednesday, March 16, 8-10 a.m.: Final Exam