Professor: Dylan Riley Course: 101B Contemporary Social Theory Semester: Spring 2008 E-mail: riley@berkeley.

edu Office Phone: 510-642-5225 Office Hours: TBA Office: 490 Barrows Hall Graduate Student Instructors Graham Hill grahamhill@berkeley.edu Laura Nelson lknelson3@berkeley.edu Andrew Kohnen akohnenster@gmail.com Gokhan Irfanoglu gokhan@berkeley.edu Eli Friedman elidf@berkeley.edu Alina Polyakova apolyakova@berkeley.edu Contemporary Social Theory: From Social Change to Social Reproduction Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Michels offered contrasting theories of social change. Yet each thinker understood modern society as dynamic, and transitional. In contrast to this classical tradition focusing on change, most contemporary social theories explain the reproduction of modern society: i.e. the reasons for its remarkable stability. In accounting for social stability contemporary theorists have creatively used the classical tradition. In this course we will review four main traditions of contemporary social theory: Western Marxism, Neo-Durkheimian Theory, Critical Theory, and Postmodernism/Post Structuralism. Reader: All the readings are available in the course reader that can be purchased from Copy Central at 2560 Bancroft Way. Copy Centrals phone number is: 848-4945. Your grade is based on four pieces of work. Quiz (Multiple Choice): 10% Section Participation: 20% Mid Term: 30% Final: 40% Reading: The reading is very difficult. You should treat the readings with the same level of seriousness that you would say a physics textbook. You need to go over and over the words. We will be spending a lot of time in the class working out how to do these readings so be attentive, be prepared, and be ready to learn. Incompletes: I will not give any incompletes.

Course Introduction January 22 The theory of social change and the theory of social reproduction: the meaning of "contemporary" social theory. Western Marxism Karl Marx (1818-1883) January 24 Marx, Karl. 1994. Karl Marx: Selected Writings. (164-169; 230-243) How does Marxs theory of class formation fit with his theory of commodity fetishism? Eagleton, Terry. 4. From Lukcs to Gramsci. Pp. 93-123 in Ideology: an Introduction. London: Verso Georg Lukcs (1885-1971) January 29 Lukcs, Georg. 1971. Class Consciousness. Pp. 46-67. in History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics. Cambridge: MIT Press. What is consciousness? What is class consciousness? What is false consciousness? What are the types of false consciousness? Is false consciousness the same for the bourgeoisie and the proletariat? What is class-consciousness for the bourgeoisie? Why can the bourgeoisie achieve only a partial class-consciousness? January 31

January 31 Lukcs, Georg. 1971. History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics. Pp. 68-81, Pp. 83-92 What is class-consciousness for the proletariat? Why does Lukcs say that the obstacles to achieving such a consciousness are greater than for the bourgeoisie? Does Lukcs explain how proletarian classconsciousness arises? What is it that blocks class-consciousness? Antonio Gramsci (1891-1935) February 5 Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers. (Pp. 3-14; Pp. 229-238) What is civil society and what is the state? February 7 Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. (Pp. 55-90) What is hegemony?

February 12 Anderson, Perry. 1965. "Problems of Socialist Strategy." (Pp. 221-290) in Towards Socialism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. What are the two tactics of Social Democracy and how does Gramsci seek to transcend them? February 14 Wrap up on Western Marxism. February 19 Mid-Term Neo-Durkheimian Theory Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) February 21 Parsons, Talcott. 1967. Chapter 4. Some Comments on the Sociology of Karl Marx. Pp. 102-135 in Sociological Theory and Modern Society. New York: Free Press. What is Parsons critique of Marx? February 26 Parsons, Talcott. 1942. "Some Sociological Aspects of Fascist Movements." Pp. 124-141 in Essays in Sociological Theory. Glencoe: Free Press. How does Parsons explain Fascism? Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) February 28 Gellner, Ernest. 1981. "Nationalism." Theory and Society. 10 (6): 753-776. What is the connection between industrialization, class and nation formation according to Gellner? William Kornhauser (1925-2004) March 4 Kornhauser, William. 1959. "The Structure of Mass Society." Pp. 74-101 in The Politics of Mass Society. New York: Free Press. What is mass society? What are the different forms of modern society? What is the role of the "intermediate structure?" March 6 Wrap up on neo-Durkheimian Theory Critical Theory

Friedrich Pollock (1894-1970) March 11 Pollock, Friedrich. 1992. "State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations." Pp. 71-94 in The Essential Frankfurt School Reader Edited by Andrew Arato and Eike Gebhardt. New York: Continuum. What is state capitalism, and how does it differ from private capitalism? Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) March 13 Marcuse, Herbert. 1992. "Some Social Implications of Modern Technology." Pp. 138-162 in The Essential Frankfurt School Reader Edited by Andrew Arato and Eike Gebhardt. What is technological rationality? March 18 Marcuse, Herbert. 1968. "Industrialization and Capitalism in the Work of Max Weber." Pp. 201-226 in Negations: Essays in Critical Theory. Boston: Beacon Press. March 20 Film (Fritz Lang's Metropolis) Juergen Habermas (1929-present) April 1 Habermas, Juergen. 1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. (Pp. 27-43; Pp. 117-129; 175-180). What is the public sphere? What was Marx's critique of the public sphere? What is Habermas's critique of Marx? April 3 Habermas, Juergen. "Chapter Six. Technology and Science as 'Ideology'." Pp. 81122 in Toward a Rational Society. London: Heinemann. April 8 Wrap up on critical theory. Post-Modernism/Post-Structuralism Daniel Bell (1919-Present) April 10

Bell, Daniel. 1976. "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism." (Pp. 33-54) in The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. London: Heinmann. What is the connection between capitalism and culture? April 15 Bell, Daniel. 1976. "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism." (Pp. 54-84) in The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. London: Heinmann. How does the market influence the culture of capitalism? Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) April 17 Baudrillard, Jean. 1981. Chapter One. Sign-Function and Class Logic. Pp. 2962 in For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. Telos Press. What is Baudrillards critique of the ideology of use value? Michel Foucault (1926-1984) April 22 Foucault, Michel. 1979. Discipline and Punish. New York: Vintage. Pp. 3-31; 170-194. What are the two modes of punishment that Foucault identfies? What is discipline? April 24 Foucault, Michel. 1979. Discipline and Punish. Pp. 195-215; 216-228. How is discipline instituted? What is disciplinary society? April 29 Wrap up on post-modernism/post-structuralism. May 6 Course wrap up. May 16 Take Home Final Due.