UCSD Department of Political Science
POLI 13, Power and Justice
Fall 2004
Fonna Forman-Barzilai TAs:
SSB 371 Adam
Ekins
aekins@ucsd.edu
822-3868 Ivo
Gatzinski igatzinski@ucsd.edu
ffb@ucsd.edu Tom
Raskopf traskopf@ucsd.edu
Office hours: Monday 11-1; or by appt. Wendy Wong wendyhw@ucsd.edu
This is an introductory course in political theory. Through an examination of classic texts in political theory, news clippings and editorials, speeches, music, literature, documentary and film, we will explore two general themes: 1) the ways that individuals are consciously and unconsciously shaped by various modes of power embedded in the social and political worlds in which they move; and 2) theories and practices of resistance that have emerged to challenge modes of power perceived as unjust.
Books for purchase
John Stuart Mill, ‘On Liberty’ and Other Writings (Cambridge)
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays (Dover)
Course reader: Postal Plus, available after class during first two weeks. They can also be reached at: info@postalplusucsd.com or 858-452-9933.
Requirements
One 45 minute open-book quiz (20%); one 5-7 page take-home mid-term essay (30%), and one 6-8 page take-home final essay due during exam week (40%). You will notice that there are two quizzes in the syllabus, but only one will be counted. You can elect to take just one, or both, but only your highest grade will count toward your final grade. The remaining 10% will be at the discretion of your TA, based upon your attendance and participation in section. Significant improvement in written work will be considered when calculating final grade. Plagiarism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of university policy.
The course syllabus and all
announcements will be posted on the course website: http://weber.ucsd.edu/~fformanb/P&J.htm
Schedule
I. Power and Obedience
Week 1: Authority
M: Introduction
W: Film, Obedience, Stanley Milgram
Section: Discussion of Milgram; Introduction to four cases
(basis of the first essay; prompt attached to syllabus):
1. Patricia Yancey Martin and Robert
A. Hummer, “Fraternities and Rape on Campus” Gender and Society, Vol. 3
No. 4 (December 1989)
2. House of Representatives Report on
Jonestown
3. “How Psychology Can Help Explain
the Iraqi Prisoner Abuse”
4. “Why We Blow Ourselves Up” (Eyad
Sarraj, Time Magazine, April 8, 2002); and Avishai Margalit, “The
Suicide Bombers,” New York Review of Books (Sept. 16, 2003). See also the Covenant of the Hamas (online at
http://194.90.101.51/documents/hamas/hamas2.htm)
Week 2: Discipline
M: Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, selections.
W: Michel Foucault, “Panopticism” (in Discipline and Punish);
FILM selections from A Clockwork Orange
Section: Read: Plato, Republic 514a-517a
Week 3: Tyranny of Opinion
M: John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
W: Mill, On Liberty, cont’d; FILM selections from Ma
Vie en Rose
Section: Discussion of Ma Vie en Rose; Read: Jeffrey P.
Dennis, “Heteronormativity”
Week 4: Tyranny
M. Bruno Bettelheim, “Remarks on the Psychological Appeal of
Totalitarianism”
W. Alan Riding, “Leni Riefenstahl, Filmmaker and Nazi
Propagandist, Dies at 101,” NYT, Sept. 9, 2003
FILM selections from Leni Riefenstahl,
Triumph of the Will
Section: Discussion of Triumph of the Will; Read: Ervin
Staub, “Genocide and Mass Killing”
Week 5:
M: no class
W: QUIZ ONE
No section
II. Power, Gender and
Sexuality
Week 6:
M: John Stuart Mill, Subjection of Women
W: Mill, cont’d. FILM selections from Beyond Killing us
Softly: The Impact of Media Images on Women and Girls; Lovely and
Amazing; MUSIC CLIP: Dar Williams,
“When I was a Boy”
MIDTERM ESSAY DUE
Section: Read: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, pp.
267-97.
Week 7:
M: Violence against Women: “Violence Against Women: Estimates
from the Redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey,” US Dept. Of Justice;
Department of Justice Statistics (1995).
W: Cross-cultural judgement: the case of FGM. Amnesty International: “What is Female
Genital Mutilation?” FILM selections: Warrior Marks; FINAL ESSAY
PROMPT DISTRIBUTED
Section: Discussion of FGM, Warrior Marks
III. Justice and resistance:
Week 8: Conscience
M: Henry David Thoreau, On Civil Disobedience
W: Kristen R. Monroe, Michael C. Barton and Ute Klingeman,
“Altruism and the Theory of Rational Action: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe”;
FILM: Courage to Care
Section: Read: “Sugihara’s List,” New York Times Op Ed
1994
Week 9: Non-violence
M: Gandhi, selections on Satyagraha and passive
resistance; VIDEO clips of King and X
W: No class -- Thanksgiving Break
No section
Week 10: Radicalism and violence?
M: QUIZ 2
W: Screening of: The War at Home, Wednesday, December
1, 4-6pm
Section: Read: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from
Birmingham Jail and Malcolm X, Ballot or the Bullet
Prompt for mid-term essay
The bases for your mid-term essay are the first four selections in your course reader
1. Patricia Yancey Martin and Robert A. Hummer, “Fraternities and Rape on Campus”
2. House of Representatives Report on Jonestown
3. “How Psychology Can Help Explain the Iraqi Prisoner Abuse”
4. Eyad Sarraj, “Why We Blow Ourselves Up”; and Avishai Margalit, “The Suicide Bombers”
You might think of these as case studies of people or groups who have been motivated somehow to behave in astonishing or perplexing or “abnormal” or self-destructive ways. In this assignment, you are asked to select one of these case studies, and to write a 5-7 page essay analyzing the modes of power that are motivating, coercing, encouraging, seducing, forcing, etc... the particular behavior.
You should address such questions as: Why does the individual engage in the given behavior? Are there justice claims involved in the given behavior? Who or what is exerting power over his/her choices? In other words, what is motivating the individual to behave as s/he does? How is that power being exerted; in other words, what are the techniques being employed? Why is the individual/group in the case study susceptible to that particular mode(s) of power? What does the individual both gain and lose by engaging in the given behavior?
Moreover,
bear in mind that modes of power tend to cluster, or swarm. In other words, modes of power often work in
concert with one another. So you
should be prepared to discuss a variety of modes of power at work in your case
study.
You are encouraged to do a bit of research on your case study to enrich your analysis. In the fourth case study, for example, you might look at the Covenant of the Hamas, to better understand the doctrine that underlies and justifies the behavior to those who practice it. Likewise, for the other cases, you might use the Internet to learn more about the reasons behind rape, about the psychological techniques used by cults, about extreme responses to desperate situations, and so forth. Feel free to be creative in your resources. And feel free to explore modes of power that we did not cover in the first five weeks of class.
Please cite all references in footnotes or endnotes. A bibliography is welcome, but not necessary.
DUE IN CLASS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3