POL 752: Post-1960s Liberalism: the Rise of Neo-Progressivism Spring 2014 Tuesday, 4:00-6:50

Transcription

1 POL 752: Post-1960s Liberalism: the Rise of Neo-Progressivism Spring 2014 Tuesday, 4:00-6:50 DR. SLACK Office Hours: MWF, 10-11; TTH, Kendall Hall 332 This course focuses on the origins and intentions of modern progressivism, a movement very different from the original progressive movement ( ) and the liberalism of the 1930s- 1950s. Students will be introduced to the philosophy and politics of liberalism, circa , which constituted a clear break with the principles of the American Founding. After treating the essence of liberalism, the largest portion of the class will be spent studying the founders of a new progressivism, one that arose in distinct opposition to 1950s-style liberalism. This break, as the readings will demonstrate, occurred across three academic fields: philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Students will connect the writers within these fields to the political activists of the New Left, the self-styled radical movement that attempted to politically implement the principles of Neo-Progressivism. Finally, students will analyze and assess the impact of the new progressivism in contemporary American culture and politics. Required reading available for purchase in the bookstore: Reading Packets: all packets for the course will be available in the bookstore Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents. Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization. C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination (Oxford University Press, 1959/2000). Course Requirements Midterm Exam 30% (the first exam will be a paper assignment) Paper 30% Weekly Assignments 10% Final Exam 30% (in-class blue book essay exam) Attendance See policy below * Note: Completion of all of these elements is required for passing the course. Even if it is mathematically possible to have a passing final average while failing to sit for a particular exam or hand-in a particular assignment, in such cases the student will receive a grade of F for the course. They are all requirements for receiving course credit. Examinations: Students are expected to know both the reading material and the concepts and issues discussed in class. Knowledge of the assigned reading is necessary, but not sufficient - class lectures and discussions will often address issues beyond the scope of the assigned reading for which students are responsible on the exams. Similarly, exams will test students knowledge of all elements of the assigned readings, including those elements not explicitly discussed in class; it is thus the responsibility of the student to ask questions on elements of the readings that are not fully understood. Study guides or review questions may not be given in advance of exams.

2 First Examination: Week 8, take home Papers due: Week 16 Final Examination: As Scheduled by the Registrar s Office Missed Exam Policy: Any missed exam requires a written medical excuse presented during the first class session upon return from the illness. All other missed exams will result in a grade of zero being calculated into the student s average and an automatic Failure for the course. Weekly Assignments: The professor will, on a class-by-class basis, require written assignments concerning the next class reading. Students will be required to answer the question provided in one page or less. Electronic Devices: Students may not operate laptops, recorders, or cell phones during class. Attendance: Faithful attendance is an expectation of this course. A single absence, without a doctor s note or any legitimate reason, will result in a grade deduction of five percentage points. Incompletes : Grades of Incomplete (I) will not be given in this course. Regardless of the reason, all late work will be subjected to the specified grade penalties, and all missed work and exams will count as a zero in the calculation of the final average. Academic Honesty: Students are expected to have read and understood the Academic Honor Policy in the College catalog. It will be vigorously enforced in this course. In essence, do not represent someone else s work as your own, whether it be on examinations or papers. When you do have to draw upon the work of others in writing papers, simply make sure to cite your sources carefully, even if you are not using direct, word-for-word quotes (this applies only in those cases where the use of outside sources is permitted for a particular assignment). If you have any questions about this, you should direct them to me before submitting any written work. By submitting written work, or by sitting for an exam, you indicate your full understanding and acceptance of the College s academic honesty standards, and the consequences of violating them. The minimum penalty for any academic honor violation in this course is a grade of F for the entire course. Additional penalties, including expulsion from the College, may be imposed by the College and will be sought by the instructor. Grading Standards The following standards apply for evaluating work on papers and exams in this course: A : Excellent Work meriting an A grade is excellent. It demonstrates unusually thorough preparation, genuine comprehension and synthesis, insight, and even originality. Work is written with great clarity and attention to detail. The grade signifies not simply very good work but exceptionally fine work. Note: An A grade is rare. A thorough and mistake-free presentation of facts or concepts is not enough to warrant an A grade. B : Good

3 Work meriting a B grade is good. It demonstrates thorough preparation, a grasp of the subject matter and a command of the materials of the course. It may not show any special insight or originality, but it demonstrates clear understanding of the material with comprehensive answers presented in a clear and logical manner. C : Average or Acceptable Work meriting a C grade is average or acceptable. The work demonstrates an adequate, though not comprehensive, grasp of the subject matter. Significant information may be overlooked, and the work may not display a full appreciation of the meaning or implication of a question. Answers may be too brief to allow sufficient development. An essay may appear to be derived wholly from lecture or discussion material, ignoring relevant readings or reference to readings. D : Poor Work meriting a D grade is poor. The student demonstrates some knowledge, but the work is shoddy and shows lack of careful preparation. Most information has been overlooked, and the meaning or implication of a question largely has been overlooked. An essay barely covers the assigned topic, and almost completely neglects to address the most significant issues involved. F : Unacceptable Work meriting an F grade is unacceptable for academic credit, and denotes failure. Many facts or references are missing or are misunderstood entirely. There is little or no analysis, and the style is poor, confused, or incomprehensible. A student may attend classes and submit assignments and yet earn an F if the product does not reflect some minimal command of the materials of the course. Tentative Schedule: Note: The following schedule is subject to change; in such instances, the instructor will notify the students of these changes in class. Week 2 January 20: T: Neo-Progressivism Barack Obama, Second Inaugural Address. Biden says transgender discrimination civil rights issue of our time CNN, Parents of transgender first-grader file discrimination complaint. Confusion about Neo-Progressivism Conservative Statements on Neo-Progressivism Progressive Statements on Neo-Progressivism Neo-Progressive Statements on Nature John Dewey s Instrumentalism Dewey, From Absolutism to Experimentalism The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, Logic, Introduction; 1-22.

4 Week 3 January 27: Liberalism and Morality Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct, 80-83; ; The Ethical Ideal Dewey, Ethics, Marriage and the Family, [Recommended: Liberalism and Social Action, 3-7; ] Week 4 February 3: Social Science Dewey, Science and the Future of Society ( ). [Recommended, Dewey, Social Inquiry, Logic, ( ).] Liberal Economics Rexford Tugwell, The Principle of Planning and the Institution of Laissez Faire, Liberalism and the New Deal Franklin Delano Roosevelt [FDR], Commonwealth Club Address (1932). FDR, Inaugural Address, FDR, State of the Union Message to Congress, January 11, Week 5 February 10: Liberal Psychology Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, Week 6: February 17: Liberals vs. Progressives, Round I: Liberalism Ascendant Justice Robert Jackson, The Meaning of Liberalism. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson. Wallace, I Shall Run in 48. Truman, Address Before the National Conference on Citizenship (1952). Dwight D. Eisenhower to Edgar Newton Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Yale Commencement Speech, 11 June Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The Vital Center, ix-xxiv. Daniel Bell, The End of Ideology, Restless Vanity, Morton White, Social Thought in America: The Revolt Against Formalism, ix-xii, Rejection of Liberal Philosophy: Existentialism Barrett, Irrational Man, The Advent of Existentialism. Week 7 February 24: Rejection of Liberal Philosophy: Neo-Marxism and the Frankfurt School Max Horkheimer, The Eclipse of Reason, Chapter 2, Herbert Marcuse, Critique of Dewey s Logic, Erich Fromm, Karl Marx, Intro, v-xviii.

5 Fromm, Man For Himself, Fromm, The Sane Society, Fromm, The Basis of Humanist Socialism, Week 8 March 3: Rejection of Liberal Psychology *MIDTERM EXAMINATIONS DUE* Wilhelm Reich, The Function of the Orgasm, Reich, The Sexual Revolution, [Recommended, Reich, The Function of the Orgasm, 20-37, The Sexual Revolution, xi-xxxi] Paul Goodman, Sex and Revolution, Goodman, On Some Recent Revisions of Freud, Week 9 March 10: SPRING BREAK READING; NO CLASS: Marcuse s Critique of Freud Marcuse, Eros and Civilization, xxvii-20 Marcuse, Eros and Civilization, Week 10 March 17: Marcuse and the Politics of Aestheticism Marcuse, Eros and Civilization, Marcuse, Eros and Civilization, Marcuse, Eros and Civilization, Week 11 March 24: Rejection of Liberal Sexual Morality in Popular Culture Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl, xi-xix, Morals: The Second Sexual Revolution, Time (1964). [Recommended: Alfred Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male] The Beats Rejection of American Middle Class Culture: Norman Mailer, The White Negro, Dissent (Fall 1957). Eldridge Cleaver, Soul On Ice, The White Race and Its Heroes, The Rejection of Liberal Sociology C. Wright Mills, Sociology and Pragmatism, Introduction, From Max Weber, Week 12 March 31: The Rejection of Liberal Sociology Mills, The Sociological Imagination, The Sociological Imagination, The Sociological Imagination, The Sociological Imagination, Week 13 April 7: The New Left Mills, A Letter to the New Left. The Politics of Responsibility.

6 Paul Goodman, Growing Up Absurd, Introduction, Herbert Marcuse, Political Preface (1966), in Eros and Civilization, xi-xxviii. Tom Hayden, A Letter to the New (Young) Left, Hayden, Port Huron Statement, 1-5. Todd Gitlin, foreword, in The War Within, xiii-xx. [Recommended: Gitlin, Afterword, in The Sociological Imagination, ] Week 14 April 14: Progressives vs. Liberals, Round II: The Great Society Lyndon Johnson, Great Society Speech. Marcuse, The Individual in the Great Society, Goodman, The Great Society, New York Review of Books. [Recommended: Marcuse, Liberation From the Affluent Society, ] The New Identity Politics: Black Nationalism Jean-Paul Sartre, Preface, in Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, 7-31, Interview: Kenneth Clarke and Malcolm X (1963). Chicago Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Leaflet, [Recommended: Huey Newton Talks to the Movement, Derrick Bell, Faces at the Bottom of the Well.] Student Rights Mario Savio, Sproul Hall Address (1964). Paul Potter, Naming The System (1965). Greg Calvert, In White America, February 1967, [Recommended: Carl Davidson, Toward a Student Syndicalist Movement, or University Reform Revisited, August 1966.] Week 15 April 21: Origins of Radical Feminism Casey Hayden and Mary King, Sex and Caste. Liberation of Women, New Left Notes (10 July 1967). Boston Women s Health Collective, Women and Their Bodies: A Course (1970) Jane O Reilly, The Housewife s Moment of Truth, New York Magazine, 20 December Gay Liberation Gore Vidal, Bisexual Politics (1948/1965). Paul Goodman, The Politics of Being Queer (1969). NPR, Stonewall? Explaining Obama's Historic Gay-Rights Reference. Harry Jaffa, Harry V. Jaffa, Clarifying Homosexuality and Natural Law. Lawrence v. Texas (2003). Environmentalism Rachel Carson, Silent Spring. Garrett Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb

7 Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle The Endangered Species Act (1973). Week 16 April 28: *PAPERS DUE* Charles Reich, Reflections: The Greening of America, The New Yorker (1970). Rise of Neo-Progressives within the Democratic Party Fred Dutton, The Changing Mainstream (1971). Judith A. Center, 1972 Democratic Convention Reforms and Party Democracy, Political Science Quarterly (June 1974). [Recommended: Charles Murray, The New American Divide Murray, Why Economics Can't Explain Our Cultural Divide, 16 March 2012 Kay Hymowitz, W. Bradford Wilcox And Kelleen Kaye, The New Unmarried Moms, The Wall Street Journal, 15 March 2013] FINALS EXAMS WEEK