COURSE SYLLABUS SO 297J: The Authoritarian Mind Jan Plan Monday Thursday, 10AM to 12PM in DIA 211

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1 COURSE SYLLABUS SO 297J: The Authoritarian Mind Jan Plan 2018 Monday Thursday, 10AM to 12PM in DIA 211 Ian Mullins Department of Sociology Office Hours: Monday Wednesday, 12PM to 1PM in DIA 103 Social psychology has a long and diverse history in the American sociological discipline. In this course, you will explore a particular linage of social psychology that is concerned with the effects of material and social conditions on how people make sense of social situations and act toward others. You will then deploy what you have learned to better understand why at certain moments in history people have become more accepting of authoritarian rule and complicit in events such as the Holocaust. We will discuss whether or not the contemporary United States has the potential to become an authoritarian state. REQUIRED MATERIALS You are required to purchase one book for this course. Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (Boston, Beacon Press, 1964). The remainder of the course readings are available on Moodle. You are expected to complete assigned readings prior to coming to class on the day we are scheduled to discuss them. LECTURE FORMAT This course is taught as a series of lectures that will be supplemented by class discussion. Each lecture is organized around a central idea or question. I will present a large amount of material to your during lecture that goes far beyond the assigned readings, and I will do so at a quick pace. I do not use power point or any other presentation software, and I am not distributing lecture notes. It is your responsibility to take your own notes. I highly encourage you to be both physically present and mentally engaged during lecture. ATTENDENCE I take attendance at the beginning of each class. Students who miss roll may be counted as absent. Students who miss four or more classes will automatically fail this course. If you must miss 1

2 three or more classes due to a documented medical issue or family emergency, you will be assigned an Incomplete. ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING You will take two exams and write one paper. Each exam is comprised of multiple choice questions, fill-in the black questions, and short essay responses to evaluate your comprehension of the assigned reading and lecture material. The first exam is 25% of your final grade while the second is 35%. Exam grades will be curved, if needed. Toward the end of the term, you will write a two-page position paper that counts for 20% of your final grade. Class participation makes up the remaining 20% of your final grade. POLITICAL IDEOLOGY I would like you to approach class materials and discussion from a place of curiosity. I am not concerned with whether you consider yourself to be liberal or conservative. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY As a student at Colby, you are expected to be familiar with the college s academic integrity policies and guidelines, which can be found at I will hold you accountable to these policies and guidelines throughout the semester. You will fail this course if I find evidence that you engaged in acts of academic dishonesty, and your case will be referred the Academic Integrity Coordinator for further review. There are no exceptions to this policy. I am immune to your tears and I cannot be bribed. Be honest, do your own work, and take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to receive an elite education. COURSE WEBSITE On Moddle. COURSE SCHEDULE Week one Mental Life and Modern Society Monday, January 8, 2018 Lecture: American Pragmatism and the Origins of Social Psychology in Sociology I. No assigned reading 2

3 I. John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct (Mineola: Dover Publications, [1922] 2002), 58-74, II. John Dewey, Consciousness and Experience, in John Dewey: The Middle Works, , Vol. 1, ed. Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1976), III. John Dewey, Psychology and Social Practice, in John Dewey: The Middle Works, , Vol. 1, ed. Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1976), IV. Tracy Strong, Politics Without Vision: Thinking Without a Banister in the Twentieth Century (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2012). V. William I. Thomas, The Scope and Method of Folk-Psychology, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Jan., 1896), Tuesday, January 9, 2018 Lecture: The Social Mind I. Georg Simmel, The Metropolis and Mental Life in Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Donald Levine (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), I. John Dewey, Social Organization and the Individual, in John Dewey: The Middle Works, , Vol. 5, ed. Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), II. Charles Elwood, A Prolegomena to Social Psychology I: The Need of the Study of Social Psychology, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 5 (Mar., 1899), III. Charles Elwood, A Prolegomena to Social Psychology II: The Fundamental Fact in Social Psychology, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 6 (May, 1899), IV. Charles Elwood, A Prolegomena to Social Psychology III: The Nature and Task of Social Psychology, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Jul., 1899), V. Charles Elwood, A Prolegomena to Social Psychology IV: The Concept of the Social Mind, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Sep., 1899), VI. Franklin H. Giddings, The Elements of Sociology (New York: Macmillian, 1915). VII. Franklin H. Giddings, Civilization and Society: An Account of the Development and Behavior of Human Society (New York: Holt, 1932). VIII. Edwin Hutchins, Cognition in the Wild (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1995). IX. David G. Loconto and Danielle L. Jones-Pruett, The Influence of Charles A. Ellwood on Herbert Blumer and Symbolic Interactionism, Journal of Classical Sociology, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2006),

4 Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Lecture: Culture and Practice I. Richard Biernacki, Time Cents: The Monetization of the Workday in Comparative Perspective in NowHere: Space, Time, and Modernity ed. Roger Friedland and Deirdre Boden (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995): I. Joseph Ryan, Samuel Stouffer and the GI Survey: Sociologists and Soldiers During the Second World War (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2013). II. Samuel A. Stouffer et al. The American Soldier: Adjustment During Army Life (New York: Science Editions, 1965 [1949]). III. Thomas F. Pettigrew, Samuel Stouffer and Relative Deprivation, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 1 (2015), pp IV. Glen Elder Jr., Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974). V. William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America Vol. 1 and 2 (New York: Knopf, 1927 [1918]), 1-35, VI. Herbert Blumer, Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position, The Pacific Sociological Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1958), pp Thursday, January 11, 2018 Lecture: American Individualism and Significant Tensions in American Democracy I. John Dewey, Individualism Old and New New York: Capricorn Books, 1962), Additional Materials for Lecture: I. Noam Chomsky, Requiem for an American Dream (Watch in-class, first 45 minutes) II. Kai Erikson, Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1966), pp Week Two Monday, January 15, 2018 Lecture: The Self-Concept The Self I. George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, ed. Charles W. Morris, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974 [1934]), pp , , ,

5 I. John Dewey, George Herbert Mead as I Knew Him, in John Dewey: The Later Works, , Vol. 6, ed. Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985), pp II. George Herbert Mead, The Philosophy of the Act, ed. Charles W. Morris (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938). III. Iddo Tavory, Summoned: Identification and Religious Life in A Jewish Neighborhood (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2016), 1-19, Tuesday, January 16, 2018 Lecture: Self and Institutions I. Erving Goffman, Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (New York: Anchor Books, 1961), pp II. Robert K. Merton, The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, The Antioch Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer, 1948), pp III. Howard S. Becker, Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (New York: Free Press, 1991), pp Wednesday, January 17, 2018 Lecture: Social Distance and Responsibility I. Georg Simmel, The Stranger in Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Donald Levine (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), pp II. Everett C. Hughes, Good People and Dirty Work in The Sociological Eye, ed. David Riesman and Howard Becker (New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 2009 [1984]), pp I. Hannah Arend, Responsibility and Judgement (New York, NY: Schocken Books), II. Robert M. Emerson, On Last Resorts, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jul., 1981), III. Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (New York: Harper and Row, 1974). IV. Arthur G. Milliner, The Obedience Experiments: A Case Study of Controversy in Social Sciences (New York: Praeger, 1986). 5

6 Thursday, January 18, 2018 Lecture: The Future and Exam Review I. No assigned reading I. Kathleen Blee, How Options Disappear: Causality and Emergence in Grassroots Activist Groups, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 119, No. 3 (Nov., 2013), II. Iddo Tavory and Nina Eliasoph, Coordinating Futures: Toward a Theory of Anticipation, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 118, No. 4 (Jan., 2013), Week Three Authoritarianism Monday, January 22, 2018 Lecture: The Authoritarian Personality and Exam 1 I. No assigned reading I. Theodore Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson, and R. Nevitt Sanford, The Authoritarian Personality (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950). Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Lecture: Administration Without Responsibility I. Franz Kafka, A Little Fable. II. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), pp. TBD. I. Hannah Arendt, On the Human Condition (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1958). II. W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of White Folks in The W.E.B. DuBois Reader, ed. Eric J. Sundquist (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp Wednesday, January 24, 2018 Lecture: One-Dimensional Thought V. Two-Dimensional Thought I. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), pp. TBD. 6

7 I. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco to Global Warming (New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2010). Thursday, January 25, 2018 Lecture: Is there a Solution? I. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), pp. TBD. Week Four Concluding Discussion Monday, January 29, 2018 Class Discussion Tuesday, January 30, 2018 Position paper due. Class Discussion Review for Exam 2 Wednesday, January 31, 2018 Second exam 7