Contemporary Political Ideologies

POLS 473/573, Fall 2014

Dr. Wynne Moskop Office hours: T 1:30-3, 314.977.2897 W 4-5:30, & by appointment moskopww@slu.edu McGannon 136

Course Description

The course will acquaint students with major ideological trends of the last 150 years. Selected ideologies will be examined in some depth. The course has four main goals:

1. To clarify the values, practices, and institutions that selected ideologies promote. We make these explicit by examining each ideology as a political theory, that is, as a system of thought--a more-or-less coherent lens through which persons view the world in order to digest information and direct action. In sum, the first goal of the course is to understand how the world looks through, and is shaped by a liberal, a Marxist, a feminist, or an environmentalist lens.

2. To understand that, while ideologies carry theoretical assumptions, they differ from abstract theories in that they a) respond to particular historical problems and b) call for action against those problem through simplified cultural symbols, such as slogans, logos, banners, and the like.

3. To understand who is served, or what interests are served, by particular ideologies. For every ideology, we ask: Given X kinds of practices and institutions, who wins? Who loses?

4. To become aware that definitions of ideology and particular approaches to studying ideology are themselves ideological, meaning that they have ramifications for who has power and who does not.

At the end of the semester, students demonstrate their grasp of these four objectives by designing their own research projects that investigate some aspect of ideology and by offering helpful critiques of their classmates’ projects. Thus, in addition to the substantive goals above, the course aims to enhance particular skills. Students are expected to:

1. develop their own research projects

2. present coherent, well-supported arguments—in oral and written form

3. assess the advantages and disadvantages of different scholarly arguments and evidence.

Core texts

These texts are available in the campus bookstore.

Nancy Love, Understanding Dogmas and Dreams: A Text, Second Edition (CQ Press, 2006).

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Nancy Love, ed, Dogmas and Dreams: A Reader in Modern Political Ideologies, Fourth Edition, (CQ Press, 2011).

Other reading assignments, listed on the schedule below, are available online and/or on electronic reserve in Pius Library (ERes). The password for electronic reserve for this course is Ideologies. Use this URL to get to the reserve page for this class, http://eres.slu.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=4281.

Format and Assignments

Because the goal of this course to give students the tools to analyze problems and issues related to political ideologies, as well as to gain in-depth knowledge of some specific ideologies, the class format emphasizes opportunities for students to do their own analyses through class discussions and presentations, short essays, and a final project. There are no exams, though there may be pop quizzes on the readings if that seems to be needed. The class format is a structured discussion, supplemented by individual and group presentations.

The first two weeks are devoted to defining ideology and illustrating how scholars study ideologies. In the next six weeks, we take an in-depth look at selected ideologies. Readings about specific ideologies include primary sources that explicate the core ideas of that ideology and problem-oriented investigations pertaining to that ideology. Each week, individuals and groups will be asked to present selected assigned or recommended readings to the class. Students are expected to take notes on readings and, each week, to turn in a one-page reflection paper (see detail below). At mid-semester, students will turn in a 1200 word essay that compares two ideologies.

In the final segment of the course, students focus on developing their individual research projects. For POLS 473 students, the final project may be either a research design or a research paper. For POLS 573 students, the final project is a research paper. In addition to presenting their own projects, students will give formal critiques of their classmates’ projects, with the goals of helping to improve each other’s projects and improving their own critical facility.

Other requirements and assignments

Because class meets only once a week and classes are cumulative, students are expected to attend every class and to take responsibility for acquiring the knowledge and analytical skills needed to complete the final project. Taking responsibility for digesting each week’s assignments is key to success in this class.

Specific assignments for each week will be posted on Blackboard or emailed to students’ SLU email addresses. Students are responsible for checking email and Blackboard.

Class discussions will assume your complete familiarity with the relevant assignment from Nancy Love’s textbook, Understanding Dogmas and Dreams, which introduces the origin/context/evolution of each of the ideologies we study. You will be expected to integrate this material into the discussion where appropriate. Discussions will center on primary source readings and on contemporary scholarship related to ideologies.

A student who is ill or must miss class for some other very good reason is expected to demonstrate understanding of the readings for that session by submitting an outline of every

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assigned reading, along with a two-page essay reflecting on how the readings are related. These make-up assignments are due before the next class meeting unless you make other arrangements with me. Because every class is a step toward what you need to know for your final project, and because the value of the whole seminar depends on conscientious participation by all members of the group, failure to turn in the make-up assignment for a missed class will result in a deduction from your class participation grade.

Students who arrive more than 10 minutes after class begins are expected to turn in a short summary of any reading that was discussed in their absence—before the next week’s class.

Students are expected to take notes on reading assignments. Notes should contain the main points of the reading and enough illustration to help you understand and remember the author’s argument. Reading assignments each week are 80-100 pages.

Based on these notes, students are expected to write a one-page (single-spaced, 12 pt font) reflection essay on a question of interest to you related to the assigned readings for each week. These essays are due at the beginning of the class where that assignment is to be discussed. Reflection essays will be graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and included in the class participation grade. For most class assignments, I will provide study questions. One of these may serve as a basis for the reflection essay. This is up to you. Ideally you will gradually develop your own interests and began to focus on a topic for your semester project.

For extra credit toward the class participation grade, POLS 473 students may write a one-page reflection paper on one of the recommended readings.

POLS 573 students will be asked to meet with me as a group twice during the semester. In addition, POLS 573 students must turn in a two-page reflection paper about ideological aspects of 3 events they attend during the semester. I will send notices of relevant events, and students can also call relevant events to the attention of the class.

POLS 473 students have the option of completing two reflection papers about relevant events to improve their grade for any component of the course in which they have a passing grade. No extra credit assignment may be used to make up for a failing grade on a required component of the course.

Students are required to fill out a course evaluation at the end of the semester.

Grading

Grades are determined as follows: class participation (including attendance, discussion, responses to study questions, presentations, critiques, reflection papers) – 1/4, midterm essay -- 1/4, final project – 1/2. Every component of the course must be completed to earn credit for the course. One may not choose not to do one of them. Earning a failing grade on any component is the equivalent of not doing it. However, there is no reason for a student who has prepared adequately to fail.

Midterm and final grades will be reported in terms of the College of Arts and Sciences grading scale: A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, C+=2.3, C=2.0, C-=1.7, D=1.0, F=0.0. However, grades given on assignments are up to individual professors; e.g. in this class, it is possible to receive a D+ or D- on a given assignment.

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Library services

I encourage you to take advantage of the expertise of Ms. Rebecca Hyde, who is the reference librarian at Pius Library who helps political science students and faculty. Our class will meet with her on October 23, but she invites your questions and requests for assistance at any time. You can reach her at rhyde1@slu.edu or 314-977-3106. Ms Hyde’s research guide for

political science can be found at http://libguides.slu.edu/content.php?pid=29341.

Writing Services

I also encourage you to take advantage of the writing services in the Student Success Center; getting feedback benefits writers at all skill levels. Trained writing consultants can help with any kind of writing project, multimedia project, and/or oral presentation. They offer one-on-one consultations that address everything from brainstorming and developing ideas to crafting strong sentences and documenting sources. For more information, call 977-3484 or visit http://www.slu.edu/writingservices.xml.

Academic Integrity

The University is a community of learning, whose effectiveness requires an environment of mutual trust and integrity. Academic integrity is violated by any dishonesty such as soliciting, receiving, or providing any unauthorized assistance in the completion of work submitted toward academic credit. While not all forms of academic dishonesty can be listed here, examples include copying from another student, copying from a book or class notes during a closed book exam, submitting materials authored by or revised by another person as the student’s own work, copying a passage or text directly from a published source without appropriately citing or recognizing that source, taking a test or doing an assignment or other academic work for another student, securing or supplying in advance a copy of an examination or quiz without the knowledge or consent of the instructor, sharing or receiving the questions from an on-line quiz with another student, taking an on-line quiz with the help of another student, and colluding with another student or students to engage in academic dishonesty.

All clear violations of academic integrity will be met with appropriate sanctions. In this course, academic dishonesty on an assignment will result in an automatic grade of 0 for that assignment and a report of academic dishonesty sent to the Academic Honesty Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences. In the case of Class B violations, the Academic Honesty Committee may impose a larger sanction including, but not limited to, assigning a failing grade in the course, disciplinary probation, suspension, and dismissal from the University.

Students should refer to the following SLU website for more information about Class A and B violations and the procedures following a report of academic dishonesty: http://www.slu.edu/x12657.xml.

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The University is a community of learning, whose effectiveness requires an environment of mutual trust and integrity. Academic integrity is violated by any dishonesty such as soliciting, receiving, or providing any unauthorized assistance in the completion of work submitted toward academic credit. While not all forms of academic dishonesty can be listed here, examples include copying from another student, copying from a book or class notes during a closed book exam, submitting materials authored by or revised by another person as the student’s own work, copying a passage or text directly from a published source without appropriately citing or recognizing that source, taking a test or doing an assignment or other academic work for another student, securing or supplying in advance a copy of an examination or quiz without the knowledge or consent of the instructor, sharing or receiving the questions from an on-line quiz with another student, taking an on-line quiz with the help of another student, and colluding with another student or students to engage in academic dishonesty.

All clear violations of academic integrity will be met with appropriate sanctions. In this course, academic dishonesty on an assignment will result in an automatic grade of 0 for that assignment and a report of academic dishonesty sent to the Academic Honesty Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences. In the case of Class B violations, the Academic Honesty Committee may impose a larger sanction including, but not limited to, assigning a failing grade in the course, disciplinary probation, suspension, and dismissal from the University.

Students should refer to the following SLU website for more information about Class A and B violations and the procedures following a report of academic dishonesty: http://www.slu.edu/x12657.xml

Student learning, disability statement: In recognition that people learn in a variety of ways and that learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., prior experience, study skills, learning disability), resources to support student success are available on campus. Students who think they might benefit from these resources can find out more about:

Course-level support (e.g., faculty member, departmental resources, etc.) by asking your course instructor.

University-level support (e.g., tutoring/writing services, Disability Services) by visiting the Student Success Center (BSC 331) or by going to www.slu.edu/success.

Students who believe that, due to a disability, they could benefit from academic accommodations are encouraged to contact Disability Services at 314-977-8885 or visit the Student Success Center. Confidentiality will be observed in all inquiries. Course instructors support student accommodation requests when an approved letter from Disability Services has been received and when students discuss these accommodations with the instructor after receipt of the approved letter.

Tentative Schedule

The schedule below may be revised depending on the needs and interests of the class.

Part One: Definitions and Approaches

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AUGUST 28 : Introduction to Ideologies

What are some contemporary debates about ideology?

1. Francis Fukuyama, Introduction to The End of History and the Last Man (1992), online at http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/fukuyama.htm.

2. Video of Fukuyama discussing his book, http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/LastM. 3. Benjamin Barber, “Jihad Vs. McWorld” (1992), in Dogmas and Dreams reader, 772-784;

also in The Atlantic (1992), http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1992/03/jihad-vs-mcworld/303882/.

SEPTEMBER 4: Introduction continued: Ideology, Power, and Cultural Hegemony

What are ideologies? Why do we study them? How do we study them?

Assigned readings:

1. Nancy Love, Ch 1 “The End of Ideology—Again?” in Understanding Dogmas and Dreams, 1-18.

2. Karl Marx, The German Ideology, excerpt on “Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas,” http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm#b3.

3. Karl Marx, short excerpt from Preface of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface-abs.htm

4. For an overview of Antonio Gramsci’s political and academic importance, read “From Vision to Agency: Lessons from Gramsci on political mobilization,” by Alan Shea (2011), http://www.compassonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Thinkpiece-69-Vision-to-Agency.pdf.

5. Gramsci, “Hegemony, Intellectuals and the State,” in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, ed. John Storey, 210-16. ERes.

6. Read the following articles that use Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to analyze popular culture: John Storey, “Rockin’ Hegemony: West Coast Rock and Amerika’s War in Vietnam,” in

The Rhetorical Republic, ed. Frederick Dolan and Thomas Dumm, 225-35. ERes.

Bonnie Dow, “Hegemony, Feminist Criticism and The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 7(September 1990): 261-274. Pius Library e-journals.

Recommended:

Louis Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm

Michael Freeden, Ideology: A Very Short Introduction

Stuart Hall, "The Problem of Ideology: Marxism Without Guarantees,” Journal of Communication Inquiry, vol 10, no. 2 (1986):28-44

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Stuart Alan Clarke. “Bigger, Booker, and the GOP: Race and E/Racing in the Struggle for Hegemony,” in The Rhetorical Republic, eds Frederick Dolan and Thomas Dumm, 181-98.

A. J. Norval, ‘The Things We Do with Words – Contemporary Approaches to the Analysis of Ideology,” British Journal of Political Science, vol. 30 (2000), 313-346. Pius Library electronic databases, JSTOR

William Robinson, “Gramsci and Globalization: From Nation-State to Transnational Hegemony,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (December 2005): 559-74.

SEPTEMBER 11: Genealogy as a way of illuminating (ideological) hegemony

Assigned:

1. Friedrich Neitzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, First Essay, http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/nietzsche/genealogytofc.htm

2. Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon, “A Genealogy of ‘Dependency’: Tracing a Keyword of the U.S. Welfare State,” Signs (Winter 1994): 309-336, Pius Library electronic database, JSTOR

3. Wahneema Lubiano, “Black Ladies, Welfare Queens, and State Minstrels: Ideological Warfare by Narrative Means,” in Toni Morrison, ed. Rac-ing Justice, En-gendering Power, 323-362. ERes.

4. U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of Planning and Research, The Negro Family: The Case of National Action (aka The Moynihan Report, 1965), Ch. 4 “The Tangle of Pathology,” http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/moynchapter4.htm.

Recommended:

Michel Foucault, “Lecture Two” in Power/Knowledge, http://www.ualberta.ca/~rmorrow/Resources/F-power%202%20lectures-power.pdf. (Lecture Two starts on p.9 of the pdf.)

Part Two: Selected Ideologies

SEPTEMBER 18: Liberalism (and neoliberalism)

Assigned:

1. Love, Ch. 2 “Liberalism,” 21-51,

2. In Dogma and Dreams reader:

Locke, Treatise of Civil Government

Madison, Hamilton, Jay, The Federalist Papers, #’s 10 & 51

Thomas Hill Green, “Lecture on Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract”

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Isaac Kramnick, “Equal Opportunity and the ‘Race of Life’”

Susan Moller Okin, “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?”

3. Peck, Janice, “The Secret of Her Success: Oprah Winfrey and the Seductions of Self-Transformation,” Journal of Communication Inquiry, January 2010: 7-14. Pius Library electronic database, Academic Search Premier

Recommended:

In Dogmas and Dreams Reader:

Mill, “On Liberty”

Franklin D. Roosevelt, “The Continuing Struggle for Liberalism”

Milton Friedman, “Capitalism and Freedom”

SEPTEMBER 25: Conservatism

Assigned:

1. Love, Ch 3 “Conservatism,” 52-78

2. In Dogmas and Dreams Reader:

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

Irving Kristol, “The Neoconservative Persuasion: What it was, and what it is”

Russell Kirk, “Ten Conservative Principles,” http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/ten-conservative-principles/

3. Francis Fukuyama, “After Neoconservatism,” NY Times, February 19, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/magazine/neo.html?ei=5090&en=4126fa38fefd80de&ex=1298005200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print&_r=0

4. Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission (2010), excerpts from the majority opinion and dissents, ERes

Recommended:

In Dogmas and Dreams Reader:

Michael Oakeshott, “On Being Conservative”

Dinesh D’Souza, The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11

Francis Fukuyama, “Women and the Evolution of World Politics, Foreign Affairs (Sept-Oct. 1998): 24-40. Pius Library electronic journals.

Barbara Ehrenreich, Katha Pollitt, et al (responses to Fukuyama, above). “Fukuyama’s Follie: So What if Women Ruled the World,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 1999, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/54628/barbara-ehrenreich-katha-pollitt-et-

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al/fukuyamas-follies-so-what-if-women-ruled-the-world. Also in Pius Library electronic journals.

OCTOBER 2: Socialism and Marxism

Assigned:

1. Love, Ch 4, “Socialism,” 79-106

2. In Dogma and Dreams reader:

Marx, “Estranged Labor,” from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

Marx & Engels, Communist Manifesto

Bobbio, “Democracy as It Pertains to Socialism”

Tom Hayden and Dick Flacks, “The Port Huron Statement at 40”

3. Stuart Jeffries, “Why Marxism is on the rise again,” The Guardian, 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/04/the-return-of-marxism

4. Cornel West, “"Marxist Theory and the Specificity of Afro-American Oppression,” ERes

Recommended:

V. I. Lenin, The State and Revolution, in Dogmas and Dreams reader

Robert Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader

Geoff Eley, “Reviewing the Socialist Tradition,” in The Crisis of Socialism in Europe, eds. Lemke and Marks (1992)

OCTOBER 9: Feminism

Assigned:

1. Love, Ch 7, “Feminism,” 167-194

2. In Dogmas and Dreams reader:

Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the Rights of Woman”

Betty Friedan, “Our Revolution is Unique”

Audre Lorde, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles”

3. Anne Norton, “Engendering Another American Identity,” ERes

4. Nancy Hartsock, “The Feminist Standpoint: Toward a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism,” ERes

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Recommended:

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (Introduction)

Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

OCTOBER 16 Nationalism, Religion, and Globalization

Assigned:

1. Love, Ch. 9 Nationalism and Globalization

2. In Dogmas and Dreams Reader

Joseph Mazzini, “The Duties of Man”

Benedict Anderson, “Imagined Communities”

Kenichi Ohmae, “The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies”

Imam Khomeini, “Lecture on the Supreme Jihad”

Edward Said, “Origins of Terrorism”

Reread Benjamin Barber, “Jihad Vs. McWorld”

Recommended:

Kwama Anthony Appiah, “Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,” in Dogmas and Dreams Reader

OCTOBER 23

Midterm Essay Due. Meet in Pius Library for session on literature review and library resources with reference librarian Rebecca Hyde. There will be some assigned readings on literature review and research design.

OCTOBER 30 Environmentalism

First 5 pages of paper due. Bring 3 hard copies to class. This early draft should include at least an introduction to your question or problem and review of published literature that is most central to your topic. This discussion of the literature makes your case for how your work will contribute to an ongoing scholarly (and maybe also a popular) conversation. It answers the question: What makes my paper so interesting and significant that others will miss something if they don’t read it?

Assigned Reading:

1. Love, Ch 8 “Environmentalism and Ecology,” 195-214

2. In Dogmas and Dreams reader:

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Petra Kelly “Thinking Green”

Vandana Shiva, “Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply”

Recommended:

In Dogmas and Dreams Reader:

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Al Gore, “Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit”

Red Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, “The Death of Environmentalism”

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3rd. Schedule individual meetings with instructor to discuss progress on your project

NOVEMBER 6 Fascism

Assigned:

1. Love, ch 6, “Fascism,” 136-166

2. In Dogmas and Dreams reader:

Benito Mussolini, Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions

Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf

MacDonald, The Turner Diaries

Sheldon Wolin, Democracy, Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism

3. Nancy Love, “Playing with Hate: White Power Music and the Undoing of Democracy,” ERes

Recommended:

Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, “The Aesthetics of Politics: Symbol, Power, and Narrative in Mussolini’s Fascist Itraly,” Theory, Culture, and Society 9 (1992).

F. L. Carsten, The Rise of Fascism (1982)

Part Three: Presentation of Student Projects

NOVEMBER 13 Presentations and Critiques. This applies to the next two classes as well. All students will present a powerpoint overview of their project. In addition, a complete draft, revised on the basis of your meeting with instructor, is due three days in advance of your scheduled powerpoint presentation. If your oral presentation is scheduled on November 13, a complete draft of your paper is due by email to the instructor and you assigned critic on November 10 by 6 pm.

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NOVEMBER 20 Presentations and Critiques. Revised draft of paper due to instructor and designated critic on November 17 by 6 pm.

NOVEMBER 27 Holiday

DECEMBER 4 Remaining presentations and critiques. A revised draft of your paper is due to instructor and critic on December 1 by 6 pm.

Short reading assignment. Review of course. Course evaluations, including general discussion of projects.

DECEMBER 11 Final papers due by email to moskopww@slu.edu by midnight