Social Relationships and Responsibility: Theories and Critiques

Theme: Foundations of political economy, social theory and democratic life. This course begins with a study of foundational concepts in political economy and social theory. We will examine basic terms in political thinking (power, liberty, equality, law, class, status, political legitimacy, and others) as developed by John Locke, Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Max Weber. We will then turn to the case of democracy in America (reading selections from the Federalist papers, de Tocqueville, W.E.B. Du Bois, Friedrich Hayek, Charles Mills, Judith Butler and others) to consider the nature of democratic values, organization, and practice. We will close out the course pursuing the question of art proper to democracy with an emphasis on music (reading Jack Wright's The Free Musics and Joe Morris' Perpetual Frontier: The Properties of Free Music). The course draws from diverse fields including liberal and neoliberal political thought, political economy, critical race theory, feminism, literature, sociology, political science, and improvisational (free) music. The course of study develops critical skills in political thinking and assessment with a focus on "liberalism and its critics" as well as examining the creative potential and power in democratic form. Credit/Evaluation: Evaluation will include regular attendance; active and engaged participation in class discussions; facilitating discussion and distributing a response paper on an assigned article; submitting a handful or short response papers over the course of the quarter, and submitting either 2 medium or 1 longer essay incorporating the response papers.