Social Relationships & Responsibilities: Liberation & Domination

Theme: Liberation & Domination  

This course introduces students to modern social theory by focusing on themes of liberation and domination in the work of classic as well as marginalized thinkers. In exploring the theme of liberation and domination, we will trace how various influential thinkers of the modern period have constructed arguments that have been adopted and applied by the state to govern its populations and formulate theories around democracy, justice, equity and political economy. We will be asking key questions that direct our critical inquiry to foundational assumptions and forms of evidence used by modern social theorists to construct and legitimize these concepts. Such questions include, how have modern social theorists such as John Locke constructed conceptions of private property and freedom? How do early conceptions of freedom and property justify the institution of enslavement in the U.S.? In what ways do founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence set the stage for “Manifest Destiny” and indigenous dispossession and genocide? How do modern theories of society allow for and promote gendered ideologies and practices of oppression and violence in the workplace and society in general?

In addition to these questions we will also be charting theories of liberation and emancipation that developed alongside and in opposition to dominant modern theories of society. Here we will examine the readings of Malcom X, Karl Marx, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, The Combahee River Collective, and others. So, in this sense, the course will critically analyze the dominant current of modern social theory as well as its revolutionary and liberatory undercurrents.

Learning Outcomes: Define and understand the principal assumptions of modern social theory; Draw connections between modern notions of freedom, equality, private property, as it relates to the development of institutions and other governing mechanisms of the state; development of ability to critical read texts; developing critical writing skills through the construction of well researched and evidence based arguments.

Required Texts: TBD

Credit/Evaluation: Participation in class discussion and regular attendance; Timely and thoughtful completion of course readings and writing assignments; quality of writing