Social Relationships & Responsibilities: Theme- Organization of Power

The seminar will take a historical approach to concepts of power and how power is organized and distributed in the United States. We will start with the origins from the Enlightenment to now, spending the last weeks of the class exploring how technology and power have influenced each other. Questions we will explore are, what Is power? How is it defined in our nation? What is hegemony? How is power distributed in our democracy? How do individuals impact power? What is our social contract? How to individuals have power? What role does technology play in creating or shifting power? We will read from varied sources about pivotal times from our history, including labor unions historical cases, civil rights cases and movement,  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 related to women in the workforce, and we will also read and learn about the impact specific individuals and communities from “powerless groups” had in our society and nation’s development. The last part of the quarter will focus on technology from 1990s to now—exploring how it is impacting our institutions and norms and what role it plays or should play in our democracy and public institutions.