Sociology of War and Peace
SOC 266
Fall 2015 not offered
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In this class, we will look at what social conditions foster warfare and peace. As we look at the origins of war, one of the first things we will discover is that war in not innate to human nature. Throughout history, there have been largely peaceful societies, many of them tribal, unmarked by war. Given this, the explanations for war must lie not in human nature, but in social structures and cultural norms--some forms of social organization keep large-scale violence from breaking out, while others bring out the worst in human nature and facilitate it. After looking at the general sociological causes of war, we look more in-depth at the status of U.S. foreign policy today--both because we live in the United States and the United States is the world's sole remaining superpower. We will also look at such phenomena as terrorism, guerrilla warfare, and ethnic conflict. We will close the semester by looking at various ways to build peace, ranging from official diplomacy to peace movements. While the emphasis of the class will be on the sociological causes of war and peace, we will also consider ethical issues, such as when, if ever, war is justified. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS SOC |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Erica Chenoweth & Maria J. Stephan, WHY CIVIL RESISTANCE WORKS (New York, Columbia University Press, 2011)
Douglas P. Fry, BEYOND WAR (New York, Oxford University Press, 2007)
William A. Gamson, HIROSHIMA, THE HOLOCAUST AND THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION, American Sociological Review, vol. 60, 1995, pp. 1-20.
Branwen Gruffyd Jones, THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SOCIAL CRISIS: TOWARDS A CRITIQUE OF THE 'FAILED STATES' IDEOLOGY, Review of International Political Economy, 2008, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 180-205
Paul Joseph, ARE AMERICANS BECOMING MORE PEACEFUL? (Boulder CO, Paradigm Publishers, 2007)
Michael Mann, INCOHERENT EMPIRE (New York, Verso, 2003)
J. Ann Tickner, MEN, WOMEN, AND WAR, pp. 252-264 in CONFLICT AFTER THE COLD WAR (3rd ed.), edited by Richard K. Betts (New York, Pearson Education, 2008)
Charles Tilly, WAR MAKING AND STATE MAKING AS ORGANIZED CRIME, pp. 243-249 in POWER: A CRITICAL READER, edited by David Egan & Levon A. Chorbajian (Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Take-home midterm and final essay exams.
Research paper.
Journal entries every other week. |
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