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CS92PROD
Selected Topics in Sociology: Death, Waste, and Time: Political Traction in the New Global Spaces

SOC 399
Spring 2011 not offered
This course may be repeated for credit.
Certificates: International Relations

"All that is solid melts into air." Thus it was in the modern age; thus it remains in the new worlds. The class will explore both classic and subsequent social theories of global capitalism. The organizing question will be: What will become of the social and personal structures that, since the world revolutions of 1968, can be understood as inclined toward the wastage of human life and institutions? Modernity's prevailing assumption that time inclines toward justice, if not progress, will be examined with respect to the prospects of political traction in the new global spaces. The historic ideals of liberal reform and social revolution will be subjected to the evidence that global spaces since 1989 have increasingly drifted apart in economic terms while presenting themselves, in cultural terms, as flowing together. Readings will include Agamben, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Simmel, Braudel, Canguilheim, Bachelard, Levinas, Derrida, Deleuze, Prigogine, Wallerstein, Dienst, Clough, Virilio, DeLanda, Han, Lemert, Ong, Lowe, Bauman, among others, as well as primary historical and analytic texts on global history since 1867, with emphasis on the late modern period and new millennium.

Essential Capabilities: Interpretation, Writing
Course will examine historical and other empirical sources, as well as basic social ideas on the ethically laden issues of death, waste, and time. Regular weekly writing is involved.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS SOC
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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