Syllabus: Studies of Modern Society: 1798 to the Present



The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

HSS3J,

Thu: 9-11 (515 E)

Professor: Dr. Claudia Leeb

email: Leebc01@newschool.edu

Office hours: by appointment only




Course Texts (ordered at Shakespeare & Company):

Marvin Perry & al., Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society. Volume II: From the 1600s (sixth edition), (2000, Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Company).

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1988, New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company).

Sigmund Freud, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1959, New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company).

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1930, London/New York: Routledge Classics).

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil (1994, New York: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics).


All other texts required for the course are on reserve in the library.




Course Schedule


Week One: Sept. 5, Introduction and presentation assignments


Week Two: Sept. 12, ENLIGHTENMENT, Perry, pp. 428-460; Kant, I., “What is Enlightenment” (on reserve); Rousseau, J.J., “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” “On the Social Contract, Book I” (on reserve)



Week Three: Sept. 19, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION; Perry, pp. 464-508; Wollstonecraft, M., A Vindication of the Rights of Women (entire)



Week Four: Sept. 26, GERMAN IDEALISM; Perry, pp. 532-555; G.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (selections, on reserve)



Week Five: Oct. 3, THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION; PERRY, pp. 510-530, pp. 587-609; Marx, K., “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts,” “Manifesto of the Communist Party” (on reserve)



Week Six: Oct. 10, NATIONALISM; Perry, 555-560; Anderson, B. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (selections, on reserve); First paper due



Week Seven: Oct. 17, 1848 AND ITS CONSEQUENCES; Perry, 562-583; De Tocqueville, A. Democracy in America (selections, on reserve)



Week Eight: Oct. 24, THE NEW NATIONS; Perry, 612-636; Deleuze, G. Coldness and Cruelty (selections); Von Sacher-Masoch, L. Venus in Furs (entire)



Week Nine: Oct. 31, GLOBAL WESTERN DOMINANCE; Perry, 668-694; Fanon, F. Black Skin White Masks (selected chapters, on reserve)



Week Ten: Nov. 7, FREUD; Perry, 696-725; Freud, S. Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego; Le Bon, G. The Crowd. A Study of the Popular Mind (selections, on reserve)



Week Eleven: Nov. 14, APPROACHING WORLD WAR I; Perry, pp. 726-764; Weber, M. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (entire); Second paper due



Week Twelv: Nov. 21, MASS SOCIETY; Perry, pp. 766-806; Arendt. H. The Origins of Totalitarianism (chapters 10, 11, 12, on reserve)



Week Thirteen: Nov. 28, THE RISE OF FASCISM; Perry, pp. 809-834; Adorno, Th.W., “Elements of Antisemitism,” “Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda.”



Week Fourteen: Dec. 5, THE HOLOCAUST; Perry, 836-863; Arendt, H. Eichmann in Jerusalem (entire)



Week Fifteen: Dec. 12, POST WAR DEVELOPMENTS; Perry, pp. 867-886; De Beauvoir, S. The Second Sex (selected chapters, on reserve)



Week Sixteen: Dec. 19, Conclusion, Third paper due




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