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,
Spring 2003
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