CORE 104 Change and the Future
CORE 104 – Change and the Future
Instructor
Professor Jonathan Aronson
School of International Relations and Annenberg School for Communication
KER 206213
Office Hours:tba
LectureMW10-11:40THH 116
DiscussionF11 or 12THH 110
LabTh5-8THH 201
Discussion Leader: tba
Course Description:
This is an expedition into complexity. It seeks the ambiguous, revels in the elegance of process, and stresses the irony of choices, changes and tradeoffs. It is less concerned with what you think than with how you think. Questions and puzzles, not answers and solutions, dominate. It focuses on HOW and WHY change occurs. WHAT changes is less intriguing than why there are changes and the consequences of change.
Change and the Future concentrates on economic, political, and technological changes in most of the readings and class meetings. The course begins with a classic contemplation of how revolutionary changes unfold. There will be brief ruminations on the agricultural revolution and on medieval accomplishment in technology. More time will be devoted to the changes necessary to launch an industrial revolution in England about the year 1780. It then explores and compares three specific questions about change in an historical context. How can the individual, the thought revolutionary who champions an idea or a vision, transform the world? Here we focus on Darwin, Marx, and Freud. Why did giant, hierarchical private enterprises arise in the middle of the nineteenth century in the United States and how did they remake the world’s economic and political scene? How did the welfare state emerge and what are the implications of bureaucracy’s role in future change? The course concludes with prospects for the future.
Course Requirements:
Provocative (within limits) class participation and regular attendance accounts for 20 percent of you grade. If you miss one or two sessions, the world will not end for you (but remember you are paying as much for each class as for two tickets to a rock concert). Since I like to talk, this may require that you fight to participate. Questions are always welcome, particularly if they are outrageous, astonishing, and relevant to the class. There’s a fairly simple test of how you are doing on this. I have a lousy memory for names. If you’re sure I know your name, you are probably doing fine.
Two midterm examinations (Wednesday, September 22 and Wednesday, October 22) will concentrate on materials from the readings; together they are worth 40 percent of your grade.
A final paper worth 20 percent is due on Wednesday, December 3 (the prospectus for this final essay is due Friday, October 24).
A final exam also will count for 20 percent.
Required Readings:
Keith Aoki, James Boyle, and Jennifer Jenkins, Tales From the Public Domain: Bound by Law? Durham, NC: Duke Law School, 2006. (A Comic Book)
Manuel Castells, The Internet Galaxy. New York: Oxford U. Press, 2001.
“Constitution of the United States of America.” (Feel Free to Read on the Web)
Sigmund Freud. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.
Albert Hirschman. The Passions and the Interests. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Thomas Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1996.
Karl Marx. The Communist Manifesto.
Douglass North & R. Thomas, The Rise of the Western World. New York: CUP, 1973.
Susan Sontag, On Photography. New York: Doubleday, 1977.
Required Reading Package:
Jared Diamond. “Yali’s Question,” from Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Frank Sulloway, Born to Rebel, Chapters 1-2.
John U. Nef, “An Early Energy Crisis and Its Consequences.”
Charles Darwin, The Origin of the Species. (Selections)
Isaiah Berlin, “The Hedgehog and the Fox,”
US Declaration of Independence
Lewis Mumford, Art & Technics, Chapter 3.
*Plato, The Republic, Book 6.
Lewis Hyde, The Gift, Chapter 1
José Ortega y Gasset, Revolt of the Masses, Chapter 1.
Amory Lovins, “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken.”
Academic Integrity:
Thematic Option is committed to upholding the University’s Academic Integrity code as detailed in the Scampus Guide. I will report all violations of the academic code. Any serious violation of the Academic Integrity Code will result in the student’s failure in this class. The University may also decide on further consequences.
Disability Accommodation:
Students requesting academic accommodations based on disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open M-F, 8:30-5:00pm. The office is in STU 301 and their phone is 740-0776.
August 25 – September 5 (No Class September 1: Labor Day)
(Discussion sessions begin September 5)
I. Theories of Change
Why does the world change in the way it does? Do individuals matter or do the forces of history and the momentum of society dwarf our efforts? Is change cumulative or cyclical? Are the processes of political, economic, technological, sociological, scientific, and religious change independent of one another or are they interdependent? As a bridge to your next semester’s classes, the last segment of this course tries to bring a bit of order out of chaos by comparing the works of Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, Feyerabend, and the Frankfurt School.
Reading:
*Jared Diamond. “Yali’s Question” from Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
*Frank Sulloway, Born to Rebel (Chapters 1-2)
Recommended:
Karl Popper, The Poverty of Historicism.
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel.
September 8 – September 12
II.Change before the Industrial Revolution
Creativity and change have flared and abated throughout history. Except for a few flashes such as those that lit up Greece at its zenith, we know very little about the societal and technological changes that occurred between the onset of the agricultural revolution and the dawning of the industrial revolution towards the end of the 18th century. Histories were filled with kings and queens and their political intrigues, and religion dominated the motivations of women and men. Of course, scientific, economic, and technological changes were always taking place, but they were frequently ignored by all but the most esoteric of historians. By contrast, we examine some of the changes that restructured the Western world before the industrial revolution.
Reading:
Douglass C. North and R. P. Thomas, The Rise of the Western World
Recommended Reading:
Jean Gimpel, The Medieval Machine.
Carlo Cipolla, Before the Industrial Revolution.
September 15 – September 26
September 24: FIRST Mid-Term: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
September 26: No Discussion Section Today
III. The Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution was critical to the formation of the modern world. Why about 1780 in England does everything come together to create economic, political, and social revolution of gigantic proportions? How did economic, political, religious, philosophical, and technological changes combine to produce such dramatic and rapid change? Which factors are most important? Why does the industrial revolution continue to teach us lessons about the future? These are some of the questions the course proposes to ask.
Reading:
Albert Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests.
*John U. Nef, “An Early Energy Crisis and Its Consequences.”
Recommended:
Phyllis Deane, The First Industrial Revolution.
David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic, and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Carlo Cipolla, ed., Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vol. III.
September 29 – October 17
IV.Three Men Who Changed a Century: Darwin, Marx, & Freud (and the Declaration of Independence)
The 19th century saw the birth of three new revolutions, each stemming from the work of one individual. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution revolutionized the biological sciences and spilled over into economics where his name was associated (incorrectly) with “the survival of the fittest.” (September 29)
Karl Marx systematized and for all time altered the study of politics and economics. His spirit still informs domestic and international life. We also will contrast the Communist Manifesto with the Declaration of Independence. At the end of the century, Sigmund Freud took the first steps towards understanding the scientific working of the mind. Modern psychology and sociology emerged. These men and the role of individuals in creating change will be discussed in this section.
Reading:
*Charles Darwin, The Origin of the Species. (September 29)
*Isaiah Berlin, “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” (October 1)
*US Declaration of Independence (October 6)
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto. (October 6-8)
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents. (October 13-15)
Recommended:
Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth.”
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization.
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace. (philosophical chapters)
October 20- October 24
October 22: SECOND Mid-Term: Wednesday, October 22, 2008
October 24: Paper Prospectus Due in Section Today
V. A Soliloquy on The Rise of Big Business and the Big Government (October 20)
Bureaucracies compete with individuals as sources of change. Since some of the starkest economic changes in Western society have been brought about by the emergence of large private business enterprises, an understanding of them, and of their rise, may enable us to adapt more flexibly to the future. Particularly after the onset of the great depression of the 1930s, governments moved to consolidate their power over the economy. Was the welfare state a positive or a negative development? Can government bureaucracies alter their paths without provoking war, crisis, or collapse?
Reading:None Required
Recommended: (to skim now or for review later for those interested)
Alfred Chandler, The Visible Hand, Parts I, II, III, V.
Mira Wilkins, The Rise of Multinational Enterprises.
Alfred Chandler and Herman Daems, eds., Managerial Hierarchies.
James March and Herbert Simon, Organizations.
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.
Max Weber, From Max Weber, pp. 159-264.
Arthur Schlesinger, The New Deal.
José Ortega y Gassett, Revolt of the Masses.
October 27 – October 31
VI. Technology & Change I: Photography - Changing the Way We See
The introduction of photography in 1839 changed the way we see. Photography art, science, politics, and society all reacted and adjusted to this new technology.
Reading:
*Lewis Mumford, Art & Technics, Chapter 3,
Susan Sontag, On Photography.
November 3 – November 7
VII. Changing Governance: The Change Election of 2008
The Presidential election provides an opportunity to discuss how much change is possible through changes in government. What can leaders accomplish in a democratic or non-democratic society?
Reading:
*Plato, The Republic, Book 6
The Constitution of the United States of America
November 10 – November 28
November 27th is Thanksgiving
No Section of November 28th
VIII. Technology & Change II: The Rise of the Internet and the Web and Its Consequences
Reading:
Manuel Castells, The Internet Galaxy
*Lewis Hyde, The Gift, Chapter 1
Aoki, Boyle, and Jenkins, Tales From the Public Domain: Bound by Law?
December 1 – December 5
IX.Change and the Future
How can we know about change in the future by studying change in the past? How can we prepare for it? How accurate can we expect to be?
Reading:
*José Ortega y Gasset, Revolt of the Masses, Chapter 1.
*Amory Lovins, “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken.”
Final Essay Due: Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Final Examination: Monday, December 15, 2008: 8:00 – 10:00 AM
(There may be a way to opt out of the final,
or to complete it as a take-home.
This will be discussed in class.)
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