58218 Ideology, Beliefs and Visions
Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular semester, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
UTS: CommunicationCredit points: 8 cp
Result type: Grade, no marks
Requisite(s): 58122 Introduction to Social Inquiry OR 58123 Society, Economy and Globalisation OR 58124 Local Transformations
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Anti-requisite(s): 50139 Political Theory AND 50187 Comparative Belief Systems
Handbook description
Social change produces ideas but ideas also produce or prevent social change. The ideologies we live under, the beliefs we may hold and the visions to which we aspire are rooted in our experiences but they also transcend them. The capacity to change society can hinge on this ability to inspire people to action. Students examine matters such as what produces beliefs and ideologies and how they are built into coherent worldviews through successive generations, the differences between religious cosmologies, political ideologies and visions and the ways they transform peoples' lives and the source of their potency and danger. They explore different types of ideas in the context of political ideologies, religious values and visions for a better society. Students develop and investigate a research question relevant to the role of ideas in social change, using participant observation and qualitative interviews to analyse ideational dynamics in real world contexts.
Subject objectives/outcomes
At the completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:
- apply key concepts of the social sciences
- appreciate different standpoints, viewpoints and frameworks for understanding the social world
- analyse their own beliefs, assumptions and expectations
- undertake qualitative research, in particular, participant observation and contextual interviewing.
- critically apply theory to qualitative research practice and mobilise the resulting empirical data for social analysis
Contribution to course aims and graduate attributes
This subject makes a major contribution to the students’ capacity to think analytically, using concepts of the social sciences, and to apply their knowledges and skills in social research. It makes a major contribution to their capacity to respect the plurality of perspectives that inform social understanding. It makes a contribution to their capacity to conduct qualitative research, to communicate effectively, and to work collaboratively.
Teaching and learning strategies
The subject consists of 10 weekly lectures and tutorials, and three workshops: one for planning participant observation projects, one for ‘work in progress’ discussion on in-depth interviews and one presentation session to report back on key themes to the class. Core texts are reproduced online; additional resources are available in the UTS library. The lectures engage students with key concepts and methods while in half of the tutorials students evaluate theoretical claims through discussion of key texts. The other half of the tutorials allow students to become familiar with participant observation strategies, including the keeping of an ongoing research journal and the logging of interviews, then to plan, workshop and report on their research project. Instruction and guidance on the ethical questions arising in participant observation will be included. Tutorials involve students in a variety of activities, including individual and group presentations, discussion groups on method and collaborative work shopping of qualitative project work.
Content
The subject introduces students to some of the key concepts in the theorisation of how ideas operate in and are expressed through collective, everyday contexts like organisations or movements. Students will apply the concepts of gender, race, social class and cultural diversity to the categories of ideology, belief and vision. Students will deepen their knowledge of and competence in qualitative research methods introduced in earlier units, in particular for participant observation and in-depth interviewing.
Assessment
Assessment Item 1: Tutorial presentation (20%) and tutorial paper (20%)
| Objective(s): | 1-3 |
| Weighting: | 40% |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment Item 2: Interview Log
| Objective(s): | 1, 3, 4 |
| Weighting: | 10% |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment Item 3: Participant Observation Interview Report, with Journal Samples and Logged Interview Appendices
| Objective(s): | 1, 3, 4 ,5 |
| Weighting: | 50% |
| Criteria: |
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Minimum requirements
Mandatory attendance
Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g., illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.
Attendance is particularly important in this subject because it is based on a collaborative approach which involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas. Students who attend fewer than ten classes are advised that their final work will not be assessed and that they are likely to fail the subject.
Indicative references
REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READINGS BY LECTURES AND SEMINARS:
Week 1 Lecture: The Role of Ideologies, Beliefs and Visions in Social Change
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Social change produces ideas but ideas also produce or prevent social change. The ideologies we live under, the beliefs we may hold and the visions to which we aspire are rooted in our experiences but they also transcend them. The capacity to change society can hinge on this ability to inspire people to action. In this Introduction we will discuss the distinction and overlap between ideologies, beliefs and visions and how these affect social change and vice versa. It will also outline the central themes and focus of the lectures, tutorial and workshops.
Discussion Questions:
¬ What produces beliefs and ideologies and how they are built into coherent worldviews through successive generations?
¬ What are the differences between religious cosmologies, political ideologies and visions?
¬ In what ways do they transform peoples’ lives?
Recommended Reading:
• Heywood, A. 2007, ‘Introduction: understanding ideology’, in A. Heywood, Political ideologies: an introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
• Smart, N. 1998, The world’s religions, Cambridge.
• Kumar, K. 1991, ‘The elements of utopia’, in K. Kumar, Utopianism, Open University Press.
Week 2 Lecture: Globalism vs. Nationalism
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Globalism refers to various theories ranging from ideologies that focus on issues affecting the globe to any advocacy for globalization. Other beliefs encompassed by globalism include: that a central world government is desirable, that global governance is better than national interest, that national laws should be integrated with a global body of laws, and that international trade agreements should be signed for a higher purpose despite disadvantages to either party. Globalism is usually contrasted with nationalism, which can be broadly defined as the belief that the nation is the central principle of political organization and that the nation as a distinctive civilization should be regenerated. While globalization is posing challenges to the nation and state, it has also triggered efforts to affirm national identities and construct new boundaries along national, ethnic or cultural lines.
Discussion Questions:
¬ What are the central tenets and ideas of globalism and nationalism?
¬ What do you think of globalization and globalism?
¬ What do you think of nationalism and nationalist quest for national autonomy, national identity and national unity?
¬ How can the flow-closure paradox be explained? Is it an inevitable product of the dialectic of globalization or a ‘survival’ from an earlier age of nationalist hatreds and wars?
Required Reading:
• Nye, J. ‘Globalism versus globalization’, The Globalist, 15 April 2002, http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=2392.
• Smith, A. 1995, ‘A cosmopolitan culture?’, in A. Smith, Nations and nationalism in a global era, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Further Reading:
• Meyer, B. & Geschiere, P. 1999, ‘Introduction: globalization and identity: dialectics of flow and closure’ in B. Meyer & P. Geschiere (eds.), Globalization and identity, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.
• Held, D. et al. 1999, Global transformations: politics, economics, and culture, Stanford University Press, California, pp. 325-375.
• King, A. 1994, ‘Introduction: space of culture, spaces of knowledge’, in A. King, Culture, globalization and the world system, SUNY Press, New York.
• Anderson, B. 2006, ‘Introduction: imagined communities’, in B. Anderson, Imagined Communities, Verso, London.
• Calhoun, C. 2007, ‘Nationalism matters’, in C. Calhoun, Nations matter: culture, history, and the cosmopolitan dream, Routledge, London.
Week 3 Lecture: Religion and the State: Judaism
Lecturer: Andrew Jakubowicz
Judaism is the original of the so-called ‘Abrahamic’ religions, the first of the major surviving monotheisms, with ethno-religious communities spread throughout the world. This lecture provides a short background to the development and key beliefs, of Judaism, and its relationships with the many faces of modernity in ‘east’ and ‘west’. The experience of the Holocaust forged the first political nation of modern Jews in Palestine, as one of a number of possible trajectories for survivors. Other communities lived on in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australasia and Europe; a case study of the Jews and Jewish memory in/of Shanghai offers an understanding of the current Diaspora.
Discussion Questions:
Judaism is a curious ‘faith’ in that it is more like an ethnicity; it is riven by divisions of belief and practices, including people who are fundamentalist, and those who define themselves as atheists or agnostics, yet Jews are held together by some sort of shared civil morality, sometimes described as tikkun. Discuss this statement, taking into account at least two contemporary (last 200 years) challenges to the survival of Judaism. In what ways is Judaism a religion, and in what an ethnic ideology? Is this a useful distinction, and if so, what are the problems with seeing Judaism as either a religion or an ethnic ideology? In discussing this issue reflect on how religions think about the ethnicity of their believers, and some consequences of the ethno- religious model for religious minority groups.
Required Reading:
• Jakubowicz, A. 2007, ‘Notes for a grave under snow’, in D. Glowacka & J. Zylinska (eds.), Imaginary neighbours mediating Polish-Jewish relations after the holocaust, University of Nebraska Press, Nebraska, pp. 67-83.
• Rabinbach, A. & Zipes, J. 1980, ‘Lessons of the holocaust’, New German Critique, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 3-7.
Recommended Reading:
• Bauer, Y. 2001, ‘Theology, or god the surgeon (and notes)’, in Y. Bauer, Rethinking the holocaust, Yale Uni Press, New Heaven, pp. 186-212; 301-2.
• Hexter, J.H. 1995, ‘Preface: the Judeo-Christian tradition’, in J. H. Hexter, The Judeo-Christian Tradition, Yale University Press, New Haven.
• Neusner, J. 1996, ‘Religion and politics after the secular city, the risks of religious resurgence and religion and modernization’, in J. Neusner, Religion and the political order: politics in classical and contemporary Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, Scholars Press, Atlanta.
• Peters, F. E. 1990, ‘Introduction: Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the classical texts and their interpretation’, in F. E. Peters, Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the classical texts and their interpretation, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
• Sacks, J. 2000, ‘Judaism and politics’, in P. L. Berger, The de-secularisation of the world: essays on the resurgence of religion in world politics, Ethics and Public Policy Centre, Washington, pp. 51-63.
Week 4 Workshop 1: Planning Participant Observation Projects (organizations and research ethics)
Week 5 Lecture: Colonial and Racial Ideologies
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Race relation problems are most typically found in two kinds of situations: colonial situations and situations in which migrants and refugees seek entry to and settle in another country where opposition to immigration exists. While it may be misleading to regard racism as a product of colonialism and colonialism as necessarily racist, there is nonetheless an apparent relationship between colonialism and racism. On the one hand, the evolution of racist/racialist ideologues is related to the experience of the colonizers, and racism is often seen as a justification for colonial rule. On the other hand, colonization is usually based on a worldview that looks upon the peoples of the colonies as inferior either on the grounds of biological make-up or cultures. In this lecture, we will look at the linkages between colonialism and racism as well as the key assumptions of racialist/racist and colonial theories.
Discussion Questions:
¬ What is your understanding of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’?
¬ What are the main assumptions of colonialism and racism?
¬ How do the so-called ‘white settler colonies’ (the Northern and Southern Americas, Australasia and to some extent Southern Africa) differ from other postcolonial nations?
¬ Why do they ‘complicate the dichotomy between Europe and the rest of the world’?
¬ Comment on the argument that Australians resist coming to terms with their colonial past because they see themselves as victims. Do you think that it is important that they come to terms with it? Why?
Required Reading:
• Rex, J. 1982, ‘Racism and the structure of colonial societies’, in R. Ross (ed.), Racism and colonialism, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague.
• Gillen, P. & Ghosh, D. 2007, ‘The rise of Europe: 1450-1789’, in P. Gillen & D. Ghosh, Colonialism & modernity, UNSW Press, Sydney.
• Curthoys, A. 1999, ‘Whose home? expulsion, exodus, and exile in white Australian historical mythology’, Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 61.
Recommended Reading:
• Christie, C. 1998, ‘Conlusion: race and nation: unity and diversity in the modern world’, in C. Christie, Race and nation: a reader, St Martin’s Press, London.
• Healy, C. 1997, ‘Introduction: from the ruins of colonialism’, in C. Healey, From the ruins of colonialism, Cambridge, Melbourne.
• Hartz, L. 1964, ‘the fragmentation of European culture and ideology’, in L. Hartz, The founding of new societies: studies in the history of the United States, Latin America, South Africa, Canada, and Australia, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego.
• Rose, D. B. 1997, ‘Dark times and excluded bodies in the colonisation of Australia’, in G. Gray and C. Winter (eds.), The resurgence of racism: Howard, Hanson and the race debate, Monash Publications in History, no. 24.
• Zahar, R. 1974, ‘Preface and the function of racism’, in R. Zahar, Frantz Fanon: colonialism and alienation, trans. W. Feuser, Monthly Review Press, New York.
Week 6 Lecture: Liberalism: Market, Society, State
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Although many facets of liberal doctrines can be brought to light by consulting different writers, its definitive features concern what it has to say in two areas: economics and politics. As an economic theory, liberalism advocates the market economy; as a political theory, it upholds the principle of the minimal state which governs as little as possible. The two theories are independent from each other in that the principle of the minimal state not only applies to state intervention in economics but also to ethics and religion. The liberal conception of the states entails a distinction between the state and non-state (or religious society, the intellectual and moral life of individuals and groups, and civil society). Liberalism has always been challenged by critics of secularism, individualism and the minimal state, among others, and more recently during the recent global financial crisis.
Discussion Questions:
¬ What is the liberal vision of an Ideal Society and Ideal State?
¬ What is the role of a minimal state in the eyes of classical liberalism?
¬ Do you see a shift in emphasis in the liberal thinking from the ‘minimal state’ to a more interventionist ‘social state’?
¬ Why does liberalism stress the separation between the state and non-state (including the church), between politics and economics, between political and civil society, and between the public and private domains?
¬ What do you think of this separation?
¬ What sort of challenge has the recent financial crisis posed to liberalism as an economic theory?
¬ Do you think the financial crisis has lent support to arguments for a more interventionist state?
Required Reading:
• Kelly, P. 2004, ‘Introduction: what is liberalism?’, in P. Kelly, Liberalism, Polity, Oxford.
• Hall, J. 1988, ‘Foreword- liberalism: politics, ideology and the market’, in J. Hall, Liberalism: politics, ideology and the market, Paladin Grafton, London.
Recommended Reading:
• Rawls, J. 2005, ‘Introduction and introduction to the paperback edition’, in J. Rawls, Political liberalism, Harvard University, Cambridge.
• Berlin, I. 2002, ‘Introduction- liberty: incorporating four essays on liberty’, in H. Hardy et al. (eds.), Liberty: incorporating four essays on liberty, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Dewey, J. 1963, ‘The history of liberalism’, in J. Dewey, Liberalism and social action, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• Nussbaum, M. C. 1997, ‘The feminist critique of liberalism (plus chapter notes)’, in M. C. Nussbaum, Sex and social justice, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• McBride, S. 2007, Neo-liberalism, state power and global governance, Springer, Dordrecht, electronic version (UTS Library).
Week 7 Workshop 2: ‘Work in Progress’ – Discussion on In-depth Interviews
Week 8 Study Break
Week - Vice-Chancellor’s Week – UTS non teaching week.
Week 9 Lecture: Religion of the Modern: Secularism
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Proponents of secularism insist that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs. The most prominent form of secularism looks upon religion as an impediment to human progress, particularly modernization, due to its preoccupation with supernatural and religious dogma instead of reason and the scientific method. Opponents argue that secular government creates more problems than it solves, and that a government with a religious ethos is better. Some modern critics believe that secularism is repressive of some aspects of religion. In this lecture, we will disucss the main arguments and counter-arguents.
Discussion Questions:
¬ Do you agree that the general rise of secularism is the inevitable result of the Age of Enlightenment, as people turn towards science and rationalism and away from religion and superstition?
¬ Comment on the statement ‘that the state should be kept entirely separate from religion, and that religious institutions should be entirely free from governmental interference.
¬ Do you agree that secular government creates more problems than it solves, and that a government with a religious ethos is better?
¬ Is it possible that, though the goal of a secularist state is to be religiously neutral, the state is repressive of some aspects of religion?
¬ Why do ethnic minorities perceive secularism as essential to the practice of their faith in multi-ethnic multi-religious societies?
Required Readings:
• Hefner, R. W. 1998, ‘Multiple modernities: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism in a globalizing age’, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 27, pp. 83-104.
• Holyoake, G. J. 1896, ‘How secularism arose’, in G. J. Holyoake, The origin and nature of secularism: showing that where freethought commonly ends secularism begins, Watts & Co, London.
Recommended Reading:
• Asad, T. 2003, ‘Introduction: thinking about secularism’, in T. Asad, Formations of the secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity, Stanford University Press, California.
• Fenn, R. K. 1987, ‘Introduction: the dream of the perfect act: fate of religion in a secular world’, in R. K. Fenn, The dream of the perfect act: fate of religion in a secular world, Tavistock, New York.
• Bhargava R. 1998, ‘Introduction: secularism and its critics’, in R. Bhargava (ed.), Secularism and its critics, Oxford University Press, Delhi.
• Taylor, C. 2007, ‘Introduction: a secular age’, in C. Taylor, A secular age, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
• Martin, D. 1978, ‘Notes towards a general theory of secularization’, in D. Martin, A general theory of secularization, Blackwell, Oxford.
Week 10 Lecture: Confucianism and the State Cult
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
From a Confucian viewpoint, the best government is ‘government by example’, or government based on spiritual-moral force. The ruling elite in the ideal Confucian society is not a ‘political class’ but a kind of priesthood which holds society together by ‘holy rite’ and the spirit of benevolence (jen/ren). The exemplary family relations of such a ruling vanguard would simply radiate their virtue (te/de) over the society as a whole. In the words of Confucius, ‘Govern the people by penal laws and order them with punishments and they will try to evade the punishments and lose their sense of shame. Lead them by moral power and keep order by li [rite]. They will have a sense of shame and correct themselves.’
Discussion questions:
-What is the role of the government in the Confucian conception of society?
-What are the manifestations of the state cult in Confucianism?
-How do you explain this cult?
-Do you think the state cult is unique to Confucianism?
Essential Readings:
• Shryock, J. 1966, ‘Chapter XV’, in J. Shryock, The origin and development of the state cult of Confucius, Paragon Book Reprint Corp, New York.
• Ames, R. & Hall, D. 1987, ‘Effecting socio-political order (3.1 and 3.2 of Chapter 3)’, in R. Ames & D. Hall, Thinking through Confucius, State University of New York, New York.
Recommended Readings:
• Confucius (Lun yu), 1997, The analects of Confucius, trans. S. Leys, W.W. Norton, New York.
• Creel, H. G. 1960, Confucius and the Chinese way, Harper & Row, New York.
• falseHahm, C. 2004, ‘The Ironies of Confucianism’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 15, no.3, pp. 93-107.
Week 11 Lecture: Plato: The Republic
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
The Republic is written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates, Plato’s teacher, and a group of his Athenian friends. The purpsoe of the dialogue is to discover justice. Plato suggests that most ideas and expressions of justice are merely distorted refelctions of the form, essence, or perfection of real justice, which the philosphers’s reason can discover. Plato also spends much of The Republic narrating conversations about the Ideal State and other forms of government, such as timocracy, oligarchy (or plutocracy), democracy and tyranny (or despotism).
Discussion Questions:
¬ What is your idea of the Ideal Society and Ideal State?
¬ Do you agree with Plato that the essences and forms are are real while the expereinetial world is mere apperance? Or do you agree with his critics that what we feel and expereince is real while the pursuit of essential menaings is vain?
¬ Do you think justice is an essencce/form or simply a name/label that we attache to a set of our thoughts or ideas?
Required Reading:
• Carey, J. ‘Plato, More, Bacon, Winstanley, Rousseau, Voltaire, Condorcet, Babeuf, Marx’, in J. Carey (ed.), Faber book of utopias, pp. 1-37.
• Rowe, C. 1984, ‘Plato: the search for an ideal form of state’, in B. Redhead (ed.), Plato to NATO: studies in political thought, BBC Books, London.
Recommended Reading:
• Murphy, N. R. 1951, ‘The definition of justice’, in N. R. Murphy, The interpretation of Plato’s Republic, Clarendon, Oxford.
• Cross, R. C. & Woozley, A. D. 1964, ‘Introduction- Plato’s Republic: a philosophical commentary’, in R. C. Cross & A. D. Woozley, Plato’s Republic: a philosophical commentary, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
• White, N. P. 1979, ‘Introduction: a companion to Plato’s Republic’, in N. P. White, A companion to Plato’s Republic, Hackett, Indianapolis.
• Annas, J. 1981, ‘An introduction to Plato’s Republic’, in J. Annas, An introduction to Plato’s Republic, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Reeve, C. D. C. 1988, ‘A problem about justice’, in C. D. C. Reeve, Philosopher-Kings: the argument of Plato’s Republic, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Week 12 Lecture: Kang Youwei’s Utopia
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Kang Youwei (K’ang Yu-wei) was the most prominent political thinker and reformer of the late Qing Dynasty. In The Book of Great Unity (Datong Shu), he depicts a utopia which is ruled by a world central government under a democratic system and is free from political division. Here the traditional family – a great cause of strife – is replaced by state-run institutions; marriage is replaced by one-year contracts to ensure that women are not entrapped for life; men and women are equal; and socialist institutions are in place to take care of the welfare of each individual. Kang’s utopia will be compared briefly with the visions of Plato, Karl Marx and Thomas More.
Discussion Questions:
¬ What is ‘Great Unity’? Do you agree with Kang’s views about the family, marriage, public institutions, government, and socialist institutions?
¬ How do you compare Kang’s utopia with Thomas More’s and Plato’s?
¬ How the modern visionary political tradition began? Prepare a critique of Australian society in 2008, in the form of a ‘2020 vision’ of alternative ‘U-Oz’. Allocation of Seminar topics.
Required Reading:
• Thompson, L. 1958, ‘Biographical sketch of K’ang Yu-wei’, in L. Thomson, Ta T´ung Shu: the one-world philosophy of K’ang Yu-wei, George Allen and Unwin, London.
• Thompson, L. 1958, ‘A general discussion of the one-world philosophy of K’ang Yu-wei’, in L. Thomson, Ta T´ung Shu: the one-world philosophy of K’ang Yu-wei, George Allen and Unwin, London.
• Teng, S. Y. & Fairbank, J. 1979, ‘K’ang Yu-wei and some of his associates’, in S. Y. Teng & J. Fairbank, China’s response to the West – a documentary survey 1839-1923, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp. 147-164.
Recommended Reading:
• Howard, R. 1962, ‘K’ang Yu-wei (1858-1927): his intellectual background and early thought (plus notes)’, in A.F. Wright & D. Twitchett (eds.), Confucian Personalities, Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp. 294-316; 382-386.
• Hsiao, K. C. 1975, ‘The family’, in K. C. Hsiao, Modern China and a new world – K’ang Yu-wei, reformer and utopian, 1858-1927, University of Washington Press, Seattle.
• Hsiao, K. C. 1975, ‘The man’, in K. C. Hsiao, Modern China and a new world – K’ang Yu-wei, reformer and utopian, 1858-1927, University of Washington Press, Seattle.
• Karl, R. & Zarrow, P. 2002, ‘Introduction: rethinking the 1898 reform period’, in R. Karl & P. Zarrow (eds.), Rethinking the 1898 reform period – political and cultural change in late Qing China, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Week 13 Lecture: Socialism, Utopian and Scientific
Lecturer: Yingjie Guo
Defined in opposition to capitalism, the core of socialism is a vision of human beings as social beings united by their common humanity. Utopian socialism considers socialism as morally superior to capitalism because human beings are ethical creatures, bound to one another by the ties of love, sympathy and compassion. Scientific socialism undertakes a scientific analysis of historical and social development, which, from the point of view of Marxism, suggests that socialism would inevitably replace capitalism. In this lecture, we will discuss the basic arguments of scientific socialism and the principal features of socialist utopias.
Discussion Questions:
¬ ‘The ideal factory is a microcosm of the ideal society’?: prepare an ‘industrial’ utopia, in which work-organisation, workers’ health and training, conditions and aesthetics, are integrated.
¬ ‘Hunt in the morning and criticise after dinner’? Prepare a ‘socialist’ utopia in which the separation between manual and mental work is no longer required.
Required Reading:
• Carey, J. Faber book of utopias, pp. 181-314 (especially Marx)
• Engels, F. 1880, Socialism: utopian and scientific, http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm
Recommended Reading:
• Bauman, Z. 1976, Socialism: the active utopia, Allen and Unwin, London.
• Thomas, P. 2008, Marxism and scientific socialism, Routledge, London.
• Newman, M. 2005, Socialism: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Harrington, M. 1989, Socialism: past and future, Arcade, New York.
• Ebenstein, W. 1973, Today’s isms: Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Socialism, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
Week 15 Workshop 3: Presentation Session to Report Back on Key Themes to the Class
