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: Communication: Social and Political ChangeCredit 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:
a) apply key concepts of the social sciences
b) appreciate different standpoints, viewpoints and frameworks for understanding the social world
c) analyse their own beliefs, assumptions and expectations
d) undertake qualitative research, in particular, participant observation
e) 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 two workshops: one for planning participant observation projects and one for integrating research into the essay. 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 group and class discussion of lectures and key texts. The other half of the tutorials allow students to report on their research projects and learn of the difficulties and complexities of participant observation by listening to the experience of other students. 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 (10%) and tutorial paper (20%)
| Objective(s): | a, b |
| Weighting: | 30 |
| Length: | The written tutorial paper will be no more than 1500 words in length. |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment Item 2: Class presentation of Participant Observation project
| Objective(s): | a, b, c, d |
| Weighting: | 30 |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment Item 3: Essay on participation observation project
| Objective(s): | a, c, d , e |
| Weighting: | 40 |
| Length: | Length indication 3,000 words. |
| 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.
References
REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READINGS BY LECTURES AND SEMINARS:
Week 1 Lecture: Introduction
Lecturer: James Goodman
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: Idealism and Materialism
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
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 two major ideologies, espoused by two renowned European philosophers, Marx and Weber.
Discussion questions:
Marx and Weber were writing in the 19th and early twentieth century. Do you think that their theories help to make sense of the 21st century?
Consider the protest movements in the recent past such as the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement, the protests in Greece and so on. In your opinion, were these driven mainly by ideas or the material conditions obtaining in those particular societies?
Required Readings:
Bottomore, T. 1985 Theories of Modern Capitalism, Ch 2 'Max Weber on Capitalism and Rationality', Allen & Unwin, London.
Postone, M. 1993, 2003 Time Labour and Social Domination: a Re-Interpretation of Marx's Critical Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Recommended Readings:
Bottomore, T. 1985 Ch 1 'Marx's Theory of the Commodity-Producing Society' in Theories of Modern Capitalism, , Allen & Unwin, London.
Morrison, K 2006 Ch 4 'Max Weber', in Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social Thought, Sage Publications, London.
Week 3 Lecture: Religion and Secularism
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
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-arguments.
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 4 Workshop 1: Conducting Research Using Participant Observation
Recommended Readings:
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
Geertz, C (1988), Works and Lives: The anthropologist as author. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP.
Denzin, N and Lincoln, Y (eds1998) Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry. Thousand Oaks London: Sage Publications.
Week 5 Lecture: Liberalism: Market, Society, State
Lecturer: Andrew Jakubowicz
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.
• Galston, W. 2002 'Introduction: Pluralism in Ethics and Politics', in Galston, W. Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism in LIberal Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Recommended Reading
• Hall, J. 1988, ‘Foreword- liberalism: politics, ideology and the market’, in J. Hall, Liberalism: politics, ideology and the market, Paladin Grafton, London.
• 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 6: EASTER MONDAY, NO CLASS
Week 7 Lecture: Islam and the State
Lecturer: TBC
Islam is the most recent of the three Abrahamic faiths. It shares many commonalities with Christianity and Judaism, especially the latter. Founded in Arabia and with Arabic as a common religious language, it has spread throughout the world and today has more followers outsider the Middle East than within it. Our near neighbour, Indonesia, is in fact the world’s most populous Muslim nation. There are two major sects – Sunni and Shia – and a wide variety of interpretations of religious doctrine and practice. Religious revival starting in the late 20th century has led to an increased emphasis of the role of Islam in political and social life in a majority of Muslim countries.
Discussion Questions:
1. There is no ‘church’ in (Sunni- majority) Islam. There is no established religious institution comparable to a church in the Christian tradition, no figure equivalent to a pope, no ordained clergy and no religious body authorised to make official pronouncements on behalf of the faith. How then can there be a separation of ‘church’ and state in Islam?
2. Consider who has had authority to give fatawa in Islamic tradition and how was this authority obtained. Has this authority been undermined by the modern secular state in Muslim countries and has this been a good or a bad thing?
3. There is much western criticism of Shariah. What is the distinction between Shariah and Islamic law, and can the Shariah and/or the law be reformed to take into account modern ideas of human rights and social justice? In your opinion, what areas of law need to be reformed, and how could this possibly come about?
Required Reading:
- N Feldman, 'Why Sharia, The New York Times, March 16 2008.
- K Abou El Fadl, 'Islam and the Challenge of Democracy', Boston Review 28.2
Recommended Reading:
- Noah Feldman, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Princeton U Press 2008
- W. Montgomery Watt, Islamic Political Thought, Edinburgh U Press, 1968
- Arskal Salim, Challenging the Secular State. The Islamisation of law in modern Indonesia, U Hawaii Press, 2008
- Abdullahi An-Na’im, Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the future of Shari’a, Harvard U Press, 2008
YouTube
AbdullahiAn-Na’im. “The West’s Biggest Misconceptions about Islam,” Emory University Big Think, bigthink.com/ideas/15156
Abdullahi An-Na’im on “Islam and the Secular State” http://Berkeleycenter.georgetown.edu
Week 8 Study Break
Week - Vice-Chancellor’s Week – UTS non teaching week.
Week 9 Lecture: Confucianism and the State Cult
Lecturer: Xiaoping Fang
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?
- ow do you explain this cult?
- Do you think the state cult is unique to Confucianism?
Required 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 Reading:
• 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.
• Hahm, C. 2004, ‘The Ironies of Confucianism’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 15, no.3, pp. 93-107.
Week 10 Lecture: The End of History
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
Has history ended with the collapse of socialism? What are the alternatives to liberal democracy?
Discussion Questions
Has history really ended? What do events like the Global Financial Crisis, the rise of China and India and the resurgence of religious beliefs mean for our collective futures?
Required Reading:
- Fukuyama, F. (1989) ‘The End of History?’, The National Interest, Summer.
- Encel, S. (2002) September 11and its implications for sociology, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 38, 3.
Recommended Reading:
- Klein, N. (2002) Farewell to the ‘end of history’: organisation and vision in anti-corporate movements, Socialist Register, 1-15 (available online).
- Brown, Chris (1999) ‘History Ends, Worlds Collide’, in M. Cox, K. Booth & T. Dunne (eds) The Interregnum: Controversies in World Politics 1989-1999, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 41-58. (a copy in Closed Reserve)
- Derrida, J. (1994), ‘Spectres of Marx’, New Left Review, # 205, May/June.
- Fukuyama, F. (1993), The End of History and the Last Man, Avon Books, New York.
Fukuyama, F. (2002) Has history restarted since September 11?, lecture to the Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney (available online).
Frank, G. (1993) No End to History! History to No End?, in Nordenstreng, in K. and Schiller, H. (eds) Beyond National Sovereignty: International Communication in the 1990s, Ablex Publishers: New Jersey.
Week 11 Lecture: Religion and Modernisation
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
Is religious belief a hindrance to modernisation? This lecture will discuss the ways in which religions in various parts of the world have interacted with and related to modernizing trends and the rational secularity of modernity.
Discussion Questions:
Is religious belief a hindrance to modernisation?
Required Reading:
- Inglehart, R. & Baker, W. E. “Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 65, No. 1, “Looking Forward, Looking Back: Continuity and Change at the Turn of the Millenium”, Feb., 2000, pp. 19-51
- Pecora,V. P. “Rethinking modernity and religion”, Studies in the Humanities, June 2002 v29 i1 p52(19)
Recommended Reading:
- Carroll, T. G. “Secularization and States of Modernity”, World Politics, Vol. 36, #3, April 1984, pp. 362 - 368
- Khare, R. S. “Home and Office: Some Trends of Modernization among the Kanya-Kubja Brahmans”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 13, #2, April 1971, pp. 196 – 216
Week 12 Lecture: Socialism, Utopian and Scientific
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
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 13 Lecture: Idioms of Change: Satyagraha and Non-violence
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
Gandhi described ‘satyagraha’ as soul-force or the force of truth, which seems to have deep religious connotation. The philosophy of satyagraha draws from different religious traditions. As an idiom of resistance satyagraha was an innovation, a language of political action, which was deeply embedded in notions of non-violence (ahimsa), and suffering love. Through a combination of strategies of non-violence and civil disobedience, Gandhi perfected its ‘techniques’ while resisting what he considered ‘unfair’ laws of the colonial state in South Africa. The legacy of satyagraha, has resonated in different historical contexts, and in different movements within and outside India.
Discussion Questions:
- How does Gandhi connect satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), and suffering love?
- How would you distinguish between passive resistance and satyagraha?
- What are various grounds on which Gandhi rejects the use of violence in bringing about social change?
- What are the different historical - social and religious – traditions which contributed to Gandhi’s idea of satyagraha?
- How is satyagraha a form of ‘dialogic resistance’?
- What are the different traditions of protest which have been influenced by Gandhi’s notion of satyagraha?
- What are the conditions in which satyagraha may not succeed?
Required Reading:
- Parekh, Bhikhu (1997) Gandhi, OUP, Oxford (Chapter 5: ‘Satyagraha’ pp.51-62
- Hardiman, David (2003) Gandhi: In His Times and Ours, Permanent Black, New Delhi (Chapter 3: ‘Dialogic Resistance’ pp.39-65).
- Dr. King: Non-violence is the most powerful weapon’, video on Youtube, duration 7 minutes (apprx for the relevant section)
Recommended Reading:
- Dalton, Dennis (1998) Gandhi’s Power: Nonviolence in Action, Oxford University Press, Delhi.
- Haksar, Vineet (2001) Rights, Communities and Disobedience: Liberalism and Gandhi, Oxford University Press, New Delhi (‘Preface’ pp.ix-xxix).
- Hardiman, D. (2003) Gandhi: In His Times and Ours, Permanent Black, New Delhi, Chapter 9: ‘Gandhi’s Global Legacy’, pp.238-293
- Parekh, Bhikhu (1997) Gandhi, OUP, Oxford.
Week 14 Workshop 2: Integrating Theoretical and Empirical Research in your Essay
Lecturer: Devleena Ghosh
