Section 041: Tu/Th 11:00-12:15
Office: 389 Holloway Hall
Phone: (410) 677-5020
Office Hours: M: 2:00-2:50, T/Th: 1:45-3:15, and by appointment
Course Texts: Ernest Callenbach: Ecotopia
Frances Fitzgerald: Cities on a Hill
Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
Articles and excerpts at http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~mllewis/ and some on reserve in the library.
Course Description and Objectives: At the heart of the social sciences is the desire to create the perfect human community through a science of society. This is a grand vision - is there a higher human calling than improving the lot of human lives? History is filled with idealistic attempts at this, from the grandiose to the grotesque. You live in one such "city on a hill," an attempt at Utopia. The 20th century was dominated by two societies organized around theoretical attempts at achieving the good society - the US with its constitutional democracy, and the USSR's communist utopia. For every partial success at moving the world towards Utopia, there seems to be a corollary failure - a French Guillotine for every American Ballot Box - and sciences of society have created not just utopias, but dystopias as well. Some would argue that Utopia is a naive dream, many believe that the search for Utopia is dangerous. Nonetheless, idealists endure, and attempts at Utopia persist.
In this class we will consider the enduring dream of Utopia, from the Enlightenment (and the birth of the social sciences) to the present. In the course of our discussions we will range across the social sciences, from the early political theorists, to the anthropologists who fanned across the globe looking for the noble primitive, to the economists of markets free and controlled, to the sociologists of 20th century industrial nations. Our readings will range widely, from Margaret Meade to Karl Marx, from the 18th century to the present. Contemporary world debates will be crucial to the class. We will discuss current attempts at creating the good society - are the global environmental crises that have accrued from industrialization, the politics of the nation-state, and global consumerism (all the products of earlier attempts at Utopia) pushing us to reconsider what a Utopia should or might be? Can Utopia be local, or must it be global, in an interconnected world of mass media and mass markets? Are all attempts at Utopia ultimately going to restrict individual freedom in favor of the stability of the community - what would Thoreau think of a Utopia, for instance? By the end of the class, you will be asked to create your own vision of Utopia - as Eric Clapton sings, "You can change the world." This class will help you to decide - change it to what?
Grading Scale: A 90-100%
B 80%-89%
C 70-79%
D 60-69%
F 59% and below
Course Requirements:
Attendance: Your attendance is required. You will be responsible for making up any material missed. Please note that, while we all are occasionally forced to be late, a continued pattern of tardiness to class will not be tolerated. Continued tardiness, as well as absences, will of necessity result in a reduction in your participation grade. PLEASE NOTE: ABSENCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR FAILING TO TURN IN A PAPER, ASSIGNMENT, OR TAKING A QUIZ. IF YOU ARE ABSENT, WITHOUT HAVING ALREADY TURNED IN THE ASSIGNMENT, YOU RECEIVE A ZERO.
Preparation: In this class you will have to memorize NOTHING. There will be no late-night cramming for exams, or learning trivia by rote. But, I will expect you to read, and think about what you have read, for every class. Some of the reading assignments are brief, others are longer. The university suggests that you should be spending 2-3 hours out of class for every hour in class; in other words, 6-9 hours a week for a three hour class. You should be able to complete this course’s work in that time, on average (some weeks will require more, others less). Please do not come to class unprepared. It will be a waste of your time, as well as mine. Please note: for an honors class that meets only twice a week, I do not feel that a 4 and a half-hour reading/thinking assignment is excessive.
Participation: Your participation in class, or lack thereof, will be noted. Active participation is not optional, but is a precondition for success in this class. Participation does not simply mean attendance – it means asking questions, offering your opinions in class discussions, and coming to class prepared. I will periodically give unannounced reading quizzes. Further, for most class meetings I will begin by randomly selecting a class member to summarize the main points from the day’s assigned reading, as way of review, to start us off. I will then call on a second person to make any additional comments they feel might be helpful, and then to offer an introductory discussion question that deals with one of the key themes of that reading. Thus, for every class, please come prepared to both give a brief summary of the day’s reading, and to ask a discussion question. Failure to be prepared will result in a severe reduction in your participation grade. Please note that you will only have the opportunity to do such an impromptu introduction two or three times in a semester. The day you do not prepare could be the day you are called on to start class – and that could be devastating to your grade. Beyond these impromptu introductions, if you do not participate, your participation grade will reflect this. If you participate, but have nothing to say, your grade will reflect this. I understand that some people are shy and feel that they cannot talk readily in a class discussion. If this is you, please see me immediately. Failure to do so could result in a disastrously low participation grade.
Examinations: This course’s material is not well suited to examinations, so you will not have any. Instead, you will be asked to write a final essay in which you thoughtfully detail your own vision of “Utopia,” given the class material. This typed report will be due on the day of your final examination.
Presentations: In addition to the brief reading presentations mentioned above, you will be responsible for two additional presentations: one group presentation on a contemporary attempt at a community-based utopia, and a second presentation based upon a project completed for History 102.
Papers: In addition to your final report (and any other short writings, as assigned), you will be asked to do three formal essays, giving your reaction to the key themes of our first three units: Individual Freedom and Social Control, Economics of Individual and Community Welfare, and Skepticism-Dystopia. You will also occasionally be asked to do short in-class writings.
Grading Breakdown:
Reading
Reports, Quizzes, Discussion
Questions, Participation:
30%
Total for Unit Reaction Papers: 30%
Group Report on Contemporary Utopias: 10%
Final Project/Report: 30%
Honor Pledge: Every
assignment that you turn in must include at the end or beginning, in your own
handwriting, the following phrase with your signature: As a Salisbury
University student, I pledge that I have completed this assignment honorably.
_____________________________________________________
January
31:
Introductory class
February 2:
Due in class: Describe your vision of a utopian society.
Individual Freedom
and Social Control
February 7 Declaration of Independence,
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Declaration of the Rights of Women
February 9
Charter of the United
Nations,
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
February 14
Henry David Thoreau: Essay on Civil
Disobedience
February 16 Sigmund Freud: excerpts from Civilization and its Discontents
February 21
B.F. Skinner: excerpts from Walden
Two ;
excerpts from Beyond Freedom and Dignity
February 23
Economics of Individual and Community Welfare
February 28 Reaction
Paper Due: Freedom and Control
Andrew Carnegie: Gospel of Wealth
Response 2 to Gospel
of Wealth
March 1
March
7
March 9 Albert Einstein: Why Socialism?;
March 14 A
Brief Keynes biography
A more extensive description of
Keynes work
A webpage with several
Keynes excerpts
March 16
Paul Krugman, For Richer...
Edward Bellamy: Looking Backward
Skepticism
– Dystopia?
March 28 Reaction
Paper Due: Individual and Community Welfare
C Wright Mills: excerpts from The
Power Elite
March 30 No Class. Out of class, required video, "Bowling for Columbine."
April 4
Reinhold Niebuhr: excerpts from
Children of Light and the Children of
Darkness
April 6
April 11 Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (Novel completed)
April 13 Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Would-Be Utopias in our Midst
April
18
Reaction
Paper Due: Skepticism-Dystopia
Students
for a Democratic Society: Port Huron Statement
April 20
Frances Fitzgerald: Cities on A Hill – Introduction
American
Utopian Communities, 1800-1890 (ignore material explicitly geared at
helping teachers devise lesson plans)
April 25
Frances Fitzgerald: Cities on a Hill – The Castro, Liberty
Baptist, Sun City chapters.
April 27
Frances Fitzgerald: Cities on a Hill – Rajneeshpuram
May 2
Contemporary Utopian Communities
(you might consider looking at the following web-pages: (1)
(2)
May 4 Contemporary Utopian Communities
A
Utopia for Our Times?
May 9 Ernest Callenbach: Ecotopia (Novel completed)
May 11 Presentations for History 102 project
May 16 Ernest
Callenbach: Ecotopia
Final Paper Due: Tuesday, May 23rd, by 12:00 pm, in my office
Academic Integrity: The best learning environment is one based on mutual respect and trust. However, the desire to achieve a good grade without doing the necessary work may tempt some students to cheat on exams or to represent the work of others as their own. As should be obvious to anyone at Salisbury University, plagiarism and cheating are wrong and are acts of “academic dishonesty.” The term “academic dishonesty” means a deliberate and deceptive misrepresentation of one’s own work. Instances of academic dishonesty include all, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Plagiarism: presenting as one’s own work, whether literally or in paraphrase, the work of another author.
(2) Turning in the same paper for multiple courses.
(3) Cheating on exams, tests, and quizzes; the wrongful giving or accepting of unauthorized exam material; and the use of illegitimate sources of information.
(4) Unsanctioned collaboration with other individuals in the completion of course assignments.
(5) Falsifying data and use of fraudulent methods in laboratory, field work, and computer work.
(6) Falsifying excuses for non-attendance or completion of assignments.
There are no mitigating circumstances to justify academic dishonesty. IF you are unclear about what constitutes academic dishonesty or plagiarism, please ask – Ignorance is no excuse. Discovery of academic dishonesty will bring stiff penalties, including a failing grade for the assignment in question and possibly a grade of F for the course. The maximum penalty at Salisbury University for plagiarism is possible expulsion from the entire USM system, so for your own sakes, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.
Writing Across the Curriculum: Writing across the Curriculum is a nationally recognized initiative that is designed to improve students’ learning through encouraging different types of writing in all university courses. This course is committed to this program, and in lieu of examinations, you will write a series of papers requiring you to engage the course material and formulate your own arguments.