Soc 444           Social Change      Fall 2003

Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo F. Santos

santos_class@csub.edu

Tel: 664-2191 Office: DDH-AA205 Office Hours: Tu. & Th. 3:05 - 5:00 pm, or by appointment Classroom: DDH - H103 Class Time: Mo. & Wed., 6:00 - 8:05 pm

 

• Charles L. Harper & Kevin T. Leicht, 2002. Exploring Social Change. America and the World, 4th. Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

• Immanuel Wallerstein, 2003. The Decline of American Power. New York: The New Press.

• Notes From Nowhere, 2003. We Are Everywhere. The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism. London: Verso.
  

This course first explores the origins and dynamics of social change at the level of the “big” issues, but in a way that engages the life experiences of individuals (the “micro-macro” connection — showing the connection between many issues, using current data and a balanced discussion of major perspectives, theories, and models). To that end, we specify the concept of social change; explore recent changes and trends in contemporary American society; discuss concepts, theories, and models of change with reference to social movements, revolutions, innovation, and the role of change agents as producers of social change; and we broadly discuss world-scale trends and change processes in the modern world, with reference to development, globalization, environmental issues, and prospects for the future.

Next,  we zero-in on one of the most contentious issues of world social change today and for the foreseeable future: the origins, nature, and directions of the emerging world (dis-)order and the role of the United States in all of this. Among the many hotly contended perspectives, we will analyze the thesis of Immanuel Wallerstein on the subject, one of the founders of the world-system perspective in historical sociology, to wit: that the hastened decline of the United States power and hegemony since the late 1960s is the key dynamic creating the current chaos in world governance, with no viable agency or alternative vision in sight, which presents the world's social movements with enormous theoretical and practical challenges.

Finally, we take a look at the world's antisystemic movements themselves, in their rich diversity of goals and forms of struggle, the cauldron where the new vision for a better world is slowly being formed amidst the recurring disasters of capitalist globalization.

 

Class format:  The class meets on Mondays & Wednesdays for two-hour sessions. Dr. Santos will first lecture on the topics covered in the assigned readings; there will be a full class discussion following a brief break. Attendance is mandatory (unauthorized absences/tardiness/leaving early will be penalized). Students must come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned readings for that day. Pop quizzes will be randomly administered throughout the course.

Research project: No midterm or final will be given. Instead, five research groups will formed early on in the course, each consisting of six or seven students. Each group will design, organize, research, and write a research volume on a major topic or area of social change, consisting of individual papers organized according to some intellectual division of labor (i.e., each student focusing on a sub topic of the overall group research topic). After preliminary group discussion and preliminary library research, students will need to seek the approval from Dr. Santos, during his office hours, for each group's main research topic and the proposed individual paper sub topics. Each group will be asked to do a full class presentation on their research project towards the end of the course (see schedule below). The completed research group volumes will be due on Friday, November 21, at Dr. Santos office, no later than 5:00 pm.

Each volume should be bound and should include a title page and a table of content page, listing each paper by title and author. Each individual paper should be between 12 and 15 pages long, excluding the bibliography or any appendices. For a precise guide on the paper's format and citation style, go to the following web page:

http://www.csubak.edu/~gsantos/guide-paper.html

 Grading

The pop quizzes will be worth 35 points.  The group research presentations are worth 15 points (individually assigned). The written research papers are worth 50 points (45 points for the paper, 5 points for the group effort).  The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100 points, as follows: 

Dr. Santos' office hours will be 3:05 pm to 5:00 pm, Tu & Th., or by appointment. Email for Dr. Santos is strongly discouraged for any other purpose than basic communications (e.g., will be absent or late, questions that can be answered with one line, thank you's, etc.). Talking is a lot more efficient and fun that typing!

Other group members' names/phones/email addresses:

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My group's research topic is:

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The individual research sub topics are:

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