SOCIOL 1133: War, Revolution, and Organized Crime: In Film, and in Reality
SOC 133
War, Revolution and Organized Crime
Fall 2020
War
Organized Crime
Revolution
Remote Features
Live Zoom Lecture Time: Monday, Wednesday 10:30 - 11:45*
* N.B. Students in time zones that do not allow for the scheduled class time will have alternative lecture times arranged. Lecture videos will be recorded and made available to students, but students are required to attend the sessions live to participate in active learning exercises, Zoom breakout rooms, and discussion.
Live Section Times: TBD
Films: In addition to the assigned readings, students are invited to watch exciting weekly films on war, revolution and mafias. Cinematic representations will be analyzed and critiqued throughout the semester as we read the course materials. Films can be streamed individually, in student groups, or in class-wide streaming parties via Zoom to analyze and discuss scenes.
New Component: This semester only, the course offers the option of a sociological video essay in lieu of a traditional paper for the final project. See syllabus for more details.
Zoom Links: TBD
Professor:
Department of Sociology
604 William James Hall
Office Hours (walk-in): Mondays, 12:00 - 14:00 on the class Zoom link
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Course description: This course explores war, revolution and organized crime as interrelated social phenomena. Students will read sociologists, historians, political scientists and philosophers addressing the nature, causes and consequences of these phenomena in different national and historical contexts. The course will combine influential theoretical frameworks (by Karl Marx, Max Weber, Sigmund Freud, Hannah Arendt), middle-range social scientific approaches (by Anthony Giddens, Charles Tilly, Michael Mann, Theda Skocpol), and empirical and historical analyses (by Eric Hobsbawm, Benedict Anderson, James C. Scott, Eugen Weber). The three phenomena will further be scrutinized through their (mis)representation in movies by Mike Nichols, Milos Forman, Bernardo Bertolucci and others. Lecture Powerpoints will be uploaded under "Files" with the readings. Week 1. Introduction to the Course Week 2. Major Themes PART I: WAR Week 3. Propaganda, Militarism and the Thrill of War | visual motif from Cabaret | Week 4. Violence as an Organizational Challenge | visual motif from Full Metal Jacket | Week 5. Crime and Rationality | visual motif from Catch-22 | PART II: ORGANIZED CRIME Week 6. Mafias, Old and New | visual motif from Once Upon a Time in America | Week 7. Favelas, Ghettos and Peripheries | visual motif from City of God | Week 8. Social Banditry and Patriotism | visual motif from Third Man | PART III: REVOLUTION Week 9. "Impossible" until they Happen; Then, "Inevtiable" | visual motif from Reds | Week 10. Tamed Revolutionaries: Dreams of 1968 | visual motif from Strawberry Statement| Week 11. Colonialism and its Discontents | visual motif from Man Who Would Be King| Week 12. Final Paper Workshops I Week 13. Final Paper Workshops II Week 14. Final Paper Workshops III |
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Course Summary:
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