Readings and films are also listed by session.
Books Available for Purchase
Lukes, Steven. Power: A Radical View. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN: 9780333420928.
Goffman, Erving. Asylums. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1961. ISBN: 9780385000161.
Appignanesi, Michael. Marx for Beginners. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1979. ISBN: 9780394737164.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York, NY: Penguin, 2002. ISBN: 9780140447576.
Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780804717625.
Wrong, Dennis. Power: Its Forms, Bases and Uses. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996. ISBN: 9781560008224.
Recommended Books on Writing
Cuba, Lee. Writing About Social Science. New York, NY: Longman Press, 2001.
Strunk, William, and E. B. White. Elements of Style. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2005.
Readings and Films by Session
| Lec # | TOPICS | Readings/Films |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Introduction, Opening Discussion - How is power defined? Is it possible to use a single definition of power to describe a variety of social situations? |
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| I. Defining the Concept of Power: A Preliminary Analysis | ||
| 2-3 | What is Power? Action and Intention |
Gouldner, Alvin. “Basic Assumptions.” The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1970, pp. 52-54. ISBN: 9780465012787. Simmel, Georg. “On Superordination and Subordination.” The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Edited and translated by Kurt H. Wolff. New York, NY: Free Press, pp. 181-189. ISBN: 9780029289204. Wrong, Dennis. Power: Its Forms, Bases and Uses. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996, pp. 1-20. ISBN: 9781560008224. |
| 4-6 | What Power is Not: Influence and Conformity |
Film: “Obedience and Conformity.” Asch, Solomon. “Effects of Group Pressure upon the Modification and Distortion of Judgements.” In Doing Unto Others. Edited by Zick Rubin. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1975. ISBN: 9780132175968. Stanley, Milgram. “Behavioral study of obedience.” J Abnormal Soc Psychol 67 (1963): 371-8. Janis, Irving. “Groupthink Among Policy Makers.” In Sanctions for Evil. Edited by Nevitt Sanford, Craig Comstock and associates. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1971. ISBN: 9780875890777. Zimbardo, Philip, Craig Haney, W. Curtis Banks, and David Jaffe. “The Psychology of Imprisonment.” In Theory and Research in Abnormal Psychology. Edited by D. Rosenhan, and P. London. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1969, pp. 271-287. ISBN: 9780030745607. |
| 7-10 | Force: The Limiting Case |
Goffman, Erving. Asylums. Garden City, NY: Anchor books, 1961. ISBN: 9780385000161. Wrong, Dennis. Power: Its Forms, Bases and Uses. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996, pp. 21-34. ISBN: 9781560008224. |
| 11-12 | Leadership and Charisma: Personal and Inspirational Power |
Film: Riefenstahl, Leni. The Triumph of the Will, 1935. Rustow, Dankwart A. “The Study of Leadership.” In Philosophers and Kings: Studies in Leadership. Edited by Dankwart A. Rustow. New York, NY: George Braziller, 1970, pp. 1-32. ISBN: 9780807605394. Tucker, Robert C. “The Theory of Charismatic Leadership.” In Philosophers and Kings: Studies in Leadership. Edited by Dankwart A. Rustow. New York, NY: George Braziller, 1970, pp. 1-32. ISBN: 9780807605394. Weber, Max. “Charisma.” In On Charisma and Institution Building. Edited by S. N. Eisenstadt. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1968. |
| 13-14 | Authority (1): The Ability to Command | Wrong, Dennis. Power: Its Forms, Bases and Uses. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996, pp. 35-83. ISBN: 9781560008224. |
| II. The Sources, Structure and Institutionalization of Power | ||
| 15-16 | Some Classical Views |
Denby, David. “Aristotle.” Great Books. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996, pp. 117-127. ISBN: 9780684809755. ———. “Machiavelli.” Great Books. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996, pp. 194-201. ISBN: 9780684809755. ———. “Hobbes and Locke.” Great Books. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996, pp. 206-220. ISBN: 9780684809755. ———. “Marx.” “Hobbes and Locke.” Great Books. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996, pp. 338-352. ISBN: 9780684809755. Machiavelli, Niccolo. “How a Prince Must Act In Order to Gain Reputation.” The Prince. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1999, pp. 110-113. ISBN: 9780451527462. Hobbes, Thomas. The Leviathan. pp. 344-261. Pareto, Vilfredo. “The Circulation of Elites.” Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York, NY: Penguin, 2002. ISBN: 9780140447576. ———. “Preface.” A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. New York, NY: International Publishers, 1979. ISBN: 9780717800414. Appignanesi, Michael. Marx for Beginners. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1979. ISBN: 9780394737164. Tocqueville, Alexis de. “That Aristocracy May be Engendered by Manufactures.” Democracy in America. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 2001. ISBN: 9780451528124. Michels, Robert. “Democracy and the Iron Law of Oligarchy.” Political Parties. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999. ISBN: 9780765804693. Weber, Max. “Class, Status and Party,” and “Three Types of Legitimate Rule.” Theory of Social and Economic Organization. New York, NY: Free Press, 1964. ISBN: 0684836408. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1980, pp. 3-13, 17-35, and 92-114. ISBN: 9780394740263. |
| 17-18 | Modern Debates |
Bachrach, Peter, and Morton Baratz. “Two Faces of Power.” Power and Poverty; Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1970. Lukes, Steven. Power: A Radical View. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN: 9780333420928. |
| 19-20 | Authority (2): Power Redefined, Institutionalized, and Disciplined |
Foucault, Michel. “Truth and Power.” In Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. Edited by Colin Gordon. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1980. ISBN: 9780394739540. Peller, Gary. “Reason and the Mob: The Politics of Representation.” Tikkun Magazine 2, no. 3 (1987): 28-31, and 92-95. Scott, Joan Wallace. “The Pitfalls of ‘Scientific’ Feminism.” Tikkun Magazine 4, no. 2 (March 1989): 90-91. Fallows, James. “The Case Against Credentialism.” The Atlantic Monthly (December 1985): 49-67. |
| III. Institutionalized Power: Examples and Transformations | ||
| 21-22 | Bureaucratic Organizations and Entrepreneurial Corporations | Herzfeld. The Social Production of Indifference. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780226329086. |
| 23-24 | Modernity, Post-modern Colonialism, and The Global Community |
Silbey, Susan. “Let Them Eat Cake.” Law and Society Review 31, no. 2 (1997): 207-236. Sasson, Saskia. The Global City. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991, pp. 3-34. ISBN: 9780691078663. Mintz, Sidney. Sweetness and Power. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1986. ISBN: 9780140092332. (Excerpts) Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780804717625. (Excerpts) |
| 25-26 | The Possibilities of Resistance | Ewick, and Silbey. “Narrating Social Structure: Stories of Resistance to Law.” American Journal of Sociology 108, no. 6 (May 2003): 1328-72. |
| 27 |
Powersharing Can Power be Distributed Equally? |
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