Course Description and Objective:
The focus of
this course is the American society and politics in the 20th century.
In order to understand transformations taking place in the American society and
politics today, we need to explore and examine the social, political and
economic underpinnings of the past. Today’s paradigms were created in relation
to specific events in the past, and now fuel current events. At the beginning
of the 20st century, a modern American state and society emerged as
a result of industrialization; car manufacturing and assembly line were
developed. Car manufacturing and steel industry fueled the domestic migration, and
modern American industrial cities were born, such as Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, etc. This transformation was very similar to what happened in Europe
in the 1800s.
Rapid economic development created
unintended consequences, such as 1929 Great Depression which led the changes in
American Social structure as we see in the John Steinbeck famous novel, The
Grapes of Wrath. Hence, Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced A New Deal economic
recovery project. While Europe was burning with Nazism, US developed and
recovered its economic depression less than ten years, and defeated Nazi
Germany in the WW II. This was the beginning stage of American “Century.”
However, another important political actor started to be seen in the world
politics and this was Soviet Union. Between 1945 and 1989, the world faced unprecedented challenges; basically, economic, social and political competition
between USA and USSR changed and transformed the American Society and politics
substantially. Both countries re-arranged and re-structured their economic and
social policies based on the Cold War Politics. US entered the Vietnam War,
left by French Colonialism; and democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad
Mosaddegh was overthrown by US led coup in Iran, very similar to US supported
military coups in Guatemala and Albania. Military industrial complex was born
under these circumstances. In the 1960s, social and political unrest exploded
across the US cities against racism and Vietnam War. At the end of 1980s, the
world witnessed collapse of USSR. Therefore, between 1992 and 2000, under the
Clinton administration, US economy, society and politics had been more relax
than before and after. However, emergence of tech industry and
internationalization of commodity chains had changed American economy forever.
American companies started to invest in a country where there was a cheaper
labor and outsourced their local jobs. American small towns immediately were affected
by these economic changes. Direct social result was the re-creation of
Evangelical Christianity in across America. Politics and society have moved
towards more conservative direction. In meantime, ethnic and economic lobbies
started to hijacked American domestic and foreign policies. In this class, we
will review and try to understand these changes.
Required Reading:
1.
American Politics and Society. David McKay. Wiley,
2012.
Recommended Readings:
2.
Bowling Alone:The Collapse and Revival of American
Community By ROBERT D. PUTNAM
Fiction/Novels:
- Americanah
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- The New
Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander
- The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie
- Truth
Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom By
Ryan T. Anderson
- The Half
Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism
By Edward Baptist
- Taking
Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith By
Francis Beckwith
- The
Coming By Daniel Black
- The
Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism By Pascal
Bruckner
- Between
the World and Me By Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Democracy
Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics By
Cathy Cohen
- Evicted
By Matthew Desmond
- Roads to
Dominion: Right Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States
By Sara Diamond
- Sleeping
Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America By
Tamara Draut
- Affluence
and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America
By Martin Gilens
- The
Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
By Jonathan Haidt
- The True
Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements By Eric
Hoffer
- Strangers
in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
By Arlie Russell Hochschild
- In
Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in
the 20th Century By Alice Kessler-Harris
- The
Fractured Republic: Renewing America's Social Contract in the Age of
Individualism By Yuval Levin (2)
- The
Possessive Investment in Whiteness By George Lipsitz
- Dog
Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and
Wrecked the Middle Class By Ian Haney López
- A
Canticle for Leibowitz By Walter Miller
- Coming
Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 By Charles Murray
- Dreams
From My Father By Barack Obama
- The
Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America By George
Packer
- Citizen:
An American Lyric By Claudia Rankine
- Killing
the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
By Dorothy Roberts
- The Next
America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown
By
Paul
Taylor
- Because
of Sex: One Law, 10 Cases and 50 Years That Changed American Women’s Lives
at Work By Gillian Thomas
- Habibi
By Craig Thompson
- Don’t
Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!By Mo Willems
- American
Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
By Colin Woodard
Documentaries:
Movies:
The Godfather (1972)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Shawshank Redemption
(1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(1975)
Fargo (1996)
American Beauty (1999)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Fight Club (1999)
Alien (1979)
The Matrix (1999)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Rear Window (1954) The Usual
Suspects (1995)
The Dark Knight (2008)
West Side Story (1961)
North by Northwest (1959)
Mary Poppins (1964)
All the President's Men (1976)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
12 Angry Men (1957)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Burn After Reading (2008)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Color Purple (1985)
American History X (1998)
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
The Truman Show (1998)
Pleasantville (1996)
TV Series:
2. Ozark
(2017) Netflix
Websites and Projects:
Course Requirements
To prevent confusion later,
please read the following information carefully:
Grades: Your grade
for this course will be based on your performance in the following categories,
shown below with their dates and respective weights.
Item
Date Weight
(%)
Quizzes (5 Quiz)
60.0
Final Paper/Movie Critique: 30.0
Attendance/ Class
Participation 10.0
Quizzes: You will have 5 quizzes. The quizzes will have 12
questions from each week’s class readings and discussions. Each Quiz is worth
12 points and each question is worth 1 point. You will find the schedule of
quizzes below. Please carefully review the quiz schedule. If you have schedule
conflict, drop the class. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not
hesitate to contact me directly.
Final Paper/Movie
Critique: You will select a movie
based on American Politics and Society, and will write a movie review, based on our class topics (Chapters in
the book). We must approve your final movie proposal first. Each student must
select a different movie, so it is important to clear your topic with us as soon as possible. For your final
paper, we created a sample format, which you will receive it by email. Follow
the sample format, and answer the questions clearly!
The final paper must be at
least 2000 words. The last day to submit your final paper is Sunday………………..
CRITERIA: If you select your
movie after the third week you will lose 3 points!
If your
paper is late, you will lose another 4 points!
If your
final paper is less then 2000 words, you will lose 5 points!
Participation/Attendance:
Each student must read the course materials before they attend class, and I
expect them to participate in class discussion. Regular class attendance is one
of the most important parameters to successful completion of the course
requirements. If you find interesting articles, books, videos, or other sources
that pertain to the class topics and discussion, please share them with me and
with your classmates. This can count towards your class participation score.
Course
Timeline
First Week
|
·
Introduction to Course and overview syllabus
·
Background of 20th century Politics
and Society
·
What is Cold War?
· Chapter
1 Government and the People in a Polarized Society
o
The Chapters to Come
· Chapter
2 Beliefs, Values and American Society
o
The Nature of American Beliefs and Values
o
Values and American Society
o
Social Structure
|
Second Week
|
· Chapter 3 Constitutional Government
o
Origins
o
The
American Constitution
o
Ratification
o
The
Adaptive Constitution
o
Assessing
the Constitution
· Chapter 4 Federalism and
Intergovernmental Relations
o
Federalism
in Theory and Practice
o
The
Evolution of American Federalism
o
The
Changing Federal Role
o
A
Changing Court Role?
o
The
Future of American Federalism
|
Third Week
|
·
Chapter
5 American Political Parties in Transition
o
The
Functions of Parties
o
Crisis
and Change in the American Party System
o
The
Decline and Rise of Political Parties
o
Changing
Party Ideology: 1970–2010 102
o
Explaining
Party Change
o
Political
Parties Redux
· Chapter 6 Elections and Political
Participation
o
Patterns
of American Electoral Behaviour
o
The
‘American Voter’ Model and the New Deal Coalition
o
The
Decline of the New Deal Coalition and the Rise of a Divided Electorate
o
Non-Electoral
Political Participation
Quiz – 1
|
Fourth Week
|
· Chapter 7 The Media and American
Politics
o
Media
Structure and Organization
o
Organization
and Ownership
o
How
Biased? The Media and the Political Agenda
o
Controlling
the Media
o
The
Media and American Democracy
· Chapter 8 Congress I: The People’s
Branch?
o
Representation
and Congress
o
Congressional
Elections
o
Legislators
as Rational Actors
o
The
Work of Member of Congress
o
Conclusions
|
Fifth Week
|
· Chapter 9 Congress II: Functions and
Powers – The Broken Branch?
o
The
Functions of Congress
o
The
Structure of Power in Congress
o
Congress
Under Fire
o
Reform
and Change in Congress
o
Is
Congress the Broken ‘Branch’?
· Chapter 10 The Presidency I: Powers and
Selection
o
Formal
Sources of Power
o
Informal
Powers
o
Presidential
Selection
o
Presidential
Selection: Faults and Foibles
Quiz – 2
|
Sixth Week
|
· Chapter 11 The Presidency II: The
President as Chief Executive
o
The
Presidency in a Changing America
o
Presidential
Abuse of Power and the Congressional Response
o
Presidential
Resources
o
Assessing
the Presidency: Presidential Power at Home and Abroad
· Chapter 12 Bureaucratic Power:
Federal Departments and Agencies
o
The
Federal Bureaucracy: Organization and Function
o
The
Bureaucracy: How Uncontrollable?
o
The
Inherent Power of Bureaucracy
o
The
Bureaucratic Hydra: A Uniquely American Phenomenon?
o
Reform
Attempts
o
Concluding
Remarks
|
Seventh Week
|
· Chapter 13 The Security State
o
The
Rise of the Security State
o
9/11,
the Patriot Act, and the Department of Homeland Security
o
Threats
to Civil Liberties
o
The
Security State and American Values
· Chapter 14 Organized Interests: The
Real Power?
o
Interests,
Groups and Lobbyists
o
Economic
Groups
o
Professional
Groups
o
Promotional
Groups
o
Political
Action Committees
o
The
Washington Lobby
o
Interest
Groups: For and Against
Quiz – 3
|
Eighth Week
|
· Chapter 15 The Supreme Court and
Judicial Politics
o
The
American Legal System
o
The
Supreme Court: Decision-Making
o
The
Supreme Court and Political Power
o
The
Polarized and Activist Rehnquist and Roberts Courts
o
Conclusions:
The Court and American Democracy
· Chapter 16 Regulating Morality: Civil
Rights, Liberties and the Conscience Issues
o
Introduction
o
Regulating
Public Morality
o
Civil
Liberties 352 Equality and Civil Rights
o
Conclusions
|
Ninth Week
|
· Chapter 17 Social Policy in America:
Self-Reliance and State Dependence
o
The
Federal Government and Social Welfare in America: The Reluctant Provider
o
Federalism
o
Social
Security, Medicare and the Electoral Connection
o
The
Continuing Importance of Self-Reliance
o
Health-Care
Reforms
o
The
Federal Government and Education
o
Conclusions
· Chapter 18 Managing Economic Change
o
State
and Economy in the United States
o
Ideology
and Economic Policy
o
Institutions
and Economic Policy
o
Conclusions:
Economic Policy in an Age of Uncertainty
Quiz – 4
|
Tenth Week
|
· Chapter 19 Environmental Politics
o
Background
o
The
Emerging Environmental Agenda
o
Policy
Actors and Institutions
o
Chronology
o
Political
Parties and the Environment
o
Conclusions:
The Future of Environmental Politics
· Chapter 20 The American World Role
o
The
Institutional Context
o
American
Foreign Policy in the Post-9/11 World
o
Conclusions:
Bound to Lead or Bound to Fail?
· Chapter 21 The American Political
System in an Uncertain World
o
Assessing
the American Polity
o
Reform
and Renewal
Quiz – 5
|
|
FINAL PAPER
Last Day of Finals
Midnight
|
