PROFESSOR HANK JOHNSTON
SOCIOLOGY 537
POLIICAL SOCIOLOGY
FALL 2014
OFFICE HOURS
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:00
Room: NH220
Email: Hank.Johnston@sdsu.edu
Phone: 594-1323
REQUIRED BOOKS AND READINGS
Charles Tilly, 1992. Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1992. New York: Blackwell
Hank Johnston, 2011. States and Social Movements. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Xi Chen, 2012. Social Protest and Contentious Authoritarianism in China. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Additional readings will be posted on Blackboard throughout the semester.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Trace the rise of the modern state. What is the state? Where does it come from? What does it do?
Specify the relation between citizens and/or subjects (you and me) and state elites.
Be able to describe the role of popular pressure on governance and state formation
Describe the differences and similarities between democratic and authoritarian states
List the basic features of the Chinese state
Specify the role of popular protest in the Chinese state.
GRADING
The final grade is based on four criteria: (1) Five quizzes given throughout the semester: (2) random, in-class pop
quizzes, plus one at the beginning of the semester based on the syllabus, which you will learn about when you visit
the Blackboard site; (3) a combined grade for classroom attendance and participation; (4) and a grade for the
weekly questions that are turned in.
1. QUIZZES. There will be five quizzes during the semester. The last one is longer and has a comprehensive
section. The first four quizzes will take approximately 45 minutes. They are worth 44% overall in the final course
grade, or 11% each. They will consist of about 30-40 multiple-choice questions and perhaps some short answer
questions. The fifth quiz is about twice as long as a midterm quizzes. One half will focus on the material from the
previous two weeks (basically, a typical midterm quiz) and the other half will have questions that look back upon the
material we have covered the course’s first 12 weeks. This last quiz is worth 22% of the total grade (I will discuss
the remaining 34% shortly). Dates for the quizzes are listed in the class schedule. For all quizzes, you will need
Scantron form 882E. MAKEUP QUIZZES ARE NOT GIVEN except for emergencies where can give me written
evidence that you could not take the quiz. Work schedules, social events, trips, family celebrations, and vacations
are not emergencies. Colds, allergies, and headaches are inconveniences, but not legitimate medical excuses.
Having the flu or being in the hospital is. If a quiz is missed, a zero will be recorded as the grade. If written evidence
is provided of medical, family, or legal emergencies, make-up exams will be administered one day only in the
fourteenth week of the semester. All grade assignments are based to the common grading standard: A = 90 % 100%; B = 80% - 89%; C = 70% - 79%; D = 60% - 69%; and F = 59% and lower.
2. CLASS ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION. Attendance and classroom engagment are important in this
class. A lot of learning takes place in the classroom and students are partially tested on the content of class
discussions. Patterns from previous classes show that students who get As and Bs do not miss many classes. In
fact, many of them have perfect attendance. On the other hand, students who do poorly typically have a lot of
absences. Part of the reason for this is that excessive absences hurt your participation grade. However, it seems
that the more important factor is that excessive absences diminish your ability to do well in quizzes. Missing a class
means that you miss lecture material and discussion that will be the basis of exam questions (and maybe a pop
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quiz). Attendance is taken every class. By the way, if you are late, that is, if you come in after attendance is taken,
it’s ½ an absence, so don’t let these pile up either. If you are late, see me after class to make sure you are not given
a full absence. At the end of the semester, if you have no absences = 100%, one absence, 90%; two absences,
80%; three 70%; four 60%; and so on.
This attendance grade then averaged with a participation grade, which will be assigned by the professor, ranging
from A = excellent to F = failing. These are inherently subjective. The rule of thumb I go by is that the average
student does not participate much, and average = C. If you ask questions, participate, come to office hours, the
grade for this component goes up from there. Although it rarely happens, especially grievous behavior, such as
disrupting lectures or videos, leaving class in the middle of lecture, will mean a D or F. Also, we need to be clear on
additional element that can adversely affect your participation score: it is rude to leave during class. It is disruptive to
the person talking—usually the professor—and to other students. If you must leave early, say because of a one-time
meeting or work obligation, first tell me, and then sit by the door for a gracious exit.
If you are shy, never participate in class, never will, (and can’t be coaxed to) you still may augment your participation
grade my coming to my office hours for extra help in class or just to discuss class topics. Your questions, comments
and ideas are welcome in visits during scheduled office hours. An overall grade for attendance and participation is
calculated by averaging the attendance score and the score that the professor assigns for participation. This grade
then makes up 11% of the final grade, or equal to one quiz.
3. POP QUIZZES. Students must buy a package of mini-scantrons (Quizstrip, form 815-E) and bring them to class
each session. There will be numerous short, quizzes (5-10 questions) based on assigned reading and lectures
throughout the semester. The average of all pop quizzes will count for 11% of your total grade, equal to one
midterm quiz. If you miss a pop quiz because of an absence, it is scored as a zero. Because each pop quiz is worth
very little, there are no makeups for pop quizzes.
4. WRITTEN QUESTIONS. Students are asked to turn in six or ten questions (see class schedule) based on the
assigned readings for the week. These questions should be about items that you don’t understand in the reading. I
want to know what parts of the assigned readings you are having trouble understand. I will cover in class the
questions that occur frequently or which are especially important. I will cover in class a question that seems
especially relevant or thought provoking, but—obviously—I will not be able to discuss all the questions for reasons
of time. I encourage students to take time to jot down questions and thoughts that occur to them as you do the
reading (this is by far the easiest way to do it), and I guarantee that I will answer many of them. They are indications
to me of what you are having trouble understanding.
The last question (either the sixth or the tenth, depending on the week’s assignment) is a different kind. I want you
to write one, thoughtful, multiple-choice question based on any part of the assigned reading. Compose a clearly
worded question and indicate the correct answer (see the example on the next page). I want to see that you have
taken time to think about this. This should be about the material that you think is most important, most interesting, or
the most difficult. I have found that asking students to compose questions gives good indications of what you
understand, what you do not, and if there is fuzziness about key concepts. You must have a thoughtful, four-answer,
multiple-choice question included at the end of each set of questions you turn in OR YOU WILL NOT GET CREDIT.
Questions for the assigned readings are to be turned at the beginning of the class. NO LATE QUESTIONS OR
QUESTIONS FOR PREVIOUS WEEKS READINGS ARE ACCEPTED. Reading assignments are not heavy for this
course and this rule will be strictly observed, both for the purposes of record keeping and to encourage you do the
readings when they are assigned.
Students will be assigned a score for questions based on the number of weekly assignments they turn in. If you do
them all, and they are acceptable quality = 100%, 13 out of 13. You receive a 92% for 12 of 13. 11 of 13 = 85%, and
so on. This grade is worth 12% of your overall course grade. There is usually a delay in posting your questions in
MyGrades because of the time it takes to review them and record them. It will appear as a running score (1 point for
each acceptable set of questions) of the points you get out of 13, which is the total number of questions at the end
of the semester.
Below are listed sample questions from the introductory chapter by Daniel Chirot (not the first assigned reading,
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which is his chapter 2). I provide this sample to give you a sense of what these questions are like. You must have at
least five questions for each reading, but i is common that students who take this assignment seriously write more
than five. Please take this assignment seriously. I don’t want lame or make-up questions. You won’t get credit. I
want to know what you don’t understand. FOR EACH QUESTION, INDICATE THE PAGE NUMBER AND WHERE
ON THE PAGE YOU HAVE YOUR QUESTION. QUESTIONS MUST HAVE THIS INFORMATION IN ORDER TO
GET CREDIT. Without it, I cannot check what you are asking. Some questions may simply about terms that are not
understood (but not all). Others are about concepts. Some, like the last one, you might have a general question,
which is okay. However, you must have at least five about the reading with page number and line indicated. NOTE
THAT THE MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTION HAS THE PAGE LOCATION TOO AND THE CORRECT ANSWER
IS INDICATED.
NAME HERE
SOC 537 2:00
August 28, 2014
p. 2, 2/3 down. What other periods of colossal and sudden mass extinctions have occurred?
p. 5. line 4. What does the author mean when he says that it is only by hindsight that we can tell what cultural
changes turn out to be adaptive or maladaptive?
p. 5, bottom. How do we know the population of the earth around the time of Christ?
p. 7. line 4. What is an example of a kind of behavior that was once dysfunctional and which now has great positive
value?
p. 9, 1/3 down. I always thought that primitive societies were much more equal and that everyone was happier than
in modern civilization. How do they know if people were happy or not?
p. 10, 3/4 down. Why did warfare increase with the invention of agriculture? The two are not related at all.
p. 11, line 4. What is the difference between an horticulturalist and an agriculturalist?
How is it that the author is able to make such sweeping generalizations about all these different kinds of societies?
Why did warfare increase with the coming of agricultural societies? (pages 4-6)
a. Overpopulation put pressure on societies to expand
b. Increased surpluses meant there was more plunder from warfare
c. Surpluses enabled stronger, skilled warriors to specialize in warfare
d. all of the above
 Don’t forget to put your name at the top
 You must have at least five questions about the assigned reading(s) with page numbers and page location.
 You must also have one thoughtful, multiple-choice question with appropriate page number and page location
 You may have general questions (see number six above) but they are in addition to the required five
 No late questions. Questions collected at the beginning of class.
 Don’t make up questions about the reading assignments and/or compose mc questions that are obvious, show a lack of
thought, and/or are just plain dumb. Take this assignment seriously or you won’t get credit.
COURSE SCHEDULE
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PART I. THE AGRARIAN STATE
Aug
Sept
26
One the first day of class we will review administrative matters and discuss the basic question: What does social science
tell us about basic nature of the state? Before day one: (1) read the syllabus so that you know our course’s
requirements; (2) read the article, “Life in a Jihadist Capital” in the Bb documents folder for part I; (3) bring a package of
miniscantrons, Quizstsrip 815E to class. You will have a short and easy miniquiz on the syllabus and the article.
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The invention of the state. Read Chirot, ch. 2 in Bb documents folder. Questions due
02
The agrarian state, continued. Begin Tilly, 16-37. Six questions due on these pages.
04
The rise of the modern state. Begin Tilly, chapter 2
09
The rise of the modern state. Tilly, chapter 2. Questions due.
11
FIRST QUIZ. No make-ups, no rescheduling, no exceptions.
PART II. THE MODERN STATE
Oct
16
Warfare and the State. Read chapter 3. Questions due.
18
States and citizenship. Begin Tilly, chapter 4.
23
States and citizenship. Questions due on chapter 4.
25
State lineages. Begin Tilly, chapter 5.
30
States lineages. Questions due on chapter 5.
02
SECOND QUIZ. No make-ups, no rescheduling, no exceptions.
PART III. THE STATE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
07
09
The state and social movements. Read ch. 1 in Johnston, States and Social Movements.
Six questions only due on ch. 1.
14
Protests and democracies. Read chapter 2 in Johnston
16
Social movements today. Read chapter 3 in Johnston. Ten questions due today on chapters 2 and 3
21
Transnational protest and the state. Read chapter 6 in Johnston
23
Globalized protest, continued. Questions due on chapter 6
28
THIRD QUIZ. No make-ups, no rescheduling, no exceptions.
PART IV. REPRESSION AND REVOLUTION
Nov
30
Revolutions and states. Read chapter 5 in Johnston. Questions due today.
04
Protest in authoritarian states. Read chapter 4 in Johnston
06
Ethnic movements and the state. Questions on chapter 4 due today
11
Social protest in China. Read pp. 3-55 in Chen, Social Protest and Contentious Authoritarianism in China
13
Summary: Introduction to the Chinese case. Questions due pp. 3-55 in Chen
18
FOURTH QUIZ No make-ups, no rescheduling, no exceptions.
PART V. STUDYING SOCIAL PROTEST IN CHINA
Dec
20
Political Opportunities for protest in Chinese authoritarianism. Begin chs. 3 and 4 in Chen
25
The state management of protest. This time do ten questions total for both chs. 3 and 4
02
Protest strategies and tactics. Begin chs. 5 and 6 in Chen
04
Questions due for chs. 5 and 6 in Chen
09
Summary: social protest in China
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FIFTH QUIZ. 1:00 P.M. No make-ups, no rescheduling, no exceptions.