Professor Stephen Eric Bronner
Bronner@rci.rutgers.edu
Department of Political Science
790:608—Contemporary Political Theory, Fall 2014
Thursdays 3:00 – 5:40, Hickman 313
Office Hours: 2:00 – 3:00 Thursday, Hickman 306
Syllabus
This course will center on representative works of the major trends or traditions in twentieth
century political theory: liberalism, conservatism, communitarianism, critical theory,
postmodernism, and the like. The course will evidence a certain interdisciplinary quality, and the
reading is fairly heavy: Be prepared to make a serious commitment. Requirements will include
an in-class presentation and 2 essay exams.
Required Readings
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
Eduard Bernstein, The Preconditions of Socialism
Ernst Bloch, Heritage of Our Times
Stephen Eric Bronner and Douglas Kellner (ed.’s), Critical Theory and Society
Stephen Eric Bronner, Ideas in Action
Stephen Eric Bronner, Reclaiming the Enlightenment
Stephen Bronner (ed.), Twentieth Century Political Theory
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Michel Foucault, The Foucault Reader (ed. Paul Rabinow)
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment
Jean-Luc Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition
Andrew MacDonald, The Turner Diaries
Herbert Marcuse et al., A Critique of Tolerance
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization
Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Robert Tucker (ed.), The Lenin Reader
Course Schedule
Week 1: Tradition (9/4)
Bronner, Ideas in Action, pgs. 1-25
Week 2: Liberalism
(9/11)
Bronner and Kellner, Critical Theory and Society, pgs. 136-145
Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance” in Critique of Pure Tolerance
Ideas in Action, pgs. 26-40
Week 3: Communitarianism
(9/18)
Arendt, The Human Condition
Ideas in Action, pgs. 41-54
Week 4: Conservatism (9/25)
Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Oakeshott, “On Being Conservative” in Bronner (ed.), Twentieth Century Political Theory
Strauss, “What is Liberal Education?” in Twentieth Century Political Theory
Ideas in Action, pgs. 55-67
Week 5: Socialism
(10/2)
Bernstein, The Preconditions of Socialism
Ideas in Action, pgs. 83-107
Week 6: Communism (10/9)
Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks, pgs. 3-43, 123-276, and 378-418
Lenin, “What is to be Done?” in Tucker (ed.), The Lenin Reader
Ideas in Action, pgs. 126-140
Week 7: Fascism
(10/16)
Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem
MacDonald, The Turner Diaries
Ideas in Action, pgs. 108-125
Week 8: Critical Theory
(10/23)
Critical Theory and Society, pgs. 25-37, 52-58, 95-128, 145-155, and 276-313
Ideas in Action, pgs. 170-186
FILM: Herbert's Hippopotamus: Marcuse and Revolution in Paradise
Week 9: The Radical Imagination
(10/30)
Marcuse, Eros and Civilization
Fromm,
Ideas in Action, pgs. 206-220
Week 10: Social Movements
(11/6)
Bloch, “Non-synchronous Contradictions” in Heritage of Our Times, pgs. 95-113, 125-159
Ideas in Action, pgs. 223-264
Week 11: Postmodernism and Poststructuralism
(11/13)
Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition
Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault Reader, pgs. 31-120, 141-169, 206-214, and 331-38
Ideas in Action, pgs.187-205
Week 12: The Forgotten
(11/20)
Lenin, Imperialism: The Last Stage of Capitalism
Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Ideas in Action, pgs. 281-297
Week 13: Conclusion
(12/4)
Bronner, Reclaiming the Enlightenment
Ideas in Action, pgs. 299-338