FRANKLIN PIERCE UNIVERSITY
University of Graduate and Professional Studies
Doctor of Arts
TL 625 Social Critique: Public Discourse and Civic Engagement
Term One: Fall 2010
INSTRUCTOR
Maggie Moore-West, MSW, MA, PhD
24 Airport Road
Suite 19
West Lebanon, NH 03784
603-795-2404
m.moore-west@dartmouth.edu
Office Hours by Appointment
TIME
The course will be introduced August 29, 2010 in Manchester from 10-12:00.
After that, in class seminars will be held approximately once a month. The
weekend seminars will be held in Lebanon September 11, October 9 and
November 6. Our sessions will meet 9-5. Weekly questions will be posted online
for threaded discussion of weekly readings. An online Resource Center will be
available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Instructor online office hours will be
posted online. During the August 29th Seminar I will introduce the course and the
expectations and respond to all questions regarding scheduling. I will also hand
out a list of terms that I would like you to become familiar with. Thee will be
terms often frequently used throughout your course of studies in the DA program.
Please read and complete for the September 11 seminar : E.Goffman. (1961)
Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates.
Garden City, New York: Anchor Books.pp. 1-123 and D.L Rosenhan’s, “ Being
Sane in Insane Places”. Often, the scheduling of the later texts change due to
the pace of the class. Also note that ALL Classics can be found on line .
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Required Texts for Social Critiques (2009):
>Plato, Republic (2004) (Translated by CDC Reeves), Hackett Publishing company
ISBN 0-87220-736-6 Plato, Republic (1992) (Translated by GMA Grube and revised by CDC
Reeves), Hackett Publishing company 0-87220-136-8)
A Translation by Benjamin Jowett (found online or on Mobile Reference) or the Paul Shorey
translation in the Collected Works, ed by Hamilton and Cairns is acceptable. All of these have
similar sequencing and dialogue. The Grube translation uses more modern language.
>E.Goffman. (1961) Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other
inmates. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books. ISBN: 0-385-00016-2
mwf714@comcast.net
>George Ritzer (2008) The mcdonaldization of society. (5).London: Pine Forge Press.
ISBN:978-1-4129-5430-3
>M. Weber (1998) Max Weber: Selections in translation: (ed. By WG Runciman).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN:0-521-29268-9
>C.Geertz (2000) Available Light; Antrhopological reflections on philosophical topics.
Princeton.Princeton University Press. ISBN:9780691089560
>Thomas Kuhn (1996) The Structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. ISBN: 10-0226458083 or ISBN-13: 978-0226458083
>C. Wright Mills (2000) The Sociological Imagination, New York, New York. Oxford
University Press. ISBN:0-19-513373-0
*Donald Schon (1983) The reflective practitioner; how professionals think in action.
Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-06878-2
*Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. (1999) The discovery of grounded theory: strategies
for qualitative research. New York: Aldine de Gruyter Press. ISBN 0-202-30260-1
**George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”, an essay found online.
*Michael Polanyi (1974) Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post Critical Philosophy.
University of Chicago Press (CorrEd, editor)
ISBN-13978-0226672 885
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*Although theses books will NOT be directly discussed, they form the backdrop
to many of our discussions about meaning, understanding and knowledge.
**George Orwell’s essay is a must for all students who wish to write
Recommended:
Karl Mannheim(1936) Ideology and Utopia. New York. A Harvest Book: ISBN 0-15643955-7
William Sullivan (2005) Work and Integrity; The crisis and promise of professionalism in
America (2nd Ed) San Fransico. Josey Bass.ISBN: 0-7879-7458-7
Marc.Hauser (2006). Moral minds: How nature designed our universal sense of
right and wrong. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN-10:0-06-078070-3
N.N.Taleb (2007) The black swan: The impact of the highly improbable. New
York: Random House. ISBN;978-1-4000-6351-2
Marx Engels Reader Editor: Robert C. Tucker. W.W. Norton Publishing
ISBN-10: 039309040X ISBN-13: 978-0393090406
Stanley Aronowitz(2004) Against Schooling: For an education that matters, Hackett
Publishing company, Inc ISBN: 9781594515033
Zimbardo, Philip (2008): The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn
evil(New York) Random House Trade Paperbacks ISBN 978 0 8129-7444-7
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Perhaps what best distinguishes us from other animals is our desire to seek
meaning, understanding and truths in our world. Risking the possibility of falling
into total relativism, we will examine various ways of “knowing” and the
politically dominant forms of understanding that may help or hinder our search for
meaning and truths. At the current time, our post enlightenment belief in the
scientific method as the dominant paradigm for research and understanding will be
used as a point of departure for other approaches to knowledge. We will also
examine the “nature of knowing” and, in particular, whether women perceive
differently and if so, what implications does this hold for leadership? This course
examines the role of knowledge in leadership and social responsibility and will
also examine leadership as it pertains to power and authority in a variety of
settings. Social sciences are often seen as the intersection between history, and
interpretation. Particular issues will be identified in a forum that brings
experience and current methodology together to address public issues that relate to
the specific interests of the course participants. Examination of various social
philosophies and critical research will serve as a point of departure for analyzing
the role and responsibility of leadership in the civic arena. This course uses
dialogue as a primary form of engagement.
The Essay In addition to weekly discussion of the readings, you are expected to write
one essay. Please read an essay by Michel Montaigne from The Complete Essays of
Montaigne to be found online. Montaigne is the "father" of the essay form and
developed this method and did so for the common reader and to render himself the object
and subject in "natural everyday language". "Isn't this the way I speak everywhere? Don't
I represent myself to the life? Enough, then. I have done what I wanted. Everyone
recognizes me in my book, and my book in me" (III: 5,p.667).
Although you can choose any of the essays, I like "On Drunkeness" (Book I) or "Of the
inconsistency of our actions"(Book2). Although we use the term scholarly essay now to
represent theoretical arguments or positions, Montaigne flew in the face of French
Scholarly tradition of his time but writing as if writing for a friend. It is both poetic and
personal, witty and sarcastic. George Orwell in Politics and the English language revisits the art of
clear and scholarly writing and offers sage advice on the need to write simply and clearly.
. Students will write one essay critically examining their professional frame of
understanding. Various approaches to this include but are not limited to:
 Guiding metaphors
 Language and Terminology Unique to the Profession that defines the
profession separate from the “lay” public. Formal Knowledge
 Ideology of your Profession ( formal and informal)
 What constitutes expected leadership in your profession
The Documentary: During the seminars we will review at least two documentaries
and discuss these as both art forms and visual research presentations. You will be
expected to develop a documentary to be presented at the final seminar.
Section I
Seminar One: Behaviors of Ordinary People: Obedience to Authority and the
Abuse of Authority
Week 1: E.Goffman. (1961) Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental
patients and other inmates. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books.pp. 1-123:321386 and D.L Rosenhan’s, “ Being Sane in Insane Places” (free on the web; also on
the web, please look up Howard Becker and become familiar with labeling
theory).
Week 2: George Ritzer (2004) The McDonaldization of society. (revised new
century edition).London: Pine Forge Press.
McDonalds As a Global Icon: This week we will examine an example of a critical
evaluation of a paradigmatic contemporary social trend: the development and
proliferation of the fast food franchises. As George Ritzer writes: “ I devote all
this attention to McDonald’s … because it serves here as the major example of,
and the paradigm for, a wide-ranging process I call McDonaldization- that
is..McDonaldization not only affects the restaurant business but also education,
work, the criminal justice system, health care, travel, leisure, dieting, politics, the
family, religion and virtually every other aspect of society. (pp. 1-2). This work
not only represents a case study of a societal transformation, it also presents an
analysis within the framework of M. Weber.
Seminar I: (Saturday September 11)
Power and Authority: Obedience to Authority. During this seminar we will
review Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment, Milgram’s Obedience to
Authority experiment through Alex Gibney’s Obedience to Authority. We will
also discuss the form of the documentary and its role in representing history as a
combination of art and research. We will also critique these classic research
experiments in terms of ethical and social responsibility. Finally we will examine
the topic of Obedience to Authority in terms of how it pertains to Professionalism
and Professional Training.
From Now on we will review the pace of the readings and will determine
weekly the amount that everyone can consume. Although critically
important, Plato’s Republic is Dense and as we move forward, I may change
shorten the reading assignments
Week 3:Plato’s Republic (Books I-IV))
Week 4: (Books V-VII)
Week 5 (Books VIII-X)
Week 6 (In preparation for Seminar II) M. Weber (1998) Max Weber:
Selections in translation: .The Nature of Charismatic Domination: pp. 226-251
The Role of Transformational Leadership: - Max Weber is considered the
sociologist of the twentieth century and many “contemporary “ social critiques of
leadership have their foundation in Weber’s analysis. Weber’s analysis of the
Charismatic Leader has direct implications for understanding the nature of
transformational leadership.
Seminar Two: ( Saturday, October 9) Power and Ethics. Huey Long. This is a
documentary by Ken Burns examining the rise and fall of Huey Long.
Machiavelli’s haunting quote dominates here: “ A great man cannot be a good
man and a good man cannot be a great man”.
Section II: Setting the Stage: an examination of the Politic, Knowledge, Education
and the role of leadership from the classic perspectives:
Week 7: CW Mills The Sociological Imagination: “The Promise”
Week 8: CS Mills, The Sociological Imagination: “on Intellectual Crafsmanship”
Knowledge and the History of Science: Thomas Kuhn revolutionalized the
Week 9:”Week 8 Clifford Geertz, Available Light; “The Legacy of Thomas Kuhn The
Right Text at the Right Time” . At this time we visit issues pertaining to the Sociology of
Knowledge specifically focusing on the theory of Scientific Revolutions. Thomas
Kuhn’s work transformed our understanding of the history of science, placing its
development within a social-cultural context.
Week 10: Thomas Kuhn: Structure of Scientific Revolution
Seminar Three: (Saturday, November 6) Presentations and Discussion of
Individual Documentaries.
Week 11: Thomas Kuhn
Week 12: Thomas Kuhn
GOALS OF THE DOCTOR OF ARTS DEGREE PROGRAM
·To prepare leaders of transformational roles in society
·To advance knowledge and applied research, preparing leaders with vision
·To develop practice-focused scholarship, integration of knowledge and reflective
and service-based inquiry
·To enhance the leadership values, skills, and knowledge of current and aspiring
leaders in professional disciplines
·To inspire the holistic view of leadership as a transformational process
·To engage the process of analyzing and synthesizing content through a
transformational leadership perspective
·To foster an understanding of the importance of arts and humanities in assuming
the role of steward of the societal landscape, developing a sense of connectedness
and community
EXPECTATIONS OF LEARNERS:
Students are expected to reflect on their past experiences and how these critical
events have formed their presentation of self in relationship to the world. They
should show evidence of an ability for self- evaluation and search for opportunities
to change. They should demonstrate openness to new concepts and new
perceptions. They should express a willingness to engage and to be engaged;
display an independence of thought and action; and demonstrate characteristics of
self directed learners. Finally, they should engage others in civil discourse with
respect and warm reception.
COURSE GOALS
Through this course, participants will examine various approaches to the
understanding of the role knowledge plays in our culture. Examination will focus
on the various explanatory theories, historical research methodologies and
contemporary explanations concerning social studies and analyses. Participants
will be expected to bring their personal framework and experiences and their
professional lens to bear upon their understanding of contemporary issues.
Participants will be expected to develop and present a documentary of a social
issue in which they are engaged. All participants will be expected to utilize
various frames of social critique in order to conduct an analysis of various selected
issues of social concern.
TEACHING STRATEGIES
Methods used to promote learning include discussion groups, dyads and triads,
various media presentations, small group activities, case studies, assigned
readings, reflective writings and discussion, an independent documentary
presentation and advisor-student feedback.
The following essential questions will guide our student of Social Critiques
 What constitutes a legitimate authority in the Public Arena
 What concepts are basic to a discourse on social critique and analysis?
 Which social theories most readily apply to your frame of critical
inquiry?
 What is the role of Science in our Society and in our understanding of
what constitutes formal knowledge?
 What is the relationship between knowledge, power and the State?
 What differentiates one profession from another and what role do
professions play in our society and our global arena?
 What is critical thinking in public and civil discourse?.
 What constitutes transformational leadership in the public and the
professional arena?
 How can one transform a theoretical critique and evaluation into social
action?
PERFORMANCE BASED OBJECTIVES
As a result of taking this course, you will be able to:
1.
Critically evaluate information from a variety of perspectives
2.
Refine one’s writing skills and compose an artful and reflective essay
3.
Appreciate the role of humanities in enhancing one’s world view and one’s
curiosity of the world.
4.
Engage in public discourse with an openness to understand and a
willingness to change one’s perspective
5.
Appreciate the theory of social construction in understanding the role of
ideology in influencing public policy
6.
Evaluate one’s role in social change
7.
Appreciate the role of diversity in thought and actions as fundamental to
transnational relationships
EVALUATION
Students will write one essay critically examining their professional frame of
understanding. Various approaches to this include but not limited to:
 Guiding metaphors
 Language and Terminology Unique to the Profession that defines the
profession separate from the “lay” public. Formal Knowledge
 Ideology of your Profession ( formal and informal)
 What constitutes expected leadership in your profession
Each participant will develop and present a documentary of a social concern from
various theoretical frames how interpretation provides the rationale for the
documentary. In addition, all participants will enter into to a weekly discourse
with their peers on the various frameworks presented.
This is not a graded course. All students will receive an A ONLY if they fulfill the
following requirements
Essay
20%
Class Participation
60%
Final Documentary
20%
SPECIAL ACCOMODATIONS In accordance with Americans with Disabilities
Act, any student in this class who has a documented disability will be provided
with reasonable accommodations designed to meet his/her needs. Before any such
assistance can occur, it is the responsibility of the student to see that
documentation is on file with Franklin Pierce College. Please see me as soon as
possible to discuss any need for accommodation.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY Franklin Pierce College requires all
students to adhere to high standards of integrity in their academic work. Activities
such as plagiarism and cheating are not acceptable and will not be condoned by
the College
Updated 07/27/10