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This course will consider two thinkers who, writing on opposite
ends of the twentieth century, laid the foundations for much recent
interdisciplinary work in the humanities and social sciences. Max
Weber is known today primarily as a founding figure of the discipline
of sociology, but his scholarship ranged over the history of music,
law, bureaucracy, and capitalism, culminating in studies of the
impact of the world religions on the major civilizations. At the
heart of his intellectual project and his political interventions
were worries about the “iron cage” of rationalized modernity.
Michel Foucault also relied on a multiplicity of methods (history,
literature, philosophy) to explore and ultimately to criticize the
“knowledge-power” complexes of modernity and their “disciplinarization.”
Whether by analyzing forms of knowledge or institutions like the
asylum or the prison, he, like Weber, raised questions about the
configuration of modern knowledge and the political and ethical
uses of scholarship. We will read primary works by each of these
authors along with supplementary texts that demonstrate the origins
and applications of their projects. Emphasis will be placed on Weber’s
writings on asceticism, “rationalization,” and the comparative
study of civilizations and on Foucault’s writings on institutions,
politics, and ethics. Students will be expected to write a research
paper related
broadly to the methodological issues of the course.
Required Reading
- Paul Rabinow, ed., The Foucault Reader
(1984)
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish:
The Birth of the Prison (1995)
- ——, “Society Must Be Defended”: Lectures
at the College de France,
1975–76 (2003)
- Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the
“Spirit” of Capitalism and
Other Writings (2002)
- ——, From Max Weber: Essays
in Sociology (1958)
A reading packet is available for purchase from the History Department
office. Packet readings are indicated by [*].
Recommended Reading
- David Macey, The Lives of Michel Foucault:
A Biography (1995)
- Barry Smart, Michel Foucault (2002)
- Randall Collins, Max Weber: A Skeleton
Key (1986)
Requirements
- Reaction Paper (20%)
Five pages. Due the Friday by 3 p.m. of the week the reading is
discussed. Make sufficient copies for the class and place them
in the class box in the History Department. They will be discussed
at the beginning of the following class.
- Final Paper (50%)
Twenty pages. Due by May 5th. The final essay may take one of
two forms: Either a methodological literature review for your
field (drawing methodological lessons from monographs or following
the course of a methodological debate) or a closer reading of
Weber and/or Foucault for the implications you see in your own
field. Superior papers will address themes that have been raised
through the course.
- Class Participation (20%)
Four percent for being a sentient being. Six percent for showing
up. Ten percent for making at least one intelligent comment per
class. Zero credit for talking a lot and not saying anything relevant
or interesting.
Schedule
January 21: Introduction
Foucault, “The Masked Philosopher”*
Weber, “The Meaning of Discipline,” in From Max Weber,
253–64
January 28: Max Weber: Capitalism and This-Worldly Asceticism
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism,
1–87, 103-105 top (including notes pp. 43–66 and 128–52)
February 4: Max Weber: The Western Mode of Rationalism?
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism,
105-122, including notes, 175-202; Appendix II, 356–72
——, “Confucianism and Puritanism”*
February 11: Max Weber: Asceticism vs. Worldliness
Weber, “The Social Psychology of the World Religions,”
in From Max Weber, 267–94 [sic]
——, “Religious Rejections of the World,”
in From Max Weber, 323–59
February 18: Max Weber: Bureaucracy
Weber, “Bureaucracy,” in From Max Weber, 196–244
Steven Sampson, “Bureaucracy and Corruption as Anthropological
Problems: A Case Study from Romania,” Folk, vol. 25, 63–96*
Robert Wade, “The System of Administrative and Political Corruption:
Canal Irrigation in South India” (recommended)*
February 25: Max Weber: Beyond the Iron Cage?
Weber, “Politics as a Vocation,” in From Max Weber,
77–128
Lawrence Scaff, “Weber on the Cultural Situation of the Modern
Age”*
March 3: Michel Foucault: Sources for the Overall Project and the
Early Foucault (1954–69)
Paul Rabinow, “Introduction,” in The Foucault Reader,
3–27
Foucault, “Truth and Power,” “What is an Author?”
and Madness and Civilization (excerpts), in The Foucault Reader,
51–75, 101–20, 124–67
March 10 Spring Break
March 17: Michel Foucault: May 1968 and the Move from Epistemes
to
Institutions
Foucault, Discipline and Punish
March 24: Michel Foucault: Institutions Continued
Foucault, Discipline and Punish (cont.)
March 31: Michel Foucault: Re-Imagining Political History and Power
Foucault, “Society Must Be Defended”, 1–85, 239–72
April 7: Michel Foucault: The Last Foucault, Sexuality, and Ethics
Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vols. 1 and 2 (excerpts), in The
Foucault Reader, 291–339
——, “On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of
Work in Progress,” in The Foucault Reader, 340–72
——, “The Ethics of the Concern for the Self as
a Practice of Freedom”*
April 14: Applying Weber in Interdisciplinary Studies
Hamilton, “Civilizations and the Organization of Economies”*
Hamilton, “Overseas Chinese Capitalism,” 331-342*
Larry Siedentop, “Liberalism, the Christian Connection”*
Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations, chs. 1, 3, and 12*
April 21: Applying Foucault in Interdisciplinary Studies
tba
April 28: Concluding Comparative Discussion
Hennis, “Voluntarism and Judgement: Max Weber’s Political
Views in the Context of his Work”*
David Owen, Maturity and Modernity: Nietzsche, Weber, Foucault and
the ambivalence of reason, Introduction, ch. 1, and Conclusion*
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