American Political Thought and Culture

Posc 485

Psych Building 257

11:00-11:50 M-F

Spring 2006

Instructor: Dr. Mathew Manweller

Phone: 963-2396

Email: mailto:manwellerm@cwu.edu

Office Hours:

Class Overview: What is it that makes an American? Is it simple geography, or is it something in the way we think and act? If being an American is something different, then how are Americans different than others? Why are they different? How does that difference affect our politics—foreign and domestic? These are the big questions we will focus on in this class. The class will study the inherent paradoxes of American political thought. Specifically, we will look at the tensions between individualism and egalitarianism, democracy and republicanism, positive and negative liberty, and other forces such as localism and the protection of private property that have shaped American thought.

In addition, we will take the unique step of looking at American political thought as it is reflected in current American pop culture (movies, music, etc.). Rather than solely focus on the writing of Jefferson, Jackson, Madison and others, we will also look at how American political thought actually manifests itself in our everyday lives.

Required Texts:

American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions (Matthews)

What the Social Classes Owe Each Other (Sumner)

Class Reader

Web Readings (click here for all web readings)

Class Assignments:

(2) Quizzes………(2 x 40)…….80 pts

Class Media Project…………...75 pts.

Term Paper……………………75 pts.

Final Exam……………………100 pts

Class Participation……………..25 pts.

Class Media Project: During the four weeks class is in session, students will collect newspaper articles, magazine articles, advertisements that reflect the “American” attitudes and values studied in class. In addition, students may enter their own personal reflections about movies, television shows, and songs they have seen/heard and offer explanations as to how those media reflect American political thought.

Weekly Syllabus (Subject to change)

Dates	Topics	Readings
	US Political Culture Political Thought v. Behavior Main Themes in US Thought Political Socialization Political Socialization	Mathews: Ch 1, 10, and Prologue Class Reader: Winston
Extra Credit Opportunity	US Political Culture (cont) American Exceptionalism Hartz and Consensus Theory Madison’s Dilemma	Class Reader: DeTocquville Hartz Bryce Online Readings Federalist # 10, 51
Assign Media Project Quiz # 1	Types of Liberty Negative v. Positive Freedom Liberalism v. Republicanism	Class Reader: Greenstone Davis, pp. 44-57 (first section)
	What the Social Classes Owe Each Other	Sumner: Pages 1-36 Pages 88-132
Assign Paper	Individualism in US Thought Ann Rand Freidman Contradictions in US Political Thought Mathews	Mathews: Ch 2, 7, 8 Class Reader: Rand Freidman
	Egalitarianism in US Thought Lincoln Douglas Debates Jackson’s Veto Message Brown v. Brd of Ed Turner Thesis	Online Readings Lincoln Douglas Debates Jackson’s Veto Message Brown v. Brd of Ed Turner’s Frontier Thesis (ch 1 and 9)
Quiz # 2	Elitism in US Thought The Framers Madison v. Lippmann	Class Reader Lippmann
	Localism in US Thought Anti-Federalists Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions Concurrent Majorities Dixicrat Manifesto	Class Reader Anti-Federalists Online Readings Virginia & Kentucky Res Concurrent Majorities Dixicrat Manafesto Printz, Lopez, and NY Supreme Court Cases Class Reader: Davis, 244-247
Papers Due May 30th	Private Property in US Thought Madison Revisited Lochner v. NY	Class Reader Nedelsky Online Readings Lochner v. New York
	Justice: John Rawls	Class Reader Davis, 451-455
Media Projects Due May 31st –June 2nd	Media Project Presentations	No Readings