“We can have democracy in
this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few,
but we can’t have both.” [Louis Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice]
“We must cease once and
for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it “excludes”,
it “represses”…In fact,
power produces, it produces reality,…rituals of truth.” [Foucault]
DREXEL UNIVERSITY
Course: Soc. 220- Instructor:
Dr. Diamantino P. Machado
Title: Wealth and
Power
Office: C&C Room 318
Summer Term: 2006-07 Office
Hours: By Appointment
Email: machadod@drexel.edu Phone: 215-895-2402
TO THE STUDENT: A syllabus is an implicit agreement between a
professor and students about the expectations for teacher/student
responsibility, the calendar of events
and the methods and criteria for the evaluation of
the teachers presentation of the course material , and for the
students’ scholarship in the course.
thus, you should keep and use this syllabus for routine reference during the
course.
Note 1. If
during the course you need help, please come to see me as soon as you think you
need assistance; do not wait until you obtain unsatisfactory grades or until
the week of the final
examinations.
Note 2. Students
are encouraged to discuss with me any grievance, related to the course, in my
office, by
e-mail or on the telephone.
THE COURSE: This course is a sociological analysis of the causes
of social inequality, i.e., WEALTH & POWER. Students will be introduced to
empirical evidence of widening social inequality in the United States. Data
will be presented showing the increasing gap between the rich and the poor.
Students will also be introduced to a new “analytics” of power, or the linkage of power/knowledge, and “disciplinary power”.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS: 1. You Call This a Democracy? by Paul Kivel [PK] in the readings; 2.
Right Nation , by John
Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, [MW]
3. Propaganda, by E. Bernays
[EB] 4. Discipline & Punish, by Michel Foucault [MF]
EXAMINATIONS: The evaluation of your accomplishment
in this course will be based on: 1) the
completion of a short term paper (of no less than 5
and no more than 9 typed pages) on a topic relevant to
the course subject matter. Note: The term paper may be co-authored with a fellow classmate.
2) Two in-
class exams.
GRADING: Term
Paper = 40%; Exam 1 = 30%; Exam 2 =
30%.
EXAM DATES: 1) The Term
Paper is due on the last day of classes. 2) The in-class Exam 1 will be given
on Friday , July 20 and the
in-class Exam 2 will be given on Friday August 17.
NOTES: 1. I do
not curve grades; 2. Make-up exams will be given only in case of justifiable
reason;
***3. Please turn off your cell phones while you are in
the classroom.
CLASSROOM PROCEDURES: Class sessions will consist of a combination of
lectures and discussions. Also, relevant videos will be shown. Students’
comments, observations and questions are welcomed and indeed encouraged.
Syllabus, Soc 220-001,
Wealth and Power, Summer 06-07, Dr.
Machado
p. 2
READING ASSIGNMENTS:
Week 1, 6/25 General
Introduction, This Syllabus, etc.
Where
Are You in the Class System?
PK p. xix
Introduction And A Short
History of the U.S. Ruling Class,
What is a Ruling
Class? PK p 1, p.9, p.15
Week 2, 7/2 What Does the Economic
Structure of the U.S.
Look Like? AND What Does Wealth Matter? PK
p.17, p. 32
From Kennebunkport….And The Conservative Rout MW chs
1, 2
**NO CLASS ON W 7/4
Week 3,
7/9 How Do They
Rule?
PK p.
48
The Agony of Liberalism AND The
Fifty-Fifty Nation MW
chs 3, 4
Introduction EB
Intro.
Week 4 7/16 How
Does Power Elite Communicate? PK p 56
How Do They Stay in
Power?
PK p 69
For Texas….Rive Droite
MW chs 5, 6
Organizing Chaos
EB ch I
**EXAM 1
ON F 7/20
Week 5 7/23 Torture
& Punishment
MF Parts
I, II
The Brawn…With Us or Against Us
MW chs7, 8
The New Propaganda
EB ch II
Week 6 7/30 The New Propagandists
EB ch III
How Do Members of the Ruling
Class Increase Their Wealth,?
Preserving Their Wealth,
Passing their Wealth,
The Buffer Zone PK pp. 79, 90, 93, 114
Week 7 8/16 The
Means of Correct Training
MF Part III
The Road Ahead….How It Could Go
Wrong
MW chs 9, 10
The Psychology of Public Relations, AND
Business and the Public
EB chs IV.,V
Week 8, 8/13 Propaganda and Political Leadership
EB ch VI
Panopticism MF Part III
** EXAM
2 F 8/17
Week 9, 8/20 Propaganda for Education, The Mechanics of
Propaganda
EB chs VIII, XI
Week 10 8/27 Why We Don’t
Focus Attention….
PK
p.125, 128
Term Paper Due
Several relevant videos
will be shown during the course
NOTE: THE INSTRUCTOR
RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ALTER ANY ASPECT OF THIS SYLLABUS, IN WHICH CASE THE
STUDENTS SHALL BE INFORMED IN ADVANCE
.