GDEV 7001

Historical Sociology of Modernity

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

The notion of modernity - conceived as a schema for making sense of long-term processes of social and cultural change, and as a uniquely European phenomenon that was universalized through the impact of colonial empires and the world market, -- provides the deep conceptual framework for both classical social theory and contemporary theories of development. These dominant motifs, and the meta-theories that seek to legitimate them, continue to be the subject of heated scholarly controversy. In this course, we explore some of these controversies through engagement with a range of critical studies that seek to rethink the historical sociology of the modern world.

When Offered Spring.

Permission Note Enrollment limited to: graduate students.

Distribution Category (HA-AG, KCM-AG)

• Identify and interpret historical-sociological approaches to the study of social change.
• Assess their continuing relevance (or not) to a world in constant motion.
• Develop skills of close textual reading together with an appreciation for the strengths and weaknesses of particular analytic frameworks.
• Synthesize complex theoretical and historical arguments and present them in class.

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