Readings:
Instructor Presentations:
Glossary:
Please Note: | Critical conditions of capitalism |
| Inevitability of monopoly/oligopoly |
| Growth in corporate size |
| The impact of foreign competition |
| Rise of the multinational |
| Government growth (as percent of GDP) |
| Government growth (workforce) |
| Causes of government growth |
| Technology and government, corporate growth |
| The case for pluralism |
| The case for elitism |
| Rise of factions in government |
Ralph Nader
Robert Michels
C.Wright Mills
Max Weber
Karl Marx
Essay Questions:According to Barlett and Steele (The Empire of the Pigs), what is corporate welfare? Why is it provided?
Describe some of the costs of corporate welfare to workers, the community, the state, and the environment.
Compare and contrast the power elite and pluralist models of government.
What is the "problem of factions?"
Discuss government growth in the last century. What factors are behind this growth?
What are the consequences of government growth on the citizenship?
What is the difference between ideal capitalism and the present American economic system?
What is the "iron law of oligarchy"? Is it true?
What has been the effect of oligopoly on the American economy?
Discuss the concept of "globalization." What are the consequences of globalization on the American economy?
What are multinationals? How do they affect the relationship between government and the corporation?
Explain and illustrate the concept of alienation.
What are some of the social consequences of bureaucracy?
According to Elwell (Industrializing America), how have American political campaigns been rationalized? How has this affected government?
According to Dreyfus (Toxic Cash: How Lobbyists Poisoned the EPA), why do businesses give campaign contributions? Why would businesses care about environmental legislation?
Bibliography: Anderson, B. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Badie, B. and Birnbaum, P. 1983. The Sociology or the State. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Burnham, David. 1980. The Rise of the Computer State. New York: Vinatage.
Domhoff, G. William. 1967. Who Rules America? Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Dye, Thomas R. 1983. Who's Running America? The Reagan Years. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Frobel, F., Heinrichs, J. and Kreye, O. 1991. The New International Division of Labor. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gutmann, Myron P. 1988. Toward the Modern Economy: Early Industry in Europe 1500-1800. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Habermas, J. 1975. Legitimation Crisis. Boston: Beacon Press.
Harrington, Michael. 1976. The Twilight of Capitalism. New York: Touchstone.
Hudson, Pat. 1992. The Industrial Revolution. London: Edward Arnold.
Kumar, Krishan. 1978. Prophecy and Progress. New York: Penguin.
Landis, David S. 1969. The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present. London: Cambridge University Press.
Linz, J. and Stepan, A. (eds) 1978. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lipset, Seymore M. 1960. Political Man: The Social Basis of Politics. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
Mannheim, Karl. 1955. Ideology and Utopia. New York: Harvest Books.
Mayo, E. 1946. The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Michels, Robert. [1915] 1962. Political Parties. Translated by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul. New York: The Free Press.
Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
Parenti, Michael. 1978. Power and the Powerless. New York: St. Martin's.
Strange, S. 1988. States and Markets. London: Printer.
Tilly, C. (ed). 1974. The Formation of Nation States in Western Europe. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974-88. The Modern World System. 3 vols. New York: Academic Press.
Index | Syllabus
| Course Outline
Continuously updated. ©Frank Elwell