COURSE DESCRIPTION:
   This course is designed to spark critical thinking about the social, political, and economic institutions in which we live and work, and the role of intellectuals in those institutions and the larger society. We will ask questions about the nature of democracy and its relationship to mass media, the role of citizens in a democracy and attempts to shape their thinking and action through mass communication, and the political and moral issues faced by folks who do intellectual work.
   Although the term “intellectual” carries negative connotations for some (as in “pointy-headed intellectual”), if you are in this class you are in some sense an intellectual. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s possible to be an intellectual and not be an elitist, self-indulgent, or useless person. Even if you are elitist, self-indulgent, and/or useless, it is still important to think about your role in society. That’s what we will do in this course.


Important Note for Students with Disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.
 
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
   Your grade will be based on your writing and your talking. Here's the formula:
   1. three papers, 25 points each:         75 points
   2. participation in class discussion:    25 points

   1. Papers:
   Each paper (four to six pages, typed, double-spaced) will address a simple question that has no simple answer.     
   Paper #1: What is democracy?
   Paper #2: What is the difference between persuasion and propaganda?
   Paper #3: What is the moral responsibility of an intellectual in the United States today?
   Your papers can make reference to readings from the course and/or outside readings. The goal, however, is not a paper in which you catalog what others have written but one in which you articulate your own view, drawing on the work of others when appropriate. For more on academic integrity and plagiarism, see
http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/academicintegrity.html

   2. Class participation:
   This is a seminar course, which means you are responsible for coming to class ready to participate. Read the material for the week before you come to class on Tuesday and be prepared to speak. I will ask you questions.
   At the end of the semester I will judge your overall contribution to class discussion. This portion of your grade will be based on your: (a) familiarity with readings; (b) ability to hear and understand what others say; (c) ability to express yourself clearly; (d) ability to synthesize the thoughts of others to form new insights, conclusions, or questions; (e) ability to disagree constructively; and (f) cooperation in building a stimulating and supportive intellectual atmosphere in class.
   Because a quarter of your grade is based on class participation, it is obvious that attendance is crucial; you can't participate if you aren't there. I will handle folks who miss class on a case-by-case basis. If you have to miss a class and have a good excuse, let me know.

NOTE: This is an honors class. That doesn’t mean everyone automatically gets an A. It means the standards are higher.
 

TEXTS:

Le Guin, Ursala K., The Dispossessed (Eos/Harper Collins, 2001/1974).

COURSE PACKET:

Gatto, John Taylor, A Different Kind of Teacher (Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Hills Books, 2001), “The Educated Person,” pp. 225-226.

Lippmann, Walter, The Phantom Public (New York: Macmillan, 1927), Chapter 2, “The Unattainable Ideal,” pp. 22-39; Chapter 3, “Agents and Bystanders,” pp. 40-53; and Chapter 14, “Society in Its Place,” pp. 155-172.

Dewey, John, The Public and Its Problems (Chicago: Gateway Books, 1927/1946), Chapter 5, “Search for the Great Community,” pp. 143-184.

Huntington, Samuel P., “The United States,” in Michel Crozier, et al., The Crisis of Democracy (New York: New York University Press, 1975), pp. 59-118.

Lummis, C. Douglas, Radical Democracy (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996), Chapter 1, “Radical Democracy,” pp. 14-44.

Friedman, Milton, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962/1982), Chapter 1, “The Relation between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom,” pp. 7-21; and Chapter 2, “The Role of Government in a Free Society,” pp. 22-36.

Hahnel, Robin, The ABCs of Political Economy (London: Pluto Press, 2002), Chapter 10, “What Is To Be Undone? The Economics of Competition and Greed,” pp. 242-264.

Bernays, Edward L., Propaganda (New York: Horace Liverright, 1928), Chapter 1, “Organizing Chaos,” pp. 9-18; and Chapter 2, “The New Propaganda,” pp. 19-31.

Bernays, Edward L., Public Relations (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952), Chapter 14, “The Engineering of Consent,” pp. 157-168.

Carey, Alex, Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), Chapter 1, “The Origins of American Propaganda,” pp. 11-17; Chapter 2, “The Early Years,” pp. 18-36; and Chapter 5, “Reshaping the Truth,” pp. 75-84.

Klandermans, Bert, “Why Social Movements Come into Being and Why People Join Them,” in Judith R. Blau, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Sociology (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001), pp. 268-281.

Deegan, Denise, Managing Activism (London: Kogan Page, 2001), Chapter 1, “The Dynamics of Activism,” pp. 4-21.

Ewen, Stuart, PR! A Social History of Spin (New York: Basic Book, 1996), “The Public and Its Problems: Some Notes for the New Millennium, “ pp. 399-414.

Herman, Edward S., The Myth of the Liberal Media (New York: Peter Lang, 1999), Chapter 2, “The Propaganda Model,” pp. 23-29.

Herman, Edward, and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, rev. ed. (New York: Pantheon, 2002), Introduction, pp. xi-lvii.

Baker, Brent H., How to Identify, Expose, and Correct Liberal Media Bias (Alexandria, VA: Media Research Center, 1994), Introduction, pp. 1-7; and Chapter 1, “Identify,” pp. 9-51.

Horton, Myles, and Paulo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990), Chapter 3, “Ideas,” pp. 97-143.

Trebilcot, Joyce, Dyke Ideas: Process, Politics, Daily Life (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), “Ethics of Method: Greasing the Machine and Telling Stories,” pp. 59-66.

Chomsky, Noam, Chomsky on MisEducation, Donald Macedo, ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), “Beyond a Domesticating Education: A Dialogue,” pp. 15-36.

Bennett, William J., Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (New York: Doubleday, 2002), Chapter 2, “See No Evil,” pp. 70.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., James M. Washington, ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” pp. 289-302; and “A Time to Break Silence,” pp. 231-244.

Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements, George Breitman, ed. (London: Secker and Warburg, 1965), Chapter 3, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” pp. 23-44; and Chapter 5, “Letters from Abroad,” pp. 58-63.

Berry, Wendell, What Are People For? (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990), “Why I’m Not Going to Buy a Computer,” pp. 170-177; and, “Feminism, the Body, and the Machine,” pp. 178-196.

Hogan, Linda, The Woman Who Watches over the World (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001), “Falling,” pp. 51-67.

Williams, Terry Tempest, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (New York: Vintage, 1991), “The Clan of One-Breasted Women,” pp. 281-290.