Societal Change and Political Institutions-I

POLI7721/7722: Students who have previously taken POLI7719 American Politics From the Ground Up or who are otherwise interested in either semester of what is described here as a two-semester sequence should consult with Prof. Peter Skerry before registering for either of these courses. The populist wave in contemporary American politics highlights the limitations of research focusing exclusively on formal organizations and government bureaucracies. As recent events and various analysts have underscored, informal and emergent social ties, social movements, and cultural forces also demand attention. This seminar will begin an exploration of these developments with an examination of the remnants of machine politics in mid-twentieth-century America and its emergent challengers and alternatives. These include post-World War II urban reform clubs; post-1960's national party reforms; and the subsequent emergence of an array of public interest and other such organizations seeking to advance what have been assumed to be either widely shared or self-evidently desirable societal objectives. The dependence of the latter on highly professionalized headquarters staff and third-party funding sources in lieu of active, dues-paying members will be examined. So, too, will be terms such as "the public interest" as well as the "public good," and their relationship to the presumptively technical economic concept of "public goods."These are the topics to be covered in the first semester of this two-semester sequence. The second semester will pick up the analysis with a focus on how the internet and social media have propelled into prominence network-based efforts that pose further challenges to traditional understandings of political movements and organizations. We will then focus on specific examples of these developments including unsuccessful efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, the travails of the United Farmworkers Union, Alinsky community organizations, and the contemporary labor movement.