The College Catalog
The University of Chicago


Law, Letters, and Society

This is an archived copy of the 2012-13 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalogs.uchicago.edu.

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Contacts | Program of Study | Program Requirements | Honors | Reading and Research Courses | Grading | Advising | Courses


Contacts

Undergraduate Primary Contact

Program Chairman Dennis J. Hutchinson
LBQ 411
702.9575
Email

Administrative Contact

Secretary Delores Jackson
C 330
702.7148
Email

Program of Study

The program in Law, Letters, and Society is concerned with law in civilian and customary legal systems, both historically and contemporaneously. The program is designed to develop the student's analytical skills to enable informed and critical examination of law broadly construed. The organizing premise of the program is that law is a tool of social organization and control, not simply an expression of will or aspiration, and that it is best understood by careful study of both rhetorical artifacts and empirical consequences of its application. Program requirements are constructed to support the organizing premise, and, because of the nature of the requirements, transfer students are not eligible to register as Law, Letters, and Society majors.

The program requires course work in three areas, although there is a reasonably broad latitude both expected and permitted in satisfaction of the distributional requirement. There is a substantial writing requirement for all majors; majors are expected to produce substantial written work (sometimes called "the BA Paper") under the close supervision of a faculty member whose area of scholarly concern is related to the broad objectives of the program.

Application to the Program

Students must apply in Spring Quarter of their first year to enter the program in their second year. Application forms may be obtained from the Office of the New Collegiate Division in C 327. Applications are available in C 327 on Friday of tenth week of Winter Quarter and must be submitted to C 327 by noon on Friday of first week of Spring Quarter. Students are evaluated on the basis of the application statement and previous performance in the College. Because of the nature of the requirements of the program, no more than twenty-five students can be admitted per year.

Program Requirements

Course work is required in three areas. After successfully completing the Introductory Course, students must take two courses in Letters and two courses in Society. In addition, students must complete six other courses that, while not necessarily offered or listed formally under either rubric, are substantively supportive of the topics, areas, skills, or concerns of the two areas. Courses satisfying the additional requirement are identified on a quarterly basis, and final approval of additional required course work is made by consultation between the student and the program chairman.

The Introductory Course

The Introductory Course must precede all other course work in the major, because it establishes the intellectual moorings of the program. The importance of the Introductory Course lies not in its content (indeed, its precise focus and scope may be different from time to time) but on its approach to the nature of law. Recently, for example, the Introductory Course has been LLSO 24200 Legal Reasoning, a study, based primarily on cases, of the classic conventions of legal argument in the Anglo-American legal system. In other years, the Introductory Course might be Roman Law or Greek Law, Medieval Law, or a text-based course on ancient legal philosophy, or a comparison of modern legal categories and policies with those of former societies and cultures. The objective is not so much to establish a historical foundation for modern studies as to demonstrate that legal systems are culturally rooted; that urgent, present concerns may obscure important characteristics of legal ideas and behavior; and that many recurrent themes in Western legal thought are shaped or driven by both common and uncommon features. Unlike many legal studies programs that attempt to orient study of the law primarily in contemporary debates, usually in the field of American constitutional law, the program seeks to organize its exploration of law as a system rather than as a forum or an instrument.

Other Course Work

After completing the Introductory Course, students must take two courses each in the Letters and Society divisions of the program, plus six other courses complementary to the required work, as outlined previously (the other six courses may be ones cross listed in the program or may be from other disciplines). Letters and Society are not meant as fixed or self-defining fields, but instead as organizational categories emphasizing two fundamental modes of examining law in a systemic fashion. Courses under the rubric of Letters (whether based in the program or in English, philosophy, or political theory) tend to be based on the study of literary and historical artifacts, such as cases, tracts, conventional literature, or other texts, and emphasize the ways in which law formally constitutes itself. Questions of interpretative and normative theory, rhetorical strategy, and the like are central to such courses. Society serves to organize studies from a variety of different disciplines (including history, political science, economics, and sociology) that try to measure, with different techniques and at different times, the effect of law on society. The combined objective is to treat law as an intellectual activity and as a phenomenon, and to emphasize that both occur in contexts that help to shape them, whether ancient or modern.

Research

In addition to satisfying the course requirements, each student in the program must produce evidence of sustained research in the form of a substantial research paper during either the junior or senior year and obtain approval of a member of the faculty, although not necessarily a member of the program faculty. Papers may be written in conjunction with Law, Letters, and Society courses, under the auspices of reading and research courses, or in a Research Seminar. (The paper is an independent requirement, however, and need not be accomplished in conjunction with enrollment in a specific course.) The scope, method, and objective of the paper, as well as its length, are subject to negotiation between the student and the instructor.

Summary of Requirements

Introductory Course100
Two Letters courses200
Two Society courses200
Six Complementary courses600
Total Units1100

Honors

Students who wish to be considered for honors must notify the program chairman and their faculty supervisor in writing no later than two quarters before the quarter in which they expect to receive their degree. Eligible students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.50 both overall and in the major, and they must write a distinguished research paper. The paper must be submitted by noon on Friday of fifth week in the quarter of proposed graduation (other papers must be submitted by noon on Friday of seventh week), and the student's faculty supervisor and a second reader must agree that honors are merited. It should be noted that honors are awarded sparingly.

Reading and Research Courses

For students with a legitimate interest in pursuing study that cannot be met by means of regular courses, there is an option of devising a reading and research course to be supervised by a member of the faculty and taken for a quality grade. Such courses may not be used to satisfy the requirements of either the two-course Letters or two-course Society requirements, but may be used to satisfy part of the other six required courses, with the written permission of the program chairman obtained in advance of initiation of the work. Only two research courses may be used within the major. LLSO 29400 Research Seminar may also be used as one of the six Complementary Courses.

Grading

Two of the six complementary courses required in the program may, with consent of instructor, be taken for P/F grading. Students who enroll in LLSO 29400 Research Seminar, offered annually, are graded on a P/F basis, and the seminar counts as one of the two P/F-graded complementary courses.

Advising

Students who wish to major in Law, Letters, and Society must register for LLSO 24200 Legal Reasoning in Autumn Quarter of their second year. This requirement is not negotiable. Students should note that, as an interdisciplinary major, the program has a strictly limited enrollment and that registration for the Introductory Course is determined during the preceding Spring Quarter. Upon deciding to major in Law, Letters, and Society, students should arrange to consult with the program chairman on their course of study in the program. Students should continue to consult with their College advisers on general education degree requirements.

 

Courses

 
I. The Introductory Course

LLSO 24200. Legal Reasoning. 100 Units.

This course introduces legal reasoning in a customary legal system. The first part examines the analytical conventions that lawyers and judges purport to use. The second part examines fundamental tenets of constitutional interpretation. Both judicial decisions and commentary are used, although the case method is emphasized.

Instructor(s): D. Hutchinson.     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Open only to second-year students who are beginning the LLSO major.

 
II. Letters

LLSO 20702. Colonial Autobiography. 100 Units.

The focus of this course will be the reading of works which deal, in one way of another, with "coming of age under colonialism" in Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.  Some are autobiographies in the normal sense, other are works of fiction, and many fall in between.  Most are colonial but some are literally postcolonial. The focus will be upon themes of developing a personal identity in negotiation between a local culture and a dominant colonial one, with formal schooling as a major common site.  There are obviously major issues of "postcoloniality" as stake her, in a mixture of political and cultural terms which we ourselves will need to negotiate.  The two weekly session will normally(but not always) be divided between a lecture, which will introduce the historical context and author, and a discussion of the assigned text.  Additional texts will be suggest both for background reading and potential paper topics.

Instructor(s): R. Austen     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 20101,CRES 20101,HIST 30101

LLSO 21810. Global Justice. 100 Units.

What duties do states and societies have beyond their borders? Are obligations of justice global in scope? What is the moral standing of states? This course will examine theories of global distributive and political justice, controversies over cosmopolitan democracy, and theories of human rights, in light of global social structures and international inequalities. We will consider contemporary arguments in political philosophy, sometimes in conversation with texts in the history of political thought. Authors will include Immanuel Kant, John Rawls, Thomas Pogge, Amartya Sen, Thomas Nagel, Iris Marion Young. (A)

Instructor(s): J. Pitts     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 21810,HMRT 39000,PLSC 39000

LLSO 22104. Intellectual Property and Piracy. 100 Units.

Intellectual property presents some of the most pressing problems in modern science, industry, and law. This course helps students to understand why. It explains the principles of modern intellectual property, by examining their historical development over the last five hundred years. Using sources from the history of literature, art, and music – as well as from modern science and information technology – students will discover how piracy and property have clashed since the Renaissance, and still do so today. They will then be well-placed to address the central problem of intellectual property, and one of the most basic questions facing today's universities: what is the proper relation between creativity and commerce?

Instructor(s): A. Johns     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 23000,CHSS 31900,HIPS 26700,HIST 33000

LLSO 24300. American Law and the Rhetoric of Race. 100 Units.

This course examines the ways American law has treated legal issues involving race. Two episodes are studied in detail: the criminal law of slavery during the antebellum period and the constitutional attack on state‐imposed segregation in the twentieth century. The case method is used, although close attention is paid to litigation strategy and judicial opinion.

Instructor(s): D. Hutchinson     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LAWS 59800,LAWS 49801

LLSO 24711. Lincoln: Slavery, War, and the Constitution. 100 Units.

This course is a study of Abraham Lincoln’s view of the Constitution, based on close readings of his writings, plus comparisons to judicial responses to Lincoln’s policies.

Instructor(s): D. Hutchinson.     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 24711,HIST 27102

LLSO 28200. Machiavelli's Political Thought. 100 Units.

This course is devoted to the political writings of Niccolò Machiavelli. Readings include The Prince, Discourses on Livy's history of Rome, selections from the Florentine Histories, and Machiavelli's proposal for reforming Florence's republic, "Discourses on Florentine Affairs." Topics include the relationship between the person and the polity; the compatibility of moral and political virtue; the utility of class conflict; the advantages of mixed institutions; the principles of self-government, deliberation, and participation; the meaning of liberty; and the question of military conquest. (A)

Instructor(s): J. McCormick     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Prior consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 27216,PLSC 52316

LLSO 28611. Northern Renaissance/Early Reformation. 100 Units.

In surveying the history of this period, attention is devoted to the relationships between the movements of Renaissance and Reformation in northern Europe from the late fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries.  Primary texts are emphasized.

Instructor(s): H. Gray     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 23001,HIST 33001

 
III. Society

LLSO 20601. American Revolution, 1763 to 1789. 100 Units.

This lecture and discussion course explores the background of the American Revolution and the problem of organizing a new nation. The first half of the course uses the theory of revolutionary stages to organize a framework for the events of the 1760s and 1770s, and the second half of the course examines the period of constitution-making (1776-1789) for evidence on the ways in which the Revolution was truly revolutionary.

Instructor(s): E. Cook     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 25300,HIST 35300

LLSO 20606. Early America in 1800. 100 Units.

This course surveys major themes in the settlement of the British colonies, the crisis of the American Revolution, and the growth of American society and politics.

Instructor(s): E. Cook     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 18710

LLSO 20911. Political Communication Networks. 100 Units.

Does an individual's social context, such as her social networks or social environment, have the ability to impact her political behavior?  We focus on identifying a causal relationship from the political behavior of one's social group to individual political activities. Specific readings are drawn from empirical research which relies upon public opinion surveys and field experiments, with a focus on the role of new media in American political life. (B)

Instructor(s): B. Sinclair     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 26610

LLSO 21103. 19th Century U.S. West. 100 Units.

"Go west, young man, go west!" newspaper editor Horace Greeley loved to say, although he only visited the region and did not coin the phrase. It referred to the host of opportunities thought to be lying in wait among the uncharted territories out yonder. The West has embodied the American dream; it has also represented an American nightmare. This course will examine the changing definitions, demographics, conceptualizations, and significance of the nineteenth-century North American West. We will cover an exceptionally dynamic period between the Northwest Ordinance and the Spanish-American War—an endpoint that inherently calls into question the very concept of the West itself.

Instructor(s): A. Lippert     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28905,ENGL 25417,GNSE 28905,HIST 38905

LLSO 21612. Economic Shocks, Institutions, and Growth. 100 Units.

This course examines theoretical and empirical discussions on whether and how domestic institutions interact with external shocks in determining economic outcomes. Various claims on the role of social, economic, and political institutions in mediating the effects of external shocks on economic outcomes are reviewed in their internal and external validity. Course will not be offered in 2012-13. (D)

Instructor(s): J. Park     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 24320,PLSC 34320

LLSO 22106. 19th Century Segment of the U.S. Survey. 100 Units.

This is where modern America begins. Before there was a Great Recession or an Occupy Wall Street, there was the nineteenth-century roller coaster of prosperity and panic, the robber barons and newfound workers' unions of the Gilded Age; the passionate public debates over the central bank, monetary policy, and the national currency. Before the Tea Party, the Founders themselves debated over which ways to make their Revolution realized, enduring, and meaningful in daily interactions as well as institutions. To understand the debates over the recently concluded Iraq War, we must return to the origins of American imperialism in the 1800s. To appreciate the significance and symbolism of the first African-American president, we have to revisit the nation's long history of slavery, racism, and segregation.
,The nineteenth-century survey will examine the experiences and the conflicts that made up the history of modern American society, as it unfolded over the course of the 1800s. Weather permitting, the class will take at least one short trip to relevant historical site in (or around) Chicago. Requirements include careful reading, active and thoughtful participation, and a series of short written assignments.

Instructor(s): A. Lippert     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 18804,GNSE 18804

LLSO 22707. Britain's Industrial Revolution. 100 Units.

Why and how did Britain become the first industrial society? We will consider a host of possible explanations, including geopolitics, political economy, social structure/demography, useful knowledge, colonies, and mineral energy. Readings will include works by Pincus, O’Brien, Mokyr, Berg, Wrigley, Pomeranz, de Vries, Macfarlane, Horn, Brewer, Ashworth, and Warde.

Instructor(s): F. Albritton Jonsson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 22707,HIST 32707

LLSO 22710. Electoral Politics in America. 100 Units.

This course explores the interactions of voters, candidates, the parties, and the media in American national elections, chiefly in the campaign for the presidency, both in nominating primaries and in the November general election. The course will examine how voters learn about candidates, how they perceive candidates, how they come to turn out to vote, and how they decide among the candidates. It will examine the strategies and techniques of electoral campaigns, including the choices of campaign themes and the impact of campaign advertising. It will consider the role of campaign contributors and volunteers, the party campaign organizations, campaign and media polls, and the press. Finally, it will assess the impact of campaigns and elections on governing and policymaking. (B)

Instructor(s): M. Hansen     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 22710

LLSO 23100. Environmental Law. 100 Units.

This lecture/discussion course examines the development of laws and legal institutions that address environmental problems and advance environmental policies. Topics include the common law background to traditional environmental regulation, the explosive growth and impact of federal environmental laws in the second half of the twentieth century, regulations and the urban environment, and the evolution of local and national legal structures in response to environmental challenges.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing, or consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 23100,PBPL 23100

LLSO 23415. Emergence of Capitalism in Early Modern Europe. 100 Units.

This course investigates the emergence of capitalism in Europe and the world as a whole between the early sixteenth and the late eighteenth centuries. We discuss the political and cultural as well as the economic, sources of capitalism, and explore Marxist, neoclassical, and cultural approaches. (C)

Instructor(s): W. Sewell     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 23415,HIST 23300,HIST 33300,PLSC 32815

LLSO 23600. The Environment in U.S. History. 100 Units.

This course examines human engagement with the natural world in what is now the United States. The promise of Edenic bounty, the threat of desolate wilderness, and the temptations of unprecedented affluence have each been seen as crucial to the formation of American identity. We explore the interaction of environmental change with human activities and ideologies that reflect broader themes in American culture.

Instructor(s): A. Gugliotta     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 23600,HIST 19000

LLSO 23900. Introduction to Constitutional Law. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the constitutional doctrines and political role of the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing on its evolving constitutional priorities and its response to basic governmental and political problems, including maintenance of the federal system, promotion of economic welfare, and protection of individual and minority rights. (B)

Instructor(s): G. Rosenberg     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28800,PLSC 48800

LLSO 24000. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties. 100 Units.

This course examines selected civil rights and civil liberties decisions of U.S. courts with particular emphasis on the broader political context. Areas covered include speech, race, and gender. (B)

Instructor(s): G. Rosenberg     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): PLSC 28800 or equivalent and consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 29200

LLSO 24011. The Political Nature of the American Judicial System. 100 Units.

This course aims to introduce students to the political nature of the American legal system. In examining foundational parts of the political science literature on courts conceived of as political institutions, the seminar will focus on the relationship between the courts and other political institutions. The sorts of questions to be asked include: Are there interests that courts are particularly prone to support? What effect does congressional or executive action have on court decisions? What impact do court decisions have? While the answers will not always be clear, students should complete the course with an awareness of and sensitivity to the political nature of the American legal system. (B)

Instructor(s): G. Rosenberg     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 22515,PLSC 42515

LLSO 24901. U.S. Environmental Policy. 100 Units.

Making environmental policy is a diverse and complex process. Environmental advocacy engages different governmental agencies, congressional committees, and courts, depending on the issue. This course examines how such differentiation has affected policy making over the last several decades.

Instructor(s): R. Lodato     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 24701,ENST 24701

LLSO 25100. Human Rights I: Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. 100 Units.

Human rights are claims of justice that hold merely in virtue of our shared humanity. In this course we will explore philosophical theories of this elementary and crucial form of justice. Among topics to be considered are the role that dignity and humanity play in grounding such rights, their relation to political and economic institutions, and the distinction between duties of justice and claims of charity or humanitarian aid. Finally we will consider the application of such theories to concrete, problematic and pressing problems, such as global poverty, torture and genocide.

Instructor(s): B. Laurence     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 30100,PHIL 21700,PHIL 31600,HIST 29301,HIST 39301,INRE 31600,LAWS 41200,MAPH 40000,HMRT 20100

LLSO 25203. Economic/Social History of Europe, 1700 to 1880. 100 Units.

This course examines the causes, characteristics, and effects—economic, social, and otherwise—of the "industrious" and industrial revolutions. The course reviews an array of unresolved debates, among them the so-called Brenner debate and the debates over proto-industrialization, the enclosure movements, the sources of technological innovation, path dependence and diffusion patterns within and across economies, the family economy, the standard of living, the formation of the middle and working classes, the consequences of literacy, and the voluntary initiatives and public policies addressing such social problems as poverty, disease, illegitimacy, and crime. The course is the first in a two-course sequence covering the economic and social history of Europe from 1700 to the present, but each course is free-standing—students enrolled in this course are not required to take its sequel.

Instructor(s): J. Craig     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): LLSO 25203-25204 may be taken in or out of sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 25203,HIST 35203

LLSO 25204. Economic/Social History of Europe, 1880 to the Present. 100 Units.

This course focuses on economic and social problems and debates identified with mature industrialization and the transition to a postindustrial and increasingly integrated Europe. Themes receiving particular attention include the crisis of the old rural order, international factor mobility (including migration), urbanization and "municipal socialism," the rise of the professions and the new middle class, the demographic and schooling transitions, the economic and social impact of business cycles, the world wars, and mass movements, the evolution and so-called crisis of the welfare state, and the social policies of the European Union.

Instructor(s): J. Craig     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): This course is a sequel to LLSO 25203, but the latter is not a prerequisite.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 25204,HIST 35204

LLSO 25215. The American Presidency. 100 Units.

This course examines the institution of the American presidency. It surveys the foundations of presidential power, both as the Founders conceived it and as it is practiced in the modern era. This course also traces the historical development of the institutional presidency, the president's relationships with Congress and the courts, the influence presidents wield in domestic and foreign policy making, and the ways in which presidents make decisions in a system of separated powers. (B)

Instructor(s): W. Howell     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 25215

LLSO 25902. Contemporary African American Politics. 100 Units.

This course explores the issues, actions, and arguments that comprise black politics today. Our specific task is to explore the question of how do African Americans currently engage in politics and political struggles in the United States. This analysis is rooted in a discussion of contemporary issues, including the 2008 presidential election, the response to Hurricane Katrina, debates surrounding the topic of immigration, the exponential incarceration of black people, and the role of rap music and hip-hop among black youth. We situate the politics of African Americans into the larger design we call American politics. Is there such a thing as black politics? If there is, what does it tell us more generally about American politics? (B)

Instructor(s): C. Cohen     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 22150,CRES 22150

LLSO 26000. Law and Society in Early America. 100 Units.

This mixed level colloquium is intended for upper-level undergrads and early state graduate students. It considers law, legal institutions, and legal culture within the lived experience of colonial and revolutionary America. It will emphasize the interaction of social development and legal development, and will explore the breadth of everyday experience with legal institutions like the jury, with courts as institutions for resolving disputes, and with the prosecution of crime.

Instructor(s): E. Cook     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 27001,HIST 37001

LLSO 26109. Core Values of the West. 100 Units.

This course examines the fundamental values of liberal Western democracies, including freedom of speech and religion, equality under law, individual autonomy, religious toleration, and property rights. We consider what these values mean, their historical origins and development, and debates about them in theory and in practice. This course is divided between lectures, which present each topic, and discussions. (A)

Instructor(s): C. Lipson     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): At least two prior college-level courses in U.S. or European history.
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 26109

LLSO 26201. Economics and Environmental Policy. 100 Units.

This course combines basic microeconomic theory and tools with contemporary environmental and resources issues and controversies to examine and analyze public policy decisions. Theoretical points include externalities, public goods, common-property resources, valuing resources, benefit/cost analysis, and risk assessment. Topics include pollution, global climate change, energy use and conservation, recycling and waste management, endangered species and biodiversity, nonrenewable resources, congestion, economic growth and the environment, and equity impacts of public policies.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): ECON 19800 or higher, or PBPL 20000
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 21800,PBPL 21800

LLSO 26500. History of Mexico, 1876 to Present. 100 Units.

From the Porfiriato and the Revolution to the present, a survey of Mexican society and politics, with emphasis on the connections between economic developments, social justice, and political organization. Topics include fin de siècle modernization and the agrarian problem; causes and consequences of the Revolution of 1910; the making of the modern Mexican state; relations with the United States; industrialism and land reform; urbanization and migration; ethnicity, culture and nationalism; economic crises, neoliberalism and social inequality; political reforms and electoral democracy; the zapatista rebellion in Chiapas; and the end of PRI rule.

Instructor(s): E. Kouri, M. Tenorio     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 26500,CRES 36500,HIST 26500,HIST 36500,LACS 36500

LLSO 26601. Organization, Ideology, and Political Change. 100 Units.

This course centers on the comparative analysis of the emergence and institutionalization of public bureaucracies in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the former Soviet Union. The aim is to see whether there are distinctly different patterns of organizational rationality or whether bureaucracies are all culturally unique. (C)

Instructor(s): B. Silberman     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28000,PLSC 38000

LLSO 26702. Political Psychology. 100 Units.

Using abstract theories and empirical studies, we investigate the sources of human thinking and behavior as they relate to political action, conflict, and organization. Topics include the inevitability of conflict, the dynamics of obedience and authority, the function and organization of political attitudes, the variety in styles of political thinking, the sources of stereotypes and intolerance, the role of emotions in political life, and non-Western understandings of human consciousness and political action. (B)

Instructor(s): J. Brehm     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28600

LLSO 26802. Public Opinion. 100 Units.

What is the relationship between the mass citizenry and government in the U.S.? Does the public meet the conditions for a functioning democratic polity? This course considers the origins of mass opinion about politics and public policy, including the role of core values and beliefs, information, expectations about political actors, the mass media, economic self-interest, and racial attitudes. This course also examines problems of political representation, from the level of political elites communicating with constituents, and from the possibility of aggregate representation. (B)

Instructor(s): J. Brehm     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 22400,CRES 22400

LLSO 26803. Haitian Revolution and Human Rights. 100 Units.

There have been two successful slave revolts in world history. One of them—which unfolded between 1791 and 1804 in the French colony of Saint Domingue (also variously referred to as San Domingo, Santo Domingo in English) on the western portion of the island that the Spanish had called Hispaniola (Espanola)—developed sufficient socio-political force to form a new state government that its ex-slave founders called Haiti. This course explores the Haitian revolution as critical to the examination of slave emancipation colonialism, comparative revolutions, and postcolonial governance and sovereignty. It especially aims to explore interpretive debates that explicitly (or implicitly) link the problems of slave emancipation to the contradictions of modern freedom. Course readings draw on historical, anthropological, and political studies, selected published documents, and historical fiction to think critically about ways of extending how this history and its implications have been explored.

Instructor(s): J. Saville     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 27114,CRES 27114,HIST 37114,HMRT 27114

LLSO 26804. Insurgency, Terrorism, and Civil War. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to asymmetric and irregular warfare. From Colombia to Afghanistan, non-state armed organizations are crucially important actors. We will study how they organize themselves, extract resources, deploy violence, attract recruits, and both fight and negotiate with states. We will also examine government counterinsurgency and counterterrorism policies, peace-building after conflict, and international involvement in internal wars. Case materials will be drawn from a variety of conflicts and cover a number of distinct topics. This course has a heavy reading load, and both attendance and substantial participation in weekly discussion sections are required. (D)

Instructor(s): P. Staniland     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 26800

LLSO 27100. Human Rights II: History and Theory. 100 Units.

This course is concerned with the theory and the historical evolution of the modern human rights regime. It discusses the emergence of a modern “human rights” culture as a product of the formation and expansion of the system of nation-states and the concurrent rise of value-driven social mobilizations. It proceeds to discuss human rights in two prevailing modalities. First, it explores rights as protection of the body and personhood and the modern, Western notion of individualism. Second, it inquires into rights as they affect groups (e.g., ethnicities and, potentially, transnational corporations) or states.

Instructor(s): J. Sparrow     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 20200,HMRT 30200,CRES 29302,HIST 29302,HIST 39302,INRE 31700,JWSC 26602,LAWS 41301

LLSO 27101. Democracy and the Information Technology Revolution. 100 Units.

The revolution in information technologies has serious implications for democratic societies. We concentrate, though not exclusively, on the United States. We look at which populations have the most access to technology-based information sources (the digital divide), and how individual and group identities are being forged online. We ask how is the responsiveness of government being affected, and how representative is the online community. Severe conflict over the tension between national security and individual privacy rights in the U.S., United Kingdom and Ireland will be explored as well. We analyze both modern works (such as those by Turkle and Gilder) and the work of modern democratic theorists (such as Habermas). (B)

Instructor(s): M. Dawson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 23100

LLSO 27200. Human Rights III: Contemporary Issues in Human Rights. 100 Units.

For U.S. students, the study of international human rights is becoming increasingly important, as interest grows regarding questions of justice around the globe. This interdisciplinary course presents a practitioner’s overview of several major contemporary human rights problems as a means to explore the utility of human rights norms and mechanisms, as well as the advocacy roles of civil society organizations, legal and medical professionals, traditional and new media, and social movements. The course may be co-taught by faculty from the Pritzker School of Medicine. Topics may include the prohibition against torture, problems of universalism versus cultural relativism, and the human right to health.

Instructor(s): S. Gzesh     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 20300,HMRT 30300,HIST 29303,HIST 39303,INRE 31800,LAWS 78201

LLSO 27801. Media Ecology: Embodiment and Software. 100 Units.

Media ecology examines how the structure and content of our media environments – online and offline, in words, images, sounds, and textures – affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; or alternatively, media ecology investigates the massive and dynamic interrelation of processes and objects, beings and things, patterns and matter. At stake are issues about agency – human or material – and about determinism – how does society or culture interact with or shape its technologies, or vice versa? This course investigates theories of media ecology by exploring systems of meanings that humans embody (cultural, social, ecological) in conjunction with the emerging field of software studies about the cultural, political, social, and aesthetic impacts of software (e.g., code, interaction, interface). In our actual and virtual environments, how do we understand performing our multiple human embodiments in relation to other bodies (organism or machine) in pursuit of social or political goals?

Instructor(s): M. Browning     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 25203,HUMA 25202

LLSO 28000. U.S. Labor History. 100 Units.

This course will explore the history of labor and laboring people in the United States. The significance of work will be considered from the vantage points of political economy, culture, and law. Key topics will include working-class life, industrialization and corporate capitalism, slavery and emancipation, the role of the state and trade unions, race and sex difference in the workplace.

Instructor(s): A. Stanley     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 18600,HMRT 28600

LLSO 28100. Law and Society. 100 Units.

This course examines the myriad relationships between courts, laws, and lawyers in the United States. Issues covered range from legal consciousness to the role of rights to access to courts to implementation of decisions to professionalism.  (B)

Instructor(s): G. Rosenberg     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): PLSC 28800 or equivalent and consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 22510

LLSO 28212. African American Political Thought. 100 Units.

An intensive introduction to African American political thought, focusing on the writings of Frederick Douglass, Martin Delany, Alexander Crummell, Booker T. Washington, Anna Julia Cooper, and W. E. B. Du Bois. (A)

Instructor(s): R. Gooding-Williams     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 28212

LLSO 28233. Machiavelli's Political Thought. 100 Units.

This course is devoted to the political writings of Niccolò Machiavelli. Readings include The Prince, Discourses on Livy's history of Rome, selections from the Florentine Histories, and Machiavelli's proposal for reforming Florence's republic, "Discourses on Florentine Affairs." Topics include the relationship between the person and the polity; the compatibility of moral and political virtue; the utility of class conflict; the advantages of mixed institutions; the principles of self-government, deliberation, and participation; the meaning of liberty; and the question of military conquest. (A)

Instructor(s): J. McCormick     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Prior consent of instructor.

LLSO 28311. Genocide Euro Jews, 1933-1945. 100 Units.

What were the main features of the Jewish society that the Nazis destroyed and what were the conditions of Jewish life in inter-war Europe?  Why and how did the genocide occur?  Who were the perpetrators? What were the respective roles of the German policy apparatus, of the Germany army, of the Nazi Party, of the state bureaucracy, of ordinary Germans?  What were the responses of occupied populations of neutral countries, of the Allies, and of the Jews themselves?

Instructor(s): B. Wassserstein     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 23401,HIST 33401,JWSC 23401,PLSC 23401,PLSC 33401

LLSO 28313. Race in the 20th Century Atlantic World. 100 Units.

This lecture course will provide an introduction to the workings of race on both sides of the Atlantic form the turn of the 20th century to the present. Topics covered will include: the very definition of the term "race"; politics on the naming, gathering and use of statistics on racial categories; the changing uses of race in advertising; how race figures in the politics and practices of reproduction; representations of race in children's books; race in sports and the media.  We will explore both relatively autonomous developments with in the nation-states composing the Atlantic world, but our main focus will be on transfer, connections, and influences across that body of water.  Most of the materials assigned will be primary sources ranging from films, fiction, poetry, political interventions, posters, advertisements, music, and material culture.  Key theoretical essays from the Caribbean, France, England, and the United States will also be assigned.

Instructor(s): T. Holt & L. Auslander     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28704,CRES 28704,GNSE 28703,GNSE 38702,HIST 38704

LLSO 28314. African American Lives and Times. 100 Units.

This colloquium will examine selected topics and issues in African American history during a dynamic and critical decade, 1893 and 1903, that witnessed the redefinition of American national and sectional identities, social and labor relations, and race and gender relations. A principal premise of the course is that African American life and work was at the nexus of the birth of modern America, as reflected in labor and consumption, in transnational relations (especially Africa), in cultural expression (especially music and literature), and in the resistance or contestation to many of these developments. The course will focus on the Chicago World's Fair and the publication of Du Bois's Souls of Black Folk as seminal moments in the era. Our discussions will be framed by diverse primary materials, including visual and aural sources, juxtaposed with interpretations of the era by various historians. A principal goal of the course is that students gain a greater appreciation for interpreting historical processes through in-depth examination of the complex and multiple currents of an defined era—a slice of time—as well as skills in interpreting diverse primary sources.

Instructor(s): T. Holt     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): AFAM 27403,CRES 27403,CRES 37403,HIST 27403,HIST 37403

LLSO 28604. Law and Social Movements in Modern America. 100 Units.

This course traces and examines the relationship of law and social movements in the United States since 1865. We examine how lawyers and ordinary citizens have used the law to support the expansion of social, political and economic rights in America. We also look at how the state and civic organizations have shaped and deployed law to criminalize the strategies of social reform movements and stifle dissent.

Instructor(s): J. Dailey     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GNDR 28604,HIST 28604,HMRT 28604

LLSO 29000. Sport, Society, and Science. 100 Units.

This interdisciplinary course draws faculty from across the University to examine and to integrate important elements of the world of sport and competition, including sport and society; race and sport; legal, economic, and public policy frameworks; psychological and neurological aspects of competition, the physics of sports; and statistical measurements of performance.

Terms Offered: Winter

 
IV. Research and Reading

LLSO 29400. Research Seminar. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): D. Hutchinson     Terms Offered: Autumn

 


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