First-Year Research Seminar: Ideology in Everyday Life

Semester and Year	SP 2010
Course Number	FIRST-UG720
Section	001
Instructor	Lauren Kaminsky
Days	Tue,Thu
Time	3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

Ideology is a system of ideas that shapes politics and society, and in so doing transforms people as well. In this course, students study the lived experience of ideology, contemplating what it means to contend with conflicting ideologies, and how those ideologies shape an individual life. We will explore different disciplinary approaches to the study of ideology, reading philosophy, literary criticism, history, and critical theory, at the same time examining the incorporation of political and moral ideas into everyday life. By bridging the gap between the theoretical and the practical, we will study how ideology changes a person's understanding of the self. Readings will include key works on capitalism, fascism, and communism, including Adolf Hitler, Karl Marx, and Leon Trotsky, as well as memoirs, poems, letters, and other accounts that capture the subjective experience of ideological conflict, including Horatio Alger Jr., W. H. Auden, Pasha Angelina, and Tommaso Marinetti. Students will conduct research projects on ideologies connected to their areas of interest. Readings may also include Louis Althusser, Guy Debord, Frantz Fanon, Betty Friedan, Henri Lefebvre, Georges Perec, and Slavoj Zizek.

Course Type

First-Year Program: Research Seminars (FIRST-UG)