CHS 1001-H66

                                               Tolentine  310B – MWF 8:30-9:20

                                                                 Spring 2004

Dr. Eugene McCarraher

Office:  475 SAC

Office Hours:  MWF 11:30-12:30 or by appointment

Office Phone:  9-4796

E-mail:  Eugene.mccarraher@villanova.edu

Course Description

       In the spring semester, we will explore a number of issues concerning the moral, cultural, and religious meanings of commercial life from the 17^th to the 21^st centuries.  Using a variety of texts, we will examine the ways in which several writers have understood, endorsed, or criticized the political economy and culture of capitalism.  Thus, we will use the study of commerce and culture as a springboard for reflection on issues central to all of the humanities.     

Texts

       The following books are required and can be purchased in the university bookstore.

            Thomas Frank, ed., Boob Jubilee (W. W. Norton, 0393324303))

            Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Verso, 1859848982)

            Patrick Murray, ed., Reflections on Commercial Life (Routledge, 0415911966)

            Ayn Rand, Anthem (Signet, 0451191137)

            Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth (W. W. Norton, 0393959015)

Papers, Class Discussion, and Grading Policy

       The break-down for your final grade is as follows:

                           2 8 page-papers  (35%)

                           Class Participation (30%)

                           Final Exam  (25%)

                           2 reaction papers (10%)

       Our policies regarding lateness, absence, and plagiarism are in accordance with those outlined in the Enchiridion, the Villanova student handbook. 

Course Schedule

January 12 – Introduction

January 14 – John Locke, “Of Property,” in Reflections

January 16 – Bernard Mandeville, “The Fable of the Bees,” in Reflections

January 19 – Martin Luther King Day – No Class

January 21 – David Hume, “Of Commerce” and “Of Refinement in the Arts,”

                     in Reflections

January 23 – Adam Smith, “Of the Division of Labour,” “Of the Principle which Gives

                     Occasion to the Division of Labour,” and “Of the Accumulation of Capital,”

                     in Reflections

January 26 – Adam Smith, “Of the Natural Progress of Opulence,” “How the Commerce

                      Of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country,” and

                     “Of the Expences of the Sovereign or Commonwealth,” in Reflections

January 28 – Friedrich Schiller, “On the Aesthetic Education of Man,”

                      in Reflections

January 30 – John Stuart Mill, “Of the Grounds and Limits of the Laisser-Faire

                     Or Non-Interference Principle,” in Reflections

February 2 – Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, preface, Parts I and II

February 4 – Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Parts III and IV

February 6 – Marx, “Commodities,” “The General Formula for Capital,” and

                      “The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power,” in Reflections

February 9 – Marx, “The Fetishism of Commodities, and the Secret Thereof,”

                     from Capital (handout)

February 11 – Walter Benjamin, “Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century” (handout)

February 13 – Thorstein Veblen, “”Pecuniary Emulation”

                        and “Conspicuous Consumption,” in Reflections

February 16 – Georg Simmel, “The Metropolis and Mental Life,” in Reflections

February 18 – No Class

February 20 – Max Weber, “The Spirit of Capitalism,” in Reflections

February 23 – R. H. Tawney, excerpt from The Acquisitive Society (handout)

February 25 – Marcel Mauss, “Conclusions for Economic Sociology

                       and Political Economy,” in Reflections

February 27 – Georges Bataille, “Theory of `Potlatch,’” in Reflections

                        Essay #1 Due

March 1 – March 5 – Spring Break

March 8 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

March 10 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

March 12 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

March 15 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

March 17 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

March 19 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

March 22 – Rand, Anthem

March 24 – Rand, Anthem

March 26 – Rand, Anthem
 

March 27 – Trip to downtown Philadelphia
 

March 29 – Simone Weil, “Sketch of Contemporary Social Life,” in Reflections

March 31 – William H. Whyte, excerpt from The Organization Man (handout)

April 2 – Jean Baudrillard, “Consumer Society,” in Reflections

April 5 – Daniel Bell, “The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism,” in Reflections

April 7 – Doug Henwood, excerpt from After the New Economy (handout)

                Essay #2 Due

April 9 – Good Friday – No Class

April 12 – Easter Monday – No Class

April 14 – Thomas Frank, Greg Lane, David Mulcahy, and Emily Vogt,

                 “This Car Climbed Nasdaq,”

                  Thomas Frank, “The God That Sucked,”

                  David Mulcahy, “Successitudes,” in Boob Jubilee

April 16 – Paul Maliszewski, “I, Faker,” in Boob Jubilee
 

April 17 – Trip to King of Prussia Mall
 

April 19 – Bryant Urstadt, “A Sell-out’s Tale,” in Boob Jubilee

April 21 – Thomas Frank, “Babbitt Rex,”

                  Mike Newirth, “Zoned Bohemian,” in Boob Jubilee

April 23 – Jim Arndorfer,”McSploitation,”

                 Mike O’Flaherty, “Rockerdammerung,” in Boob Jubilee

April 26 – Dan Raeburn, “The Brand Called Shmoo,”

                 Joshua Glenn, “I’d Like to Force the World to Sing,”

                 Matt Roth, “Dreams, Incorporated,” in Boob Jubilee 

April 27 – Thomas Frank, “When Class Disappears,”

                  Jim Frederick, “The Intern Economy,” in Boob Jubilee

April 28 – Kim Phillips-Fein, “Chapters of Eleven,”

                 and Tom Vanderbilt, “Dilbert and Me,” in Boob Jubilee

May 7 – Final Exam