EUROPE IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTIONS:
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL IDEAS AND MOVEMENTS, 1789-1914
(510:325; Spring, 2014)
Dr. Andrew Lees;
Purposes of the Course. This course will focus on social and political ideas under the impact of the French Revolution and other movements that pointed toward political democratization and under the impact of the Industrial Revolution. Students will encounter a wide range of “isms,” mainly via selections from writings produced by people who lived during the period. Themes to be treated will include conservatism, liberalism and radicalism, socialism and communism, feminism, and racism and irrationalism. Familiarity with the overall history of Europe during the nineteenth century is necessary, so that students will understand the contexts in which ideas arose, but emphasis will be placed on ideas rather than on the events that surrounded them.
Assigned Reading. For background narrative of key events developments, students should obtain and read Robin Winks and Joan Neuburger, Europe and the Making of Modernity, 1815-1914. All other assigned readings are available via electronic reserve at the Robeson Library. Students should print out these items and bring them to class on days for which they are assigned.
Papers. Students are expected to submit analyses of two primary documents (2-3 pages) and papers in which they discuss two entire books of their choosing (6-8 pages). Document analyses are due on February 5. Proposals for books to be read for the longer paper are due by April 14. If proposals are not submitted, in writing, by that date, grades for the papers themselves will be reduced. The papers themselves are due on May 5. (More information about papers is contained in a separate hand-out.)
Examinations. There will be a mid-term examination (on March 10) and a final examination (in early May). For each exam, study questions will be distributed in advance. In the absence of strongly extenuating circumstances makeup examinations are likely to be harder than exams taken on the days for which they are scheduled. Students must pass the final exam in order to pass the course. Anyone who does not take the final exam on time and does not get in touch with me within twenty-four hours may expect to fail the course.
Grades. Grades for the course will be computed as follows: first paper=10%; mid-term=15%; second paper=30%; final examination=30%; attendance=15%. (Students will receive 3 points for each of the first twenty classes they attend and 5 points for each class thereafter. As regards this grade, there is no such thing as an excused absence. If students show up, they get credit. If they are absent, they do not.)
Part One: The Old Regime and Perspectives on Efforts to Change It, 1789-1820
Basic Reading: Winks and Neuberger, pp. 1-18
Jan. 22:Introduction to the Course; The “Old Regime.” Reading: Winks, pp. xi-xvii, 1-4.
Jan. 27:Egalitarianism and Nationalism. Reading: Winks, pp. 4-9; “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen; Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (selections); Antoine Nicolas de Condorcet, The Progress of the Human Mind (selections); Johann Gottlob Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation (selections).
Jan. 29:Stirrings of Feminism. Reading: Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Feb. 3:Conservative Counter-Currents. Reading: Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (selections); Winks, pp. 11-18, 126-129; Clemens von Metternich, “Memoir on the Concert of Europe.”
Part Two: Liberalism and Radicalism, 1815-1871
Feb. 5:Reformers, Constitutionalists, and Radicals. Reading: Winks, 18-40, 125-126, 130-139; “Speeches on the Reform Bill of 1832”; Carl von Rotteck, “Constitution”; Giuseppe Mazzini, “General Instructions for the Members of Young Italy.” Due Date for First Paper.
Feb. 10:Liberalism and Individualism. Reading: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (selections); and John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (selections).
Feb. 12:Liberalism and Nationalism. Reading: Winks, pp. 153-182, 192-204; Carl Schurz, Reminiscences (selections); Giuseppe Mazzini, Duties towards Your Country (selections).
Part Three: Conflicting Answers to “the Social Question,” 1800-1850
Feb. 17:The Onset of Industrialization and Urbanization. Reading: Winks, pp. 64-124.
Feb. 19:Early Champions of the Factory and the City. Reading: Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures (selections); Robert Vaughan, The Age of Great Cities (selections).
Feb. 24:Liberalism and Laissez-faire. Reading: Winks, pp. 130-132; Thomas
Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (selections); Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (selections).
Feb. 26:Utopian Socialism. Reading: Winks, pp. 139-145; Robert Owen, “On Society and Production”; Etienne Cabet, Voyage to Icaria (selections).
March 3:Early Marxism. Reading: Winks, pp. 145-149; Friedrich Engels, “The Great Towns” (selections); Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (selections).
March 5:Voluntary and Governmental Interventions. Reading: Andrew Lees and Lynn Hollen Lees, “Pursuits of Urban Improvement”.
March 10:Mid-Term Examination.
Part Four: Conflicting Answers to “the Social Question,” 1850-1914
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March 12: Further Industrialization and the Rise of a Mass Society. Reading: Winks, pp. 230-250, 289-302.
March 24: Laissez-faire and Social Darwinism: Reading: Herbert Spencer, Social Statics and Man versus the State (selections); and William Graham Sumner, “Sociology.”
March 26: Trade Unionism, Social Democracy, and Mature Marxism. Reading: Albert Lindemann, “Socialism as a Major Force”; “German Working-class Songs.”
March 31:Anarchism and Bolshevism. Reading: Winks, pp. 149-150; Mikhail Bakunin, “Anarchism”; Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence (selections);Winks, pp. 337-344; Vladimir Lenin, “What Is to Be Done?” (selections).
April 2:Advocates of Social Reform. Reading: Sidney Webb, Fabian Essays (selections); Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism (selections); Winks, pp. 150-151; ; Leo XIII, Concerning New Things (selections); Richard Ely, Ground under Our Feet (selections).
April 7:Governmental Interventions: The Cases of Germany and Britain. Reading: Otto von Bismarck, “Speeches on Social Legislation.’-
Part Five: Questions Having to Do with Gender, 1850-1914
April 9:The Ideal of the “Perfect Lady.” Reading: Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Women of England (selections).
April 14:Advocates of Male-Female Equality. Reading: Winks, pp. 302-306; John Stuart Mill,” The Subjection of Women (selections); Helene, Stöcker, “The Modern Woman”; Emmeline Pankhurst, “Why We Are Militant.” Due Date for Proposals for Pairs of Books to Be Read for Final Paper.
April 16: Difference-based Feminism. Reading: Andrew Lees, “Alice Salomon, Women, and Social Work”; Alice Salomon, “The Significance of the Women’s Movement for Social Life; Jane Addams, “Two Essays.”
Part Six: Nonsocialist Illiberalism, 1850-1914
April 21: Racism and Conservatism. Reading: Artur de Gobineau, Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (selections).
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April 23:Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Zionism. Reading: Edouard-Adolphe Drumont, Jewish France (selections); Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (selections); George Mosse, “The Jew” (selections).
April 28:Imperialism. Reading: Winks, pp. 257-288; Karl Pearson, “National Life from the Standpoint of Science” (selections); Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden”; John M. Mackenzie, “Imperialism and Juvenile Literature.” Final Date for Optional Submission of Second Document Analysis.
April 30:Irrationalism, Militarism, and Chauvinist Nationalism. Reading: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power (selections); Friedrich von Bernhardi, Germany and the Next War; Maurice Barrès, “French Nationalism”; Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life.”
May 5:The Road to the First World War. Reading: Winks, pp. 319-337, 350-358; Roland N. Stromberg, “The Intellectuals and the Coming of War in 1914.” Due Date for Final Paper.
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