SOCIOLOGY 621CLASS, STATE ANDIDEOLOGY:AN INTRODUCTION TO MARXIST SOCIAL SCIENCEFall Semester, 1999Professor Erik Olin WrightDepartment of SociologyUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonOffice: 8112D Social ScienceOffice hours: 8:30-10:00 a.m., MW, Catacombs Coffeehouseemail: [email protected] course provides a rigorous introduction to the core concepts, ideas and theories in theMarxist tradition of critical social science. It is not primarily a course on Marx per se, or on thehistorical development of Marxism as an intellectual tradition, but rather on the logic, conceptsand theories of that tradition. The emphasis, therefore, will be on contemporary problems anddebates rather than on the history of ideas. The course will also not attempt to give equal weightto all varieties of Marxisms, but rather will focus especially on what has come to be known as"Analytical Marxism".The course will revolve around seven broad topics: Marxism as a social science; The theory ofhistory; class structure; class formation and class struggle; the theory of the state and politics;ideology and consciousness; socialism and emancipation. Within each of these topics we seek toachieve four objectives: (1) define the decisive differences between the treatments of varioustopics within the Marxist (and other radical) traditions and "conventional" sociology; (2) present asystematic account of the central concepts and propositions within Marxist and other criticalapproaches to the topic; (3) examine some of the most salient debates within contemporarydiscussion on each topic, and locate unresolved questions and gaps in the theory; (4) discuss someof the key empirical and historical research problems generated within these debates.IntroductioniiTABLE OF CONTENTSCourse topics .........................................................................iiRequirements ........................................................................vLecture Schedule .................................................................... viiiCourse TopicsPART I. INTRODUCTION: METATHEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS1. What is "Critical" in Critical Social Science? ............................................. 12.What is "Scientific" in Critical Social Science? ..............................................23. Miscellaneous Metatheoretical Issues: levels of abstraction; structures & actors; micro/macro analysis ...34. The Project of Reconstructing Marxism as a Critical Social Science .............................4 PART II. THE THEORY OF HISTORY5. What is a "theory of history"? ..........................................................56 & 7. The Classical Theory of History .....................................................58. Critiques and reconstructions ...........................................................7PART III. CLASS STRUCTURE, CLASS FORMATION AND CLASS STRUGGLE9. What is Class? .....................................................................910. The Concept of Exploitation .........................................................1011. Rethinking the Class Structure of Capitalism .............................................1112. Class and Gender ..................................................................1313. Class and Race ...................................................................1414. The "Death of Class" debate .........................................................15IV. CLASS FORMATION15. Basic Concepts of class formation .....................................................1616. Rationality, solidarity and class struggle ................................................1617. Dilemmas of Working Class Collective Action ...........................................1718. Class Compromise: ................................................................17PART V. THE THEORY OF THE STATE AND POLITICS19. What is "Politics"? What is "the state"? .................................................1920. What, if anything, makes the capitalist state a capitalist state? Is the state a patriarchal state? ....... 2021. The State & Accumulation: functionality and contradiction .................................2122. The State and the Working Class: The democratic capitalist state and social Stability ..............22Introduction iiiPART VI. IDEOLOGY AND CONSCIOUSNESS23. What is Ideology? ................................................................. 2324. Mystification: ideology as false consciousness ............................................ 2425. Ideological Hegemony and Legitimation ................................................ 2526. Ideology and Exploitation: the problem of consent .........................................2727. Explaining Ideology: Micro-foundations for the theory .....................................27PART VII. SOCIALISM AND EMANCIPATION28. The Classical Theory of Socialism .....................................................2829. New Models of emancipatory futures ................................................... 2930. Radically Transforming Capitalism: traditional Marxist perspectives ...........................31SUPPLEMENTARY TOPICSSUPPLEMENTARY TOPICS ON METHODOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEMS(v). Concept Formation ............................................................. 32(vi). Varieties of Explanation: functional, causal, intentional ................................. 33(vii). Causal Primacy ................................................................ 34(viii).Methodological individualism and holism ............................................34(ix). Causation: determination and contradiction ..........................................35(x) Determination: The problem of agency and transformative determinations ...................36(xi). Different Marxist Understandings of What Constitutes "Method" ...........................36(xii). "Economic Determination in the Last Instance": in what sense is Marxism "materialist"? ........37(xiii).Theory and Practice .............................................................38SUPPLEMENTARY TOPICS ON THE THEORY OF HISTORY(i). An Historical Example: The Origins of Capitalism .....................................39(ii). NonMarxist Theories of History ....................................................40SUPPLEMENTARY TOPICS ON CLASS STRUCTURE(i). The Bourgeoisie in Advanced Capitalism I: the Social Constitution of the Ruling Class .........40(ii). The Bourgeoisie in Advanced Capitalism II: Structural