Abstract communities
Not offered in 1995
P James
12 points * 2 hours per week * Second semester * Clayton
The subject studies different forms of human community in historical and theoretical perspective. It tries to emphasise the distinctiveness of contemporary societies by comparing them, especially the Western capitalist form, with other kinds of social formation, including tribal societies and communities emergent during the early development of state and nation. This comparison involves some assessment of how adequately recent social theorists have handled questions of social form and social subjectivity. The broad aim of the subject is to acquaint students with developments in the literature dealing with state and society, nationalism and community, and to alert them to the changes which have occurred in the last decade to the ways of conceptualising, presenting and re-presenting the nature of human community and organised social life in general.
Assessment
Written (6000 words) * Examinations (3 hours) * 60% of assessment weighting to higher mark
Recommended texts
Anderson B Imagined communities Verso, 1991
Harvey D The condition of postmodernity Basil Blackwell, 1989
Lyon D The information society Polity, 1988