<< >> ^

PLM4220/5220

Abstract communities: from tribalism to globalism

Paul James

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives On successful completion of this subject, students should have a broad overview of the range of contemporary theories of social formation; they should have a grasp of the interpretative problems involved in understanding different forms of social relations, from tribalism to globalism; and they should be familiar with the current developments in the contradictory nature of political community.

Synopsis In the present period we face a tension between a tightening of global interconnectedness and a fragmentation of social relations at the level of face-to-face community. This subject examines the structures and subjectivities that both integrate polity and community, and threaten simultaneously to break them apart. It focuses upon practices such as electronic communication, monetary exchange and computerised production, while comparing them to earlier forms of exchange, communication and production. The subject suggests that understanding contemporary forms of polity and community entails making broad historical comparisons to radically different ways of living in time, place and embodiment.

Assessment Essay (6000 words): 60%
* Examination (3 hours): 40%

Prescribed texts

Featherstone M Undoing culture: Globalization, postmodernism and identity Sage, 1995

Gellner E Plough, sword and book: The structure of human history Collins, 1988

James P Nation formation: Towards a theory of abstract community Sage, 1996

Sennett R Flesh and stone Faber and Faber, 1994

Recommended texts

Kahn J Culture, multiculture, postculture Sage, 1995

Maffesoll M The time of the tribes Sage, 1996

Smith D The rise of historical sociology Polity Press, 1991


<< >> ^
Handbook Contents | Faculty Handbooks | Monash University
Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168
Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution
Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996