PSCI1606 - Freedom, Power, and Equality

Status
A
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Freedom, Power, and Equality
Term
2022C
Syllabus URL
Subject area
PSCI
Section number only
001
Section ID
PSCI1606001
Course number integer
1606
Meeting times
M 1:45 PM-2:44 PM
W 1:45 PM-2:44 PM
Meeting location
BENN 419
ANNS 111
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Nancy J Hirschmann
Description
The concepts of freedom, power and equality are what have been called “essentially contested concepts.” These three concepts take a particular significance in the 20th and 21st centuries due to the proliferation of war, industrialization, technology, as well as the growth of democracy and the accompanying shifts in social relations these have all brought about. We think that we have a pretty clear and straightforward understanding of what they mean—freedom means doing what I want, power is domination, equality is sameness. But when we look at how these ideals are lived in real life, we can see that they are in fact a lot more complicated than that. For instance, does poverty reduce freedom and wealth enhance it, or is really only a matter of inequality and people’s choices as many maintain? How do categories like race, gender, and sexuality affect the ways that freedom, power, and equality are experienced? Can power be exercised in relations of equality or does it always suggest inequality? How do we know when power is a hindrance to freedom, or when it is an enhancement of it? How do these three concepts intersect and intertwine to alter their meanings in different settings and in response to different sorts of events?
Course number only
1606
Use local description
No