spring2007



Prof. Mauricio A. Font, (mfont@gc.cuny.edu) Mondays, 4:15-6:15 PM, Room : TBA, 3 Credits
Charles Tilly Biography Books	This seminar probes main authors and works linking collective action, political processes, and large-scale transformations – including revolutions, reforms, and transitions. This year we focus on Charles Tilly. Author of fifty books and numerous articles, he is a leading world social scientist and one of the most influential contemporary sociologists. While many of Tilly’s works revolve around the theme of "contentious politics," he has made major contributions in several disciplines—sociology, history, political science, political economy, anthropology, economics. He has provided major leadership in efforts to link history and social science to better understand processes of large-scale social change. If mostly focused on European societies, he and his students have made major contributions to broader forms of comparative and global analysis. For about 12 weeks, we will read and assess major works by Tilly, including recent books—Why? (2006), Democracy (2007), Trust and Rule (2005), Contentious Politics (2007), Regimes and Repertoires (2006), Social Movements (2004), Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650-2000 (2004), The Politics of Collective Violence (2003)—and major earlier statements such as From Mobilization to Revolution; Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons; Coercion, Capital, and European States, A.D. 990-1992; European Revolutions; Durable Inequality; Dynamics of Contention (with McAdam and Tarrow). We will also read a few essays published in academic journals. During the last part of the term, the seminar probes contemporary processes of large-scale social change, relying heavily on works inspired in the Tillian perspective and research by students. We expect some guest speakers, including Charles Tilly himself. We will also consider works by close associates such as Tarrow's Transnational Activism and the growing literature on transnational or global collective action.
	Students will write two short papers and a research paper focused on issues posed or illuminated by the ‘contentious politics’ field and school of thought. Ideally, the papers will focus on transformations and political processes such as reforms, democratization, transition, conflict, revolution, and regime change. Throughout, the seminar advances a comparative, historical, global, and interdisciplinary perspective. In a personal exchange, Tilly states that his works address six main questions: How do ordinary people, especially oppressed people, manage to act together and wield influence? How do massive social transformations such as urbanization, industrialization, state transformation, and the growth of capitalism a) ever occur and b) affect ordinary people's lives? What causes everyday forms of inequality and their changes? What sorts of models of social processes make historical sense? How does social interaction work and produce aggregate changes? How do different kinds of political regimes come into being, operate, and affect the lives of their citizens? Others have relied on the Tillian perspective to a broad range of phenomena, to include state-formation and institutional change, elite contention, strikes, and many other. Students are invited to explore its usefulness in these and other areas.
	Books by Charles Tilly to be acquired (at least 3-4 from this list, depending on interest): -Coercion, Capital and European States, AD 990-1992 (Blackwell, 1992) -Social Movements, 1768-2004 (Paradigm, 2004); -Contentious Politics (Paradigm, 2007) -Regimes and Repertoires (Chicago, 2006) -Stories, Identities, and Political Change (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) -Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties (Paradigm, 2005) -Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650-2000 (Cambridge, 2004); -Democracy (Cambridge, 2007) [at bookstores in Feb. or early March 2007] -Trust and Rule (Cambridge, 2005) -Why? (Princeton, 2007) -European Revolutions, 1492-1992 (Blackwell, 1993) -The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge, 2003) Recommended Readings: -From Mobilization to Revolution (Addison-Wesley, 1978) -Big Structure, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons (Russell Sage, 1985) -Durable Inequality (California Press, 1998) -Economic and Political Contention in Comparative Perspective (Paradigm, 2005) -Dynamics of Contention (Cambridge, 2001) -Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties (Paradigm, 2005) -From Contention to Democracy (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998)
	Outline of the Course (Subject to change) Note: * = Background) 1. Organization and Introduction -Why? (Princeton, 2006) -Roads from Past to Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 1997)* 2. History and Social Science -As Sociology Meets History (Academic Press, 1981) -Big Structure, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons (Russell Sage, 1985) -“Mechanisms in Political Processes,” Annual Review of Political Science (2001, 4:21-41)* 3. States and State Building -Coercion, Capital and European States, AD 990-1992 (Blackwell, 1992) -Essay in M. von Hagen and K. Barkey, eds. After Empire (1997); -The Formation of National States in Western Europe* (Princeton, 1975)* 4. Collective Action -Contentious Politics (Paradigm, 2007) -From Mobilization to Revolution (Addison-Wesley, 1978)* -Dynamics of Contention (Cambridge, 2001)* -Popular Contention in Great Britain, 1758-1834 (Harvard, 1995)* -The Contentious French (Harvard, 1986)* 5. Contention and Context -Regimes and Repertoires (Chicago, 2006) -Economic and Political Contention in Comparative Perspective (Paradigm, 2005)* 6. Social Movements -Social Movements, 1768-2004 (Paradigm, 2004) 7. Democracy and Mobilization in Perspective -Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650-2000 (Cambridge, 2004) -From Contention to Democracy (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998)* 8. Inequality and Social Structure -Durable Inequality (California Press, 1998) -Work Under Capitalism (Westview, 1998)* -Essay on labor and globalization* 9. Identity, Boundaries, and the Micro-dynamics of Social Action -Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties (Paradigm, 2005) -Stories, Identities, and Political Change (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002): Part II, particularly chapters 5-7 10. Revolutions and Transitions -European Revolutions, 1492-1992 (Blackwell, 1993) -Transforming Post-Communist Political Economies (National Academy Press, 1998) 11. Democracy in Theoretical Perspective - Democracy (Cambridge, 2007) [at bookstores in Feb-March 2007] -Trust and Rule (Cambridge, 2005) -“Processes and Mechanisms of Democratization” (Stories, Identities, and Political Change, chapter 14)* 12. Violence -The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge, 2003) 13. Transnational Collective Action -Sidney Tarrow, The New Transnational Activism (2005) 14. Presentation of Research on Contentious Politics -Peasant Revolts in the Age of Globalization -The Vendée (Harvard, 1964, 1976)*

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