Ideology and Political Change

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This seminar deals with the complex and broad topic of "ideology' and explores competing social science paradigms and how each of these paradigms places the role of ideology, political ideas or world views within a wider conceptual framework of political change and the evolution and efficacy of political movements. For these purposes, the courses examines three schools of thought: Marxist/structural, symbolic/cultural and elite/instrumentalist. The first two third of the course consider some of the classic theorists or writers in each of these school including Marx, Gramsci, Mannheim, Durkheim, Weber, Geertz, Mosca, and Pareto. We then examine how each of these theoretical orientations shape actual research and analysis of the dynamics of political change and ideological struggle by considering competing accounts of Iran's "Islamic Revolution." Ultimately, our goal is to use these case studies to exemplify the merits and limitations of each approach. Moreover, we also consider how a combination of approaches, as exemplified by the 'New Institutionalism," can provide greater theoretical leverage when it comes to charting the genesis, evolution and transformation of contemporary political movements and the ideologies they espouse.