Module POL3194 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3194: Rethinking the Politics of Communities
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
The sequence of seminars may vary from year to year. However, key themes will include:
- The history of the political thought of community (Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, Marx, Tönnies)
- The emergence of the theory of community in recent communitarian thinking (Dewey, Taylor, Sandel; Etzioni, Putnam)
- The radicalisation of the theory of community in recent European political theory (Bataille, Nancy, Blanchot, Agamben, Bauman)
- Case studies of community in contemporary political practice, based on the module convenors own community engaged research (multiculturalism, protest, resistance; virtual communities; asset based community development; engaging communities; performing communities)
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 256 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 42 | 22x 2 hour seminars |
| Guided independent study | 256 | 148hrs seminar preparation, 60hrs research, 48hrs course work |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Video & audio recordings relating to case studies.
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
The majority of the reading will be made available online via the ELE page for the module.
Plato (2005) Republic, Book 2. Cambridge University Press.
Aristotle (1996) Politics, Book 1. Cambridge University Press.
Thomas Hobbes (2007) Leviathan, Chapters 13-15, & 17. Cambridge University Press.
G.W.F. Hegel (1967) Philosophy of Right, §§182-206 & 241-258. Oxford University Press.
F. Tönnies (2001) Community and Civil Society, Section 1. Cambridge University Press.
John Dewey (1954) The Public and its Problems, Chapter 6. Ohio University Press.
Charles Taylor (1985) “Atomism”. Philosophical Papers2. Cambridge University Press.
Robert Putnam (1999) Bowling Alone. Simon & Schuster.
Jean-Luc Nancy (1991) The Inoperative Community. University of Minnesota Press.
Maurice Blanchot (1988) The Unavowable Community. Station Hill Press.
Giorgio Agamben (1993) The Coming Community. University of Minnesota Press.
Zygmunt Bauman (2001) Community. Polity Press.
Roberto Esposito (2010) Communitas: The Origin & Destiny of Community. Stanford University Press.
