Module SOC3114 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC3114: Anthropology of the State
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
You will be introduced to a range of social scientific approaches to the study of the state, from political theory and anthropology to history, archaeology and sociology. You will then apply these analytical tools to a range of historical cases to explore the diverse ways in which humans live with (and without) states. Through a guided research project, you will develop your own personal approach to the study of the state and apply that approach to a particular contemporary or historical state or non-state society.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate strong familiarity with the major contemporary social scientific approaches to the study of the state; 2. show an in-depth understanding of specific issues related to the study of the state, including definitional matters, the difficulty of defining the boundaries of the state, and understanding the nature of statelessness both historically and today; 3. show a detailed understanding of particular types of state like the welfare state, the carceral state, the theatre state, the Islamic state, divine kingship, and the galactic polity. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. critically apply various theories and methodologies to specific cases; 5. critically assess claims about the state and socio-political organization more generally; 6. think critically about the social, political, and anthropological implications of states. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 7. communicate effectively in written and oral form; 8. engage in cross-cultural translation and comparison; 9. conduct research on a topic and organize findings in written form in a compelling manner. |
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.
Basic reading:
Alexander, M. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press.
Althusser, L. 1968. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” in Lenin and Philosophy. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Clastres, P. 1977. Society against the State. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Foucault, M. 1991. “Governmentality” in The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, Burchell, Gordon, and Miller (eds.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Geertz, C. 1980. Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth Century Bali. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Goffman, A. 2014. On The Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hobbes, T. 1651. Leviathan. London: Penguin Classics.
Kantorowicz, E. 1957. The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Petryna, A. 2002. Life Exposed: Biological Citizens after Chernobyl. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Tilly, C. 1985. “War-Making and State-Making as Organized Crime” in Bringing the State Back In, Evans, Rueschemeyer and Skocpol, (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
