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 Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Three Perspectives on the State (Conservative, Marxist, and Libertarian)
- The Problem of Defining the Boundaries of the State
- Archaeological Approaches to the State
- Statelessness as a Choice
- Statelessness as an Imposition
- The Welfare State
- The Carceral State
- The Islamic State
- Divine Kingship
- The Theatre State and the Galactic Polity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 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 and Teaching Activity | 11 | 11 x 1 Hour Lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 11 | 11 x 1 Hour Seminars |
| Guided Independent Study | 12 | Research Paper Proposal |
| Guided Independent Study | 56 | Weekly Reading for Seminars |
| Guided Independent Study | 20 | Weekly Discussion Posts |
| Guided Independent Study | 40 | Research Paper |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
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.
