Hafta 1
Week 1. – Introduction to the course – Brief introduction to (for those who did not take the Amer 115 course) and recapitulation of (for those who did take the course) the historicity of temporality. Required reading: none for the first week
Hafta 2
PART 1: HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS: THE TRANSITION TO MODERNITY Week 2. – The Opening of the Future: Narratives of Progress, Development, Individualism, and Unfettered Markets. – From Local Self-Sufficiency to Increased Interdependence – The Centralisation of Power and the Monopolisation of Violence (Norbert Elias) Required reading: Heilbroner, Robert. The Worldly Philosophers. N.Y: Simon and Schuster, 1967 (pp 9-37) 1ST STUDENT PRESENTATION: The historicity of temporality (recommended for students who took the 115 course of last semester)
Hafta 3
Week 3. The Advent of the Economic Revolution Required reading: Heilbroner, Robert. The Worldly Philosophers. NY:Simon and Schuster, 1967 (pp. 38-67) 2ND STUDENT PRESENTATION: How does the “invisible hand of the market” work, according to Adam Smith?
Hafta 4
Week 4. Future Orientation and the Bourgeoisie Required reading: Weber, Max. Selected passages from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Leccardi, Carmen. "Facing uncertainty: Temporality and Biographies in the New Century." Young: Nordic Journal of Youth Research 13.2 (2005): 123-146. 3RD STUDENT PRESENTATION: What is the specificity of capitalism? 4TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: How does precariousness affect one’s sense of time?
Hafta 5
Week 5. Legitimizing Capitalism: Social Darwinism Required reading: Williams, Raymond. “Social Darwinism”, in Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso, 1980. 5th STUDENT PRESENTATION: Is Social Darwinism a belief still held today?
Hafta 6
Week 6. The Differentiation of Society and the Problem of Complexity Reduction Required reading: Luhmann, Niklas. The Differentiation of Society. Translated by Stephen Holmes and Charles Larmore. New York:Columbia University Press, 1982, pp. 229-254 6th STUDENT PRESENTATION: What is social differentiation? (Since Luhmann is complicated, this presentation does not have to specifically address Luhmann’s notion of differentiation). 7TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: What makes modern society more complex than premodern society?
Hafta 7
PART 2: CURRENT CONCERNS: INCREASED RISK, PRECARIOUSNESS AND INSECURITY Week 7. The Complexity of Modernity: Risk Society and the Contraction of Temporality Required reading: Selected passages from Beck, Ulrich. Risk Society . Translated by Mark Ritter. London: Sage, 1992. 8TH STUDENT PRESENTATION : What does Beck mean by “risk society”? 9th STUDENT PRESENTATION : Why is modernity more of a risk society than were pre-modern societies?
Hafta 8
Week 8. The Complexity of Modernity: Risk Society and the Contraction of Temporality (continued) Required reading: Reith, Gerda. "Uncertain times: The Notion of "Risk" and the Development of Modernity."Time and Society, vol 13, NO 2/3, 2004 10TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: How does increased risk affect our sense of self?
Hafta 9
Week 9. Review for Mid-term exam and... MID TERM EXAM
Hafta 10
Week 10 Capitalism, Crises and Insecurity, and Their Effects on Temporality Required reading: Harvey, David. The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism. Oxford university Press, 2010 (selected passages) 11TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: Will Turkey soon face a financial crisis? 12TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: Does capitalism encourage social stability or social instability?
Hafta 11
Week 11 Capitalism, Crises and Insecurity, and Their Effects on Temporality (continued) Required reading: Leccardi, Carmen. "Redefining the Future: Youthful Biographical Constructions in the 21st Century." New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 113.1 (2006): 37-48 13TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: How does the concentration of wealth distort true democracy? 14TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: How does increased insecurity affect our sense of time?
Hafta 12
Week 12. From Fordism to Flexible Accumulation: Temporal Acceleration and the Closing of the Future Required reading Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990, pp. 121-172 15TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: what is Fordism (in the sense addressed by Harvey) 16TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: What is flexible accumulation (in the sense addressed by Harvey)
Hafta 13
Week 13. Risk, Precariousness and Their Effects on Temporality and on Self- formation: Precariousness, neo-ethnic tribalism, and neo-eschatology Required reading: Sennett, Richard. The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999 (selected passages). 17TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: what does Sennett mean by “Corrosion of character”? 18TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: How does resurgent Christian fundamentalism in the US testify neo-eschatology? How does this close off the future? 19TH STUDENT PRESENTATION: Is neo-ethnic tribalism a response to increased precariousness/insecurity?
Hafta 14
Week 14. Let the markets decide! The temporal and Social Repercussions of Laissez-Faire on Emotional Well-Being Required reading: Ehrenberg, Alain. The Weariness of the Self. McGill -Queen’s University Press, 2010 (selected passages) 20th STUDENT PRESENTATION: Is the increased prevalence of depression a result of increased precariousness/insecurity?