Theory and Modern Society

POLS 420 asks how the classical questions of Durkheim, Marx, Weber, and Nietzsche get reworked once you push them into the era of Foucault, Habermas, actor-network theory, and algorithmic life — the through-line is modernity itself, and whether "post-modernity" names a real break or just a later chapter of the same project. It runs as a seminar, so the work is reading dense theory closely, arguing in class, sitting two essay exams, and producing a term paper where you take a position rather than summarize one. Coming after the introductory social and political theory courses, it is where you stop learning what the theorists said and start using them as tools to read contemporary problems like surveillance, AI, and the transformation of work.