Political Sociology

SOC2003: Political Sociology

This course provides an overview of the subfield of political sociology. It introduces a broad range of topics, including:

  • Classical sociological theories of the state
  • Theories of political power
  • Distribution of power in society
  • Collective action and social movements
  • Imperialism and colonialism
  • Ethnic conflict
  • Media and politics
  • Emotions and politics

The course primarily focuses on theoretical and thematic issues, while also engaging with empirical cases in Korean society and politics.

Week 1

  • Introduction
    • What is political sociology?
    • Social constructionism

    Reading

    • Hacking (1999), The Social Construction of What? 6-9; 19-21; 53-59

Week 2

Week 3

  • Foucault: Power, discipline, and surveillance

    Reading

    • Schwan & Shapiro (2011), How to Read Foucault’s Discipline and Punish
      • Section “Overview”,
      • Section 1.2 “The spectacle of the scaffold”,
      • Section 3.2 “The means of correct training”
      • Section 3.3 “Panopticism”

Week 4

Week 5

  • The Jeju massacre and the construction of historical trauma

    Readings

    • Kim, Veda. 2023. “Subimperialism and Perpetual Necropower: Foundational Violence and Mnemonic Self-killing on Jeju Island 1947—present.”
    • Gwon, Gwi-sook. 2023. The Island of World Peace. pp.49-79.

Week 6

  • Social movements and the Taegukgi protests

    Readings

    • Lee, Myunghee. 2024. “Protectors of liberal democracy or defenders of past authoritarianism?”
    • Polletta and Jasper 2001. “Collective Identity and Social Movements” [optional].

Week 7

Week 8

  • Ethnic Warfare (Part 1)

    Reading

    • Lange, Matthew. 2025. “Nation-states, British Colonial Pluralism, and Nationalist Civil War: A Comparative-historical Analysis of Zomia.”

Week 9

  • Midterm Exam

Week 10

  • Ethnic Warfare (Part 2)

    Readings

    • Mamdani, Mahmood. 2001 [2020]. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. pp. 73-106.
    • Prunier, Gerard. 1995. The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. pp.41-53.

Week 11

  • Perspectives on Conspiracy Theories

    Readings

    • Dimaggio, Anthony R. 2022. “Conspiracy Theories and the Manufacture of Dissent.”
    • Bratich, Jack. 2020. “Misinformation, Moral Panics, and Wars of Restoration.”

Week 12

  • The State and Masculinity

    Reading

    • Brown, Wendy. 1992. “Finding the Man in the State.”

Week 13

  • Frantz Fanon

    Reading

    • Fanon, Franz. 1963 [2004]. The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press, NY. pp. 5-10, 21-26, 30-34, 42-52, 89-90.

    Youtube video: Fanon – Les damnés de la terre

Week 14

Week 15

  • Final Exam