Syllabus
How to contact your professor:
Professor W. Rahn
1435 Social Sciences
612-626-8938
wrahn@polisci.umn.edu
Office Hours: M 2:30 - 4:00; T 10:30 - 12:00; By appointment
Description: Some of the most insightful analyses of American political life have been written by foreign visitors. One of the more celebrated of these accounts is Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. A young French nobleman, Tocqueville, together with his companion, Gustave de Beaumont, came to the United States in 1831. Based on their travels, Democracy in America comprises Tocqueville's explanation for the success of America's experiment with democracy and what, if anything, European nations could learn from it. In this course, we will read parts of Tocqueville's remarkable treatise, asking ourselves whether his observations are still relevant as we enter a new millennium. Is American democracy still a success? If so, is it for the reasons he discusses? If it is not, does Tocqueville's analysis hold some lessons for present-day reformers?
As part of our exploration of Democracy in America, we will be examining various kinds of evidence that bear on Tocqueville's thesis. He, above all, was a social scientist, interested in explaining, rather than simply describing what he saw. To do so, he often makes use of the method of comparison: comparing the United States to Europe (France in particular) and other parts of the world and comparing regions of the United States to each other. In this course, you will be introduced to some tools and concepts that can be useful for making comparisons, tools that we not available in Tocqueville's day. By re-examining some of Tocqueville's hypothesis with contemporary data, you will be in a position to appraise the continued significance of his ideas.
Required materials : You should purchase Tocqueville's Democracy in America, edited by J.P. Mayer, at the Smith Bookstore. In addition, many things will be posted on the classweb or available at other web sites that you will need to download.
Student responsibilities and grades: Your grade in this section is worth 34% of your total grade for the course. It will be based on 3 data analysis exercises, a final paper, and class participation. Each data analysis exercise will be worth 13% of your section grade (39%), your final paper will be worth 30% of your section grade, and class participation will be 31%. Class participation will be based on attendance (.75% for each meeting excluding the first one=10.5%) and a group presentation and leadership of class discussion for a weekly meeting (20.5%). In the group presentations, you will discuss Tocqueville's observations on a particular subject matter and update his lessons for the 21nd century. You will be randomly assigned to one of 4 different groups for these presentations. You will receive both a group grade (12%) and an individual grade (8.5%). The latter will be based on other group members' assessments of your contributions to the presentation. The group presentation can provide the basis for your final paper, but you are also free to pursue other topics. More details on all these assignments will be discussed in class.
Optional Videos: Viewing sessions to be announced.
C-Span: Travelling Tocqueville's America (2 sessions)
PBS: The American Promise (3 sessions)
Course outline:
1st meeting (9/8 or 9/13)
Discussion: Introduction to the course and to Democracy in America.
Assignment for next meeting: Tocqueville, volume 1, part 1, introduction, chapters 1-4 and 9.
Read about everyday life in America in the 1830s at
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/every/intro.html
Come prepared to talk about American life then and now
2nd meeting (9/15 or 9/20):
Discussion: Assigned reading of Tocqueville.
Data Analysis: Variables, means and the standard deviation.
Assignment FNM: DIA, Vol. 1, part 1, chapter 5 and 8
3rd meeting (9/22 or 9/27)
Discussion: Assigned reading of Tocqueville
Data analysis: Relationships between variables, scatterplots and the correlation coefficient
Assignment FNM: DIA, vol. 1, part 1, chapter 6; part 2, chapters 3 and 4
4th meeting (9/29 or 10/4)
Discussion: Assigned reading of Tocqueville
Data analysis: Regression and Correlation
Assignment FNM: DIA, vol. 1, part 2, chapters 7 and 8
5th meeting (10/6 or 10/11)
Discussion: Assigned reading of Tocqueville
Data analysis: Crosstabs
Assignment FNM: DIA, vol. 1, part 2, chapters 2, 5 and 6
Data analysis assignment #1 due 10/13
6th meeting (10/13 or 10/18)
Discussion: Assigned reading of Tocqueville
Data analysis: Control variables: Partial Correlations
Assignment FNM: DIA, vol. 2, part 2, chapters 1-8
7th meeting (10/20 or 10/25)
Discussion: Assigned reading of Tocqueville
Data Analysis: Control variables: Multivariate Regression
Assignment FNM:
Putnam, Robert P. "The Strange Disappearance of Civic America" ( http://epn.org/prospect/24/24putn.html)
Nicholas Lehmann, "Kicking in Groups." ( http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/assoc/kicking.html)
The National Commission on Civic Renewal's Report:
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/civicrenewal/finalreport/americas_civic_condition.htm
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/civicrenewal/finalreport/condition_of_us_civil_society.htm
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/civicrenewal/finalreport/associations_and_democracy.htm
8th meeting (10/27 or 11/1)
Discussion: Assigned Reading
Data analysis: Regression, continued
Assignment FNM: Tocqueville, DIA, vol. 1, part 2, chapter 10 and conclusion
Other reading TBA
Data analysis assignment #2 due, 11/3
9th meeting (11/3 or 11/8):
Discussion: Group presentation, "Diversity and Unity in America."
Assignment FNM: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_01.htm
http://www.apa.org/journals/amp/amp5391017.html
10th meeting (11/10 or 11/15)
Discussion: Group presentation: "Cyberspace: Promise and Pitfalls for American Civic and Political Life."
Assignment FNM: DIA, Vol. 2, part 1, chapters 5, 6, 7; part 2, chapters 9, 12, and 15
11th meeting (11/17 or 11/22)
Discussion: Group presentation: "Religion and American Politics"
Assignment FNM: DIA, vol. 2, part 2, chapters 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 -20; part 3, chapters 17, 19
Data analysis assignment #3 due, 11/22
12th meeting (11/29 or 12/1)
Discussion: Group presentation: "Materialism and American Life"
Assignment FNM: DIA, vol. 2, part 4, chapters 1-8
13th meeting (12/6 or 12/8)
Discussion: Appraising Tocqueville: Lessons for the 21st Century
Assignment: Final papers due Dec. 15, 5 p.m.
14th meeting (12/13 or 12/15)
End-of-term review
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