Mustafa Tuna

Social Engineering and Social Movements in Eastern Europe and Asia

Spring 2015

SES375S, HIS 333S, POLSCI 359, PUBPOL 282S

SS, CZ & CCI, EI

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Social Engineering and Social Movements

Combining the perspectives of political sociology and history, this course questions the respective roles of state policies and social movements in transforming societies. We explore concepts such as social engineering, violence, revolution, totalitarianism, social movements, non-violent resistance, collective action, and many others in historically-informed case studies of:

  • colonialism and anticolonial movements (passive resistance and nationalism) in India
  • revolutionary communism, socialist reconstruction of society, everyday resistance, and collective dissent in the Soviet Bloc
  • authoritarian capitalism and dissent in the form of environmentalist and anti-corruption movements in post-Maoist China.

In this course, students work in teams and prepare an action plan addressing a social problem that they identify in the areas we cover in this course. Some of these plans can be accessed below:

Solving Female Illiteracy in India

Redirection of Migrant Workers from Shanghai to Zhoshuan, China