Questions for June 23 responses:

In one to five short essays of 250-1,200 words, respond to from one to five of the following questions (you can write any combination of essays totalling 1,250 words--five essays of 250 words each, three essays of 460 words each, etc.):

(1) In his entry on the word "culture" from Keywords, Raymond Williams describes the historical trajectory of the meaning of the word "culture" from its original association with agricultural production to its modern associations with "civilization" in a normative sense and with human socialization processes in a descriptive sense. Consider the appearance of the modern concepts of "culture" in the context of one or more developments of modernity--in the realms of economic production, philosophical discourse, religion, the conception of individual subjectivity, urbanization, and art--that I have outlined in the series of video webcasts on the history of modernity.

(2) At the end of the "Introduction" to Cultural Theory, Philip Smith observes that "Theory . . . is more than a description of, or generalization about, the empirical world. Rather, it consists of abstract and systematically ordered understandings and models that can be used to account for what actually goes on in the world" (p. 4) Discuss one or more of the theoretical statements about culture presented in the "Introduction." You might compare two or more of the theories or you might discuss examples of theories or questions about theories that have occurred to you as you read Smith's brief account of the different theories.

(3) In his chapter on "Modernity and Modernism" from The Condition of Postmodernity David Harvey identifies the progressive elements of the Enlightenment project while also recognizing the "dark side" of the Enlightenment:

Enlightenment thought . . . was, above all, a secular movement that sought the demystification and desacralization of knowledge and social organization in order to liberate human beings from their chains.

But,

. . . the suspician lurks that the Enlightenment project was doomed to turn against itself and transform the quest for human emancipation into a system of universal oppression in the name of human liberation.

(Harvey, 12-13)

Drawing on my webcast lectures on the history of modernity and/or other sources that you are familiar with, describe and discuss one or more examples of progress toward human liberation mixed with potential elements of oppression.

(4) Describe your understanding of the term "culture" before you read the initial texts for this class, and discuss how the readings confirmed and/or challenged your previous understanding of the term.

(5) Drawing on Philip Smith's account of Emil Durkheim's thought in Cultural Theory (pp. 9-13) and/or other sources you are familiar with, describe and discuss Durkheim's ideas about social organization and/or religion.

(6) Drawing on Philip Smith's account of Max Weber's thought in Cultural Theory (pp. 13-18) and/or other sources you are familiar with, describe and discuss Weber's ideas about social organization and and/or religion.

(7) Philip Smith provides a brief account of Georg Simmel's writing on "fashion" in modern societies. What is your reaction to Simmel's claim that fashion is determined by social and symbolic criteria rather than utilitarian and practical needs?

(8) Raise and discuss any questions and/or reactions you have in response to these readings after you have read the texts.