This seminar provides an insight into select theories of modernization. In parallel, it offers an overview of the process of modernization of European societies. It outlines the role that social sciences played in the process as both a reflexion and a normative guidance for social action. In the seminar, the Czech lands will serve as an example of interconnection between social sciences and modernization. Upon completing this course, the students will be have basic understanding of the changes that Czech society underwent in the 18th to 21st centuries. They will also have an idea about how Czech social scientists reflected and reacted to these changes. They will be able to connect this knowledge to the history of modernization of European societies, and contextualize it in the history of modern social sciences.

This seminar provides an insight into select theories of modernization. In parallel, it offers an overview of the process of modernization of European societies. It outlines the role that social sciences played in the process as both a reflexion and a normative guidance for social action. In the seminar, the Czech lands will serve as an example of interconnection between social sciences and modernization. Upon completing this course, the students will be have basic understanding of the changes that Czech society underwent in the 18th to 21st centuries. They will also have an idea about how Czech social scientists reflected and reacted to these changes. They will be able to connect this knowledge to the history of modernization of European societies, and contextualize it in the history of modern social sciences.

Classes' topics:

1. Introduction to the course
2. Modernization theory in sociology
3. National emancipation in the 19th century
4. Economic and political emancipation in the 19th and 20th centuries
5. Liberal capitalism and its critics
6. Marxism and Marxist schisms
7. Technocratic approach to modernization
8. Totalitarianism and modernity
9. Transitions from Communism
10. Postmodernity and late capitalism
11. Conclusion: modernization of the Czech lands in European context

 

Course readings

Course readings can be downloaded from the course's Moodle pages (https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=7682).

 

Recommended further readings:

Agnew, Hugh, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, Hoover Institution Press 2004.

Pánek, Jaroslav and Oldřich Tůma (eds.), A History of the Czech Lands, Prague: Charles University Press 2009.

Kohák, Erazim, Hearth and Horizon: Culture Identity and Global Humanity in Czech Philosophy, Prague: Filosofia 2013.

Voříšek, Michael, The Reform Generation: 1960s Czechoslovak Sociology From a Comparative Perspective, Prague: Kalich 2012.

Course assignments (distance teaching during COVID-19 restrictions) :

1. 100% attendance at web-based classes. Classes will be taking place weekly through MS Teams, at the same times as scheduled for face-to-face teaching. If a student skips a lesson, s/he must write a position paper for that lesson and listen to the webcast on the lesson. The position paper and two questions on the webcast must be submitted no later than five days after the lesson. This is applicable to maximum half of the classes – should the student skip more lessons, s/he will fail the course. The position paper must answer the key questions for the lesson as specified in Moodle (https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=7682), based on the readings assigned to the lesson. Position paper must have 1-2 pages (1,800-3,600 characters spaces incl.); papers longer or shorter than that will not be accepted.
   
2. Participating in discussion at each lesson, based on the readings assigned to the lesson. Guidance (key questions for readings) is provided for each lesson at Moodle.
3. Presentation at one of the classes. List of books eligible for presentation with each topic are available from Moodle; students may agree other books with the teacher, too. The presentation is oral and takes 7 to 10 minutes. it must answer the following questions: Who, when, and why wrote the book, what was intended with its publication? How is the book written - how is the argument organized; what material (sources, data, etc...) is it based on; what methods does the author use? What is the book's key message and how useful (or not) can it still be today.

Students who registered for the course in SIS will be receiving invites for MS Teams meetings automatically. Others may ask the teacher for an individual invite to the MS Teams meeting.

Course assignments, readings for lessons, and other materials

Questions for each lesson's readings and books suggested for presentation for each topic are available from the course's Moodle pages (https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=7682).