War and Society - JTM538

• Anglický název: War and Society
• Český název: Válka a společnost
• Zajišťuje: Katedra severoamerických studií (23-KAS)
• Fakulta: Fakulta sociálních věd
• Platnost: od 2024 do 2024
• Semestr: zimní
• E-Kredity: 6
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: zimní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: zimní s.:1/1, Zk [HT]
• Počet míst: 15 / neurčen (20)
• Minimální obsazenost: neomezen
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: vyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu; při zápisu přednost, je-li ve stud. plánu
• Garant: Bruce Berglund
• Vyučující: Bruce Berglund
• Třída: Courses for incoming students

Anotace

This is not a military history course. Rather, we will study the social, cultural, economic, and moral—as well as political and diplomatic—contexts of selected military conflicts involving the United States. The aim of the course is to understand how
America’s wars have affected American society and culture. The course will address the American experience of World War II, the Cold War, and Vietnam. But our focus will be on the last 23 years, keeping in mind that the U.S. experienced an "act of war" on
September 11, 2001, and has been a society at war ever since then.

Among the issues we will consider during the semester are: the relationship between America’s warriors and the larger society, civil-military relations in American politics, the mobilization of economic resources for the U.S. military, the ways in which American society justifies and commemorates war, and the depiction of war in media and culture.

Tento kurz není zaměřen na vojenské dějiny. Spíše budeme zkoumat sociální, kulturní, ekonomické a morální – stejně jako politické a diplomatické – kontexty vybraných vojenských konfliktů, do kterých byly zapojeny Spojené státy. Cílem kurzu je porozumět tomu, jak války Spojených států ovlivnily americkou společnost a kulturu. Kurz se bude věnovat americké zkušenosti z druhé světové války, studené války a Vietnamu. Naším hlavním zaměřením však budou poslední 23 roky, s vědomím, že USA zažily „akt války“ 11. září 2001 a od té doby jsou společností ve válečném stavu.

Mezi témata, která budeme během semestru zkoumat, patří: vztah amerických vojáků k širší společnosti, civilně-vojenské vztahy v americké politice, mobilizace ekonomických zdrojů pro americkou armádu, způsoby, jakými americká společnost ospravedlňuje a připomíná válku, a zobrazování války v médiích a kultuře.

Poslední úprava: Berglund Bruce (15.09.2025)

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

Participation (20%): Students are required to attend classes regularly, read assigned texts, and participate in class discussions. Class sessions will include both presentations from the instructor and discussion among students.

Midterm Paper (30%): America and Its War Movies: Americans’ collective perspective of warfare is shaped more by movies than by any other media source. Americans know
more of World War II, for instance, from Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List than from the work of any historian. For this paper, all students will watch Saving Private Ryan, widely regarded as the best American war movie ever. In addition, you will choose one film from three of the following groups:

World War II: Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Great Escape (1963), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Patton (1970)
Vietnam: The Deer Hunter (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987)
1980s Cold War: Red Dawn (1984), Top Gun (1986), Rambo III (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990)
1990s to the present: Three Kings (1999), Black Hawk Down (2000), The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

For the paper, you will examine the common themes in the four films you watch. How do these films depict American warriors and their motivations? And what is the picture
these films offer of America’s place in the world? In your analysis, use the films you have watched as primary sources. In addition, you should consult scholarly and critical
writings about war films and these films in particular. The paper will be 1300–1500 words.

Final Paper (50%): In preparation for your final essay, you will read the writings of historian Andrew Bacevich. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a veteran of
the Vietnam War, who retired from the Army as a full colonel, Bacevich has written for conservative political journals. But in his books, Bacevich takes an approach to U.S.
military operations and the place of the armed forces in American society that one would not expect from a conservative retired officer.

To close the semester, you will look back the films you’ve watched, the short texts you have read, and the discussions we have had. You will evaluate the material we have
studied in the light of Bacevich’s arguments. Are his criticisms valid? If so, is there any possibility of changing American culture? The paper will be 1700–2000 words.

Poslední úprava: Berglund Bruce (15.09.2025)

Metody výuky

Seminar/lecture

Use of generative AI tools:

The use and citation of generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT or MS Copilot) in seminar papers and other coursework must comply with the decrees of the IMS Director No. 7/2023 and 9/2023.

Generative AI tools may be used unless explicitly prohibited by the instructor. However, they may not be used to generate substantial sections of the text or replace the student’s own intellectual contribution. The student remains fully responsible for any content generated with assistance of AI tools.

Presenting AI-generated content, whether verbatim, rephrased, or only slightly modified, as one's own work constitutes plagiarism.

Every submitted paper must include a transparent statement specifying which generative AI tools were used, in which stage of the work they were employed, and how they were used, or confirming that no generative AI tools were used. If this statement is missing or incomplete, the instructor is not permitted to accept the paper for evaluation.

Unless the instructor explicitly prohibits the use of generative AI tools, the decision to use or not to use them rests fully with the student. The student has the right to request that the instructor does not use AI assistance for evaluating their work.

 

Poslední úprava: Lochmanová Sára, Mgr. (08.10.2025)

Požadavky ke zkoušce

Participation (20%): Students are required to attend classes regularly, read assigned texts, and participate in class discussions. Class sessions will include both presentations from the instructor and discussion among students.

Midterm Paper (30%): America and Its War Movies: Americans’ collective perspective of warfare is shaped more by movies than by any other media source. Americans know
more of World War II, for instance, from Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List than from the work of any historian. For this paper, all students will watch Saving Private Ryan, widely regarded as the best American war movie ever. In addition, you will choose one film from three of the following groups:

World War II: Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Great Escape (1963), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Patton (1970)
Vietnam: The Deer Hunter (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987)
1980s Cold War: Red Dawn (1984), Top Gun (1986), Rambo III (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990)
1990s to the present: Three Kings (1999), Black Hawk Down (2000), The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

For the paper, you will examine the common themes in the four films you watch. How do these films depict American warriors and their motivations? And what is the picture
these films offer of America’s place in the world? In your analysis, use the films you have watched as primary sources. In addition, you should consult scholarly and critical
writings about war films and these films in particular. The paper will be 1300–1500 words.

Final Paper (50%): In preparation for your final essay, you will read the writings of historian Andrew Bacevich. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a veteran of
the Vietnam War, who retired from the Army as a full colonel, Bacevich has written for conservative political journals. But in his books, Bacevich takes an approach to U.S.
military operations and the place of the armed forces in American society that one would not expect from a conservative retired officer.

To close the semester, you will look back the films you’ve watched, the short texts you have read, and the discussions we have had. You will evaluate the material we have
studied in the light of Bacevich’s arguments. Are his criticisms valid? If so, is there any possibility of changing American culture? The paper will be 1700–2000 words.

Use of AI: The professor knows from experience that AI writing tools can be helpful resources for thinking as well as writing. However, AI is a weak writing tool. The papers generated by AI have a bland, mechanical style, and they are often factually inaccurate. AI is the most helpful when the user knows how to submit detailed prompts, detect errors, and edit the final output––in other words, all the skills you gain from researching and writing your own assignments. For that reason, all submitted work must show the student approached the assignment from their own perspective, engaged with the source material, and presented a final output in their own voice.

Poslední úprava: Berglund Bruce (30.09.2025)

Sylabus

1 October: Course Introduction: The Warrior in American Society

8 October: Legacies of the Civil War

Read: Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address” and “Second Inaugural Address”; and William T. Sherman, chap. XIX, “Capture of Atlanta,” and chap. XXI, “The March to the Sea,” in the Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman.

15 October: World War I and America’s Mission
Read: Andrew Bacevich, “Wilsonians Under Arms” in The New American Militarism

22 October: World War II and the American Economy

29 October: Race, Gender, and the “Good War”

5 November: Celebrating Victory: World War II in American Memory

12 November: The Early Cold War and the Militarized Society
Midterm Paper Due

19 November: America Defeated: The Legacy of Vietnam
Read Bacevich, “The Military Profession at Bay,” from The New American Militarism

20 November: The Late Cold War and the Militarized Society

3 December: The World’s Policeman: America in the 1990s

10 December: America after 9/11: Return of the Righteous Cause

Read: Evan Wright, “The Killer Elite,” Rolling Stone (2003)

17 December: Fighting the “Forever War”
Bacevich, “Naming Our Nameless War,” from Twilight of the American Century; and
Final Paper Due

Poslední úprava: Berglund Bruce (15.09.2025)