Syllabus
* 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 approaches 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. * Recommended reading: - AGNEW, H. The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. Hoover Institution Press,
2004. ISBN 978-0817944926. - KOHÁK, E. Hearth and Horizon: Culture Identity and Global Humanity in Czech Philosophy. Prague: Filosofia
2013. ISBN
9788070072851. - PÁNEK, J. and TŮMA, O. (eds.). A History of the Czech Lands. Prague: Charles University Press,
2009. ISBN 978-80-246-1645-2. - VOŘÍŠEK, M. The Reform Generation: 1960s Czechoslovak Sociology From a Comparative Perspective. Prague: Kalich
2012. ISBN
9788070171660.
Annotation
This seminar provides insight into select theories of modernization. In addition, 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 reflection and a normative guide for social action. In the seminar, the Czech lands will serve as an example of the interconnection between social sciences and modernization.
Upon completing this course, the students will have a basic understanding of the changes that Czech society underwent between the 18th and 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.