Identity and Culture in Politics

Catalog description

What role does identity play in politics? Does culture affect political behavior? What is culture? In this course students examine the formation and role of identity in politics - and how identity and culture affect outcomes such as public goods provision, inter-group violence, democratization, and economic growth. Here, identity is not treated as fixed but as constructed, and its formation itself an outcome to be explained. Students will examine identity and its relation to distributive politics, representation, political mobilization, conflict, and coordination. Similarly, culture is not treated as static, but is dynamic. Students will seek to understand changes in culture over time as well as their effect on behavior, and assess different approaches to the study of culture.