Roots of Democracy and Contemporary Society: Defining the American Experience

Catalog description

This course begins with Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville's classic description and analysis of the movement toward democratic egalitarianism, followed by an examination of important literary and philosophical texts, up to the 20th-century developments in democracy and civic engagement. Given the passivity of contemporary society (many Americans spend hours watching television, yet will not take less than an hour to vote), the goal is to reverse the process of mere observation (spectator sports, reality shows, and fantasy on-line living) through engagement in some of the political communities in which we live.