DSOC 27A13 - Sociology of Revolutions

This course is about revolutions — a crucial topic for students of society and politics, but one that is often neglected by, or left on the margins of social science curricula. It is also a topic that demands attention now perhaps more than ever. During the Cold War, scholars took it for granted that revolutions regularly played a decisive role in shaping history. In the 'new world order' following the end of the Cold War, many scholars wondered aloud if revolution had had its day. Then suddenly, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the world was told that revolutions were back — and that they were turning decades-old dictatorships upside down, across the Arab world and beyond. Observers asked if we were on the brink of another world revolutionary moment like 1848 or 1917-1922. But by now, no one seems sure anymore if these twenty-first century ‘revolutions’ were really ‘revolutions’ at all. Some of the movements of this period achieved moderate reforms, some fizzled out, and some degenerated into vicious bloodletting without achieving obvious social or political gains. This brings up fundamental questions about how we think of and theorise revolutions. How and why do they happen? And what do we really mean by ‘revolution’ in the first place?

• Research paper 45%
• Weekly quizzes 40%
• In-class participation 15%