Due Date

10/13 @ 2:20 PM

Format

Take this Google Drive template, make a copy, and share it with me (ckdeutschbein@willamette.edu).

On 10/13, the essay will be due with a length of 8 full pages excluding citations. The template shows two full pages. However, it will have sliding scale requirements for early and up to 24 hour late submissions.

5 pages if submitted by Mon 10/10 at 2:20 PM.
  
6 pages if submitted by Tue 10/11 at 2:20 PM.
  
7 pages if submitted by Wed 10/12 at 2:20 PM.
  
8 pages if submitted by Thr 10/13 at 2:20 PM
  
9 pages if submitted by Fri 10/14 at 2:20 PM.

Prompts:

Choose one.

(1) Depiction/erasure of scientific socialism in pop culture. (Media criticism)

Within the U.S., one of the largest sectors of the economy is the entertainment industry, anchored by major studios producing a wide range of content for television and film-going audiences. The U.S. as a whole, and these large corporations and their ownership, are necessarily invested in the preservation of the existing economic system of racial capitalism. Consequently, U.S. capital routinely undertakes efforts to "smear", or otherwise negatively depict, socialism, socialists, and nations or organizations undertaking efforts to realize socialism.

To the target audience of a young person in the U.S. watching film, television, and online content sharing platforms such as YouTube, construct an argument that depictions of socialism in the U.S. are inconsistent with the theory and practice of socialism historically. As part of your argument, identify and refute, using textual evidence from readings in this class, no fewer than three misconceptions about socialism you have observed in U.S. based media.

(2) Imagining socialist worlds. (Speculative fiction)

In our world, it is difficult for scientific socialism to be implemented in practice because of the presence of nuclear armed capitalist nations. However, we can imagine other worlds.

Imagine a setting in which humanity through unspecified means has made her home on multiple worlds. Taking the perspective of a newly inaugurated planetary governor, prepare a internal memo to be circulated within your government describing how you intended to improve human experience on the planet through the application of scientific socialism. As part of your argument, identify and provide examples, using textual evidence from readings in this class, of no fewer than three policies specific to scientific socialist thought that you will apply to meet human needs.

(3) Scientific historiography. (Analysis)

A common refrain in political thought in the U.S., especially since 2016, has been that the abstract notion of "division" or "polarization" in the U.S. is at historical highs. However, many discussions of this idea are based in more nebulous interpretations of sociological phenemona and do not necessarily quantify their assessment using the science of historical materialism. By contrast, historical materialism offers measures of division and polarization rooted in the natural and mathematical sciences. For example, the notion of surplus value is an observable measure of inequality between classes. Likewise, more recent Marxist scholars such as Angela Davis have pointed to measures such as incarceration rate.

To the target audience of readership of major news media publications such as the New York Times or the Washington Post, write an investigation of political division in the U.S. in 2022. Use citations from no fewer than three readings. For each reading, use the text to motivate the inclusion of numerical data on existing social trends, such as proxies for surplus value or incarceration rate. You may find interesting measures from the United States Federal Government through its Departments of Labor and/or Justice, or from other sources.

(4) Class character of revolutions. (Synthesis)

Select one of the following revolutions or attempted revolutions.

• Haitian Revolution (Haiti 1791)
• Freedom Summer (US 1964)
• Revolutions of 1989 (e.g. Yugoslavia 1989)
• Arab Spring (e.g. Tunisia 2011)

To the target audience of readership of major news media publications such as the New York Times or the Washington Post, assess the relative strength of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat prior to and after the revolutions. You may additionally discuss whether you believe the revolution has been accurately presented as such and it relevance to the bourgeoisie and proletariat internationally, especially in consideration of the involvement by the U.S., U.K., or French bourgeoisie.

Using no fewer than three readings from class, argue whether each revolution was a proletarian or bourgeois revolution.

(*) Proletarian control of the means of production. (Individual choice)

You may creatively combine prompts or propose your own prompt if you submit you prompt in similar format to the prompts above for my consideration prior by 10/06 at 2:20 PM. I will get back to you by 10/07 at 2:20 PM.