Essay Instructions: ****Please note: This paper is being written for a political sociology course, and if you would like to get an idea what the class is about exactly, you may read the following brief description:
Political sociology considers the relationship between power and social institutions. In this course we will survey the major theoretical perspectives on power and politics within sociology. We will do so in relation to the phenomenon of political scandal within American society with special emphasis on the Watergate scandal of 1972-1974. Each theory we will look at in this class will have a different "take" on what political scandal represents and therefore each theory will have a different conception of what the whole Watergate affair actually means. In considering these differing perspectives on power and society, we will be focusing on four fundamental dimensions: 1) social, political and cultural elites; 2) the public; 3) the mass media; and 4) the "rationality" of social actors. Watergate is a central focus because there is plenty of documentation and "data" about it as an historical event but scandal is a recurring and inevitable part of the fabric of American political life: For example, former President Bill Clinton was impeached over his improprieties in the Monica Lewinsky affair in 1999 and Ronald Reagan's last term in office was overshadowed by the so-called Iran-Contra affair in the late 1980's. More recently, George Bush and Dick Cheney have both been accused of potentially scandalous activities. What exactly is political scandal and what does it say about the distribution of power in American society? That is the central question we will try and answer.
More recently in this course, we have been focusing on the cultural perspectives of Emile Durkheim (as reflected, for example, in the Alexander article) and Talcott Parsons, which are almost diametrically opposed to that of the critical perspective that we considered in the first part of the course. Durkheim and Parsons' theories challenge us to try and recognize what is beneficial and "functional" in the systems world, indeed, both argue that it is only through what we have called the systems world that our lifeworlds are even possible.
Here the idea is that while political elites act as "leaders" it is the public that determines outes, i.e., that contrary to the critical perspective political leaders are responsive and accountable to the public they serve. In terms of Watergate, the cultural perspective is especially effective at explaining the "Saturday Night Massacre" and Richard Nixon's resignation from the Presidency, while the critical perspective was much better in accounting for the original burglary and break-in as well as the resulting cover-up.
****You will be given two paper topics, which you will find below, and you may pick only ONE to write this paper on (the choice is yours). For the first paper option your job is to think with Durkheim and Parsons about what works in the American political system. The second paper option offers you the opportunity to pare and contrast Durkheim and/or Parsons with Marx and/or Mills.
*****IMPORTANT: for BOTH paper options you MUST have watched the film "All the President?s Men" in its entirety, read Dinesh D?Souza?s What?s So Great About America, and be very familiar with the Durkheimian and Parsonian perspectives on politics.*****
I am not saying you have to agree with D & P or that you cannot express your disagreement with them. But you MUST clearly demonstrate to me that you understand the cultural argument regarding Watergate and American politics.
Do NOT be afraid to be creative, funny or personal as long as you are able to draw upon the concepts, readings and materials mentioned and offered. However, putting in too much of your own personal opinion or writing in the first person is not remended nor is it professional. Remember that it is very difficult to write a great paper that will convince your reader(s) with just your ?opinions? all over the place, but if you have lots of evidence from the lecture summaries, videos and reading materials that you draw upon to support your analysis and argument, you should have no problems.
*****The paper should be minimum 7 FULL pages and maximum 10 pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font and 1 inch margins all around and MUST have a (very sexy!) title, and the paper must contain citations from the relevant assigned texts, lecture summaries, documentaries and/or movies that are mentioned below; this is enough resources and they contain most of the information needed to plete this paper, so please do NOT use any outside sources. Please include a Work Cited Page at the end. The paper MUST have an introduction paragraph with a STRONG, ARGUABLE thesis, full body paragraphs that begin with a topic sentence followed by supporting sentences and examples and finally, a conclusion paragraphs that sums/ wraps up all the points/ arguments in you paper. *****
******PLEASE NOTE: In all of the options below, you should be able to demonstrate general familiarity with the events of Watergate, e.g., be able to properly name persons and refer to specific events and the order in which they occurred. It is very important that you do that. ******
****** Also, please do NOT recapitulate the whole history of the Watergate scandal, we don?t need a timeline. Just use specific events (e.g., the initial burglary, the cover-up, Senate Watergate hearings, Saturday Night Massacre, etc.) to illustrate the theories you're talking about. ******
Remember, the ultimate object in answering EACH of the questions below is to show how American culture affects politics, i.e., how what we often consider to be the systems world of politics impacts our lifeworld, for better or for worse. Your paper may include some reflection on your own experience of the systems world serving or enhancing your own lifeworld or how politics has operated to ?colonize? your lifeworld. This is where you are granted to get personal in your paper, but briefly, please.
**** Here are the two topics for the paper; please answer only ONE of the following questions:
1. Choose one or both of the cultural theories ? Durkheim, Alexander and/or Parsons -- and focusing on Watergate, consider how the cultural perspective explains political scandal. You should draw particularly on " D'Souza's "What's So Great About America" and the film "All the President?s Men" for examples in illustrating the functionalist perspective on the relationship between political elites, the American public and the mass media in a democratic culture. How would this relationship explain events during Watergate such as the "Saturday Night Massacre" and Nixon's resignation? What would be the significance of the Senate Watergate hearings given the cultural perspective? What is the general nature of power in American society in the cultural view and what kind of society does the cultural view of politics assume? What have you learned from D?Souza?s book in terms of the advantages of American culture in regard to other societies that most impresses you?
2. Compare and contrast Durkheim's and Parson's (cultural) view of government with that of Marx and Mills or Weber. What are differences between how the theories you are paring see the relationships between political elites, the American public and the mass media? Argue for the one you favor by considering D'Souza's arguments in What's So Great About America as pared to C. Wright Mills? arguments in The Power Elite and their relevance for both the cultural and the critical views. Why is it that the critical view is better at explaining the cover-up while the cultural view is better at explaining the "Saturday Night Massacre" and Nixon's resignation? What kind of rationality characterizes the "public" and the "elite"? Why is it that Durkheim and Parsons do not see the "power elite" model of the critical view as being valid? How would Marx/Mills and/or Weber critique the film "All the President?s Men" (i.e., argue against it showing a functionalist perspective on Watergate and American politics?) and particularly the functionalist theory of the mass media? In the end, which of the perspectives, cultural or critical, is better at explaining Watergate overall and why?
**** If you cannot find or get a hold of any one of the works needed to plete this assignment, please let me know ASAP, so I can fax it to you; I can do that for the articles but not D. D'Souza?s novel, What's So Great About America, as it is too long. But please make sure you get a hold of one because it is absolutely necessary to have read it in order to plete this assignment. Now, here is a list of all the topics and titles of the specific readings we covered and the names of the authors who wrote them; most of them you will need to read or be quite familiar with in order to write this paper:
The Political Scandal of the State (1): Capitalist Exploitation - Marxist and Neo-Marxist Perspectives
J. Thompson, "What is Scandal?" and "The Nature of Political Scandal"
Neomarxism (concl.) - Bureaucratic Domination - Weber and Neo-Weberian Perspectives
C. Wright Mills, ?The Power Elite? and Max Weber, ?Bureaucracy?
The Culture of Political Scandal (1): Ritual Reaffirmation - Durkheimian and Neo-Durkheimian Perspectives
E. Durkheim, "The Concept of the State" ; R. Bellah, "Civil Religion in America"
J. Alexander, "Watergate and Durkhemian Sociology"
The Culture of Political Scandal (2): Adaptive Upgrading - Parsonian Perspectives
T. Parsons, "Voting" and "The Distribution of Power in American Society"
D. D'Souza, What's So Great About America: "Why They Hate Us," "Two Cheers for Colonialism" and "Being American"
The Meanings of ?Watergate?: D?Souza and Ricoeur
D. D'Souza, What's So Great About America: "When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness" and "America the Beautiful"
Paul Ricoeur, ?Imagination in Discourse and Action?
**** Please note: there are THREE movies you need to get a hold of and watch:
1) ?ALL THE PRESIDENT?S MEN? - (watching this one is definitely required in order to write this paper.)
2) ?WAG THE DOG
3) ?DICK?
**** And here are the links to a couple of C. Wright Mills? works from the book ?THE POWER ELITE?:
1) ?The Higher Circles?
http://www.thirdworldtraveler./Book_Excerpts/HigherCircles_PE.html
2) ?The Mass Society?
http://www.thirdworldtraveler./Book_Excerpts/MassSociety_PE.html
There is also a website that is remended for quick reference: www.watergate.info
****And last but not least, I have lecture summaries and overheads from class, which are all typed up and an article titled ?First Report of the Watergate Burglary? from the the Washington Post; and I will e-mail them all to you because they will definitely help with writing this paper. All these resources that I have will be e-mailed to right after I submit my order. If you do not receive them or want me to send them directly to our personal e-mail address, please let me know ASAP. Also, I can fax them to you, if you prefer that, just let me know. I have provided you with all the resources that I could, however, you are on your own on the other required resources that you will need to plete this paper such as D'Souza?s novel, What's So Great About America, the ALL THE PRESIDENT?S MEN video, Emile Durkheim & Talcott Parsons? works, etc., as I cannot e-mail/fax them.
I you have any problems though or have any questions, please let me know as soon as possible. Good luck with the paper, and have a wonderful day! :)
There are faxes for this order.
