|
 Academic Year:
| 2012/3 |
| Owning Department/School:
| Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies |
| Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours (FHEQ level 6) |
| Period: |
Semester 1 |
| Assessment:
| CW 33%, ES 67% |
| Supplementary Assessment: |
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description:
| Aims: This unit will explore the ideas of some of the thinkers who have shaped contemporary France since the beginning of the twentieth century. The aim will be to provide students with an understanding of the variety and wealth of French political thought from Marxism to Gaullism, from existentialism to the extreme right, and the impact of thinkers on contemporary French and international politics. The unit will be taught in French. Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, students should be able to demonstrate that they: * understand key trends in French political thought through critical engagement with primary texts; * understand the social context which gave rise to, and was influenced by, trends in French political thought; * understand the various traditions of political thought (nationalism, Marxism, feminism, etc.) which influenced the thinkers under discussion; * can critically appraise the arguments of French political thinkers in the 20th and 21st centuries as responses to the challenges facing the French nation and the French political system. Skills: Skills in critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgement, reasoned argument, effective communication in the target language, teamwork and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are developed and assessed in this unit. Content: The content of the unit will include a selection of the following topics: * Charles Maurras - Nationalism * Raymond Aron - Gaullism * Frantz Fanon - Decolonisation * Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir - Existentialism * Pierre Bourdieu - Critical sociology * Alain de Benoist - Nouvelle droite * Bernard Henri Lévy et Alain Finkielkraut - Nouveaux philosophes * Alain Badiou and Jacques Rancière - The communist hypothesis * Elisabeth Badinter and Caroline Fourest - Twenty-first century feminism? |
| Programme availability: |
PL30873 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies
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