Republic of the PhilippinesPolytechnic University of the Philippines

College of Social Sciences and DevelopmentDepartment of Sociology and Anthropology

SOCIOLOGY OF HUMAN RIGHTS (SOCIO 3043)

Instructor: John N. Abletis 2nd Semester, AY: 2012-2013Contact No: 09214632761 Email Add.: johnabletis@gmail.com

10:30am-1:30pm, Sat., Rm. S617

Rm.: S612 (CA Extension Office), Main Bldg.Consultation Hours is by appointment.

This course aims to give you a comprehensive overview of the issues, debates, constructions and contentions on human rights in the social sciences and philosophy, law, policy and governance, civil society and interest groups and society in general. Sociologizing human rights is new in the international academic scene, although themes and perspectives from the classical and contemporary traditions of social theory, philosophy and art have been touching some of its domains and issues. This newness in part is due to the hegemony of structural functionalism in the 1940s, too much focus on the demonizing of it in the 1960s and the alternative enthusiasm for creative sociology (i.e. symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnomethodology and constructivism) and a conflict theory that was not too critical, as well as the then hegemonic idea of confining sociology within the domain of the “social,” as different from the “political” and the economic.” In addition, the long tradition of giving attention only to “society in general” as “sociological” and “social interaction” as “microsociological/social psychological” is contributory to this neglect of the particular in the individual yet “universal” to the human—the body—this is specifically the case of the now thriving field of the “sociology of the body” with a new materialist twist. Yet, sociology as a discipline cannot develop if it is to be detached from the changes in the real world. With different intellectual bombardments inspired by these changes, sociology as a discipline diversified into specializations of different facets of human and societal life. It has now opened itself to interdisciplinarity, mixed methodologies and theoretical contingencies. One of these thriving specialties is the sociology of human rights. “Human rights” as a concept and a topic of concern arose in the 1900s especially after the Second World War when people and states were desperate in seeking for long-term “peace,” “equality,” “liberty,” and “change.” With the rise of different social movements in the 1960s onwards, changing sensibilities of the people as manifested in various topics that arose in the period such as race, ethnicity, identity, gender and environmental concerns, continuing relevance of economic and nationalistic struggles, the downfall and rise of different regimes of power and types of governmentalities, and the intellectual critique of poststructuralism and postmodernism against grand narratives in an era of globalization, rising inequality, cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism, international wars and tensions, “human rights” as a “modern” project gradually becomes a hot sociological topic of our time. Thus, we need to look into it.

Reading ListPART 1. POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

Nov17

Theoretical foundations in Political SociologyKate Nash Chapters 1 and 2State and Society Relationship [makeup class, optional readings]Theda Skocpol, “Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research,” pp. 3-28Joel Migdal, “The State in Society: An Approach to Struggles of Domination,” pp. 7-30

Nov24

Civil Society 1Muthiah Alagapa, “Civil Society and Political Change: An Analytical Framework,” pp. 26-57

Dec Civil Society 2

1

01 Joseph Buttigieg, “Gramsci on Civil Society,” pp. 1-32Chad Alan Goldberg, “Social Citizenship and a Reconstructed Tocqueville,” pp. 289-315

Dec 08

Civil Society 3Nancy Fraser, “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing

Democracy,” pp. 56-80Iris Marion Young, “Inclusion and Democracy,” pp. 155-195Civil Society 4 [makeup class, optional readings]Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, “Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International

Politics,” pp. 1-38Donatella della Port, Massimiliano Andretta, Lorenzo Mosca and Herbert Reiter, “Globalization from

Below: Transnational Activists and Protests Networks,” pp. 1-26, 61-97, & 232-247Dec15

Social Movements 1Sidney Tarrow, “Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics,” pp 1-27, 81-

99Charles Kurzman, “Structural Opportunity and Perceived Opportunity in Social Movement Theory:

The Iranian Revolution of 1979,” pp. 153-170Dec18

Social Movements 2J. Craig Jenkins, “Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements,” pp. 527-553John McCarthy, “Constraints and Opportunities in Adopting, Adapting and Inventing,” pp. 141-151

Jan05

Social Movements 3William Gamson, “The Social Psychology of Collective Action,” pp. 53-76David Snow and Robert Benford, “Ideology, Frame Resonance and Participant Mobilization,” pp. 197-

217Doug McAdam and Ronnelle Paulsen, “Specifying the Relationship between Social Ties and

Activism,” pp. 640-667Kate Nash Chapter 3

PART 2. CITIZENSHIP AND HUMAN RIGHTSTheoretical Foundations 1 (2 weeks) [makeup class, optional readings]Bryan Turner and Chris Rojek Chapters 1-2, 4, 6-7, 10-11

Jan 12

Theoretical Foundations 2Kate Nash Chapter 4

Jan19,26

Theoretical Foundations 3 (2 weeks)Margaret Somers, “Genealogies of Citizenship: Markets, Statelessness and the Right to Have Rights,” (Whole book)

Feb02

Theoretical Foundations 4 Kate Nash Chapter 5

Feb09, 16,23

Human Rights and Social Movements (3 weeks)Neil Stammers, “Human Rights and Social Movements” (Whole book)

Mar02,09

Human Rights as Social Construction (2 weeks) Benjamin Gregg, “Human Rights as Social Construction,” (Whole book)

Review Break on March 16Theoretical Foundations 5 [makeup class, optional readings]Michel Foucault, “The Will to Knowledge, History of Sexuality Vol. 1,” (Whole book)Michel Foucault, “Two Lectures”Human Rights and the Legal System (2 weeks) [makeup class, optional readings]Saladin Meckled-Garcia and Basak Cali, “The legalization of human rights : multidisciplinary

perspectives on human rights and human rights law,” (Whole book)

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Comprehensive Examination on March 23

Computation of grades will be as follows:

Attendance: 20%Class Participation: 30%

Individual Term Paper: 20%Comprehensive Exam: 30%

Total: 100%

Primary References/Required Books to be Read:

Nash, K. (2010). Contemporary Political Sociology, 2nd ed., West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell

Somers, M. R. (2008). Genealogies of Citizenship: Markets, Statelessness, and the Right to Have Rights, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Stammers, N. (2009). Human Rights and Social Movements, London: Pluto Press

Gregg, B. (2012). Human Rights as Social Construction, NY: Cambridge University Press

Highly Recommended Additional Readings:

Foucault, M. (1980). Two Lectures. In C. Gordon (ed.). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and other Writings 1972-1977, NY: Pantheon, pp. 78-108

Foucault, M. (1978/1976). History of Sexuality: Volume 1, The Will to Knowledge. Translated by R. Hurley, London: Penguin Books

Garcia, S. M. & B. Cali (2006). Legalization of Human Rights: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Human Rights Law, London: Routledge

Turner, B. & C. Rojek (2001). Society and Culture: Principles of Scarcity and Solidarity, London: Sage Publications

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