POLITICAL SCIENCE 92N

TOLERANCE AND DEMOCRACY

FALL QUARTER 2001

 

Professor Paul M. Sniderman
paulms@stanford.edu

 


This course focuses on the value of tolerance and its implications for both the principles and practices of democracy. It examines tolerance both as it has been understood by political philosophers and as it is understood by citizens at large. The readings therefore include such classics as John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty and Isaiah Berlin’s "Two Concepts of Liberty" and modern studies of public opinion. Among the topics examined are: ideas of liberty; value pluralism; the interplay of authority and obedience; the role of political elites and mass publics in democratic societies; and multiculturalism.

 
The fundamental objectives of the course are to promote critical thinking and to explore some of the principal forms of value conflict in contemporary liberal democracies.

The class will be run as a seminar, and students will be expected to take responsibility for one topic on the syllabus, preparing a brief paper, circulated in advance, and leading the initial discussion in class. The paper should discuss strengths and weaknesses of the arguments and evidence they encounter in the readings. An adequate paper would provide a summary of the readings; a superior paper would go on to point to weakness in the readings, unresolved research questions, or the substantive implications of any methodological deficiencies. A longer paper will count for two thirds of the grade. Both papers are graded on the logic of the arguments, understanding of the material, creativity, and clarity of exposition.

If you have problems downloading the readings, please contact mprior@stanford.edu.

 

Course Outline

Oct 2: Introduction
 
 

Oct 9: Two Concepts of Liberty

 
Isaiah Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty," in Liberty, David Miller, (ed.), 1991. Oxford University Press.

Charles Taylor, "What's Wrong With Negative Liberty." in David Miller (ed.), 1991, Liberty, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ronald Dworkin, "Two Concepts of Liberty," in E. Margolit and A.Margolit, 1991, Isaiah Berlin,University of Chicago Press.

John Gray, "Berlin’s Agonistic Liberalism" in Isaiah Berlin, 1996. Princeton University Press.

Isaiah Berlin and Bernard Williams, “Pluralism and Liberalism: a Reply,” Political Studies: 61: 306-309.
 
 

Oct 16: Elites and Mass: Democratic Elitism, Democratic Participation and Democratic Values

 
Herbert McClosky, 1964. "Consensus and Ideology in American Politics," American Political Science Review, 58: 361-382.

Paul M. Sniderman, Joseph F. Fletcher, Peter H. Russell, and Philip E. Tetlock, 1996, "The Thesis of Democratic Elitism,"in The Clash of Rights, Yale University Press.

 
 

Oct. 23: Political Tolerance

John Sullivan, James Piereson, and George E. Marcus, "An Alternative Conceptualization of Political Tolerance," American Political Science Review, 73: 781-794.

 
 

Oct. 30: Alienation and Authority

 
Arthur H. Miller. 1974 "Political Issues and Trust in Government: 1964-1970."American Political Science Review, 68: 951-972.

Jack Citrin, 1974, "Comment: The Political Relevance of Trust in Government,” American Political Science Review, 68: 973-988."
 

Arthur H. Miller, "Rejoinder Rejoinder to "Comment" by Jack Citrin: Political Discontent or Ritualism?," American Political Science Review, 68: 989-1001.

Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority

 
 

Nov. 6: Identity and Difference

Charles Taylor, "The Politics of Recognition."
 

Brian Barry, ch.8 The Politics of Multiculturalism
 
David Hollinger, 1995 "Pluralism, Cosmopolitianism, and the Diversification of Diversity" and Toward a Postethnic Perspective,” Postethnic America NewYork: Basic Books
 
 

Nov. 13: Multiculturalism Outside the US: Conflicts Between Ways of Life

 
Will Kymlika, 1998. "American Multiculturalism in the International Arena," in M. Cohen, D. Howe, and M. Walzer (eds.) Dissent.
 
John Horton, "The Satanic Verses Controvery: A Brief Introduction."

Tariz Modood, "Muslims, Incitement to Hatred and the Law"

 
 

Nov. 20: Hate Speech and Speech

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1994. "War of Words: Critical Race Theory and the First Amendment," in H.L Gates,got Gates A.P. Griffen, D.F. Lively, R.C.Post, W.B. Rubenstein, and N. Strossend (eds.), Speaking, Speaking of Sex. New York: New York University Press.
 

L. W. Sumner, 2000."Should Hate Speech Be Free Speech? John Stuart Mill and the Limits of Tolerance," in Liberal Democracy and the Limits of Tolerance. (Ed.) Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.

Irwin Cutler, 2000, "Holcaust Denial, Equality, and Harm: Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance in a Liberal Democracy, in Liberal Democracy and the Limits of Tolerance." (Ed.) Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

 
 

Nov. 27: Tolerance, The Principle of Colorblindness, and the Problem of Assimilation

Brian Barry, ch2. The Strategy of Privatization
 

Hazel Rose Markus, Claude M. Steele, and Dorothy M. Steele, "Colorblindness as a Barrier to Inclusion: Assimilation and Nonimmigrant Minorities."

Jeremy Waldron, "Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative," in W. Kymlicka (ed.), The Rights of Minority Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press

 
 

Dec. 4: Liberty

John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"