Pacifism, Violence and Substantive Change 3102-FPVC

Many states, social movements, and sectors of civil society have long applauded pacifist ideas and motives to facilitate progressive social change. This course contextualizes and deconstructs whether such measures support structural transformation and highlights a contradiction: while many pacifist movements set out to bring about social change, they often end up legitimating the social and political order they were attempting to challenge. Drawing upon a wide range of case studies on western and non-western societies in Sociology and cognate disciplines, this course examines types of social conflict specific to different kinds of class-based society, from violent to pacifist movements, as well as the variety of ways that pre-industrial societies have been made part of the modern world economy. In the second part of the semester, we will look at central and eastern Europe after the demise of socialism. We will show that the pacific revolution that paved the way for the 'transition' from socialism to capitalism had paradoxical effects, and that the social costs of this transformation were very high. By analyzing critiques, philosophies, and writings of differing practitioners, scholars, and theorists, the course aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of pacifism/violence in the direction and advancement of substantive social change.