Spring 2022  |  PA 5012 Section 001: The Politics of Public Affairs (58983)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
A-F or Audit
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:
Online Course
Enrollment Requirements:
Major or minor in Public Policy or Science/Technology/Environmental Policy
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/18/2022 - 05/02/2022
Mon, Wed 01:00PM - 02:15PM
UMTC, West Bank
Hubert H Humphrey Center 25
Enrollment Status:
Open (29 of 31 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Stages of policy making from agenda setting to implementation. Role and behavior of political institutions, citizens, social movements, and interest groups. Concepts of political philosophy. Theories of state. Team taught, interdisciplinary course. Small discussion sections.
Class Notes:
If the class is full; MPP/MS-STEP students should add themselves to the system's waitlist. Other students should contact Stacey Grimes at grime004@umn.edu to be placed on a manual waitlist. http://classinfo.umn.edu/?jbsoss+PA5012+Spring2022
Class Description:
Our challenge in this course is to get serious about questioning and sharpening the political perspectives we bring to bear on our work. All too often, our beliefs about politics are based on little more than civics-book platitudes, cynical clichés, and the commonsense views that prevail in our particular social circle. The purpose of this course is to unsettle such beliefs and invite students to think more critically and systematically about how to approach the political dimensions of their work. If you expect most of your future work to be technical - and therefore, "not political" - I'm especially hopeful that you will find opportunities in this course to question that assumption, as well as the politics that underlie it.
Learning Objectives:
This semester, we will work to develop a variety of political perspectives on public policy and public affairs. Toward these ends, we will organize our work around four concepts that guide any well-specified understanding of politics: power, institutions and organizations, discourse, and citizenship. We will ask how these elements of politics may be understood, how they operate in practice, why they matter, how they limit and enable political action, and how they can be engaged and navigated effectively.
Grading:
20% Class participation
80% Major Writing Assignments
- Power (20%)
- Institutions (20%)
- Political Discourse (20%)
- Democratic Citizenship (20%)
Your grade will depend, first and foremost, on the ways you engage, explain, critique, and apply ideas from our readings and class discussions.
Class Format:
Discussion and Lecture
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/58983/1223
Past Syllabi:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/jbsoss_PA5012_Spring2019.pdf (Spring 2019)
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/jbsoss_PA5012_Spring2016.doc (Spring 2016)
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
21 February 2017

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2022 Public Affairs Classes Taught by Joe Soss

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