A few First-Year Seminars give preference during the first round of enrolment to students with membership in the college offering the course - if this is the case, the college name will be listed beside the course title. During the second round of enrolment, first-year students at any college may enroll if space is available.

SII 199Y1Y: Society and Its Institutions (3)

Section Title College Time
L0171 Cultural Politics in Modern China   Timetable
L0181 Contemporary Economic Systems - Timetable
L0182 Contemporary Economic Systems - Timetable
L0351 Public, Private and the Liberal State - Timetable
L0371 How Religion Crosses Borders and Changes Cultures - Timetable
L0391 How We Use Time in Everyday Life - Timetable

SII 199Y1 Society and Its Institutions: Category 3

SII 199Y1Y
Section L0171
Timetable

Cultural Politics in Modern China

This course will explore the connections between politics and culture in China in a historical context, focusing on the ongoing tension in state-society relations. The tutelary role of the state and the centrality of state-defined orthodoxy serve as a point of departure, with ‘ideology’ and ‘political culture’ serving as key foci. One major topic will be the ambiguous role of China’s intellectuals as servants of power and as autonomous critics of despotic rule. Among other topics to be considered are the political uses of literature, history, the arts and the media in China as instruments of state control and as vehicles for protest and social mobilization. The first half of the course will deal with the historical context shaping cultural politics and the second half of the course will examine specific aspects of contemporary cultural change.
Instructor: V. Falkenheim, East Asian Studies
Breadth category: 3 Society and Its Institutions


SII 199Y1Y
Section L0181
Timetable

Section L0182
Timetable

Contemporary Economic Systems

This seminar looks at some very diverse economies in a comparative framework. These include market, non-market and hybrid economic systems, both historical and contemporary. In the first term students will examine "primitive" and underdeveloped economics. These will be contrasted with the classical market economy and the contemporary Canadian economy. In the second term the course will treat the economies of the ancient world and medieval Europe along with some contemporary economies such as Sweden. The "transition" economies of Russia and China will also be examined.

Instructors: A. Rotstein (F term) and G. Indart (S term), Economics
Breadth category: 3 Society and Its Institutions

SII 199Y1Y
Section L0351
Timetable

Public, Private, and the Liberal State

The distinction between public and private is central to liberalism and, hence, to the liberal state. But two things have happened recently that complicate our capacity to figure out what public and private mean. The first is that there has been a significant blurring of the boundary between public and private – what between the emergence of institutions like charter schools in education, the rise of "public markets" in the provision of "public goods," and the growing "privatization" of something as quintessentially public as war. The second development is the Babel effect. We continue to construct political programs around the public/private distinction. But what happens if different people mean fundamentally different things by these terms? How do we sift through the various meanings of public and private to give some coherence to our political language? Or are we doomed to talk past each other? The seminar will focus on the U.S., Canada and, where possible, Europe. We will address a broad range of perspectives, among political theory, constitutional law, and public policy. A package of customized readings will be produced for students in the seminar.

Instructor: R. Vipond, Political Science
Breadth category: 3 Society and Its Institutions

SII 199Y1Y
Section L0371
Timetable

How Religion Crosses Borders and Changes Cultures

This seminar course seeks to understand how a religion originating in one culture among one set of people expands to other peoples and enters new cultures, and how these new peoples and cultures begin to transform under the aegis of the new religion. The focus is on Christianity, the religion that in one form or another embraces one-third of the world's population. It is the largest religion in the world, and distinctive in being the only religion with communities found in every country of the world. The seminar examines how Christianity with its extraordinary diversity came to occupy this position by the time of the twenty-first century. It draws examples from all continents and many periods, and considers factors from religion, missions, and spirituality to society, migration, empire, trade, and war. The study asks when and in what way various forms of Christianity entered and set up in new regions and new cultures? The dominant themes are origins, transitions, and diversification. The method is participatory, as students select and explore particular countries, and contribute to the overall project of the course.

Instructor: T. McIntire, Study of Religion
Breadth category: 3 Society and Its Institutions

SII 199Y1Y
Section L0391
Timetable

How We Use Time in Everyday Life

In substance, this seminar examines how people use time in their everyday lives: the content, the patterns, and the implications. This analysis focuses on the circumstances under which variations in the use of time occur and the role of context – such as social factors or physical location – in governing people's choices. The data collected can serve as a model for understanding and explaining a number of issues in the social sciences. The seminar will include both an examination of seminal writings about people's use of time and hands-on practice in the strategies and techniques of analyzing data, including the formulation of questions and approaches to answering them. Through this seminar, students will acquire – from a sociological perspective – an appreciation not only of the concept of time but also of how they use time in their daily lives and how time-use helps them better understand many situations.

Instructor: W. Michelson, Sociology
Breadth category: 3 Society and Its Institutions