Northern Arizona University                                        College of Arts and Sciences
Spring 2012                                                              Department of History

HIS 560 Worlding the Middle Class:  Readings in World History
Meetings: Thursdays, 3:30 - 6:00 pm, LA 203
Instructor: Sanjay Joshi
LA 206, 523-6216, Sanjay.Joshi@nau.edu and http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6
			Office Hours: Tue and Thu 11.00 am - 12:30 pm, and by appointment.

CHECK THE COURSE WEB PAGE http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6/middleclasscourse.htm  FOR A COPY OF THIS SYLLABUS WITH CLICKABLE LINKS TO ELECTRONIC READINGS.  PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ALSO LOOK AT:

			Policy Statements  http://www2.nau.edu/academicadmin/plcystmt.html
Classroom Management Statement http://www4.nau.edu/stulife/handbookmanagement.htm

Course Description
This course explores how, why, and with what effect, the “middle class” as a category has traveled across the world, primarily from the 19th to the mid-20th century.  Though used by scholars and layfolk alike across the world, a “middle class” seems to refer to quite distinct sociological groups in different parts of the world.  In the United States, the middle class has become almost a synonym for “regular” people, the masses if you will.  In other parts of the world, India or even the U.K., the category often refers to an elite.  What is the history of this difference?  What effect do these differences have on our understanding of this category, and history more generally?  These are the questions that animate this course.  Not only will we discuss the usefulness of class (specifically, the middle class) as a category of historical analysis, but also explore the relation between the so-called middle class and other social groups.  We will see the connections between (the middle) class and other axes and configurations of social hierarchy such as gender and race.  Through this exploration, I hope, this course will enable us to understand how and why the middle class as a category has been deployed very differently in different historical contexts.  Even more significantly, I hope these explorations allow us to discuss the implications of such different deployments of the category.  If there are to be comparisons, what sort of a global history of the middle class is possible?  What are the implications of such a comparative history for world/global history?  Through exploring a history of the middle class, this course takes us to the heart of the connections and contradictions that make up global history.

Required Readings
The following books have been ordered for the course at the NAU Bookstore.  I know times are difficult, but I would recommend strongly that you buy or otherwise have access to the following books throughout the semester:

1.	Patrick Joyce, ed. Class. (Oxford University Press, USA, 1995).
2.	Burton J. Bledstein and Robert D. Johnston, ed.s The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class, 1st ed. (Routledge, 2001).
3.	Dror Wahrman, Imagining the Middle Class: The Political Representation of Class in Britain, c.1780-1840 (Cambridge University Press, 1995).
4.	Catherine Hall, White, Male and Middle Class: Explorations in Feminism and History. (Polity, 1992).
5.	Sarah Maza, The Myth of the French Bourgeoisie: An Essay on the Social Imaginary, 1750-1850 (Harvard University Press, 2005).
6.	Brian Owensby, Intimate Ironies : Modernity and the Making of Middle-Class Lives in Brazil (Stanford University Press, 1999).
7.	Seyyed Nasr, Forces of Fortune : The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What it Will Mean for Our World, 1st ed. (Free Press, 2009).
8.	Jackson Lears, Fables Of Abundance: A Cultural History Of Advertising In America. (New York: Basic Books, 1995).
9.	Ricardo A. López, and Barbara Weinstein. eds. The Making of the Middle Class: Toward a Transnational History. (Duke University Press, 2012).
 
In addition, selections from other books, that are part of the required reading for this course, will be made available electronically.

Recommended Readings
These are not books that I would ask you to buy, as you will need only ONE of these to present on for one class period.  I would recommend using either Cline or Inter Library Loan to get the book of your choice from the list, AFTER you have signed up for your presentation during class in week two. Please look at the course schedule, below, for details of the recommended readings.

Course Requirements
1.  A final paper in the form of a historiographical essay on the middle class, focusing either on a geographical area or a theme (e.g. Middle Class and Religion; Middle Class and Empire; Middle Class Environmentality, etc).  The sources should be selected to provide an overview and analysis of the writing on the middle class on your selected topic or area. Comparisons with other areas or themes is strongly encouraged. It is recommended that your essay, should, at a minimum, discuss at least three to five monographs, and five to ten scholarly essays on the subject.  I expect a preliminary proposal from you by week four.  A significantly revised and expanded proposal for your paper is due the week after spring break, which I will discuss with you individually the following week.  The final paper, between fifteen and twenty pages in length, is due May 3rd.

POINTS:  Proposal 	05 points;   Final Paper 	45 points;  Total 	50 points

2.  Written reviews of SIX of the TEN required readings (Weeks Two through Eight, and weeks Twelve through Fourteen) – that is, you may skip written reviews of four sets of required readings.   If you do more than six, I will take the best six reviews into account for the grade.  For a number of reasons, I would seriously advise against skipping the first four reviews!

Your reviews should contain both a short summary of the work(s) you read, as well as your own reflections on the ideas you encounter in the readings.  I expect the reviews to be between two and four DOUBLE SPACED pages, and submitted to me on the day of the class meeting.  That you can skip writing reviews some weeks does NOT mean you can come to class without having done the week’s assigned readings. You are responsible for completing ALL the required readings for this course. 

POINTS:  5 points each 	 30 points total

3.  Two oral presentations on your choice of the recommended readings.   The first will be one ONE of the recommended readings listed in the syllabus, making sure you are able to connect the recommended reading to the assigned reading for that week.  The second will be on week 15, April 19th, and will be a preliminary presentation of your paper. I expect each presentation to last about 10 to 15 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of discussion.  I will evaluate these presentations on the basis of analytical ability, close reading of the texts in question, and clarity of presentation.  

POINTS:  5 points each; 	10 points total

4. Seminar attendance and participation, which will take into account you’re the ENTIRE semester, including participation on days when you have chosen not to write reviews of the reading, 10 points. 

Grading Scale: 90-100 = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79 = C; 60-69= D; below 60 = F

PLEASE NOTE: I do not give extensions or incompletes except in the most extreme cases.  Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in failing the course.  Please consult the NAU Student Handbook's sections on academic dishonesty if you are not certain of the meaning of this term.  IT IS THE STUDENTS' RESPONSIBILITY TO FAMILIARIZE HERSELF/HIMSELF WITH THESE MATTERS AS DEFINED BY THE UNIVERSITY. 

Provisional Class Schedule: Subject to modification

Week One Jan 19th   	Introductions
Readings (if you get to this syllabus before the start of classes)
1. Wikipedia entry on “middle class”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class
2. Rana Faroohar, “The Scary New Rich”   http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/03/05/the-scary-new-rich.html

Week Two Jan 26th 		Class as a Category of Historical Analysis
Required Readings
Patrick Joyce,  Class 
SELECTIONS: pp. 3-68; 71-73; 99-103; 127-167; 183-192; 201-207; 233-35; 287-335.
Rius, Marx for Beginners extracts  http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6/Middle Class Course/marx_for_beginners extracts.pdf

Assignment
Please sign up for your week of presentations on recommended readings.  Unless the numbers don’t work, I would prefer to have only one presentation each week.  

Week Three Feb 2  		The Middle Class in the United States
Required Readings
Burton J. Bledstein and Robert D. Johnston, The Middling Sorts

SELECTIONS:  pp. 1-49; 71-72; 86-124; 136-169; 185-200; 237-255; 267-306.
 
Recommended
Mary P. Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class: The Family in Oneida County, New York, 1790-1865 (Cambridge University Press, 1983). 
Or
Benjamin Demott, The Imperial Middle: Why Americans Can’t Think Straight About Class. 1st ed. William Morrow & Co, 1990.
Or
Stuart Mack Blumin, The Emergence of the Middle Class: Social Experience in the American City, 1760-1900 (Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Week Four Feb 9th 		How does the Middle Class “Emerge”?
Required Readings
Dror Wahrman, Imagining the Middle Class. 

Recommended
Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2003).
Or
Simon Gunn, The Public Culture of the Victorian Middle Class: Ritual and Authority in the English Industrial City 1840-1914 (Manchester University Press, 2008).
Or
Ross McKibbin, Classes and Cultures: England 1918-1951 (Oxford University Press, USA, 2000).

Assignment
Preliminary Paper proposal due.

Week Five Feb 16th 		Race, Gender, and Middle Class Formation
Required Readings
Hall, Catherine. White, Male and Middle Class.

Recommended 
Carolyn Steedman, Master and Servant: Love and Labour in the English Industrial Age (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Or
Seth Koven, Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton University Press, 2006).

Week Six Feb 23 		The French Middle Class: A Myth?
Required Readings
Sarah Maza, The Myth of the French Bourgeoisie.

Recommended
David Blackbourn, The German Bourgeoisie : Essays on the Social History of the German Middle Class from the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Century (Routledge, 1991).
Or
Bonnie Smith, Ladies of the Leisure Class : The Bourgeoises of Northern France in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton University Press, 1981).
Or
Jürgen Kocka, Bourgeois Society in Nineteenth-Century Europe (Berg, 1993).

Week Seven  March 1 	Beyond Eurocentric Idea about the Middle Class
Required Readings
Brian Owensby, Intimate Ironies.

Recommended
D Parker, The Idea of the Middle Class?: White-Collar Workers and Peruvian Society, 1900-1950 (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998).
Or
William E. French, A Peaceful and Working People: Manners, Morals, and Class Formation in Northern Mexico (University of New Mexico Press, 2008).
Or
Wolfe, Joel. Autos and Progress: The Brazilian Search for Modernity (Oxford University Press, USA, 2010).

Week Eight  March 8 	The Middle Class in Colonial India

Required Readings
Sanjay Joshi Ed.  Middle Class in Colonial India (Oxford University Press, 2010) 
SELECTIONS:  I have made available a series of essays from my recent edited book on the subject.  Please note, these are from the galley proofs, and contain some minor typographical errors.  

1.	Sanjay Joshi, Introduction  
2.	Dufferin, Microscopic Minority  
3.	Ghosh, New Lamps for Old  
4.	Nehru, A Class in Need of Help 
5.	Torri, The Myth of a ‘Westernized middle class’ 
6.	Bayly, The Prehistory of a Middle Class  
7.	Chatterjee, The Subalternity of a Nationalist Elite 
8.	Sarkar, Domesticity and Middle Class Nationalism 
9.	Chakrabarty, Limits of a Bourgeois Model 
10.	Joshi, Republicizing Religiosity 
11.	Chalapathy, ‘In those days there was no coffee’ 
12.	Prasad, Middle Class Cinema
 
Recommended
Partha Chatterjee ,The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. (Princeton University Press, 1993).
Or
Cheng Li, China’s Emerging Middle Class: Beyond Economic Transformation. (Brookings Institution Press, 2010.

Week Nine 				Spring Break No Class
Assignment
Revised paper proposal due in my mailbox in the HIS office, Monday, March 19th

Week Ten  March 22		Individual Meetings to Discuss Paper Proposal

Week Eleven March 29		Middle Class in the Middle East
Required Readings
Seyyed Nasr, Forces of Fortune : The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class. 

Recommended
Akram Khater, Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender, and the Middle Class in Lebanon, 1870-1920 (University of California Press, 2001).		
Or
Keith David Watenpaugh, Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class (Princeton University Press, 2006).

Week Twelve April 5		Consumerism and the Middle Class
Required Readings
Jackson Lears, Fables Of Abundance.

Recommended
Victoria de Grazia, Irresistible Empire: America’s Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006).
Or
Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. (Vintage, 2003).

Week Thirteen April 12		Worlding the Middle Class
Required Readings
Ricardo A. López, and Barbara Weinstein. eds. The Making of the Middle Class.

Weeks Fourteen April 19th 		Class Presentations

Week Fifteen April 26th 		No Class work on your paper

Week Sixteen  May 3rd		FINAL PAPER DUE.

Northern Arizona University
Policy Statements
 Safe Environment Policy
NAU’s Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy seeks to prohibit discrimination and promote the safety of all individuals within the university. The goal of this policy is to prevent the occurrence of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status and to prevent sexual harassment, sexual assault or retaliation by anyone at this university.
You may obtain a copy of this policy from the college dean’s office or from the NAU’s Affirmative Action website http://www4.nau.edu/diversity/swale.htm. If you have concerns about this policy, it is important that you contact the departmental chair, dean’s office, the Office of Student Life (928-523-5181), or NAU’s Office of Affirmative Action (928-523-3312). 
Students with Disabilities
If you have a documented disability, you can arrange for accommodations by contacting the office of Disability Support Services (DSS) at 928-523-8773 (voice), 928-523-6906 (TTY). In order for your individual needs to be met, you are required to provide DSS with disability related documentation and are encouraged to provide it at least eight weeks prior to the time you wish to receive accommodations. You must register with DSS each semester you are enrolled at NAU and wish to use accommodations.
Faculty are not authorized to provide a student with disability related accommodations without prior approval from DSS. Students who have registered with DSS are encouraged to notify their instructors a minimum of two weeks in advance to ensure accommodations. Otherwise, the provision of accommodations may be delayed.
Concerns or questions regarding disability related accommodations can be brought to the attention of DSS or the Affirmative Action Office. For more information, visit the DSS website at http://www2.nau.edu/dss/.
Academic Integrity
The university takes an extremely serious view of violations of academic integrity. As members of the academic community, NAU’s administration, faculty, staff and students are dedicated to promoting an atmosphere of honesty and are committed to maintaining the academic integrity essential to the education process. Inherent in this commitment is the belief that academic dishonesty in all forms violates the basic principles of integrity and impedes learning. Students are therefore responsible for conducting themselves in an academically honest manner.
Individual students and faculty members are responsible for identifying instances of academic dishonesty. Faculty members then recommend penalties to the department chair or college dean in keeping with the severity of the violation. The complete policy on academic integrity is in Appendix G of NAU’s Student Handbook http://www4.nau.edu/stulife/handbookdishonesty.htm.
Academic Contact Hour Policy
The Arizona Board of Regents Academic Contact Hour Policy (ABOR Handbook, 2-206, Academic Credit) states: “an hour of work is the equivalent of 50 minutes of class time…at least 15 contact hours of recitation, lecture, discussion, testing or evaluation, seminar, or colloquium as well as a minimum of 30 hours of student homework is required for each unit of credit.”
The reasonable interpretation of this policy is that for every credit hour, a student should expect, on average, to do a minimum of two additional hours of work per week; e.g., preparation, homework, studying.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
    Membership in the academic community places a special obligation on all members to preserve an atmosphere conducive to a safe and positive learning environment.  Part of that obligation implies the responsibility of each member of the NAU community to maintain an environment in which the behavior of any individual is not disruptive. 
    It is the responsibility of each student to behave in a manner that does not interrupt or disrupt the delivery of education by faculty members or receipt of education by students, within or outside the classroom.  The determination of whether such interruption or disruption has occurred has to be made by the faculty member at the time the behavior occurs.  It becomes the responsibility of the individual faculty member to maintain and enforce the standards of behavior acceptable to preserving an atmosphere for teaching and learning in accordance with University regulations and the course syllabus. 
    At a minimum, students will be warned if their behavior is evaluated by the faculty member as disruptive.  Serious disruptions, as determined by the faculty member, may result in immediate removal of the student from the instructional environment.  Significant and/or continued violations may result in an administrative withdrawal from the class.  Additional responses by the faculty member to disruptive behavior may include a range of actions from discussing the disruptive behavior with the student to referral to the appropriate academic unit and/or the Office of Student Life for administrative review, with a view to implement corrective action up to and including suspension or expulsion.