You are here

POL S 487 A: Political Science Honors Seminar

Meeting Time: 
MW 2:30pm - 4:20pm
Location: 
SAV 169
SLN: 
19207
Instructor:
Michael W. McCann

Syllabus Description:

 

Political Science 487A: Honors Seminar, Spring 2022

THE POLITICS OF RIGHTS

Professor Michael McCann                                                               Class time: M & W 2:30-4:20

Office: Gowen 47                                                                                            Classroom: SAV 169

Email: mwmccann@uw.edu                           Office Hours: T 12-2 (zoom), W 1:30-2:20 (office)

 

Course Description: What are legal rights? Where do we find rights in social practice? How do rights develop and change over time? How and how much do rights shape social relationships and political action? In what ways are rights contingent upon other legal and extra-legal factors for their power? If rights are contingent, indeterminate, and contestable, are they just an illusory “myth,” and is rights advocacy a “hollow hope,” as some scholars suggest? If rights are consequential, how do we go about investigating the ways and circumstances in which they might matter? Rights practices are often identified with freedom and empowerment, but they also are conventionally grounded in disciplinary norms that construct subjects and draw boundaries of exclusion; how can rights contribute to both equality and hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, freedom and subjugation?

This seminar focuses on these questions about rights, and especially about “rights to legal equality,” as one angle into larger questions about the roles of legal ideologies, legal institutions, and legal actors in struggles for social change. The seminar looks at what happens when individuals and groups attempt to claim equal rights and use law or courts to obtain benefits or protection from government. Some parts of the course will focus on court-initiated action, while other parts focus on political action “from below” (social movements and individuals), but overall the course will examine the interaction between state or transnational legal actors and social groups. Discussion will focus on both empirical studies of such efforts and the broader theoretical frameworks scholars have used to understand the power and possibilities of law. Law will be analyzed in terms of particular institutions (especially but not exclusively courts), professional elites (lawyers, judges, legal academics), cultural norms (rights discourses, legal consciousness), and international institutional frameworks for protecting human rights.

The first two thirds of course readings will focus on the United States, and thus focus on classic “liberal” conceptions of equal rights, although both our theoretical and empirical studies will challenge and complicate assumptions about the United States and whether its rights traditions are so liberal.  The last third of the course will look beyond the United States to developing rights traditions around the world, where we will continue to puzzle about what is and is not inherently liberal about rights constructions. The comparative inquiry is significant for assessing the prospects and implications of increasing respect for egalitarian human rights around the globe.

Required Course Readings:  The syllabus lists two books and many articles or essays; all of the latter are available on the course Canvas website as .pdf files (*).   As we often will focus attention on specific small chunks of text, you are required to bring the assigned reading to each class meeting, for the articles either as hard copies or electronic versions (computer, iPad, etc.).  Some of these materials are quite theoretically and conceptually challenging, so they may require slow and repeated reading.  A handful of readings may be changed (an article dropped, another added) as the course proceeds and the instructor finds that some themes gain greater traction in discussions, but changes will be few and far in advance of the affected class. The instructor may introduce video clips from documentaries, dramatic films, or the web at various times.

Course Format: This is a seminar course that meets twice a week, mostly or all in-person. You are expected to complete the readings assigned on the syllabus before each class session.  Most of the class time will be spent discussing the readings, although the professor will often start class by summarizing previous discussions and connecting new readings to them; occasional short lectures are likely.  Many materials we read will be provocative and controversial, and frank discussion of differing understandings and reactions will be encouraged.  As such, it is essential that everyone displays respect for each other as people and for their differences in viewpoints.

Masks are optional but strongly recommended during the class!

Student Evaluation and Grading: More details will be forthcoming about course assignments and grading, but the general scheme is as follows:

            Routine Participation and Formal Presentation          30%

            Final (late quarter) Essay Exam                                     35%    

            Research Essay Paper (10-12 pp)                                 35% 

Class Participation: Student participation will count 30% of the grade, and grading will include three components:

     a) Quality of routine contributions to class discussion (10%).   Class discussion will address in part questions that I propose each week in the "Discussion" section on Canvas.

      b) One 350 word reflection paper on the assigned reading for a class (submitted, by pasted text or attached file, on "reply" on the “discussions” link on Canvas), plus a 6-8 minute presentation of that paper in class.  You will be asked to sign up for particular days early in the quarter.  The presentation should identify and critically engage with key arguments or themes in the readings. The goal of these papers is not to describe the reading materials, but to stimulate critical discussion; as such, papers should pose questions about readings, identify contradictions or paradoxes within and among the texts, identify blind spots or dubious propositions by authors, and the like. You should feel free to be provocative and bold, but not reckless and dismissive.  The papers are due by 8pm the evening before the class in which readings are assigned (i.e., 8pm Sunday for Monday class).   (10%).  

    c) 10 Minute Presentation of Research Paper (last weeks of class) (10%)

 Essay Exam.  A comprehensive essay exam will be taken in class (keyboarded file preferred) on 5/18.  The essay assignment will be previewed two weeks befor the due date and distributed one week before the due date.  Details to follow. (35% of class grade.)

 Research Paper. An 10-12 pp. research paper should discuss a select form of rights practices, claiming, or struggles, either in the US of beyond.  Details to follow.  (35% of grade).

 

 Discussion Forum 

All students are encouraged to raise questions, comments and reactions to reading material on the Canvas discussion forum. This is meant to be a space where everyone can interact about course content, discuss current events as they unfold, and receive clarification about the material. This forum is a particularly important medium for students that must miss a class or for those that are more comfortable conveying their thoughts in writing.

 

Communications:  Students should feel free to contact the professor by email at any time, although substantive questions and discussions of materials, ideas, and themes should be pursued in face-to-face contact, either during office hours or other specified times.  Announcements will be regularly made by email so please check regularly.

 

Your Physical & Mental Health 

Given the extraordinary circumstances that we are all experiencing, I will be flexible about deadlines throughout the quarter. Please let me know ASAP if you are experiencing difficulties resulting from personal or family illness, financial hardship or family circumstances. I will make every attempt to make appropriate accommodations that will help you succeed in this class, while allowing you to prioritize your physical, mental and emotional well-being.  For your benefit and the well being of others, I strongly recommend wearing a mask while on campus. 

 

Disabilities Accommodations

Students needing academic accommodations for a disability should contact Disability Resources for Students, 448 Schmitz Hall, V: (206) 543-8924, TTY: (206) 543-8925, uwdss@u.washington.edu. If you have a letter from DRS confirming the need for academic accommodations, please present this letter to me so that we can discuss and arrange accommodations.

 

Religious Accommodations

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodation...). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form

(https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).

 

Academic Integrity 

Plagiarism will not be tolerated under any circumstances. All students should also make sure they are familiar with the Student Conduct Code. 

 

 

READING/ACTIVITY SCHEDULE (articles with * are posted in pdf format on the course website)

What Are Rights, Who Gets Them, and How Do They Work?

3/28     Introduction to class and discussion of thesis project (no reading)

                The Measure of a Man, Star Trek: Next Generation.  Video will be shown in class.

               Optional: Carter, Lief, and Michael McCann, “Measuring  Humanity:  Rights in 

                        the 24th Century.”   In Peter Robson and Jessica Silbey, Law and  Justice on the Small

                          Screen.   Oxford, UK:   Hart Publishing.  pp. 15-32.*

           

3/30     McCann, M., and S. Scheingold, “Rights: Legal Aspects”**

             Wendy Brown, “Rights and Identity in Late Modernity: Revisiting the “Jewish

                        Question,” in Sarat and Kearns, Identities, Rights, and Politics.  1995.  Pp. 85-130.*

             McCann, Michael, “The Unbearable Lightness of Rights,” LSA Presidential Speech. Law & Society Review

                         Vol 48 No 2 2014. pp. 245-273.*

             Optional:  Mary Ann Glendon,  Rights Talk. The Social Contract, 1991. 

 

4/4      Mills, Charles, “Racial Liberalism.” 2008. Proceedings of the Modern Language   

                       Association 1380-1397.*

            Harris, Cheryl, “Whiteness as Property.”  106 Harvard L Rev 1710 (1993)*

            Williams, Patricia Chs. 8, "The Pain of Word Bondage," from The Alchemy of Race and

                        Rights*

 

4/6       Kaaryn Gustafson. 1999. “Criminalization of Poverty.” Journal of Criminal Law and

                       Criminology.  Vol. 99 (3), Spring.  643-716*

             Gilliom, John.  “Resisting Surveillance,” Social Text 2005.*

 

4/11     De Genova, Nicholas. "The Legal Production of Mexican/Migrant 'Illegality.'"

              Rasmussen, Claire. “Are Animal Rights Dead Meat?” 41 Sw. L. Rev. 253 2011-2012*

              Wright, Lawrence, “The Elephant in the Courtroom.” The New Yorker 1/22/27*

 

The Politics of Rights and Group Mobilization Struggles

 

4/13   Scheingold, Stuart. The Politics of Rights, chs. 6, 9-10.*

           Stryker, Robin. 2007. “Half Empty, Half Full or Neither: Law, Inequality, and Social

                      Change in Capitalist Democracies.” ARLSS Vol. 3 pp, 69-97.*

           

4/18    Polletta, Francesca. 2000. “The Structural Context of Novel Rights Claims: Rights     

                      Innovation in the Southern Civil Rights Movement, 1961-1966.”  Law and

                        Society Review 34: 367-406.*

             Bell, Derrick. “Brown vs. Board of Education and the Interest Convergence

                       Dilemma”, 93 Harv. L. Rev. 518 (1980)*

             Goluboff, Risa.“’Let Economic Equality Take Care of Itself:’The NAACP, Labor

                       Litigation, and the Making of Civil Rights in the 1940s.” 52 UCLA Law Rev. 1393*

             

4/20     McCann, Michael.  Rights at Work: Legal Mobilization and the Politics of Pay Equity Reform.

                            Chicago: 1994. pp. 1-41, 48-68, 88-93, 135-50.

                        (No class meeting, due to McCann’s conflicting schedule)

 

4/25     McCann, Rights at Work, pp. 177-93, 227-232, 232-269: skim, 269-310 (Discuss the

                           entire book)

                       Recommended, not Required: Stryker, Robin.  “Half Full, Half Empty, or either.”

                     Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 2007. 3:69–97*

 

4/27     Erin, Adam M. “Intersectional Coalitions: The Paradoxes of Rights-Based Movement

                      Building in LGBTQ and Immigrant Communities.”  Law & Society Review, Volume 51, Number 1

                      (2017)*

             McCann, Michael.  “No Separate Peace: On Intersectional Coalition Solidarity and Rights

                     Radicalism.” Forthcoming chapter in Boutcher, Shdaimah, and Yarbrough, Research

                       Handbook on Law, Movements, and Social Change.*           

  

The Limitations of Individual Rights Mobilization amidst Unequal Social Power

 

5/2     Zemans, Frances Kahn “Legal Mobilization:The Neglected Role of Law in the  Political

                      System,” APSR 77: 690-703 (1983)*

              Merry, Sally. “Rights Talk and the Experience of Law: Implementing Women’s Human

                       Rights to Protection from Violence” Human Rights Qrtrly 25 (2003) 243-281.*

           

5/4       Bumiller, Kristin. 1987. “Victims in the Shadow of the Law: A Critique of the Model of Legal

                        Protection.”  Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.” Vol 12, no. 3. Pp. 421-39.*

             Levitsky, Sandra R. “’What Rights?” The Construction of Political Claims to American Health

                        Care Entitlements.”  2008. Law & Society Review Vol. 42, No.3, pp. 551-90.*

              Engel, David M.  “Chairs, Stairs, and Automobiles: The Cultural Construction of Injuries and the

                        Failed Promise of Law.” In Injury and Injustice: The Cultural Politics of Harm and Redress 117 (Anne

                        Bloom, David M. Engel & Michael McCann, eds., Cambridge University Press 2018)*

  

Comparative and Global Perspectives: National Rights and Human Rights   

 

5/9       Heyer, Katharina C.  “The ADA on the Road: Disability Rights in Germany” Law & Social 

                            Inquiry, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2002, pp. 723-762.*

              Marx Ferree, Myra, “Resonance and Radicalism: Feminist Framing in the Abortion

                         Debates of the United States and Germany.” AJS Vol. 109, No. 2, 2003. 304-44.*

             

5/11       Merry, Sally E. Human Rights, Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local

                           Justice, pp. 1-102

 

5/13       One page prospectus for seminar paper due.

                 Seminar essay assignment will be posted.

 

5/16     Merry, Sally E., Human Rights and Gender Violence, pp. 103-230.

           

5/18     Chua, Lynette. “Pragmatic Resistance, Law, and Social Movements in Authoritarian States: The Case

                          of Gay Collective Action in Singapore,” Law  & Society Review,  Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 713-48. (2012)*

             Rodriguez Garavito, Cesar. “Beyond the Courtroom: The Impact of Judicial Activism on Socioeconomic

                           Rights in Latin America.” 2011 Texas Law Review Vol. 80: 1669-1698.*

 

5/20      Seminar Exam essays due. 11:59pm 

             

5/23     Professor's Discussion of Research Paper Construction (Questions and discussion encouraged)

              

5/25      Student presentations of Research

 

5/30     NO CLASS: Memorial Day

 

6/1        Student presentations of Research

 

 

 

COURSE RULES, PROTOCOLS, PROCEDURES, RESOURCES:

 

Grade Appeal Procedure:

If you think that I have made an error in grading your exam or paper, you can request reconsideration only by the following procedure:

  1. Carefully read and think about the comments on your exam or paper.
  2. Wait at least 24 hours, and then reread and reconsider the comments.
  3. If you still believe that an error has been made, submit a memo to me that explains clearly why you believe an error has been made. The deadline for such an appeal is one week after the work is returned to you.
  4. I will decide whether to reread your work and reconsider the grade.

 

Email Communication:

I and will endeavor to respond promptly to your emails, but actual response times will vary.  You should remember that email messages are official public records at the University of Washington, so please communicate in appropriately civil, professional terms. Also, many questions about ideas and materials in the course or personal matters are far more effectively addressed in face-to-face exchanges, so use discretion in choosing the format for communication.  

 

Classroom Manners:

A successful learning experience depends on proper displays of respect for everyone in the class. As such, all cellular phones, PDAs, iPods, headphones, pagers, and other electronic devices should be turned off and put away during lectures and quiz sections. Laptop computers are permitted only for note-taking; inappropriate computer use can distract from the learning environment.  Please try to arrive in class on time, avoid chatting to proximate others during class, and refrain from reading materials not assigned in the class. Disruptive behavior will adversely affect your participation grade.  I strongly recommend that you wear a mask and try to retain physical distancing as best you can in our small classroom

 

Academic Conduct: 

We will enforce strictly the U.W. Student Conduct code, including the policy on plagiarism. See next section, and: http://www.washington.edu/students/handbook/conduct.html.  Moreover, much of the material presented in class raises controversial issues – about civil rights, discrimination, violence, punishment, etc. – and we will insist that civil, respectful discourse is the norm at all times. One goal of the course is to encourage sophisticated, mature analytical reflection and deliberation about violent, offensive, or unjust social realities that challenge our legal system. In that regard, this is a course in the arts of engaged citizenship. 

 

Disability Accommodations:

If you would like to request accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz Hall, 543-8924 (V/TDD); uwdss@u.washington.edu;  If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you require accommodations, please present the letter to me as soon as possible so that I can make necessary arrangements.

 

 

 

 

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

COURSES, GRADING, ACADEMIC CONDUCT

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the use of other people’s ideas or words without proper citation. Misuse of source material— by failing to use quotation marks, failing to cite paraphrased sentences, or failing to acknowledge ideas that are not your own—constitutes plagiarism. If you are uncertain about the meaning of plagiarism and how to avoid it, consult with your TA, instructor, the Political Science Writing Center http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/plag.html. Plagiarism is theft. Academic misconduct can result in dismissal from the university. For details and information about the university’s formal process for reviewing cases of plagiarism (Political Science faculty and TAs follow this process with few exceptions), see http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm.

 

Incompletes

To obtain an incomplete, students must have completed eight weeks of the course with satisfactory performance and furnish proof that the course cannot finish on time due to illness or extreme circumstances beyond the student’s control. More information on the university’s policy and procedures for incompletes is online at http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html.

 

Grade Appeal Procedure

Professor McCann’s procedures for addressing grade complaints are enumerated in the previous section. Once those procedures have been exhausted and the student continues to believe that grading is in error, the student may submit a  written appeal to the Associate Chair of the Political Science Department within ten calendar days of discussion with the instructor. The appeal must demonstrate why the instructor’s grading was in error and should be supported by copies of all assignments that are in dispute. If the Associate Chair finds in favor of the student and the instructor declines to revise the grade, the department will follow the university’s procedure outlined at http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html. Students seeking more information about this process may contact the Political Science Department’s Director of Academic Services in SMI 215 or at 543-9456.

 

Concerns about a course, an instructor, or a teaching assistant

If you have concerns about a Political Science course, your instructor, or your TA, please talk to your instructor or TA about your concerns as soon as possible. If you prefer, you may also contact the Political Science  Department’s Director of Academic Services in Smith 215 or at 543-9456 or the department chair in Gowen 106 or 543-2783.

 

 

UNIVERSITY POLICIES, RULES, RESOURCES

 

Equal Opportunity

The University of Washington reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran in accordance with University of Washington policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations. 1/6/2009

* Adapted from material prepared by the UW Department of History and used with permission

 

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is the use of one’s authority or power, either explicitly or implicitly, to coerce another into unwanted sexual relations or to punish another for his or her refusal, or as the creation by a member of the University community of an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment through verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

 

If you believe that you are being harassed, seek help—the earlier the better. You may speak with your instructor, your teaching assistant, the Department’s Director of Academic Services (Smith 215) or the Chair of the Department (Gowen 106). In addition, you should be aware that the University has designated special staff to help you. They are: the Ombudsman for Sexual Harassment (for complaints involving faculty members and teaching assistants) 543-0283; University Complaint Investigation and Resolution Office (all other complaints), 616-2028.

 

Classroom Safety and Evacuation

The health and safety of students is of utmost importance.

  • Persons with physical disabilities should alert the instructor at the start of the quarter so that appropriate safety and evacuation accommodations may be made.
  • Floor plans that show evacuation routes are posted on building walls throughout campus. Evacuation routes in most University buildings lead out of the building. In some high-rise buildings the evacuation routes may lead horizontally into another wing or down a couple of floors below the source of the alarm.
  • When the fire alarm sounds, students should calmly collect their belongings, exit the room, go to the nearest building exit, then proceed to the evacuation assembly point.
  • When there is a power outage, students should stay seated to see if the outage is temporary and to give eyes time to adjust to the lower light level. If the outage appears to be long term, everyone should calmly collect their materials and carefully exit the building.
  • If there is an earthquake, students should drop to the floor, cover their heads, and hold that position. After the shaking stops, everyone should calmly evacuate the building to the evacuation assembly point. Be careful of falling brick or other building materials knocked loose by the earthquake.
  • To report an emergency:

Fire Activate Fire Alarm Pull Station and if possible Call 9-1-1

Police: Call 9-1-1

Hazardous Material Spill: Call 9-1-1

Facility or Utility Failure: Call 5-1411 or 9-1-1 in an emergency

Assembly after Evacuation

Your instructor will direct you to the building’s designated assembly point.

 

Catalog Description: 
Intensive and advanced studies in various aspects of political science. Open only to participants in the Political Science Honors program. Offered: Sp.
GE Requirements: 
Social Sciences (SSc)
Other Requirements Met: 
Honors Course
Credits: 
5.0
Status: 
Active
Last updated: 
February 10, 2022 - 10:00pm
Share