This course is designed to explore the conceptual foundations of modern political and social theory, focusing on the modern imagination of the "division of labor." Our epochal self-understanding of modernity is predicated on the recognition that ever-increasing complexity defines our political, social, and economic life. Whether describing this development as a progressive differentiation or a degenerative fragmentation, most thinkers agree that it has to do with the political, social, and economic division of labor. What is the moral significance of these changes? What are its psychological effects on modern man? Is the division of labor inescapable? Can its negative effects be ameliorated, and in what way? How is the economic division of labor reflected in the way in which power and authority are legitimated? How do modern societies maintain social integration? What is the appropriate role of politics, as opposed to mere administration, under modern circumstances? In addressing these broad questions, we will examine the arguments of classic thinkers, including Rousseau, Smith, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, paying close attention to such concepts as power, authority, legitimacy, duty, rights, public, private, liberty, equality, democracy, citizenship, bureaucracy, market, civil society, and revolution. Discussion format. Requirements: active seminar participation, presentations, and four short essays (5-6 pages each). Alternatively, one long research paper (20-25 pages), on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor, can be considered under exceptional circumstances. Prerequisite: Political Science 203 or equivalent; or permission of the instructor. Political Theory Subfield

Hour: KIM