99078 - Vision, Politics, Action (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course investigates the link between vision, politics, and action, reconstructing in each case the historical significance of certain ideological-cultural constellations. Each ideological-cultural constellation determines a vision, i.e., a specific way of describing present reality and imagining its possible future configuration. On the basis of their visions, individuals assess, evaluate and affirm their knowledge of social relations and their collective representations. Through their visions, individuals establish the forms and figures of politics that enable them to act. At the end of the course the student: - has acquired a historical knowledge of the political significance of ideological-cultural constellations and the visions they determine - has acquired a historical knowledge of the political effects of ideological discourse - has acquired a historical knowledge of the political legitimizing function of culture - is able to assess its importance for the reproduction of society - is able to analyze political and social action in relation to the visions that legitimize it.

Course contents

The course reconstructs and investigates the ideological-cultural constellation established by the critiques of social reproduction that have emerged since the 1970s. From this point onwards, in fact, analyses of the reproduction of society become a privileged place for investigating the reconfiguration of relations of power and domination. For this very reason, any discourse on reproduction always refers back to the critique of society itself. After a reconstruction of the history of the concepts of critique and ideology, the course will be divided into three thematic blocks: a) the critique of the reproduction of capitalist society; b) the critique of the reproduction of cultural apparatuses and symbolic forms; c) the feminist critique of social reproduction.

The course will be structured as follows:

1. Critique and crisis: on the history of two political concepts

2. The 1970s: production and reproduction

3. Ideology and its critique

4. Reproduction of cultural capital

5. Domination and forms of reproduction

6. The return of critical theory and the crisis of criticism

7. Sociology of critique or critical theory

8. Alienation and reproduction

9. Male dominance and its reproduction

10. Neoliberalism and critique

11. Social criticism and artist criticism

12. The feminist critique of reproduction

13. Reproduction as the production of male dominance

14. The sexualised reproduction of society

15. For the critique of social reproduction

Readings/Bibliography

1. Visions and Ideologies

P. Schiera, L'ideologia come forma storica del "politico" in età moderna, in Id., Profili di storia costituzionale. 1. Dottrina politica e istituzioni, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2011, pp. 105-135

M. Ricciardi, L’eterna attualità dell’ideologia tra individuo, storia e società, in Storia d’Europa e del Mediterraneo, XIV: Culture, ideologie, religioni, a cura di G. Corni, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2017, pp. 717-747.

M. Ricciardi, Dominio e uguaglianza. Sulla critica della riproduzione sociale, in Critica e politica, a cura di L. Basso e S. Chignola, Firenze, Firenze University Press, 2023, pp. 1–15: https://media.fupress.com/files/pdf/53/13125/36758.

D.J. Haraway, Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective, in Id., Simians, Cyborgs, and Women The Reinvention of Nature, New York, Routledge, 1991, pp. 183-201.

Eleonora Cappuccilli - Roberta Ferrari, Il discorso femminista. Storia e critica del canone politico moderno, in «Scienza & Politica», 54, 2016, pp. 5-20: https://scienzaepolitica.unibo.it/article/view/6220/5984

Paola Rudan, Donna. Storia e critica di un concetto polemico, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020, pp. 7-22.

2. Ideology and its Critique

K. Marx, L'ideologia tedesca, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 2018 (solo il primo capitolo)

K. Marx, Per la critica dell'economia politica, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1991 (solo la prefazione).

K. Marx, Il capitale, Torino, UTET ; Novara, De Agostini libri, 2013 (solo il primo capitolo)

L. Althusser, Lo Stato e i suoi apparati, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1997.

Eleonora Cappuccilli – Roberta Ferrari, Il fermento femminile. Marx e la critica del patriarcato, in Global Marx. Storia e critica del movimento sociale nel mercato mondiale, Milano, Meltemi, 2020, pp. 95-114.

3. Capitalism and Critique

L. Boltanski - E. Chiapello, Il nuovo spirito del capitalismo, Milano, Mimesis, 2014.

M. Ricciardi, L’ideologia come scienza politica del sociale, in «Scienza & Politica. Per una Storia Delle Dottrine», XXVII (52), 2015, pp. 165-195: disponibile all'indirizzo: https://scienzaepolitica.unibo.it/article/view/5282/5020.

4. Pierre Bourdieu and the cultural reproduction

P. Bourdieu, Homo academicus, Bari, Dedalo, 2013

P. Bourdieu, La riproduzione: per una teoria dei sistemi di insegnamento, Rimini, Guaraldi, 2006

5. Neoliberalism and Neoconservatorism

M. Cento, L'ideologia atlantica. La delegittimazione politica dalla guerra fredda culturale al neoconservatorismo, Firenze, Le Monnier università; Milano, Mondadori education, 2023.

N. Fraser, Fortune del femminismo : dal capitalismo regolato dallo Stato alla crisi neoliberista, Verona Ombre corte, 2014

6. Rancière on the edge of criticism

J. Rancière, Il maestro ignorante, Milano - Udine, Mimesis, 2008.

J. Rancière, Le disavventure della critica, in Id. Lo spettatore emancipato, Roma, DeriveApprodi, 2018.

J. Rancière, Ai bordi del politico, Napoli, Cronopio, 2011

7. Critique of Male Domination

P. Bourdieu, Il dominio maschile, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2014.

Christine Delphy, Per una teoria generale dello sfruttamento: forme contemporanee di estorsione del lavoro, Verona, Ombre Corte, 2020.

P. Rudan, Omologazione, differenza, rivolta. Carla Lonzi e l’imprevisto dell’ordine patriarcale, in Strategie dell’ordine: categorie, fratture, soggetti, a cura di R. Baritono e M. Ricciardi, in Quaderni di Scienza & Politica, n. 8, 2020, pp. 261-281, disponibile all'indirizzo: http://amsacta.unibo.it/6332/1/Quad 8 ORDINE DEF-3.pdf

8. Feminism and global Critique

Roberta Ferrari, Donne, migrazioni, confini, in S. Mezzadra – M. Ricciardi (eds), Movimenti indisciplinati. Migrazioni, migranti e discipline scientifiche, Verona, ombre corte, 2013, pp. 29-49.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Sotto gli occhi dell’Occidente, in Id., Femminismo senza frontiere. Teoria, differenze, conflitti, Verona, ombre corte, 2012.

Paola Rudan, Gayatri Spivak e il femminismo come critica globale, in Marx nei Margini, Dal marxismo nero al femminismo postcoloniale, a cura di Miguel Mellino e Andrea Ruben Pomella, Roma, Alegre, 2020, pp. 115-133.

Nancy Fraser, Contradictions of Capital and Care, in «New Left Review», 110, 2016, pp. 99-117.

Enrica Rigo, La straniera. Migrazioni, asilo, sfruttamento in una prospettiva di genere, Roma, Carrocci, 2022, pp. 15-42.

9. Feminist Critique of the Social

Mariarosa Dalla Costa, Donne e sovversione sociale: un metodo per il futuro, Verona, Ombre Corte, 2021.

Lucia Chisté, Alisa Del Re, Edvige Forti, Oltre il lavoro domestico: il lavoro delle donne tra produzione e riproduzione, Verona, Ombre Corte, 2020.

Raffaella Baritono, «Dare conto dell’incandescenza». Uno sguardo transatlantico (e oltre) ai femminismi del lungo ’68, in «Scienza & Politica. Per una storia delle dottrine, 30, n. 59, dic. 2018, pp. 17-40. Disponibile all'indirizzo: <https://scienzaepolitica.unibo.it/article/view/8900/8832 >

10. Feminist Critique of the Production and Reproduction of Society

Paola Rudan, Donna. Storia e critica di un concetto polemico, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020, pp. 73-174.

Brunella Casalini, Care e riproduzione sociale. Il rimosso della politica e dell'economia, disponibile all'url: https://archiviomarini.sp.unipi.it/676/ e in virtuale.unibo.it.

Susan Ferguson, Women and Work. Feminism, Labour, and Social Reproduction, London, Pluto Press, 2020, pp. 85-139.

Tithi Bhattacharya, Introduction: Mapping Social Reproduction Theory e How Not to Skip Class: Social Reproduction of Labor and the Global Working Class, entrambi in Tithi Bhattacharya (ed), Social Reproduction Theory. Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression, London, Pluto Press, 2017, rispettivamente alle pp. 1-20 e 68-93

Cinzia Arruzza, Genere e capitale: la critica marxiana
dell’economia politica e il femminismo, in «Iride», Vol. XXVIII, No. 74, 2015, pp. 79–92.

Teaching methods

Lectures with discussion of the most relevant concepts.

Assessment methods

1) Attending students are required to write a paper of at least 2500 words, using the materials and notes from the lectures and the texts indicated in one of the thematic points (excluding point 1) of the bibliography

2) Non-attending students are required to write a paper of at least 3000 words, using the texts indicated in point 1 of the bibliography and the texts indicated in one of the other thematic points.

All papers must be delivered in at least one week before the institutional examination date.

 If the student demonstrates:

• An organic vision of the topics studied together with their critical use, a good mastery of expression and specific language, the assessment will be excellent (30-30L).
• A mechanical knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesise and analyse articulated in correct but not always appropriate language, the grade will be fair (28-29).
• A preparation on a limited number of topics and independent analysis skills only on purely executive matters, but expressed in correct language, the grade will be good (25-27)
• Some formative deficiencies and/or sometimes inappropriate language with a generic and not in-depth knowledge of the examination material, the assessment will be more than sufficient (21-24).
• Formative deficiencies and/or inappropriate language - albeit in the context of minimal knowledge of examination material - the assessment will be sufficient (18-20).
• Formative deficiencies, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographical material offered during the course, the assessment will be negative.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint. If possible, essays that are more difficult to find will be made available in virtuale.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Ricciardi