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. Vision and Ideology: critique und crisis of social reproduction

2. Woman as an historical and polemical concept

3. Marx and Althusser: Production and reproduction

4. Capitalism and critique:Boltanski and Chiapello

5. Pierre Bourdieu and the cultural reproduction

6. Neoliberalism and feminism critique

7. Jacques Rancière e la crisi della critica

8. Male domination and its reproduction 

9. Male dominance and its reproduction

10. Christine Delphy and materialist feminism

11. Capitalism and domestic labour

12. The social reproduction and its critique

13. The sexualised reproduction of society

14. For the critique of social reproduction

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Visions and Ideologies

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.

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. 

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.

4. Pierre Bourdieu and the cultural reproduction

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

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.

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.

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.

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

9. Materialist Feminism

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

Christine Delphy, Il nemico principale. 1. Economia politica del patriarcato, Milano, VandA, 2022.

10. Feminist Critique and Housework

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 >

Gisela Bock, Barbara Duden, Lavoro d'amore - Amore come lavoro. La nascita del lavoro domestico nel capitalismo, Verona, ombre corte, 2024.

11. Feminist Critique of the Production and Reproduction of Society

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

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 3500 words, using the texts indicated in one of the other thematic points indicatd in the bibliography.

 All papers must be handed in by the exam registration closing date indicated in AlmaEsami.

The examination does not include an oral part. The grade for the paper will be announced prior to registration and students can inform the lecturer by e-mail if they do not accept it. In this case the lecturer will indicate which points of the paper were unsatisfactory and it will be possible to revise the text.

A file with useful information for drafting the paper will be available at virtuale.unibo.it.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

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

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Ricciardi