2. Robinson - Preface
What does Marx think is the role of the
proletariat in history?
What is Robinson saying about Marx's scientific
logic - what does it leave out?
What does the Black Radical Tradition
contribute?
What does univeralism mean?
3. Racial Capitalism
Racialism - "the legitimation and corroboration
of social organization as natural by reference to
the 'racial' components of its elements" (page
2).
So what is racial capitalism according to
Robinson?
5. Nationalism
What did we discuss regarding "nationalism" in
relation to the French Revolution?
What is Robinson adding to our understanding?
And what does this have to do with the
relationships between the proletariat, the
bourgeoisie, and socialist revolution?
(pages 2-4)
6. Epistemological Limits of Marxism
"Marxism, the dominant form that the critique of
capitalism has assumed in Western thought,
incorporated theoretical and ideological
weaknesses that stemmed from the same
social forces that provided the bases of
capitalist formation" (page 10).
7. European Formation & Bourgeoisie
What is he trying to show us?
What does it have to do with theories of
evolution??
(page 19)
9. Absolutist State & War
"The Absolutist State was a cause and effect of
war. Its economy was a war economy, its
foreign trade was combative, its bureacracy
administered the preparations and prosecutions
of war."
What does this mean? And who were the
armies of the Absolutist State?
(pages 22-23)
10. The Nation and the State
"We begin to perceive that the nation is not a
unit of analysis for the social history of Europe.
The state is a bureaucratic structure, and the
nation for which it administers is more a
convenient construct than the historical, racial,
cultural, and linguistic entity that the term
'nation' signifies" (page 24).
11. Herrenvolk
What does this term mean?
And what does it have to do with Robinson's
argument that the tendency of European
civilization, through capitalism, has been to
differentiate, and exaggerate differences?
(pages 26-27)
13. Origins of Sociology
1880-1910
First consolidation of sociology as a field of
study
What does Connell find in her survey of L’
année
sociologique? (pages 6-7)
14. Central Concern of Early Sociology
Connell argues that, rather than
industrialization, the primary concern of early
sociology was to understand the differences
between the civilization of the metropole and
"primitive cultures."
Sociology emerges from the urban and cultural
centers of imperialism - the metropoles.
15. Progress Narratives
"Time functioned in sociological thought mainly
as a sign of global difference" (page 8).
"The point is that racial hierarchy on a world
scale was a perception built into the concept of
'progress,' and was a central part of what
sociology was thought to be about" (page 11).
What do these statements mean?
How do they relate to Robinson's histories of
the European bourgeoisies?
17. Imperial Gaze
What does this mean?
Abstract and universal (page 12)
"Sociology displaced imperial power over the
colonised into an abstract space of
difference" (16).
How does this connect to Robinson's critique of
Marx?
18. Post World War I
What is the crisis of sociology at this time?
And what happens for the US versus Europe?
(pages 18-21)
20. What Happens in US Sociology?
Turns to look at internal difference
Forms the canon of sociology, and writes a new
origin story about sociology that centralizes
industrialization and erases imperialism
