Students will be exploring the cultural context surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump’s election in an upcoming sociology course in the 2019 winter term: the “Sociology of Trumpism.”
The course focuses on the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidency, and according to the course description, students will not be studying “‘why Clinton lost’, but will be asking questions about— and making visible—the underlying systems and structures that made Trump’s election possible.”
Justin Paulson, the designer of the course and an associate professor in the sociology department, said in an email that the course was created in response to “the wake-up call of Trump’s election and the need to think through its implications.”
“The course was a way to ask questions: not only what is ‘Trumpism,’ but why is ‘Trumpism,’” Paulson said.
“It’s not about Trump as an individual . . . nor about the election per se,” he added. “It’s about what he represents, and the sociological currents that are then enabled and suppressed by his presidency, specifically right-wing populism.”
The course was taught at Carleton last year as well, but Paulson said this year’s course offers more variety in the content.
“The biggest difference for running the course this year is that there is much more peer-reviewed material available that tries to make sense of ‘Trumpism,’” he said. “So, there are more possible course readings to choose from.”
Paulson also said students of any political inclination are welcome to join the course.
According to him, the course “does not require nor presume any partisan affiliation, and if one were to explore the persistent currents of white nationalism in American society . . . it becomes clear that the Democratic Party is as implicated in this history as the Republicans.”
When asked about expected enrolment for the course, Paulson said he expects the enrolment to be on the high end of third-year social science electives, as it was last year.
Aaron Doyle, chair of the sociology and anthropology department, said student interest for the course is high.
“There is really a lot of student interest, not only in Trump but in trying to figure out what’s going on with the recent rise of right-wing populism all over the world,” he said in an email.
“We have had rave reviews of the course from students from when it was offered first time around,” Doyle added. “Both Justin [Paulson] and Eloy who is teaching the next term connect really well with students and have super lively classes, so that also helps make the course great.”
According to Doyle, there are currently close to 50 students enrolled next term but registration is still open for more.
Saivani Sanassy, a second-year human rights student at Carleton, said she is interested in the course’s content, but will not be enrolling in the class.
“I don’t think I need to take a course about Trump specifically to understand how white supremacy is displayed in the world. Through my courses, I talk about it enough,” she said. “I don’t know if I want to spend a whole semester talking about him.”
Sanassy also added that she hopes the course teaches students to be more aware of course themes, like racism, in their everyday lives.
“It’s not just a president who can say these things and commit these acts,” she said. “There’s a bigger scale and a smaller scale, and [racism] does happen even with your friends and the people that you see.”
“I think if they teach that, that’s really important,” Sanassy added.
Despite worries over whether the course gives Trump too much legitimacy, Paulson said that the true lessons of the course are in the skills developed.
“I hope [the students] take away skills for thinking critically about why and how right-wing populism is on the rise in the world,” Paulson said.
“I also hope they have learned to think about politics as social historians, not just as passive readers of the news—and that they continue to ask questions,” he added.
Photo by Tim Austen
