(The following is a statement by the staff of Soc Rel 148.)

Background

Soc Rel 148 is a course that intends to discuss "social change in America." By that, we mean to investigate the obstacles to the solution of America's major political, social and economic problems.

The course grew out of another course, "Critiques of American Society," organized by a group of Harvard undergraduates under the auspices of Noam Chomsky in the spring of 1968. Students from the "Critiques" course, joined by other undergraduates, graduate students, some students from other schools and a former student, and Assistant Professor Thomas Cottle planned the essentials of Soc Rel 148 during the summer.

Intensive discussions were held as to the content of the course, how it would be run, and what the goals of the course would be. The group held meetings which were intended to be "samples" of typical section meetings; the group discussed and criticized them to determine the flows of discussion that might take place.

Through the summer, many ideas for the content and organization of the course were forwarded, and only after long discussion were any final decisions reached. A great deal of reading was done by members of the seminar to filter through and select the appropriate list of books and articles.

Concurrently, discussions were held and decisions made about who would speak before the class and in what context. We developed a philosophy of teaching which emphasized the need for intensive discussion, a description of the course as we finally conceived it.

Overall Structure

The course is divided into four sections: Race, Imperialism, Labor, and Theory. Each section will begin with two speakers followed by a series of section meetings. The speakers will raise important issues, and the sections will discover that it disagrees with certain ideas, is uncertain about others, and is in confusion about yet others. At the end of each section, the group will refer to the reading lists and select a unit of readings to clarify the dispute and motivate further discussion. The class will do the readings and then return to the seminar to re-evaluate the old discussion and push it further into new areas and problems.

This process will continue throughout each of the sections of the course. The discussions will motivate the reading which will motivate further discussions; this will end with a new set of speakers and a new topic.

The course was designed to bring students into interaction around what we feel to be the major issues confronting American society. Naturally everyone has a different conception of what these problems are, and from that flows a different conception of how they should be solved.

We want all these positions to be aired in the course. We feel the course cannot succeed unless they are. We feel it is only by open and complete dialogue among people with different positions that any real learning and understanding can result.

Course Content

Naturally, the course reflects the political and intellectual perspectives of the course organizers, many of whom are members of Students for a Democratic Society and thus can safely be described as "radicals." Throughout the planning of the course this was a major consideration and we never doubted that the course would reflect our politics. Nor have we tried to alter this. There are two principal reasons for this:

* It is our perception that radical ideas are not fully or articulately represented in the current Harvard curriculum. We feel this is wrong, and in part this course is meant to alter (or mitigate) this imbalance. We believe that it is crucial for students to understand and confront radical ideas about American society in any case, but because we consider ourselves radicals, we feel that when they do understand these ideas, they will see their validity.