Skip to content

Course: have you even read theory?

Course Summary: 

This course explores socialism through theoretical understanding and critical analysis. Learn how theorists define key concepts and terms, how they influence and connect to each other, and how theory evolves over time.

Instruction: 

  • Reading primary and secondary texts
  • Watching documentaries and videos about key concepts and figures
  • Analytical writing and reflection

Core Units: 

  1. Introduction to socialism: overview of core principles, key terms, and contemporary debates.
  2. History of socialist theory: examine major historical texts to understand the evolution of socialist theory.
  3. Understanding capitalism: analyze the history, structure, and social effects of capitalist systems through the lens of socialist critique.
  4. Intersectional and modern socialism: explore contemporary theory and movements.

Course Learning Goals: 

  • Understand key concepts in socialist political theory
  • Trace the historical evolution of socialist movements
  • Connect theory to current events or debates

Ongoing Activities:

  • Create flashcards for important terms
  • Write reflections for each book
  • Write weekly reflections on current reading

Final Project: 

Write an essay tracing the historical evolution of socialist theory and its application in the real world. Explain how your understanding of socialism evolved throughout the course and what questions or ideas you want to explore further.

Weekly Plan: 

  • 10 hours per week
    • 8 hours studying
    • 2 hours reflecting

Unit 1: Intro to socialism

Unit 1 Summary: 

Explore the core principles of socialism and the major arguments supporting and criticizing socialist theory.

Unit 1 Learning Goals: 

  • Understand basic socialist concepts
  • Explain common criticisms of socialism and how to counter them

Unit 1 Activities: 

  • Start flashcards of important terms
  • Outline chapters in 3–5 sentences
  • Choose one concept and track how multiple authors argue it
  • Explain socialism in your own words, including its core goals and principles

Unit 1 Materials: 

  • The ABCs of Socialism – The Jacobin Editors 
  • Why Marx Was Right – Terry Eagleton 
  • Socialism… Seriously – Danny Katch 
  • Let This Radicalize You – Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba 
  • How to Read Marx – Peter Osborne
  • Marx: A Very Short Introduction – Peter Singer 

Unit 2: Intro to socialist theory

Unit 2 Summary: 

Explore the historical development of socialist thought through influential texts.

Unit 2 Learning Goals: 

  • Identify major historical figures in socialist theory
  • Understand the historical and social context of each text
  • Trace concepts across time

Unit 2 Activities: 

  • Map a chronological timeline of important events and texts
  • Research the historical and social context of each text
  • Choose one concept and connect how multiple authors argue it

Unit 2 Materials: 

  • Socialism: Utopian and Scientific – Friedrich Engels
  • The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
  • Capital – Karl Marx 
  • The Conquest of Bread – Peter Kropotkin 
  • State and Revolution – Vladimir Ilich Lenin
  • Reading the Classical Texts of Marxism – Thomas Riggins

Unit 3: Understanding capitalism

Unit 3 Summary: 

Examine how capitalist structures influence labor, class relations, and social inequality.

Unit 3 Learning Goals: 

  • Explain the historical emergence of capitalism
  • Understand socialist critiques of capitalism
  • Analyze how capitalism shapes social and political institutions

Unit 3 Activities: 

  • Explain how capitalist economies function
  • Study historical examples of capitalist development
  • Summarize major critiques of capitalism in socialist theory

Unit 3 Materials: 

  • A Brief History of Neoliberalism – David Harvey 
  • Capitalist Realism – Mark Fisher 
  • Debt: The First 5,000 Years – David Graeber
  • How to be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century – Erik Olin Wright
  • Capitalism in America – Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge 

Unit 4: Intersectional and modern socialism

Unit 4 Summary:

Examine modern developments in socialist thought and movements. Explore how socialist theory has evolved to address new social challenges.

Unit 4 Learning Goals: 

  • Understand how socialist theory intersects with other movements
  • Analyze modern socialist interpretations of race, gender, and class
  • Understand debates within modern socialist theory

Unit 4 Activities: 

  • Analyze how class interacts with other forms of social inequality
  • Research a modern movement or organization influenced by socialist ideas
  • Compare contemporary socialist thought to historical theory

Unit 4 Materials: 

  • The Wretched of the Earth – Frantz Fanon
  • Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Freire
  • Feminism is for Everybody – bell hooks 
  • Women, Race, and Class – Angela Davis
  • Envisioning Real Utopias – Erik Olin Wright
  • Black Feminist Thought – Patricia Hill Collins
  • Decolonizing the Mind – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
  • Freedom is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis
  • Hope in the Dark – Rebecca Solnit
  • Anarchism – Emma Goldman

Course note from Opal

Yes, this is a lot of books. I am a vibes reader, so I am preparing myself with options and alternatives for when I (soft) DNF books. I don't have a set timeline for my courses; they take as long as they take.