College of Social Studies
The College of Social Studies (CSS) offers a distinctive blend of teaching methods, subject matter, and educational structure. Its collegial organization combines tutorials and courses in social theory within the college with individually selected courses from other departments and programs in the University to achieve an integrated education in the social sciences. Founded in 1959, the CSS has provided an unusual educational opportunity for many Wesleyan students whose careers upon graduation have ranged from medicine to law, forestry to college teaching, international business to screenwriting.
Affiliated Faculty
Sonali Chakravarti
BA, Swarthmore College; MA, Yale University; MPHIL, Yale University; PHD, Yale University
Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor of Government
Erik Grimmer-Solem
BA, Brigham Young University; DPHIL, Oxford University; MPHIL, Cambridge University; MSC, London School of Economics and Political Science
Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor, German Studies; Professor of History; Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Professor in the College of Social Studies
Richard S. Grossman
AB, Harvard University; MA, Harvard University; MSC, London School of Economics and Political Science; PHD, Harvard University
Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor of Economics; Andrews Professor of Economics
Nina Hagel
BA, Johns Hopkins University; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PHD, University of California, Berkeley
Assistant Professor, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Assistant Professor of Government; Tutor, College of Social Studies
Kerwin Kaye
BA, University of Colorado Boulder; MA, University San Francisco; PHD, New York University
Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Chair, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Tutor, College of Social Studies; Associate Professor, American Studies
Ioana Emy Matesan
MA, Arizona State University; PHD, Syracuse University
Associate Professor of Government; Tutor, College of Social Studies; Associate Professor in Liberal Studies
Cecilia Miller
BA, LeTourneau College; DPHIL, Oxford University; MPHIL, University of St Andrews
Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor, Medieval Studies; Professor of History
J. Donald Moon
BA, University Minnesota Mpls; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PHD, University Minnesota Mpls
John E. Andrus Professor of Government, Emeritus; Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Professor in the College of Social St
Wendy Rayack
BA, Oberlin College; MA, University of Wisconsin at Madison; PHD, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Associate Professor of Economics; Tutor, College of Social Studies
Peter Rutland
BA, Oxford University; DPHIL, York University
Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Professor of Government; Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought
Gilbert L. Skillman
BA, University Kentucky Lexngt; MA, University of Michigan; PHD, University of Michigan
Co-Chair, College of Social Studies; Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor of Economics; Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science
Laura Ann Twagira
BA, Wellesley College; MA, Sarah Lawrence College; PHD, Rutgers University
Associate Professor, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Associate Professor, Science and Technology Studies; Associate Professor of History; Tutor, College of Social Studies
Sarah Wiliarty
BA, Harvard University; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PHD, University of California, Berkeley
Associate Professor, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Associate Professor of Government; Co-Chair, College of Social Studies; Tutor, College of Social Studies; Associate Professor, German Studies
Chair
Gilbert L. Skillman
BA, University Kentucky Lexngt; MA, University of Michigan; PHD, University of Michigan
Co-Chair, College of Social Studies; Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor of Economics; Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science
Sarah Wiliarty
BA, Harvard University; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PHD, University of California, Berkeley
Associate Professor, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Associate Professor of Government; Co-Chair, College of Social Studies; Tutor, College of Social Studies; Associate Professor, German Studies
Faculty
Erik Grimmer-Solem
BA, Brigham Young University; DPHIL, Oxford University; MPHIL, Cambridge University; MSC, London School of Economics and Political Science
Tutor, College of Social Studies; Professor, German Studies; Professor of History; Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Professor in the College of Social Studies
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins
BA, Concordia College Or; MA, Reed College; PHD, Columbia University
Assistant Professor, History; Assistant Professor in the College of Social Studies
Visiting Faculty
César Jeanpierre Castillo-García
Visiting Assistant Professor in the College of Social Studies
CSS102F History and the Turn to the Present (FYS)
This course attempts to make sense of contemporary politics, economics, and society through an historical examination of the present. It will discuss contemporary topics such as neoliberalism, nationalism, COVID-19, critical race theory, the forever war, the New Cold War, etc. It will also raise methodological questions on the promises and perils of using history to understand the present.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CSS
Prereq: None
CSS213 History and the Turn to the Present
This course attempts to make sense of contemporary politics, economics, and society through an historical examination of the present. It will discuss contemporary topics such as neoliberalism, nationalism, COVID-19, critical race theory, the forever war, the New Cold War, etc. It will also raise methodological questions on the promises and perils of using history to understand the present.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CSS
Prereq: None
CSS220 Sophomore Economics Tutorial: Markets, Welfare & the State
This tutorial takes a topical approach to studying economic ideas and policy. We start with writers who drew either the admiration or ire of Adam Smith. These include the scholastics, mercantilists, and physiocrats. Next, we compare the classical school with competing schools of economic thought from Marxian, utilitarian, and Austrian to neoclassical and Keynesian. Throughout the course, we read radical critiques from the political right and left, touching upon monetarist theory, supply-side economics, institutional, behavioral and evolutionist schools. We see how the policy and economic debates reflect the socio-economic struggles of their time and shed light on the controversies of our own.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
Credits: 1.50
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ECON
Prereq: None
CSS230 Sophomore Government Tutorial: State and Society in the Modern Age
This tutorial examines the rise and evolution of the modern state. While many of the readings focus on Western Europe and the United States, the course draws on cross-regional comparisons to tease out theoretical propositions, compare historical processes across different parts of the world, and consider different understandings of the body politic. We start by exploring what factors account for the rise and consolidation of the nation state in the Western context, after which we consider how the process of state-building occurred in the Middle East and North Africa and explore some of the challenges the sovereign state model faces outside the European context. We then move on to discuss the emergence of different systems of governance and some of the challenges to the state. We will consider whether there are certain paths that lead to democracy and whether there is something unique about American democracy. We will take into account the challenges posed by modernization and evaluate what factors best explain the rise of communism and fascism. We will then consider how the communist and fascist past impacted the rise of the social democratic model in Europe and compare the European and Japanese approaches to welfare provisions. We conclude by considering yet another model for organizing the political community--the religious state. We will examine when, how, and why the notion of the Islamic state emerged, reflect on the extent to which the concept of an Islamic state challenges Western notions of the nation-state and investigate how the discourse on Islam and the state has changed over time in Indonesia, the largest Muslim majority country.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
Credits: 1.50
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None
CSS240 Sophomore History Tutorial: The Emergence of Modern Europe
This tutorial sequence analyzes the formation of modern European society from the late 18th to the last quarter of the 20th century. Most attention will be placed on Britain, France, Germany and Russia as these countries were shaped by, and responded to, demographic, economic, social, political, and intellectual forces that led to revolutions, political and social reforms, new modes of production, changes in social hierarchies, and new forms of warfare. Much attention will be placed on the social and political consequences of the French Revolution and industrialization, but empire, the origins and consequences of the two world wars (including the Russian revolution and the rise and defeat of Nazism) will also come under extensive discussion, as will the creation of a more stable and prosperous postwar European order. Europe's links to Africa, Asia and the Americas will be discussed in the context of imperialism and the two world wars. In addition to developing knowledge of the most important processes that have shaped the modern world, this tutorial seeks to foster a critical awareness of the varieties of historical narrative, the skills needed to interpret historical primary sources, and the possibilities and limits of history as a tool of social investigation.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
Credits: 1.50
Gen Ed Area: SBS-HIST
Prereq: None
CSS271 Sophomore Colloquium: Modern Social Theory
This colloquium examines a number of competing conceptual frameworks in the social sciences derived from major political philosophers and social theorists, such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, and Freud.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None
CSS320 Junior Economics Tutorial
This is the CSS junior economics tutorial.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ECON
Prereq: None
CSS330 Junior Government Tutorial: Globalization and Terrorism in the Greater Middle East
This tutorial will explore how globalization, political Islam, and terrorism interacted and evolved over more than a century of Western machinations and interventions in the Greater Middle East. It generally covers the period between 1885 and 2025, beginning with British efforts to manipulate right-wing pan-Islamism and ending with American efforts to counter non-state Islamist terrorists after 9/11.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None
CSS340 Junior History Tutorial: The Anti-War/Non-Violence Tradition in History of Modern Political Thought
This course examines the history of non-violent/anti-war thought from the Enlightenment until the Vietnam War. The first part is devoted to visions of perpetual peace that emerged during the Enlightenment. It shows how such visions influenced the Abolitionist Movement in the United States, which opposed slavery and war. This is followed by a discussion of the influence of the Abolitionist Movement on the pacifism of Leo Tolstoy. The second part of this course looks at Gandhi's non-violent movement against British Imperialism. It also discusses the anti-war movement that emerged between the World Wars, drawling attention to the writings of Jane Addams, Bertrand Russell, and others. The final part of the course is devoted to the decline of the non-violent/anti-war movement on account of World War II. Thinkers discussed regarding World War II include Simone Weil, Martin Buber, and many others. The class will conclude with a discussion of Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Merton, and the Vietnam War.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-HIST
Prereq: None
CSS371 Junior Colloquium: Contemporary Political Theory
This course is a continuation of the sophomore colloquium covering several important social and political theories in the post-World War II era. The course will focus on post-World War II philosopher/theorists who have developed compelling large-scale theories about the nature of modern society: Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Theodor Adorno (and other Frankfurt School thinkers), Friedrich Hayek, Franz Fanon, and Michel Foucault. The politics of human rights and humanitarianism will also be examined, as will issues pertaining to national borders and sovereignty.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-PHIL
Prereq: None
CSS391 Senior Colloquium: Visions of World Order in the Modern Era
This course offers a survey of how social scientists, philosophers, and statesmen have understood and imagined global order from the late 18th century until the present. The course first examines interpretations of global order that emerged during the late 18th and 19th centuries: Cosmopolitanism (Immanuel Kant), Positivism (August Comte, Saint Simon), Nationalism (Giuseppe Mazzini), and Marxism. The course then turns to the first half of the 20th century by examining the international thought of W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Rosa Luxemburg, and Gandhi, while also discussing fascist and liberal internationalist views of world order that emerged after World War I. The third part of the course discusses visions of Cold War order connected to American modernization theory (W.W. Rostow), neoliberalism (Friedrich Hayek), post-colonialism (Franz Fanon), Third Worldism, Neoconservatism (Jeane Kirkpatrick), and Systems Theory. The course concludes with the Post-Cold War period and how it has been imagined by such thinkers as Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington along with a discussion of such topics as the global turn to nationalism, the Green New Deal, and the "New Cold War with China."
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None
CSS401 Individual Tutorial, Undergraduate
Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS402 Individual Tutorial, Undergraduate
Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS403 Department/Program Project or Essay
Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS404 Department/Program Project or Essay
Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS407 Senior Tutorial (downgraded thesis)
Downgraded Senior Thesis Tutorial - Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor. Only enrolled in through the Honors Coordinator.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
CSS408 Senior Tutorial (downgraded thesis)
Downgraded Senior Thesis Tutorial - Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor. Only enrolled in through the Honors Coordinator.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS409 Senior Thesis Tutorial
Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS410 Senior Thesis Tutorial
Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
CSS411 Group Tutorial, Undergraduate
Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
CSS412 Group Tutorial, Undergraduate
Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
CSS419 Student Forum
Student-run group tutorial, sponsored by a faculty member and approved by the chair of a department or program.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
CSS420 Student Forum
Student-run group tutorial, sponsored by a faculty member and approved by the chair of a department or program.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
CSS465 Education in the Field, Undergraduate
Students must consult with the department and class dean in advance of undertaking education in the field for approval of the nature of the responsibilities and method of evaluation.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
CSS467 Independent Study, Undergraduate
Credit may be earned for an independent study during a summer or authorized leave of absence provided that (1) plans have been approved in advance, and (2) all specified requirements have been satisfied.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
CSS469 Education in the Field, Undergraduate
Students must consult with the department and class dean in advance of undertaking education in the field for approval of the nature of the responsibilities and method of evaluation.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: None
Prereq: None
CSS491 Teaching Apprentice Tutorial
The teaching apprentice program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to assist in teaching a faculty member's course for academic credit.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
CSS492 Teaching Apprentice Tutorial
The teaching apprentice program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to assist in teaching a faculty member's course for academic credit.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT