Universität Wien
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070144 SE Research Seminar - History of Transformations (2025S)

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 7 - Geschichte
Continuous assessment of course work

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 17.03. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 24.03. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 31.03. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 07.04. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 28.04. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 05.05. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 12.05. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 19.05. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 26.05. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 02.06. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 16.06. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 23.06. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07
  • Monday 30.06. 14:30 - 16:00 Hörsaal des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2R-EG-07

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Master Research Seminar
History of Transformations

Transformations can be defined as accelerated, synchronous political, economic and social changes occurring after historical caesura like 1989. One the one hand, the research seminar is built on the paradigms of post-89 transitology, the creation of liberal democracies and market economies. One the other hand it is based on the critical approach pursued by the historical sociologist Karl Polanyi. His opus magnum „The Great Transformation“ serves as a point of departure to understand the recent crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of right wing populists and nationalists. Participants of the seminar can also focus on earlier periods of transformation such as after 1945 and after 1918.
The students are asked to develop ideas and write brief research proposals already before the start of the semester to present their ideas in the first session. Knowledge of East European or East Asian languages would be advantageous. However, taking up the term “cotransformation” (Ther 2016 and 2023) you can also study cases and effects of transformations in western countries such as the US, Germany or Italy. You may write your research paper in English and a number of other European languages, but you will need passive knowledge of German. The research seminar is tied with the Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET, for details see recet.univie.ac.at) and its research fields 1) economic thinking and reform politics, 2) Transformation from below, 3) Labour Migration, and its annual History&Social Science Festival on Transfomations, which will take place on June 3-5 (only in the afternoons and evenings, starting around 3 pm)

For more details about the seminar requirements, place, time and literature see the German version.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance and active participation in our discussions
Critical reading of secondary literature and compilation in brief essays (which can also be submitted in English, Polish, Czech, Italian or French if you have limited writings skills in German)
Research paper (ca. 25 pages)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Regular attendance and active participation in our discussions 25%
Critical reading of secondary literature and compilation in brief essays (which can also be submitted in English, Polish, Czech, Italian or French if you have limited writings skills in German) 25%
Research paper (ca. 25 pages) 50%

Examination topics

see above

Reading list

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation. Foreword by Robert M. MacIver, Boston: Beacon Press, 1957 (alternativ die deutsche Übersetzung The Great Transformation - Politische und ökonomische Ursprünge von Gesellschaften und Wirtschaftssystemen, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1973)
Philipp Ther, How the West Lost the Peace: The Great Transformation after the End of the Cold War, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2023, vi-xxviii, 1-36.
Philipp Manow, Die Politische Ökonomie des Populismus, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2018.
Włodzimierz Borodziej, Geschichte Polens im 20. Jahrhundert, München: Beck, 2010 (S. 340-416)
Steffen Mau, Sortiermaschinen. Die Neuerfindung der Grenze im 21. Jahrhundert, München: C.H. Beck, 2021

Additional reading:
Dorothee Bohle/Béla Greskovits, Capitalist Diversity on Europe´s Periphery, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012.
Philipp Ther, Die neue Ordnung auf dem alten Kontinent. Eine Geschichte des neoliberalen Europa, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2016.
Iván T. Berend, From the Soviet Bloc to the European Union. The Economic and Social Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe since 1973, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Association in the course directory

Schwerpunkte: Zeitgeschichte, Osteuropäische Geschichte, Globalgeschichte, Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Europaforschung, Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte
MA Geschichte (2019): Osteuropäische Geschichte (PM2/PM3 - 10 ECTS)
interdisz. MA Osteuropastudien (2019): M5 (10 ECTS)
Interdisziplinäres MA Zeitgeschichte und Medien (Version 2019): M3a Praktische Forschung und Darstellung I, SE Forschungsseminar (10 ECTS).

Last modified: Th 23.01.2025 18:05