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Society Classes NYC

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Explore the vibrant history and culture of New York City with a variety of society classes, including courses on the evolution of street art, the impact of immigration on the city, and the history of jazz in Harlem. Discover the untold stories of NYC and gain a deeper understanding of its rich social fabric.

1 class in-person in NYC has spots left, and 2 classes live online are available.

Racial Capitalism: Race, Class, and the Black Radical Tradition

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Delve into the profound intersections of race, class, and capitalism in a thought-provoking exploration of contemporary radical movements. Join us for an in-depth examination of Cedric Robinson’s concept of racial capitalism and its implications for understanding modernity, nationalism, and Black Radicalism. Uncover the complexities of these interwoven systems through close readings and discussions led by expert scholars at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.

(29) All levels 21 and older
$335

4 sessions

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What is a Social Movement?

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom

Explore the intricate relationship between class, community, and politics in social movements. Uncover the complexities of modern capitalism and the impact of cultural realms on political life. Join us in an in-depth analysis of historical case studies to understand the strategic vacuum between economic and cultural accounts.

(29) All levels 21 and older
$335

4 sessions

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Theorizing Repression: From Psychoanalysis to Counterinsurgency Theory

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom

Uncover the entwined history of psychoanalysis and state power in a captivating exploration of repression tactics. Join us at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research as we delve into the intersections of Freudian theory with military strategy, urban policing, and guerrilla warfare. Through an array of diverse readings, we'll analyze how psychoanalytic concepts have been utilized to pathologize dissent and justify both state and revolutionary violence, raising critical questions about power, resistance, and the psyche.

(29) All levels 21 and older
$335

4 sessions

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Great Decisions 2020

92nd Street Y @ 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY

Join the longest-running informal foreign affairs discussion program in the country. Increase your awareness and understanding of timely, thought-provoking foreign policy issues involving the US. Each week another thematic/geographic issue is placed in its historical context. Topics are: Climate Change and the Global Order India and Pakistan Red Sea Security Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking U.S. Relations with the Northern Triangle China's...

(1061) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules
$250

8 sessions

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Human Rights After Hitler

92nd Street Y @ 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY

From the 1940s until a recent lobbying effort by author Dan Plesch, the United Nations War Crimes Commission’s files were kept out of public view. What has now been uncovered are thousands of forgotten US and Allied war crimes prosecutions against Hitler and other Axis war criminals based on a popular movement for justice that stretched from Poland to the Pacific. Come hear Plesch speak to his extraordinary findings and the foundation that has...

(1061) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Socrates

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 178 Stanton St, New York, NY

The trial, conviction, and execution of Socrates on the vote of the Athenian democracy is a founding myth in the history of Western philosophy. And yet very little is known with certainty about the historical Socrates, who himself wrote nothing, but whose way of life, as accounted by Plato (and others) has become a powerful and enduring paradigm of philosophical practice. To Athenian eyes and ears, Socrates was doubtless strange:  notoriously...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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What is Liberalism?

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 247 West 37th St, New York, NY

While for many in the United States liberalism is understood as a loose category of political identification – whose definition has shifted significantly and not always transparently over the past century – fewer people are familiar with liberal political philosophy despite its overwhelming influence on political discourse both left and right. Our public language and discussions are often littered with the ideas, ideals, phrases, and thoughts...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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What is Fascism? Economy, Society, and State

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 30 Irving Pl, New York, NY

The word “fascism” is used frequently to describe intensely militaristic, racist, xenophobic, or repressive politics. Almost as often, fascism is used as a shorthand for a form of “totalitarian” government—where “jack-booted thugs” from “the state” control social, economic, and political life. With the rise of a dizzying array of far-right figures worldwide—politicians like Narendra Modi, Viktor Orban, Recep Teyyip Erdogan, ...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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2020 Vision: Predictions for the New Year

New York Open Center @ 22 E 30th St, New York, NY

Everything that has happened in 2019 has set us up for the shift in consciousness that is underway. In the upcoming days, we will see the manifestation of that transformation, as many visionaries have predicted. This will be a landmark year, a time of personal, national, and planetary upheavals.  Some of the finest astrologers and prophets from around the country will give their predictions for the coming year in terms of politics, science,...

(299) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

How to Live Forever: Fireside Chat w/ Marc Freedman

Be Social Change @ 424 W 54th St, New York, NY

Join us for an engaging conversation about the potential of all generations to create social change with Encore.org President and CEO, Marc Freedman. His new book, How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations is a deeply personal call to find fulfillment and happiness in our longer lives by connecting with the next generation and forging a legacy of love that lives beyond us. Marc will be interviewed by CEO of...

(245) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Fiction and Inner Life: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Can words describe what Virginia Woolf calls “the daily drama of the body”? Can literature verbalize our interiority: physical and spiritual change, the home, the mind, and the relationships between them? In her celebrated novel Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf’s eponymous protagonist is plagued with perpetual anxiety: Clarissa Dalloway is always on the verge of sickness, waking up on a sunny morning with a feeling of “terror,” “overwhelming incapacity,”...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$335

4 sessions

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It's Complicated: How the U.S. Shaped the Middle East

Caveat @ 21-A Clinton St, New York, NY

Middle Eastern politics can make your head spin. Fear not, we’ve made a comedy show to dive in to the most complicated stories of the region, and break down the West’s role in it all. Caveat’s senior Iranian comedian Mehdi Barakchian and writer Kylie Holloway will answer your biggest questions about the Middle East- why the U.S. is still hanging out with Saudi Arabia, why Iran is so mad at America, and what the hell is an Aleppo, and is it...

(25) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules

Dance, Dance, Revolution: A Political Intro to Dance

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 106 Calyer St, Brooklyn, NY

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution”—so, supposedly, said Emma Goldman. What is the connection between dancing and politics? Can dance, whether choreographed ballet, break dancing, or a spontaneous party, make a statement about society—or even, somehow, challenge it?  In this course, we’ll explore the nature of dance and its possibilities as a mode of thinking, socially, politically, and aesthetically, about...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Silent Film: Cinema, Society, and the Avant-Garde

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Silent film is one of modernism’s quintessential mediums. In an essay on Kafka, Walter Benjamin notes that “the invention of the film and the phonograph came in an age of maximum alienation of men from one another.” Many early film critics and connoisseurs, enthusiastic about film’s technological possibilities and developments, viewed the passing of silent film and the ascendency of “talkies” as a potential regression for the medium,...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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The Subway: Urbanism, Infrastructure, and Social Life

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 314 7th St, Brooklyn, NY

When the New York City subway opened in 1904, police had to call in reserves to tame the million-strong crowds clamoring to enter the tunnels. Within weeks, hurtling beneath the earth at speeds never before realized in a dense urban environment had become an utterly ordinary experience. For 120 years, the NYC subway, running 24 hours a day and ranking among the world’s largest, has maintained this blend of the quotidian and the extraordinary. When...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Thomas Bernhard: Infamy, Brutality, and Literature

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Explore the provocative and unrelenting works of Thomas Bernhard, the notorious Austrian literary figure, in this course. Delve into his scathing critiques of postwar Austrian society. From the emptiness of the culture industry to the dark shadows of Catholicism, Bernhard's monologuing narrators dissect and confront their cultural malaise. Analyze his techniques and obsessions, and contemplate the role of literature in exposing societal follies and crimes.

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$335

4 sessions

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In the News

92nd Street Y

In the News with Jeff Greenfield and Special Guests Lesley Stahl, Jake Tapper, and David Axelrod This program is taking place remotely. If you have signed up, you will receive an email with details of how to access the program. If we are able to offer an in-person version of this class in the coming months, we will contact you and make both options available to you. Want a weekly perspective on Election 2020 with one of America’s best political...

(1061) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, Behemoth, and the State

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

Thomas Hobbes’ famous declaration in Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical or Civil that such a life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” is often understood as a cynical bon mot, shorthand to a timeless, transcendental truth about human animals and our limitations. But Hobbes’ analysis and understanding of the world and its political structures was both philosophically materialist...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules

Introduction to Intersectionality

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

Intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, forcefully challenges the idea that gender is the primary factor organizing women’s lives. Drawing on black feminist and critical legal theory, Crenshaw maintains that the experience of being a woman must be understood through the interrelation of race and gender. In other words, she proposes racial justice as central to feminist theory and politics. In the 30-plus years since the publication...

(29) Beginner 21 and older
No upcoming schedules

Pornography: Aesthetics, Politics, and Pleasure

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

Pornography is one of humanity’s oldest, and most enduring artifacts. Variously celebrated and demonized, it has decorated sumptuous palaces and been furtively sold under pain of arrest.  In the modern United States, it is kept studiously out of sight, and yet is simultaneously omnipresent and accessible in its most explicit forms with a simple click of the mouse. What is pornography? What does it do? Why do we treat it so inconsistently?...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
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