I honestly don't know shit about political theory & I rly want to get into it. help me out here, /lit/
me also
Go through a history textbook, mark all political ideologies which arose, their time, their reason(s), their most important texts, and their oppositions/ critiquing viewpoints.
>>7381302
that seems like a lot of work!!!!!!!!
>>7381276
these are good for beginners:
exit, voice, and loyalty
on liberty
mencius
>>7381306
If you want to grasp something as encompassing and complex as political theory, then it will be quite a bit of work. However, I wouldn't say it's a ton or too much work. Skim through a history textbook, you can skip a lot of it as most of the words in the book aren't directly applicable to your studies, then read a couple important short/medium texts on each political theory in our history and the theories which opposed them. Then just remember their general times/years. Really not that much work.
>>7381329
I would redirect to /his/, as most of the users are interested and/or studying history/poli sci
>>7381343
I would also study the semantics and process(es) of formation of political theory.
>>7381276
I'm not an authority but this was what I was assigned when I had a course about Political Theory (in that order):
Plato's Republic
Aristotle's Politics
Maquiavelli - Discourses and The Prince
Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
John Locke - 2nd Teatry of Goverment
Rousseau - Social Contract
Kant - What is Enlightment?
Marx - Communist Manifiesto
While this is good if you don't know anything about politics, I think that this leaves a lot out of the discussion (like anarchism), so I would add:
Max Stirner - The Ego and It's Own
Marx - Das Kapital
Proudhon - What Is Property?
J.S. Mill - On Liberty
John Rawls - A Theory of Justice
Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Some of what the Frankfurt School theorists where doing Habermas, Adorno, Horkheimer, and company (but I can't point one book since I haven't read anything from them but a few quotes and extracts)
Foucault - Discipline and Punish
There are many others that I should add, but I belive that this list should get you through most of what people discuss about politics.
Now, I have the feeling that you might not read most, if any, of these books and that is fine. Just try to read the standford wiki page of all these people and read/watch some summaries. You are trying to 'get' what they argue for, and not the whole argumentation behind it. If you think you like or feel represented by some ideas, try to read the whole book and start from there, but I would strongly recommend you to read Plato and Aristotle since most (if not all) discussion about Politics in the western world revolves around people arguing for or against these two in one way or another.
start with the greeks
(The Republic, the Statesman, the Laws, Nicomachean Ethics, the Politics)
Then read Machiavelli, the founder of modern political science
(the Prince, Discourses on Livy)
>>7381302
>>7381343
Do this, except not a history book. Get a textbook on the history of one these subjects: Political Philosophy (the bases for all Political Theory), Sociology (study of society), Political Science (study of politics and the state), or Political Economy (study of the economics of society and politics). Depends on where you want to start, but I recommend Political Philosophy, for it is the basis for all Political Theory.
One big thing about the Social Sciences, especially with Political Theory, is that a lot of it is based around Philosophy. Anyone that wants to really get into it needs to have a thorough background on philosophy.
Gregory Sadler recorded his Philosophy 101 lectures online: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24E8CD3214E5C748
YaleCourses also has a lecture series on Political Philosophy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8D95DEA9B7DFE825
three sources and three component parts of marxism
principles of communism
communist manifesto
ludwig feuerbach and the end of classical german philosophy
the anti-duhring
wage-labour and capital
dance of the dialectic
the german ideology
state and revolution
18 brumaire of louis bonaparte
civil war in france
essays on marx's theory of value
introduction to the three volumes of marx's capital
capital (1, 2, 3)
gundrisse
>>7381276
Just read a history of political philosophy. Gives a great overview.
these. also Marxism is irrelevant today just as mercantilism has been irrelevant since the dawn of capitalism
>>7381447
Why end with gundrisse instead of read it before capital? Also has anyone read Negri's writings on the Gundrisse?
>>7381447
If we're just thinking Marxism:
The Formulation of Historical Materialism-
The German Ideology
The 18th Brumaire of Napolean Bonaparte
Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
History and Class Consciousness by Lukacs
Dialectic of Enlightenment by Horkheimer and Adorno
The Arcades Project + Dialectics of Seeing by Benjamin + Susan Buck-Morris
For Marx + Reading Capital by Althusser
History and Structure by Alfred Schmidt
A Thousand Platueas by Deleuze and Guattari
A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History by DeLanda
The Theory of Value or the Critique of Political Economy:
Capital Vol. 1 + David Harvey's Companion to Vol. 1
Essays on Marx's Theory of Value by Rubin
Capital Vol. 2 + David Harvey's Companion
Capital Vol. 3
An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Capital by Heinrich
The Grundrisse + In Marx's Laboratory
Towards an Unknown Marx by Dussel
Social Practice, or the Unity of History and the Critique of Value:
The Civil War in France + Critique of the Gotha Program
The State and Revolution
The Mass Strike + Reform or Revolution
Gramsci's Prison Notebooks
Bordiga + Pannekoek
The Eclipse and Reemergence of the Communist Movement by Dauve
Autonomia: Post Political Politics
Reading Capital Political by Cleaver
Start with Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand is political genius that turns philosophy into entertaining fiction to get her message across.
Too much weight towards Marx in here.
>>7381895
You forgot to mention it's a satire. OP will probably get confused and annoyed if he reads it straight.
>>7381745
You're missing the greatest one.
>>7381374
Apart from Proudhon, Bakunin's God and the State and Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread, would be important in furthering your (OP) knowledge on Anarchist theory
>>7381745
Fucking tripfags are worthless
Leo Strauss' History of Political Philosophy is good. Although judging by your posts, I don't particularly think you are going to be committed.
>>7381276
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y8_RRaZW5X3xwztjZ4p0XeRplqebYwpmuNNpaN_TkgM/edit?pli=1#
check below. There is a lot of info concerning political theory in this guide. I'd also advice Weber.
>This thread
>Neglecting political satire
>Neglecting works which portray corruption
Start with book 1 of Allan Bloom's translation of the Republic, then move onto something else. Book 1 has the essence of the book and will get you hooked on theory. The rest of the book is not for new students. You wont get it yet, most students will never get it. Well actually, theory really isn't about reading a specific set of "political" books. You can get political theory from Shakespeare and Aristophanes, which I highly recommend you do. The essence of theory is a way of looking at the world, more specifically texts, and asking political questions/ implications.
>>7381831
it's hilarious to me that people will slog through tens of thousands of pages of just one side of the story instead of throwing in a bunch of secondary literature on debates and reading the most important works of their adversaries at least...
>>7382073
the worst part is that with what /lit/ has become, I'm not even 100% sure you are trolling...
>>7381831
If we're thinking Marxism, we should emphasize primary literature over secondary literature, focusing on secondary literature that complement the primary. Too many college students start with Critical Theory "continental" posturing instead of getting a good foundation on the subject.
>>7381828
Because I haven't read it yet. I unlike >>7381831 like to recommend books that I have a background on.
>>7382123
No, the problem with that list is that it doesn't get at the fundamentals and is just plain incoherent.
The titles don't make sense (what the fuck does "Unity of History and the Critique of Value" mean, and why does it have nothing to do with Marxist Value-theory? Most of what's in "The Formulation of Historical Materialism" isn't even about the Materialist Conception of History.)
How the list is organized is incoherent (Why is the Civil War in France separate from 18 Brumaire and why is it jumbled with Critique of the Gotha Program? Why is Heinrich and Cleaver after Vol 3? Why does he meme in Harvey? What the fuck does "Bordiga + Pannekoek" mean?)
Most of it isn't even necessary for understanding Marxism (All the Critical Theory gobbledygook like Deleuze and Benjamin)
Please see Bonefeld and Postone to rid yourself of the belief that Marx is not critical theory.
And if you can't see how the material analysis that Benjamin is doing in the Arcades Project expands historical materialism beyond simply productive forces + relations of production causing everything (which for Marx was always only a starting point for further analysis, a demarcating line that kept the materialist conception of history from slipping into Feuerbachian excesses) or how the 70s work of Deleuze expands our conception of the various metamorphoses, topologies, temporalities, and metaphysical states of value and capital then have fun with your late Engels Marxist religion.
>>7381423
Will i understand machiavelli if im a dumb normie? Ill read it on so ill have my fast dictionary
>>7382642
It's like 30 pages. It should be okay.
>>7381276
>>7381306
>!!!!!!!!!
Why is this allowed?
>>7383027
Most of this is inaccurate. Interesting, but blatantly skewed in favor of the point of the director.
>>7383027
> muh post scarcity, nvm how
> muh science is objective when used politically
> muh engineer kings and statist plans
The fallout between fresco and joseph is pure gold.
>>7383040
what do you mean?
