10/10 class, absolutely would take it again. Take this class if you have the option to.
Professor Branstetter is an incredible lecturer; he makes the most boring and convoluted concepts seem incredibly simple and fun. He is a great teacher and will 100% make every student think twice about their current perceptions and daily actions. This is a class that is not only extremely easy to do well in, but intriguing. Both the professor and my TA (Shae Himmelberger) make the learning environment very welcoming with little embarrassment if you get a question wrong. I cannot tell you how much I loved this class. I will gladly take any class with either Professor Branstetter or TA Shae Himmelberger, no matter if it's the most boring subject matter.
Grade distribution: 30% sections (10 sections, each worth 10 points) and 70% weekly essays (10 essays, each worth 7 points)
Sections are mandatory and you cannot be more than five minutes late. However, I believe if you have a valid excuse (funeral, illness, etc.) you can make them up, they are very understanding.
Essays are single-spaced, 1-2 pages, about a weekly question. You get a partner for them, one that is in your section. However, my partner and I just took turns writing the essays. A lot of the reading is long and boring, but Shae and Professor makes it extremely easy to understand and write an essay on. The essay is NOT SUMMARIZING THE READING! The question will be like 'Are you normal?' or 'Does your moral conduct matter for politics?' and you need to quote the readings to support your argument. The essays are graded on a 7 point scale, with anything less than a 7 receiving feedback on how to improve it. You can then resubmit it as many times as you want to get a 100%.
Grading scale:
A+ 97-100

Oh Branstetter the icon you are... If you see his name just take the course!

branstetter is the hardest professor to get, and that just says everything about him. political theory is hard to understand, but branstetter breaks it down in such a way that it feels like you are having such a fun conversation with him. he is so passionate about the readings, and the way he teaches makes you want to be so passionate about them as well. his class was only 2 papers, and they are fun prompts, too. i will say they feel fairly long (4-5 pages SINGLE SPACED), and because it is theory, it can be hard to get the ball rolling. once you do though, you just gotta yap over and over (hence it feeling a bit long). THE BEST PART: you get 100% on both as long as you show you really put thought in the papers. because the prompts are fun, you actually enjoy writing them a bit, so it is nearly impossible to NOT get an A. the point of this, as branstetter puts it, is that grades weigh down on us and so we often worry about writing what the grader wants to hear and not what we really think. so by removing the looming threat of a grade, we get our true thoughts out unrestrictred. it's the best philosophy ever for a prof to have. luv him, wish his classes would stop filling up so fast so i could have a chance to take him every quarter fr.

Professor Branstetter is someone I'd love to sit and talk to at length about political issues for hours or days. He's fascinating and intelligent.

However, he's not a very good teacher.

While I appreciate a philosophy that grades wouldn't matter to the Frankfurt School of thinking - the world we live in isn't that one, so his options in the class of earning an "A+" or "F" (basically everyone gets a participation trophy that shows up), is insulting and inspires laziness and lack of thoughtfulness.

It was a particularly tough quarter, and in this course I knew that I would earn an A+ for minimal effort, so I put my efforts elsewhere that required more focus. I can honestly say that everything I learned in this course came off the syllabus.

I LOVED THIS CLASS!! HE IS AN AMAZING PROFESSOR!!! I WOULD DEF TAKE THIS COURSE AGAIN IF I COULD