EU481 Half Unit
The Future: 24-hour Society and its Discontents
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Jonathan White
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe, MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe (LSE & Columbia), MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe (LSE & Sciences Po), MSc in Political Economy of Europe in the World, MSc in Political Economy of Europe in the World (LSE and Fudan), MSc in Political Economy of Europe in the World (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics), MSc in Political Science (Global Politics), MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Public Policy and Administration. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
Priority is given to students studying on European Institute programmes, where regulations permit.
Outside option requests will be considered if space remains.
To apply for a place, ALL students should submit a statement via LSE for You outlining your specific reasons for applying, how it will benefit your academic/career goals, and how you meet any necessary pre-requisites (maximum 200 words).
The first round of offers will be made from 12-noon on Friday 26 September. The final deadline for applications is 12-noon of Friday of Autumn Term week 2.
For queries contact: ei@lse.ac.uk
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). In previous years we have been able to provide places for all students that apply but that may not continue to be the case.
Course content
Society never sleeps – or so it seems today. Whereas the night was once a time of retreat, increasingly it is absorbed into production, profit, technology and control – a world of 24/7 in which social and economic systems are always ‘on’. The course examines the political implications of this colonisation of the night. We begin historically, looking back to a pre-industrial age in which night and day were sharply contrasted. Institutions such as the church, the state and the democratic public used the night to empower themselves and vied for its control. We go on to explore how the emergence of another institution – capitalism –transformed the night’s political significance. Repurposing it for commercial ends, industrialists made the night into a time of new hardships, divides and inequalities. Later sessions of the course consider how the exploitation of the night, radicalised in an age of globalisation and technological advance, connects to the democratic dysfunctions of the present. Topics include the politics of fatigue, social surveillance, informal rule, and how the emotions of the modern night feed authoritarian politics. As will be seen, the rise of the incessant society reveals the limits of its political institutions – can democracy be remade for a world of 24/7? What kind of future beckons? The course provides students with a cross-disciplinary grasp of how the night has been appropriated by different interests and ideologies, how political values can be frustrated by the rhythms of everyday life, and how policies and institutions might be designed to address this.
Teaching
2 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
A review session will be held at the start of the Spring Term to prepare for the e-exam.
Formative assessment
Presentation
Essay (1500 words)
- One 1,500 word unassessed essay.
- A 10-12 minute class presentation.
Indicative reading
- Ekirch, A. Roger (2005), At Day’s Close: A History of Night Time (London: Norton).
- Melbin, Murray (1987), Night as Frontier: Colonizing the World After Dark (Free Press).
- Marx, Karl (1867/1990), ‘The Struggle for a Normal Working Day’, in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1 (London: Penguin).
- Habermas, Jürgen (1962) Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (Boston: MIT Press).
- Crary, Jonathan (2013), 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep (Verso).
- Aubert, Vilhelm and Harrison White (1959), ‘Sleep: A Sociological Interpretation I’, Acta Sociologica 4 (2).
- White, Jonathan (2022), ‘Circadian Justice’, Journal of Political Philosophy 30 (4).
- Fromm, Erich (1942), Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge).
- Rose, Julie (2016), Free Time (Princeton: PUP).
- Wiessner, Polly (2014), ‘Embers of society: Firelight talk among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (39).
- Arendt, Hannah (1951/8), Origins of Totalitarianism (New York, NY: Meridian).
- Mayor of London (2017), ‘24 Hour London’.
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
The summative assessment will take the form of an e-exam in the Spring Term. E-exams are assessments run under invigilated exam conditions on campus. Students will complete the assessment using software downloaded to their personal laptops.
Key facts
Department: European Institute
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 17
Average class size 2024/25: 17
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Communication