Spring 2027

Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II

This course examines the development of Western political, economic, and social thought from the Reformation to the present, focusing on the origins, logic, and evolution of liberalism, Marxism, and organic conservatism.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Mac Carley

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Richard Avramenko, Daniel Kapust

The course involved significant reading, including texts from the 13th century, with exams testing specific vocabulary. While the workload was described as not unrealistically difficult, it required consistent effort to succeed.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and explain critical developments in the history of western social, economic, and political thought from the Renaissance through the 19th or 20th centuries.

  • Interpret and evaluate ideas and arguments from western social, economic, and political thought from the Renaissance through the 19th or 20th centuries.

  • Recognize and evaluate how Renaissance and modern, economic, and political thought interacted with its historical context.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ILS 206

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DANIEL KAPUST is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ETHAN ALEXANDER-DAVEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOHN ZUMBRUNNEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2009. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RICHARD AVRAMENKO is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS BUNTING is recorded teaching in Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Daniel Kapust

Students described Daniel Kapust's lectures as engaging and interesting, noting that his style made dry topics exciting. The course material was considered thought-provoking and well-presented.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2020: 3.54 GPA, 78.3% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Spring 2022: 3.25 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.67 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=18 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Richard Avramenko, Daniel Kapust

The course involved significant reading, including texts from the 13th century, with exams testing specific vocabulary. While the workload was described as not unrealistically difficult, it required consistent effort to succeed.

Past student reviews · Richard Avramenko

One student found the TA's grading style heavily influenced the final grade, noting that difficulty varied depending on which TA assigned them. This variability in assessment made the experience feel inconsistent.

Topics

  • Development of Western political, economic, and social thought from the Reformation to the present
  • Origins, logic, and evolution of liberalism, Marxism, and organic conservatism

Skills

  • Identify and explain critical developments in Western social, economic, and political thought
  • Interpret and evaluate ideas and arguments from Western social, economic, and political thought
  • Recognize and evaluate how thought interacted with historical context

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2023— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2023

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ILS 206 · Spring 2027

Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:500:010481",
    "course_id": "ILS 206",
    "course_uid": "course_017a664e53519bdfefed2e63",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010481",
    "source_subject_id": "500",
    "title": "Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "21320e56ba5110c89cceb549b1ac83a58b58984822585525869ccb4b439d7d04",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}