help choosing a major

[Sniper_CR]

i would like some help on choosing a college major that will help me attain a career in which i can help the socialist cause.

the two majors i have in consideration are electrical/computer engineering and political science.

i really want to learn electrical/computer engineering. i know that if a revolution where to occur the skills in computers and hacking can be of great help in bringing to a halt the operations of major corporations and governements. also the inventions can help in bettering the life of the proletariat . but this reminds me of what peter kropotkin said in his "Appeal to the young" . He stated that in a capitalist society the inventions of the engineers will not make the jobs of the worker simpler , they will still face the same conditions and the inventions will only make his "slavery heavier, [and] his labor more degrading..".

this makes me want to help in bring about a socialist society ,

thats where political science comes in , i dont really know what its about other than that it is the study of government.
Is it only based on american government? is it possible to study marxist and other leftist political theories?
what kind of jobs can you get with a major in this field?


does anyone here have a major or career related to these fields of study and if so can you explain to me how they have helped in allowing you to contribute to the socialist cause

please help :ph34r:

[ComradeRed]

Well, programming is pretty interesting (though initially very frustrating -- programming takes time to perfect!); hacking is (from my ignorance of the thing) simply an extension of programming (but I really don't know!).

It's fun, hard, and low paying. Why not?

Political science is rather reactionary, as is most (if not all?) social science in the academic atmosphere. I'd go with something that helps people at least.

[Sniper_CR]

So do you think i should become and electrical engineer and just study a massive amount of leftist literature in my spare time?

[Sniper_CR]

btw like you cal blog

[Guerrilla22]

I have a BA in political science, its pretty fun, and very intersting, however you need a MA to do anything with it in the US, so don't go that route unless you are willing to stay in school for a while, where u going by the way?

[Sniper_CR]

ive applied to several colleges , i have to wait for the accpetances then
i ll choose , i ve applied to the university of houston , texas tech , texas a&m and im about to apply to universty of texas

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

I want to know, what exactly can you do with a MA in political science (what kind of jobs)? What do political scientists do?

[ComradeRed]

You can't get a job that pays you to study leftist literature (otherwise, I'd have it!). Electrical engineering is pretty fun, but you should do what you like to do.

[Severian]

Originally posted by The wise old [email protected] 9 2006, 07:51 PM
I want to know, what exactly can you do with a MA in political science (what kind of jobs)? What do political scientists do?
As far as a paying career, you can
1)work in academia. But of course not every political science graduate can become a political science professor.
2)work in bourgeois politics
3)go on to law school
4)work for a corporation which operates internationally and needs to navigate different political systems

I think that most of the political and social stuff taught in universities is not worth much. Even (maybe especially), when it's supposedly leftist.

So really the best thing you can study there is the science and technology, which is valid.

I'd recommend also taking advantage of the opportunity to study some languages. If you live in the U.S., Spanish first of all; if you live in Europe, I don't know, Arabic? Whatever language helps you communicate with as many workers as possible in the country where you live, work, and practice politics.

[Guerrilla22]

Originally posted by The wise old [email protected] 10 2006, 01:51 AM
I want to know, what exactly can you do with a MA in political science (what kind of jobs)? What do political scientists do?
You can of course work for the government, which I won't do, but you can also work with various NGOS (non govermnetal organizations) that take up various international causes, I wouldn't mind working for a group that lobbies for indigeneous people's rights internationally if I ever get around going back to school.

[Jim]

I would do the technical stuff if i was you. Although of course, it is completely up to you. It is a more practical thing. Most of the politics you would learn is stuff basically from the indepth studies available in journals and academic text books and studies. Just to echo what others have said: you will find alot of it "reactionary".

I'm doing a joint degree in england, in history and politics. Career options are limited. In most cases, if people do actually get a job that needs a degree, it is usually a case of using the "transferable skills" learnt in your degree. For history, and a lesser extent politics, the degree basically shows that you can argue using complex ideas, balancing evidence, and review lots of information whilst being selective as to what is useful.
Those with history degrees don't tend to get jobs because they know all about the Holy Roman Empire and Charles the V, and why Henry VIII went to war with James IV of scotland.


I would go for the electicial stuff. You can teach yourself the politics. And i expect that you won't have the same political views by the time you finish uni as you had when you applied.

[Sniper_CR]

thx for the info , i think i am going to choose engineering ,

i like what Guerrilla22 said about working for ngos , but i can also do that in my free time after i get a simple job in the engineering field

i would like to go to law school and become a lawyer like lenin and castro , but i don't know if i should


Severian , i already know spanish , so ill probably try to learn russian ( just for fun ) or arabic , i really dont know

thx for the help! :ph34r:

[Zero]

I was aiming for Computer Science origionaly (before I came upon The Motorcycle Diarys, and revolutionaryleft.com) but after that I started to appriciate Philosophy alongside Computer Science. Once I pick a four year university I will be double majoring in Computer Science (programming mostly) and Philosophy.

Spread the word, ignite the fire in every heart. You don't need to hack to break them. Though I will be right beside you comrade if you choose to. (www.hackthissite.org for all the kiddies who have taken intrest, and want to start learning for the revolution.)

[coda]

How about journalism? We need to wipe out the right wing propaganda bloc in the world.

[Xvall]

Just remember that it's just some words on a piece of paper. There is nothing that any given major can learn that the other major's cant. I would say to go with whatever you think would assure you have a stable (and preferably enjoyable) job in the future. There's no need to limit yourself, though. You can learn anything you want to.

[Severian]

I forgot another career option:

5) would you like fries with that?

[red_che]

i would like some help on choosing a college major that will help me attain a career in which i can help the socialist cause.

Bourgeois acadamic doesn't offer a career/college major that will help the socialist cause. Whatever you would take in as a major in college doesn't really matter. The real socialist education is in the proletarian movement, and that could be found only in socialist organizations.

So, if you really want to have a career in the socialist movement, just join one. :)

[Commie Rat]

something practical, doctor - tradesman - mechanic ect ect ect

[ColinH]

I'm in the midst of a Political Science degree, and I was very unsatisfied with the sheer lack of depth in the introduction class, especially when the professor claimed that Marx was behind the idea of a "vanguard party" in the midst of a lecture.

However, I took a Classical Political Thought class that was extremely interesting. While studying Marxist theory we got to look at a recent article by a worker from a call center that spurred a discussion regarding Marx's predictions about capitalism and how they are coming true today. I have a hard copy of it, if I can find it on the net I'll post it somewhere or just retype it.

[chaval]

In political science you can definately learn much about leftist political theory and not only theory but also history/its application etc. you could also consider a major in economy. i took/taking quite a handful of courses of communist/socialist economics though mostly im intereted in transition from communism to democracy.

also, i dont even know if this field exists in the US but what about IDS- international development studies. basically you learn about methods to improve standards of living, health life and all those good things in underdeveloped countries as well as the reason for their underdevelopment. most of the literature you have to read for this field tends to me socialist or even marxist. also puts great emphasis on bringing the needs of the poeple down to a local level i.e. fuck the ridiculously expensive/complex and labour-saving capital of the developed countries and use something more practical, cheaper and less "capitalistic". this field also tends to draw from a lot of other fields such as anthropology, political science, economics.

the software idea doesn't sound like a very good idea. i mean, what if your revolution never comes? wouldn't that be ironic. also your skills would be ones attained for the purpose of destruction (of captalism) i think its more important to focus on the CONSTRUCTION of a socialist system or else you'll get what most people got in communist countries after the current system was destroyed: nothing. plus if you have the skills to help the downtrodden and there is no socialist movement you can still make a difference. sounds like a win win situation to me.

what about a double major?