Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASCC 101 or WR 120). Applying careful readings of Western social, political, and economic thinkers between 1600-1900, the course asks: How did "society" emerge as a distinctive object of political engineering, normative discourse, and social scientific inquiry? And what economic transformations helped shape theories of justice and social contract? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry II.