I really enjoyed this class. I didn't think I would be interested in Marxism, but it was very interesting, and since there were no tests, I feel like I could better take in the content and interpret it instead of having to memorize things. Professor Branstetter is amazing and really knows what he is talking about. The lectures were definitely long at an hour and 50 minutes (and mine was at 8am). There were only 10 assignments, each a 500 word essay responding to the question of the week (and you worked with the same partner on all of them).They are all due finals week, although it is heavily encouraged to submit earlier, as you can edit and they will regrade it until you get the score you want. Even though there are little assignments, you read one chapter of Marx's Capital about every class period and the book is over 600 pages that you read throughout the quarter. Overall, it was a great class and I feel like I learned a lot about capitalism and the economy.

Branstetter is one of the most phenomenal lecturers at UCLA. I think everyone, regardless of major, should take this course at some point in their lives because he truly challenges all of your preconceived notions of society, free will, and human behavior. He breaks down the readings in a way that anyone could understand and find interesting. I appreciated how reasonable the workload was, especially for a political theory class. More poli sci classes should adopt this structure!
My critique of this class is that it spent 10 weeks identifying problems in society and human nature but it did not provide any solutions. It was SO difficult to apply the content because it seemed like there was nothing that could be done. It felt a little depressing. I wish this class included actionable steps or policy implications to make this content more concrete.

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

There's a reason why Branstetter's classes fill up so quickly. Branstetter is a passionate, light-hearted, and overall very engaging lecturer. He is very academically progressive, understanding the cost of textbooks and the meaninglessness of grades, making for a very unique and easy grading system.

It was a bit writing intensive. There were two 4-5 single spaced papers (~10 page double-spaced papers). Don't let this deter you, however. While the topics were very open (which to some people may make it difficult), I thought the topics were interesting. Furthermore, they are graded on COMPLETION and REVISION. Aka as long as you turn in a relevant 10 page paper you get a B, revise if after a TA leaves comments, and you get an A+. It is ridiculously easy to pass.

There is one complaint I have with him, however. Besides being very academically progressive, he is politically very progressive. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, however, he often makes either subtle or non-subtle remarks against conservative values. One time, he subtly shamed people who don't donate anything to impoverished communities. So, yeah. If you're conservative you may feel uncomfortable unfortunately.

Professor Branstetter is probably one of my favorite professors I have had at UCLA so far. He genuinely cares about his students and stresses the fact that placing such a high importance on grades can create a stressful culture in college, and that he cares more about making sure we engage with the course content and share our honest ideas. If you have the chance to take a class with him, do it! You will not regret it. The class grade was entirely structured around 2 papers (4-5 pages single spaced) on interesting and mostly open ended topics. By submitting your papers you automatically receive a B+, and by making substantial revisions on your papers you receive an A. Also, we got to watch the Barbie movie in class and discuss. Would recommend to anyone!

I took professor Branstetter's Pre-Modern Asian political theory class and although the material itself was engaging, and he was a really awesome lecturer, the exams were not it. There was two exams that he only graded on so you had to make sure to ace them or else your grade was doomed. The readings were also extremely long and challenging, like I kid you not I read most of them and it took me weeks to actually finish them in their entirety. I do like the exams were open note and unlimited tries, but he and his graders take forever to grade them, leaving you with minimal time to actually be able to rewrite them. I somehow got a good grade in the class by simply doing the readings and reviewing the lectures and powerpoint slides, but god the readings made me 1000% stressed.