Course Syllabus

ECONOMY AND SOCIETY – SOCI 323/4 Lect A

Erik Chevrier

Contact: professor@erikchevrier.ca

Office Hours: Wednesday and Friday at 10:15 – 11:15am (H- 1125.12) *BY REQUEST ONLY*

Class Time: Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:45 – 10:00am

 

Course Description:

 

Every society in history has had an economic system of some sort. It is only in recent history that economic systems have come to be dominated by markets. In this course we will critically examine a wide variety of social theories, historical texts and contemporary approaches to understanding the role of an economy in society. We will explore many types of economic systems including, reciprocity based/gift economies, redistributive based economies, households, markets, finance, social economies, communialism, communism, anarchism, Owenism, socialism, capitalist economies, and post-capitalist economies. By taking this approach, students will be encouraged to think of economics, not as a set of abstract mathematical formulae, but as a set of social relations that have a direct impact on society, individuals and our planet’s biosphere.

 

Table of Contents Course Schedule:

 

In this course, we will critically examine the readings and documentary films by participating in discussions; therefore all readings and videos MUST be read or watched BEFORE each class. Here is the schedule:

 

January 8: Introduction

 

January 10: Societies and Economic Systems

Karl Polanyi. “Chapter 4,” The Great Transformation (2001), pp. 45-58.

Karl Polanyi. “Chapter 5,” The Great Transformation (2001), pp. 59-70.

 

January 15 & 17: Introduction to Economics

Jim Stanford. “Part 1”, Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism (2008) pp. 17 – 64.

Part One: Preliminaries

Chapter 1 The Economy and Economics

Chapter 2 Capitalism

Chapter 3 Economic History

Chapter 4 The Politics of Economics

 

January 22 & 24: The Basics of Capitalism

Jim Stanford. “Part 2”, Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism (2008) pp. 65 – 128

Part Two: The Basics of Capitalism: Work, Tools, and Profit

Chapter 5 – Work, Production, and Value

Chapter 6 – Working with Tools

Chapter 7 – Companies, Owners, and Profit

Chapter 8 – Workers and Bosses

Chapter 9 – Reproduction (for Economists!)

Chapter 10 – Closing the Little Circle

 

January 29 & 31: Capitalism as a System

Jim Stanford. “Part 3”, Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism (2008) pp. 129 – 188

Part Three: Capitalism as a System

Chapter 11 – Competition

Chapter 12 – Investment and Growth

Chapter 13 – Employment and Unemployment

Chapter 14 – Dividing the Pie

Chapter 15 – Capitalism and the Environment

 

February 5 & 7: The Complexity of Capitalism

Jim Stanford. “Part 4”, Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism (2008) pp. 189 – 304

Part Four: The Complexity of Capitalism

Chapter 16 – Money and Banking

Chapter 17 – Inflation, Central Banks, and Monetary Policy

Chapter 18 – Paper Chase: Stock Markets, Financialization, and Pensions

Chapter 19 – The Conflicting Personalities of Government

Chapter 20 – Spending and Taxing

Chapter 21 – Globalization

Chapter 22 – Development (and Otherwise)

Chapter 23 – Closing the Big Circle

Chapter 24 – The Ups and Downs of Capitalism

 

February 12: Review for Midterm Exam

February 14: Midterm Exam

February 26: Capitalism in Crisis

Immanuel Wallerstein “Chapters 2 & 5”, World-Systems Analysis. (2007) pp. 23 – 41 & 76 – 90.

Chapter 2 – The Modern World-System as a Capitalist World Economy: Production, Surplus Value, and Polarization

Chapter 5 – The Modern World-System in Crisis: Bifurcation, Chaos, and Choices

Recommended Reading Glossary (pp 91 – 99)

 

February 28 – Marx’s Critique of the Circulation of Capital and Limitless Accumulation

Karl Marx. “Part 2”, Capital Volume 1 (1954) pp. 146 – 176

Part 2: The Transformation of Money into Capital

Chapter 4 – The General Formula for Capital

Chapter 5 – Contradictions in the General Formula of Capital

Chapter 6 – The Buying and Selling of Labour Power

Recommended Reading:

Robert Tucker. “Capital Volume 1, Part 1, Commodities and Money”. (1978) pp. 302 – 329

Capital Volume 1 can be found online for free at : http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/volume35/index.htm

Additional resources on Marx Lectures: http://davidharvey.org/

 

March 5 – Social Ecology

 

Murray Bookchin. “Chapters 1” Social Ecology and Communalism (2007) pp. 19 – 52

 

Chapter 1 – What is Social Ecology?

 

***GROUP PROJECT OUTLINE DUE***

 

March 7 – Constructing a Language of Economic Diversity

 

J. K. Gibson-Graham, “Chapter 3”. Post-Capitalist Politics (2006) pp. 53 – 78

Chapter 3 – Constructing a Language of Economic Diversity

 

March 12 – Building Community Economics

 

J. K. Gibson-Graham, “Chapter 7”. Post-Capitalist Politics (2006) pp. 165 – 198.

Chapter 7 – Building Community Economics

 

March 14 – Social Economy

Ash Amin. “Chapter 2”, Social Economy (2009) pp. 22 – 33

Chapter 2 – Social Economy: Engaging as a third party system? By John Pearce

 

March 19 – Communalist Project

Murray Bookchin. “Chapters 4” Social Ecology and Communalism (2007) pp. 77 – 116

Chapter 4 – The Communalist Project

March 21 & 26 – Alternative Economic Systems: A Historical Perspective

Group Readings:

Marx and Engels – The Communist Manifesto

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon – What is Property? (Chapter 2 and 5)

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/proudhon/property/

Robert Owen – New View of Society (Fourth Essay)

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/owen/index.htm

George Douglas Howard Cole – Guild Socialism (Chapter 1 & 2)

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015001952038;view=1up;seq=52

 

March 28 – Advertising & Consumerism / Group Project

Documentary – The Century of Self (2002) Adam Curtis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7EwXmxpExw

Karl Polanyi. “Chapter 6,” The Great Transformation (2001), pp. 71-80

 

April 2 – The Corporation

Documentary – The Corporation (2003):

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-corporation/

Recommended Reading:

Satoshi Ikeda. “Imperial Subjects, National Citizenship, and Corporate Subjects: Cycles of Political Participation/Exclusion in the Modern World-System” Citizenship Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4, (2004), pp. 333 – 347.

 

April 4 – A Humane Economics

Philip B. Smith & Manfred Max-Neef (2012) “Economics Unmasked: From power and greed to compassion and the common good” pp. 139 – 154

 

April 9 – Reciprocity based Economies

Gilbert Rist (2010) “The Delusion of Economics: The Misguided Certainties of a Hazardous Science”, pp. 54 – 79

Chapter 4 – Exchange

 

April 11 – Review For Final Exam

*The schedule and course material may be modified by the professor. In this case, you will be notified well in advance.

Course Evaluation:

 

Midterm Exam 25 %

Final Exam 30 %

Group Reading Assignment 5 %

Group Assignment Preliminary Assessment 10 %

Group Assignment 20 %

Class Participation 10 %

 

Letter Grade Equivalency:

Your numerical grades will be converted to letter grades as follows:

A+ (91 – 100%) B+ (77 – 79%) C+ (67 – 69%) D+ (57– 59%)

A (85 – 90%) B (73 – 76%) C (63 – 66%) D (53 – 56%)

A- (80 – 84%) B- (70 – 72%) C- (60 – 62%) D- (50 – 52%)

F < 50%

 

 

 

Questions