Course Syllabus
ECONOMY AND SOCIETY – SOCI 323/4 Lect A
Erik Chevrier
Contact:
pr*******@er**********.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%