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Dr Nils Peters STC S103

This course is available on the MSc in Economy and Society, MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Sociology. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). Places are allocated based on a written statement. Priority will be given to students on the MSc in Economy and Society, MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Sociology. This may mean that not all students who apply will be able to get a place on this course.

Are we really rational utility-maximisers? What is ‘the economy’ and what is its relationship to society? How does economic life reflect and enact moral categories? How can we understand the production of economic ‘winners’ and ‘losers’? This course offers a general introduction to the theoretical foundations of economic sociology, providing an opportunity to engage questions like these through both sociologically grounded accounts of economic phenomena and sociological critiques of the analytical assumptions and research procedures common in mainstream economics.

Topics covered in the course include: critical approaches to economy and society; economic rationality; the sociology of economics; morals and markets; racialized economic orders; credit and debt; inequality.

25 contact hours in the WT.

Reading Weeks: Students on this course will have a reading week in WT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

A project overview due in week 8 of WT. Individual feedback sessions in office hours provided to check student project development.

Recommended general texts: M Granovetter & R Swedberg (Eds), The Sociology of Economic Life; D Slater & F Tonkiss, Market Society: Markets and Modern Social Theory; N Smelser & R Swedberg (Eds), The Handbook of Economic Sociology; V Nee & R Swedberg (Eds), The Economic Sociology of Capitalism. A detailed reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Project (100%, 4000 words) in the ST.

An electronic copy of the assessed essay, to be uploaded to Moodle, no later than 4.00pm on the second Wednesday of Spring Term. 

Attendance at all seminars and submission of all set coursework is required.