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Instructors: Markus Wolf
Event type:
Follow-up seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
24-408.74
Hours per week:
2
Credits:
6,0
Language of instruction:
English
Min. | Max. participants:
10 | 20
Registration group: VM: Spezielle Soziologien
Comments/contents:
Capitalism as such has been idolized, criticised, pronounced dead and prematurely bemoaned countless times before and yet the last threatening competition fell with the Soviet Union. All generalization aside, however, a closer inspection even of leading Western economies reveals significant differences in crucial areas such as education, vocational training, cartel law, banking, health care and social welfare - just to name a few. Moreover, capitalist nations have changed quite considerably over time. While Adam Smith lived in a mercantilist state and argued for a restructuring towards free markets Karl Marx experienced and wrote about the same nation roughly a hundred years later during the heydays of the industrial revolution. Contemporary scholars suggest that that the British economy has underwent several substantial changes yet again.
This course mainly deals with fairly recent developments and comparisons between contemporary forms of capitalism. Some selected classics, namely Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Karl Polanyi are covered as well in the first sessions. Hopefully, this excercise will inform ongoing debates between participants or at least provide for some entertaining discussions.
This course is held in English. Why? Firstly, there are the obvious reasons like improving your CV and being a decent host university for international students. Secondly, your elected student representatives did point out that there has been a deplorable shortage of courses in English for the last few semesters. Allegedly, words along the lines of "provincial" and "backwater" were dropped. While that is fair enough it remains to be seen whether we are primarily dealing with a supply- or a demand-side phenomenon. In any event, since you have been asking for it let us see how many of you do not just talk the talk but also walk the walk.
Learning objectives:
This course is intended to:
+ improve your rhetorical skills
+ convey a basic understanding of conflicting social and economic theories
+ serve as an introduction to economic sociology in general and the debate about Comparative Capitalism in particular
Didactic concept:
In each session a research paper on Comparative Capitalism is discussed. Students will be asked to form up into two teams, one defending and the other one attacking the author´s point of view. The oral presentations and reading responses, which are supposed to be about one page long, are to make sure that the arguments during the debates are sufficiently qualified. Since a considerable portion of the workload is due during the semester the trial is not going to end with the usual term paper of fifteen to twenty pages but with a short essay of just six pages instead. As an alternative, you may write a reading response prior to every session but the first and then write no final term paper or essay of any kind.
Literature:
The articles discussed in class will be made available to all participants via Stine. The contribution by Deeg and Jackson (2006) provides a rather comprehensive overview of the ongoing debate about observed varieties between capitalist societies.
Additional examination information:
In order to receive credit points you are expected to accomplish the following assignments:
1. three reading responses, one page each
2. one essay in English, about six pages short or ten additional reading responses
3. active participation in debates during classes
4. one oral presentation consisting of twenty minutes presentation and ten minutes discussion
--> The course is held in English, all articles discussed in class are in English, all assignments are to be completed in English
The reading responses are to be handed in via mail before the respective articles are discussed in class. The essay is due at Wednesday 11th July 2018 and may be handed in via mail as well.
You may contact me under the following address:
markus.wolf@uni-hamburg.de
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