Suspended in 2025/26
GV4B7 Half Unit
Freedom and Capitalism
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Vincent Harting
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics and MSc in Political Theory. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Priority will be given to MSc in Political Theory students, and then students on the other programmes listed in the 'availability' section of the course guide. This course is available as an outside option.
To apply for a place on this course, please write a short statement of 200 words (max) outlining the specific reasons for applying and how the course will benefit your academic/career goals.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access and is capped at two groups) and demand is typically very high. Priority is given to students on the MSc in Political Theory; students from outside this programme may not get a place.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
Basic familiarity with concepts and methods in normative political theory.
Course content
Capitalism realises freedom – or so its defenders claim. Critics counter that ‘free’ markets and contracts obscure forms of unfreedom and domination. This course investigates these claims. It first explores the concept of freedom and the range of definitions that have been given to it. This ranges from freedom as non-interference (negative liberty), freedom as self-mastery (positive freedom), freedom as non-domination (republican freedom) and feminist conceptions of freedom (post-structural freedom). These competing conceptions of freedom provide the conceptual and normative groundwork for the second half of the course, which applies the concept to capitalism. We will explore foundational libertarian, socialist, republican and feminist arguments for and against capitalism. We will also examine a range of specific institutional reforms and alternatives to capitalism that have been defended on the basis of freedom, such as workplace democracy, wages for housework, and universal basic income.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Essay
All students are expected to submit one formative (non-assessed) essay in the AT.
Indicative reading
Isaiah Berlin, 'Two Concepts of Liberty'; Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government; Nancy Hirschmann, 'Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom'; Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty; G. A. Cohen, 'Capitalism, Freedom and the Proletariat'; Philippe Van Parijs, Real Freedom for All: What (if Anything) Can Justify Capitalism?; Elizabeth Anderson, Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk About it).
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words) in Winter Term Week 1
Key facts
Department: Government
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Keywords: Political Theory, Capitalism
Total students 2024/25: 19
Average class size 2024/25: 10
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Problem solving
- Communication