PB308      Half Unit
Societal Psychology of Economic Life

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

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The idea of a societal psychology of economic life is not obvious. From the point of view of mainstream economics, economic life – usually understood as the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services – is under the scope of economics. As a mathematical science, economics is, to some extent, a rejection of social, political, and psychological dimensions in the analysis of economic life, conceptualised in the abstraction of the natural environment. As the “queen of the social sciences”, mainstream economics has even been seen by some authors as the “imperialist” framework associated with neoliberalism for studying social and psychological processes out of the economic life through an individualistic lens.

Yet, some of the most important advances of the last five decades in the understanding of human economic and social behaviour (and its link to some of the most pressing societal and environmental issues nowadays) have been derived from concepts and methods of psychology and other social sciences. Moreover, a major critique of economic growth as a societal goal has emerged in light of its detrimental effects on the planet, inspiring conceptual and practical developments (e.g., Doughnut Economics) to promote post-growth transformations in the rich and most polluting countries.

The course presents how societal psychology (interpreted in a broad sense to include micro-sociology, cultural anthropology and a touch of social neuroscience) is the key 1) to understanding real-world economic life by taking into account cognitive, affective, social, and political processes, and also 2) to contributing to better solutions to societal and environmental problems with post-growth transformations, such as Universal Basic Income (UBI), timebanks, participatory decision-making, working-time reduction, voluntary simplicity, demarketing, circular economy, or convivial technology.

The WISER framework of behavioural change interventions for mindful human flourishing is introduced as a technique for conceptualising and implementing post-growth transformations in contemporary societies.

Main concepts: (post-)neoliberalism, (post-)growthism, (post-)materialism, bounded rationality, bounded self-interest, bounded will-power, short-termism, embodiment, embeddedness, meaning-making, framing, conceptual metaphors, narratives, identity and extended self, relational models, Doughnut Economics, WISER framework of behavioural change interventions (Well-being, Inclusivity, Sufficiency, Empowerment, and Resilience).

By the end of the course you should:

• Understand economic theories and key relevant phenomena in everyday life.
• Have considered the limitations of economic theories from the perspective of social psychology.
• Be able to relate the above to psychology and behavioural science.
• Have explored solutions to the limitations inspired by social psychology and behavioural science.

15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Lectures will be delivered jointly with PB431, an MSc level course in the department. Classes will be specific for undergraduate students.

For each major and minor assessment option there is an equivalent piece of formative coursework. These are designed to help students to prepare for the summative assessments.

Reading lists will be provided for each topic, the following references are for general use (though not mandatory readings):

• Basso, F., & Krpan, D. (2023). The WISER framework of behavioural change interventions for mindful human flourishing. The Lancet Planetary Health, 7(2), e106-e108. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00336-9/fulltext
• Howarth, C. et al. (2013). Insights from societal psychology: The contextual politics of change. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 1(1), 364-384. https://journals.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/4765
• Kallis, G., Hickel, J., O’Neill, D. W., Jackson, T., Victor, P. A., Raworth, K., ... & Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2025). Post-growth: the science of wellbeing within planetary boundaries. The Lancet Planetary Health, 9(1), e62-e78. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(24)00310-3/fulltext
• Nelson, J. A. (2018). Economics for humans. University of Chicago Press.
• Raworth, K. (2017). A Doughnut for the Anthropocene: humanity’s compass in the 21st century. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(2), e48-e49. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-51961730028-1/fulltext

Project (30%)

Project (70%)

Students will choose ONE minor and ONE major assessment from a list of assessments.