Suspended in 2025/26
SO470 Half Unit
The Sociology of Markets
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr David Pinzur
Availability
This course is available on the MRes in Accounting (AOI) (Accounting, Organisations and Institutions Track), MSc in Economy and Society, MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Sociology. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). Places are allocated based on a written statement, with priority given to students who have this course listed in their programme regulations.
Course content
This course will investigate some of the key concepts and methods by which sociologists study markets, as well as the unique ways of understanding that this perspective makes possible. We will explore this topic through empirical studies that span a wide range of markets for goods ranging from art to financial derivatives to data and beyond. Over the course of the term, we will see how different approaches work (or don’t) when applied to markets that differ (in some ways) quite widely. The course aims to give students the tools to make critical analyses of how markets operate, who exerts power in these processes, and what consequences follow both inside and outside the market.
Teaching
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
This course is delivered through a combination of lectures, online materials and seminars totalling 25 hours in AT.
Formative assessment
Essay (1500 words)
A 1500 word essay is required in the AT.
Indicative reading
Recommended texts:
- Callon, Michel. 1998. The laws of the markets. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford;
- Fligstein, Neil. 2001. The Architecture of Markets. An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies. Princeton, NJ a.o.: Princeton University Press;
- Granovetter, Mark. 1995[1974]. Getting a Job: a Study of Contacts and Careers. Chicago; London: Chicago University Press;
- Krippner, Greta R. 2002. "The elusive market: Embeddedness and the paradigm of economic sociology." Theory and Society 30:775-810;
- Swedberg, Richard. 2003. Principles of Economic Sociology. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 4000 words) in January
The course is assessed by a 4000 word essay due in January.
Attendance at all workshop sessions and submission of all set coursework is required.
Key facts
Department: Sociology
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse 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
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills
- Specialist skills