Dr Rebecca Elliott

Dr David Pinzur

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Economy and Society. This course is available on the MSc in Inequalities and Social Science, 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 uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

This course has a limited number of places. Students who have this course as a compulsory course are guaranteed a place. For all other students, please see Courses offered and related information for information on how to apply for 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 may include: critical approaches to economy and society; economic rationality; the sociology of economics; economy and environment; morals and markets; racialized economic orders; finance; credit and debt; inequality.

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

This course is usually delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars. There will be two hours or more of teaching each week across AT and WT.

Assignment in the AT. Proposal (project plan) in the WT.

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.

Oral examination (30%) in January.

Essay (70%, 4000 words) in May.

The oral exam will be due to take place during the January exam period. 

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