Sociology 281:
Political Economy and
Global Social Change
Fall 2018 Tuesday 9:40-12:30
Watkins 1126 C.
Chase-Dunn
v. 9-24-18
This graduate seminar focuses on classical and contemporary political economy, social movements and the historical evolution of socio-cultural systems. Political economy includes the works of David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Frederic Lane and Karl Polanyi as well as contemporary research and theorizing in economic and political sociology and studies of transformations of modes of accumulation. The focus on social movements includes studies of how movements and collective behavior have been causes of social change. The historical evolution of social systems includes comparative and historical sociology, and studies of global social change in historical perspective. This is the core seminar for the Sociology Department’s graduate specialization in Political Economy and Global Social Change.
Requirements: Grades will be based on attendance (10%), participation in discussion (10%), a take-home midterm exam (40%), and a five-page essay on a topic germane to the course (40%). The questions for the midterm will be handed out on October 26 and the answers are due in class on November 2. A one-paragraph description of your essay topic is due on November 9. The five-page essay is due on November 30.
Books are available in the Campus Book Store and on reserve in the Rivera Library:
Immanuel
Wallerstein 2004 World-Systems Analysis
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
Julian Go 2011 Patterns of Empire: The British and American Empires, 1688 to the
Present.
Cambridge University Press
Edna Bonacich and Jake Wilson 2008 Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor and the Logistics Revolution
Ithaca: Cornell University Press
Paul Mason 2015 Postcapitalism Farrar, Straus and Giroux
http://www.facultybookshelf.org/course/20260
Reading Schedule: Asterisked (*) readings are required. Others are recommended. Required readings should be read prior to the class meeting under which they are listed. Do reading before class.
October 2: Political
Economy and Economic Sociology
(copies of syllabus handed out)
*David Ricardo. [1817] 2004 The Principals of Political Economy and Taxation. New York: Dover. pp. 5-32, 77-93
*Karl Marx: Capital, Volume 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 4, “The fetishism of commodities and the secret thereof”; Chapter 26 “The secret of primitive accumulation; and Chapter 31, “Genesis of the industrial capitalist”
Giovanni Arrighi 2008 “The
Historical Sociology of Adam Smith” Chapter 2 in Adam
Smith and Beijing. London: Verso
*Karl Marx Grundrisse, Introduction“The method of political economy.”
*Max Weber: Economy and Society, (UC Press edition) Volume 1, Part 1,Chapter 1, Section 6, Pp. 33-36 “Types of legitimate order: convention and law;” Part 17, Pp. 54-56 “Political and hierocratic organizations;” Chapter 2, Section 11, Pp. 90-100 “The concept and types of profit-making: the role of capital;” Part 2: Chapter 4, Section 2, Pp. 375-381 “The disintegration of the household: the rise of the calculative spirit and of the modern capitalist enterprise”
C. Chase-Dunn, Global
Formation
Wright, Erik Olin 2002 “The
Shadow of Exploitation in Weber’s Class Analysis.” American
Sociological Review 67(6): 832-53
October 9: Political Economy and Economic Sociology
Max Weber General Economic History
*Karl Polanyi, “The economy as instituted process” Pp. 239-270 in K. Polanyi, Conrad M. Arensberg and Harry W. Pearson (eds.) Trade and Market in the Early Empires: Economies in History and Theory.
*Frederic Lane, “The economic meaning of war and protection,” Chapter 2 in Profits from Power: Readings in Protection Rent and Violence-Controlling Enterprises. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press, 1979.
Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation
*C. Chase-Dunn, “Geopolitics
and capitalism: one logic or two?” Chapter 7 in Global
Formation:
Structures of the World-Economy.
Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield, 1998.
Block, Fred. 2003 “Karl Polanyi and the Writing of The Great Transformation” Theory and
Society
32(3): 275-306.
Durkheim, Emile [1933] 1997 The
Division of Labor in Society.
179-226;
291-341
Emmanuel, Arghiri
1972 Unequal Exchange: a study of the imperialism
of trade. New York:
Monthly
Review Press.
October 16: World Historical Social Change and Globalization
*Immanuel Wallerstein, World-Systems Analysis Intro, Chapters 1-3
C. Chase-Dunn and
S. Babones (eds.) 2006 Global Social Change.
Immanuel Wallerstein. 1974 “The Rise and Future Demise
of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis.” Comparative Studies in Society and History
16:387-415.
Immanuel Wallerstein, The
Modern World-System, Volume 1
October 23: More World Historical Social Change and Globalization
*Immanuel
Wallerstein, World-Systems Analysis
Chapters 4 and 5
Giovanni Arrighi, The Long
Twentieth Century
C. Chase-Dunn, Global Formation
Terry Boswell and Chase-Dunn, The Spiral of Capitalism
and Socialism
Mahutga, Matthew C.
2006 “The Persistence of Structural Inequality? A Network Analysis of
International
Trade, 1965-2000” Social Forces
84(4): 1863-89.
October 30: Questions
for Take-home Midterm will be handed out in class
The Hegemonic
Sequence
*Julian Go 2011 Patterns of Empire, Intro,
Chaps 1-4
C. Chase-Dunn,
Global Formation, Chap 9 “The rise and decline of hegemonic core powers”
Michael Mann 2012
The
Sources of Social Power: Volume 4, Globalizations, 1945-2011
Intro and Chapters 1-7
C. Chase-Dunn and Bruce Lerro, 2014 Social Change: Globalization From the Stone
Age to the
Present, Chapters 17-19
November 6: Take-home Midterm is Due in
Class The
Hegemonic Sequence
*Julian Go 2011 Patterns of Empire, Chaps 5-6, Conclusion
Chase-Dunn, Chris, Roy Kwon, Kirk Lawrence and Hiroko Inoue 2011
“Last of the hegemons: U.S. decline and global governance” International
Review of Modern Sociology 37,1: 1-29 (Spring). IROWS Working Paper # 65 https://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows65/irows65.htm
Michael Mann 2012 The Sources of Social Power: Volume 4,
Globalizations, 1945-2011
Chapters
8-13
November 13: One-paragraph description of Five-page Essay topic is due Global Capitalism
* Edna Bonacich and Jake Wilson, Getting the Goods:
Ports, Labor and the Logistics
Revolution
(Parts 1 and 2)
William I. Robinson, A Theory of Global Capitalism
Beverly Silver. 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers Movements and
Globalization since 1870.
November 20: More
Global Capitalism
*Edna Bonacich and Jake Wilson, Getting the Goods (Part 3 and
Conclusion)
Matthew
Mahutga 2011. “When Do Value Chains Go Global? A Theory of the
Spatialization of Global Value
Chains.” Global Networks
November 27 Postcapitalism
*Paul Mason 2015 Postcapitalism Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Intro, Chaps 1-5
Chris
Chase-Dunn and Kirk Lawrence “World-System Future(s): Another U.S. Hegemony,
Global Collapse or Global Democracy?” IROWS Working Paper # 47
at https://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows47/irows47.htm
December 4 Five-page Essay is Due Postcapitalism
*Paul Mason 2015 Postcapitalism Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Chaps 6-10
Leonid
Grinin & Andrey Korotayev
(2012): Does “Arab Spring” Mean The Beginning Of World System Reconfiguration?, World
Futures: The Journal of Global Education, 68,7:471-505
Guy
Standing 2014 The Precariat: the New Dangerous Class
Warren Wagar A Short History
of the Future
