Syllabus
Registration via LPIS
| Day | Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | 10/04/18 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.3.11 |
| Thursday | 10/11/18 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.2.03 |
| Thursday | 10/18/18 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.4.02 |
| Thursday | 11/15/18 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.4.03 |
| Thursday | 11/29/18 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.2.03 |
| Thursday | 12/13/18 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.2.03 |
| Thursday | 01/17/19 | 03:30 PM - 07:30 PM | TC.4.12 |
The course serves as an introduction into economic sociology, which forms part of the interdisciplinary field of socioeconomics and constitutes a subdiscipline of sociology. More specifically, the course focuses on the question of how economic action and actors can be conceived and interpreted from different theoretical perspectives, economic as well as sociological ones.
Participants will develop a basic understanding of the sociological approaches to the economy, which help to put the prevailing economic approaches into perspective and which can be applied to discuss and solve various economic problems. They will be able to reassess economic perspectives on economy, economic rationality and economic organizations from a critical sociological point of view and to take a stance in the continued debate between mainstream economics and its critics. Moreover, paying particular focus on the interdependent relation between economy and the society, this course will capacitate the students to put economic issues and phenomena in a wider societal context. With an emphasis of this course being on individual written work, participants will also develop and improve their academic writing skills.
Examination-immanent courses (PI) have compulsory attendance.
In case of absence the Lecturer is to be informed in advance if possible.
More detailed regulations on absenteeism will be explained in the first unit.
The course consists of introductory lectures, individual and group work, preparatory readings, written assignments, oral presentations, and seminar discussions.
- The following aspects and activities will be assessed: written individual work in the form of several essays to be prepared at home (3x20%=60%), oral presentations (20%) active participation in ongoing seminar work and discussions (20%). Since there are only six sessions, there is an attendance requirement of 100%, that is students have to attend all meetings. For inevitable absences, students obtain the possibility to do compensatory assignments.
- A gradebook will be installed on the learning platform at learn@wu, in which these percentages are translated into x points out of 100.
- In case of absences, 5 points will be subtracted per missed session. To regain these points, students can do unsolicited compensatory assignments (for short instructions, see end of syllabus).
- Written assignments (essays in the form of response papers or take-home exams; see end of syllabus) can only be done once, and the assessment is final. Submission deadlines are strict, and delays will affect assessment. Exceptions are possible but have to be agreed with the teacher.
- The grade scale used is:
≥ 60 grade 4 (poor)
≥ 70 grade 3 (satisfactory)
≥ 80 grade 2 (good)
≥ 90 grade 1 (excellent)
| Unit | Date | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04 October | PART I: INTRODUCTION INTO SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY Lecture 1: What is Socio-economics? Hedtke, Reinhold, 2015: Was ist und wozu Sozioökonomie? In Hedtke, Reinhold (ed.), Was ist und wozu Sozioökonomie? Wiesbaden: Springer, S.19-71 Etzioni, Amitai, 2006: Socio-Economics. In: Beckert, Jens/Zafirovski, Milan (eds), International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology. London: Routledge, pp.633-638 Lecture 2: Economic Sociology Readings: Smelser, Neil J./Swedberg, Richard, 2005: Introducing Economic Sociology. In: Smelser, Neil J./Swedberg, Richard (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Sociology, 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp.3-25 Weber, Max, 1978 [1922]: Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press [Chapters 1 & 2]. |
| 2 | 11 October | PART II: PERSPECTIVES ON ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR Lecture 3: Models of Agency I: Homo Oeconomicus Morgan, Mary S., 2006: Economic Man as Model Man: Ideal Types, Idealization and Caricatures. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 28(1): 1-27 Schimank, Uwe, 2010: Handeln und Strukturen: Einführung in die akteurtheoretische Soziologie. Weinheim: Juventa, pp.83-127 Additional Reading: Friedman, Milton, 1966: The Methodology of Positive Economics. In Friedman, Milton (ed.), Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp.3-43 Lecture 4: Models of Agency II: Homo Sociologicus Schimank, Uwe, 2010: Handeln und Strukturen: Einführung in die akteurtheoretische Soziologie. Weinheim: Juventa, pp.49-82 Weise, Peter, 1989: Homo oeconomicus und homo sociologicus: Die Schreckensmänner der Sozialwissenschaften. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 18(2): 148-161 |
| 3 | 18 October | Lecture 5: Perspectives on Rational Behaviour I: Behavioural Economics Readings: Gächter, Simon, 2006: Behavioural Economics. Beckert, Jens/ Zafirovski, Milan (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology. London: Routledge, pp.25-28 Tomer, John F., 2007: What is Behavioral Economics? Journal of Socio-Economics 36(3): 463-479 Weber, Roberto/Dawes, Robyn, 2005: Behavioral Economics. In: Smelser, Neil J./Swedberg, Richard H. (eds.), Handbook Economic Sociology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp.90-108 Lecture 6: Perspectives on Rational Behaviour II: The (New) Institutional Economics Becker, Gary S., 1974: A Theory of Social Interactions. Journal of Political Economy. Chicago Journals. 82 (6): 1063–1093 Williamson, Oliver E., 2000: The New Institutional Economics. Taking Stock, Looking Ahead. Journal of Economic Literature 38(3): 595-613 |
| 4 | 15 November | Lecture 7: Perspectives on Rational Behaviour III: Sociological Institutionalism Granovetter, Mark S., 1985: Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91(3): 481-510 Lecture 8: Work in Groups & Discussion SUBMISSION ESSAY I:
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| 5 | 29 November | PART III: STUDYING SOCIAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF MARKETS AND FIRMS Lecture 9: The Firm as a Rational Agent Murphy, Kevin M./Shleifer, Andrei/Vishny, Robert W., 1991: The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth. TheQuarterly Journal of Economics 106(2): 503-530 Lecture 10: The Firm as Social Ecology Tsoukas, Haridimos, 1996: The Firm as a Distributed Knowledge System: A Constructionist Approach. Strategic Management Journal 17: 11-25 Davis, Gerald F., 2005: Firms and Environments. In Smelser, Neil J./Swedberg. Richard (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp.478-503 Granovetter, Mark, 1995: The Economic Sociology of Firms and Entrepreneurship. In Portes, Alejandro (ed.), The Economic Sociology of Immigration: Essays in Networks, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship. Russel Sage Foundation, pp.120-165
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| 6 | 13 December | Lecture 11: Markets as Institutions Akerlof, George A., 1970: The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism. Quarterly Journal of Economics 84(3): 488–500 North, Douglas C., 1991: Institutions. Journal of Economic Perspectives 5(1): 97-112 Lecture 12: Markets as Historically Embedded Social Structures Readings: Beckert, Jens, 2007: Die soziale Ordnung von Märkten. In Beckert, Jens/Diaz-Bone, Rainer/Ganßmann, Heiner (eds.), Märkte als soziale Strukturen. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, pp.43-62 Ganßmann, Heiner, 2007: Doppelte Kontingenz und wirtschaftliches Handeln. In Beckert, Jens/Diaz-Bone, Rainer/Ganßmann, Heiner (eds.), Märkte als soziale Strukturen. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, pp.63-77 Callon, Michel, 1998: Introduction: The Embeddedness of Economic Markets in Economies. In Callon, Michel (ed.), The Laws of the Markets. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.1-57
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| 7 | 17 January | Lecture 13: Markets, Firms, and Cultural Conventions Diaz-Bone, Rainer, 2015: Qualitätskonvention als Diskursordnungen in Märkten. In: Diaz-Bone, Rainer/Krell, Gertraude (eds.), Diskurs und Ökonomie: Diskursanalytische Perspektiven auf Märkte und Organisationen. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, pp.267-292 Diaz-Bone, Rainer, 2013: Discourse conventions in the construction of wine qualities in the wine market. In: Economic Sociology/The European Electronic Newsletter 14(2): 46-53 Salais, Robert, 2015: Die Ökonomie der Konventionen: Eine Einführung in die Arbeitswelt. In Hedtke, Reinhold (ed.), Was ist und wozu Sozioökonomie? Wiesbaden: Springer, pp.95-112 Additional Reading (for those interested) Suckert, Lisa 2015: Organisierter Kompromiss: Wie Ecopreneur Unternehmen das Dilemma der Nachhaltigkeit lösen. Knoll, Lisa (ed.), Organisationen und Konventionen: Die Soziologie der Konventionen in der Organisationsforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp.93-224. Lecture 14: The Gin Convention SUBMISSION ESSAY III:
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