Capitalism

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Was the economy invented? Must we grow forever? What is the scope of democracy under capitalism? This reading-intensive graduate seminar offers an advanced survey of the political theory of capitalism that proceeds historically and theoretically by working through a series of seminal texts in political theory, social theory, history, and economics. In doing so, the course develops a set of connected questions about the history and politics of capitalism that aim to bring out more clearly the political presuppositions of capitalism, the intellectual history of thinking about capitalism, and different political ways of thinking about contemporary capitalism, including modes of analysis and critique developed by different strands of political theory.