Economy and Society

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course offers an introduction to the main themes and concepts in economic sociology, a thriving field that seeks to understand and explain our diverse economic decisions, transactions, and processes. In the first half of the term, we will start with an overview of the field’s theoretical foundations and distinct analytical traditions, focusing particularly on the role of social ties and cultural meanings in economic exchange. We will then apply these concepts and perspectives to 1) the most fundamental institution of economic exchange, i.e. money, and 2) the most ubiquitous type of economic action, i.e. pricing. In the second half of the term, we will expand our exploration to cover some of the most exciting and recent scholarship in the field, with a particular attention to how our economic transactions are constantly marked and stratified by moral categories, technologies and algorithms, and social inequalities.