Course syllabus
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SOCIOL 208: Economy and Society
SEMESTER TWO, 2020
15 points
Lecturer:
Nathalie Jaques
Office hour: Thursday 10.00-11.00 or by appointment
Office: HSB 910
Email: Nathalie.Jaques@auckland.ac.nz
Tutor:
Shannon Walsh
Office hour: 2.00-3.00pm Monday (Student Commons Level 4, Te Puna Mārama HSB)
Email: s.walsh@auckland.ac.nz
Lecture times:
9am-11am Monday
Room: Engineering Block 1 - Rm 401
Tutorial Times:
Monday 11am - 12pm HSB 704
Monday 12pm - 1pm HSB 704
Thursday 9am - 10am HSB 704
Summary of Course Description:
Description
This paper examines capitalism as a political economic system and the histories of struggle and resistance that have always challenged capitalist social relations. Students will be provided with a theoretically and empirically grounded entry point for understanding key principles, processes and formations of capitalist economies. This will include frameworks and examples of critique and resistance to these conditions.
The first half of the course will cover key concepts that underpin capitalist economies. This provides analytical tools for understanding, analysing and critiquing capitalist processes historically and in the contemporary context of finance, logistics and changes in the nature of work.
The second half of the course outlines how capitalism is a socially contested economic system. This part of the course provides students with a foundational overview of key movements and literatures that demonstrate the success and ongoing political stakes of resistance to capitalism in different social contexts. Particular attention is paid to indigenous resistance, feminism and social reproduction, trade unionism, artistic interventions and environmental struggle. Through each of these forms of resistance, particular focus is given to how they challenge the structures of capitalism and engage with the possibility of radical social transformation.
Lecture Schedule
Part One: Understanding capitalism
Week One (27 July) Intro: Everything’s fucked, but the point is to go beyond that
Week Two (3rd August) The Origins of Capitalism
Week Three (10 August) Exploitation
Week Four (17 August) Crisis and Competition
Guest speaker: Shannon Walsh
Week Five (24 August) Work Today
Week Six (31 August) Accumulation Today
Guest speaker: Campbell Jones
*Essay due Thursday 27 August - 2,000 words*
---Mid-Semester Break (7 September - 18 September)---
Part Two: Understanding resistance
Week Seven (21 September) Indigenous Resistance
Guest speaker: Simon Barber
Week Eight (28 September) Feminism and Social Reproduction
Guest speaker: Hala Nasr
Week Nine (5 October) Trade Unionism
Guest speaker: Louisa Jones
Week Ten (12 October) Artistic Interventions
Guest speaker: Dominic Hoey
Week Eleven (19 October) Environmental Struggles & Exam revision
*Essay due Thursday 22 October - 2,000 words*
nb. there will be no week 12 lecture as this falls on Labour Day (public holiday)
Learning Objectives
To achieve the learning objectives you will need to:
- Attend the weekly lecture and actively participate in posing questions and the discussion of readings
- Read the assigned readings
- Actively seek to understand all of the readings, which involves reading beyond the text and bringing questions of clarification to class
- Attend the weekly tutorial, after having read the assigned readings
- Organise your time independently
- Plan, prepare and submit your essays on time
- Collect your marked work and take on board feedback to develop your writing and understanding of the material
- Prepare for and complete the final examination
Readings
The set readings are a crucial component of this course and it will be impossible to pass without familiarising yourself with all of them.
Readings are to be completed ahead of class. This is especially important because the tutorial sessions will be based on the content of the Monday morning lecture material.
Week One - Everything’s fucked, but the point is to go beyond that
Jaques, Nathalie, Lloyd Johns, James Roberts, Janaki Samoiya and Shannon Walsh (2018). ‘Editorial introduction.’ Everything’s Fucked: But the point is go beyond that. Auckland: Gloria Books, pp.17-21.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. (2018). The Communist Manifesto. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing, pp.iv-41.
Supplementary
Harney, Stefano & Fred Moten (2013) ‘The University and the Undercommons’, in The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study. Wivenhoe: Minor Compositions, pp. 22-43.
Week Two - The origins of capitalism
Marx, Karl. (1867/1990). ‘Chapter 26: The Secret of Primitive Accumulation.’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume One. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin, pp.873-876.
Marx, Karl. (1867/1990). ‘Chapter 33: The Modern Theory of Colonization.’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume One. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin, pp.931-940.
Wood, Ellen Meiksins. (1998). ‘The Agrarian Origins of Capitalism’ Monthly Review (50) 3. Available at: https://monthlyreview.org/1998/07/01/the-agrarian-origins-of-capitalism/
Cummings, Catherine. (2019). ‘How Finance Colonised Aotearoa.’ Counterfutures 7, pp. 41-74.
Week Three - Exploitation
Marx, Karl. (1867/1990). ‘Chapter 4: The General Formula for Capital.’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume One. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin, pp.247-257.
Marx, Karl. (1867/1990). ‘Chapter 5: Contradictions in the General Formula.’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume One. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin, pp.258-269.
Marx, Karl. (1867/1990). ‘Chapter 6: The Sale and Purchase of Labour-Power.’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume One. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin, pp.270-280.
Tomba, Massimiliano. (2007). ‘Differentials of Surplus-Value in the Contemporary Forms of Exploitation.’ The Commoner 12, pp.23-38.
Week Four - Crisis and Competition
Marx, Karl. (1991). Chapter 13: The Law Itself.’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume Three. Translated by David Fernbach. London: Penguin, pp.317-338.
Harvey, David. (2004). ‘The ‘New’ Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession.’ Socialist Register 40, pp.63-87.
Week Five - Work today
Moody, Kim. (2017). ‘Part I: The Remaking of the US Working Class.’ On New Terrain: How Capital Is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War. Chicago: Haymarket Books, pp. 7-41. (Chapters 1-3)
Benanav, Aaron. (2019). ‘Automation and the Future of Work 1’. New Left Review 119. Available from: https://newleftreview.org/issues/II119/articles/aaron-benanav-automation-and-the-future-of-work-1
Week Six - Accumulation today
Jones, Campbell (2018). ‘Rent, interest, profit’ Counterfutures 6, pp.69-100.
Danyluk, Martin (2017). ‘Capital’s logistical fix: Accumulation, globalization and the survival of capitalism.’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 36 (4), pp.630-647.
Mezzadra, Sandro and Brett Neilson. (2013). ‘Extraction, Logistics, Finance: Global Crisis and the Politics of Operations.’ Radical Philosophy 178. Available at: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/extraction-logistics-finance
Week Seven - Indigenous struggle
Barber, Simon. (2019). ‘Māori Mārx.’ Counterfutures 8, pp.43-72.
Jackson, Moana and Helen Potter. (2018). ‘Constitutional Transformation and the Matike Mai Project: A kōrero with Moana Jackson.’ In New Forms of Political Organisation. Campbell Jones and Shannon Walsh (eds.). Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: ESRA, pp. 78-91.
Film: Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense directed by Göran Olsson.
Week Eight - Feminism and social reproduction
Federici, Silvia. (2012). ‘Wages Against Housework (1975).’ Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction and Feminist Struggle. Oakland: PM Press, pp.15-22.
Fraser, Nancy, Tithi Bhattacharya and Cinzia Arruza (2018). ‘Notes for a Feminist Manifesto.’ New Left Review 114. Available at: https://newleftreview.org/issues/II114/articles/nancy-fraser-tithi-bhattacharya-cinzia-arruzza-notes-for-a-feminist-manifesto
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. (2003). ‘Women Workers and the Politics of Solidarity.’ Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press, pp. 139-168.
Week Nine - Trade unionism
Gindin, Sam. (2013). ‘Rethinking Unions, Registering Socialism’ Socialist Register 49. Available at: https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/18807/15727
Marx, Karl. (1867/1990). ‘Chapter 15: The Working Day’ Capital, A Critique of Political Economy: Volume One. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin, pp.375-416
Week Ten - Artistic interventions
Ponce de León, Jennifer. (2018). ‘How to see Violence: Artistic Activism and the Radicalization of Human Rights.’ ASAP/Journal 3 (2), pp. 353-376.
Situationist International. (2000). On the Poverty of Student Life: Considered in its Economic, Political, Psychological, Sexual, and Especially Intellectual Aspects, with a Modest Proposal for Doing Away With It. Detroit: Black & Red.
Week Eleven - Environmental struggle
Foster, John Bellamy, Brett Clark and Richard York. (2010). ‘Chapter 18: Why Ecological Revolution?’ The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth. New York: New York University Press, pp. 423-442; pp. 527-530.
Malm, Andreas. (2017). ‘Revolutionary Strategy in a Warming World.’ Socialist Register 53.
Assessment
Grades for this course will be based on:
- An essay on content from Part One, 2,000 words (30%)
- An essay on content from Part Two, 2,000 words (30%)
- A two-hour exam (40%)
Written assignment guides
First essay (30% of final grade)
Write a 2,000 word essay that critically discusses one of the following topics drawing on course materials, readings and lectures.
- The origins of capitalism
- Capitalist exploitation
- Economic crises
- Contemporary conditions of work
- Contemporary forms of capital accumulation
Your essay must:
- Begin with a clear and concise title. Your reader should immediately understand the essay focus from the title.
- Use a plain 12pt font. Be double-spaced. Images are okay, as long as they are relevant to the essay and correctly referenced in an appendix. Any doubts or questions, ask me.
- Be 2,000 words in length (we will accept a 10% above or below the wordcount, however, submitted work that exceeds this upper limit may not have the excess words marked).
- Include a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed academic references and a maximum of 10 references.
- Be well-written and correctly referenced. Any easily avoidable mistakes, such as spelling errors or incorrect referencing will cause you to lose marks quickly.
- You must submit a hard copy of your essay to the arts student assignment centre, as well upload a digital copy to Canvas for plagiarism screening.
Second essay (30% of final grade)
Write a 2,000 word project essay that critically discusses one of the following areas of resistance to capitalist forms of domination:
- Indigenous struggle
- Feminism
- Trade unionism and worker power
- Artistic practice and/or aesthetic experience
- Environmental struggle
You have quite a lot of freedom to select both a focus and approach that interests you the most about one of these topics. You may wish to identify and discuss a specific example of resistance to capitalism, or adopt a wider historical or structural analysis.
The aim of this assignment is to assess your engagement with course themes and material which includes theoretical, economic and empirical analysis. Be careful that your essay engages with a sociological analysis of the structures, institutions and/or ideologies underpinning your chosen essay focus, i.e. ensure that your essay is not overly descriptive of an example of resistance without engaging with a broader structural analysis.
Your essay must:
- Begin with a clear and concise title. Your reader should immediately understand the essay focus from the title.
- Use a plain 12pt font. Be double-spaced. Images are okay, as long as they are relevant to the essay and correctly referenced in an appendix. Any doubts or questions, ask me.
- Be 2,000 words in length (we will accept a 10% above or below the wordcount, however, submitted work that exceeds this upper limit may not have the excess words marked).
- Include a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed academic references and a maximum of 10 references.
- Be well-written and correctly referenced. Any easily avoidable mistakes, such as spelling errors or incorrect referencing will cause you to lose marks quickly.
- You must submit a hard copy of your essay to the arts student assignment centre, as well upload a digital copy to Canvas for plagiarism screening.
Writing critically
Your coursework essays require you to critically discuss subject matter from the course. This does not mean that you have to disagree with the material, but instead that you are demonstrating analytical depth in your engagement with a topic. A critical essay must go beyond just describing key concepts and examples. This means that your essay will demonstrate independent research, identifying relevant materials, engaged reading and a considered argument that offers a coherent line of reasoning and overarching point. Below are some suggested sources for familiarising yourselves with writing critical essays.
https://www.uis.edu/ctl/wp-content/uploads/sites/76/2013/03/Howtocritiqueajournalarticle.pdf
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-centre/critical-reading-and-writing/critical-review
https://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/article-critique.php
https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/how-to-critique-journal-articles-in-the-social-sciences/book238943
Exam (40% of final grade)
The exam will be two hours, closed book and worth 40% of your final grade. It will be made up of several essay questions, there will be a selection covering specific texts and theorists from the course and others that relate to general course themes. Further details will be offered later in the semester.
Referencing
Referencing should be done within established academic conventions, using either Chicago (footnotes) or APA referencing styles.
Referencing is not difficult to get right and at this point in your academic career there is no excuse for improper referencing. For guidance see: http://www.cite.auckland.ac.nz/2.html
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is to give the impression that the work of others is your own. Plagiarism is a form of cheating and will be treated with the utmost severity. If you are tempted, think again. It is better to receive zero for one piece of coursework than to be excluded from the University.
Do not under any circumstance auto-plagiarise work from previous assessments or courses. Turnitin is an extremely powerful tool and will pick this up. All of the work submitted for this course must be original.
If you are at all uncertain about what this means, then make sure you appraise yourself of the University of Auckland policies on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism, online at http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/teaching-learning/honesty/
All essays are to be submitted in both hardcopy and to turnitin for plagiarism screening. Please include a turnitin receipt with the hardcopy of your essay. If an essay is not submitted to turnitin it will not be marked and receive a 0% grade.
Submitting work late
Please try your hardest to meet coursework deadlines. Extensions are possible if, for example, you or a family member falls ill, or some other circumstance beyond your control prevents you from completing your work.
You can apply for an extension by contacting me via email Nathalie.Jaques@auckland.ac.nz or during office hours. You may need to provide supporting information, like a doctor’s or counsellor’s certificate, but the important thing is to get in contact.
Late submission of coursework is possible without an extension, so long as you are ready to accept a penalty by losing marks. Late penalties help ensure fairness, otherwise some students would have more time to complete work than others.
The penalties for submitting work late when you do not have an extension are 2% per day, with no coursework being accepted if more than 7 days late.
Everyone confronts difficulties at some point. So please talk to or email me if you are experiencing troubles finishing or submitting coursework. I will work with you wherever possible and, of course, it is better to get an assignment in than not at all (even if it is incomplete).
Where to go for help
Your well-being comes first and, if you need advice or support, you are welcome to talk to me. Moreover, the University has a range of support services for students that can be accessed here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/on-campus/student-support/personal-support/student-health-counselling.html
The university provides ongoing support for students with visible and invisible impairments. Information about that support is available here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/on-campus/student-support/personal-support/students-with-disabilities.html
If you need to apply for an aegrotat or compassionate consideration for a test, the relevant information can be found here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration/compassionate-consideration-for-written-tests.html
If you need to apply for an aegrotat or compassionate consideration for an exam, the relevant information can be found here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html
Course summary:
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