Examination procedure
WRITTEN and ORAL
Examination procedure notes
PhD: written critical commentary of a text by Marx, Weber, Durkheim or Durkheim, with a section on its implications for research, and oral presentation
Master: written critical commentary of a text by Marx, Weber, Durkheim or Durkheim, after agreement with the course tutor
Prerequisites
None
Syllabus
This course aims to provide an opportunity to reflect on the “classics”’ contributions to the sociological understanding of the economy. The reason why Marx, Weber and Durkheim’s works are considered as classics is that, writing in the XIX-early XX Century, they did not take capitalism as granted and reflected on the ‘big question’ on how such system was possible – unlike more recent economic sociology that has focused on ‘meso’ problems such as institutions and networks. Their ideas were general enough to become ‘paradigms’, within which further scholars worked in different directions. The recent crises – the financial crisis of 2008, the trade wars and resurgence of states’ economic roles… – have led to a resurgence of such ‘big question’ and a renowned interest in the classics among current economic sociologists. Marx, Weber and Durkheim were also European white men from a specific period, and their works have been both challenged and developed over time by authors with different social positions and identities. For this reason, the seminar will look into each of them with two sessions: one devoted to the author, with the opportunity to get back to their original readings, and one devoted to more recent applications and developments by more diverse authors. The final session will discuss whether the classic ‘canon’ should be updates, through the addition in particular of WEB Du Bois.
Bibliographical references
A Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory (1971)
P Edwards, R Hodson, M Korczynski (eds), Social Theory at Work (2006) (chapters on Marx, Weber and Durkheim)
K Morrison, Marx, Durkheim, Weber (2006)
D Sayer, Capitalism and modernity: an excursus on Marx and Weber (1991)
The key focus of the course will be however reading extracts from works by Marx, Weber and Durkheim that will be distributed at the beginning of the course