21A.461 | Fall 2013 | Undergraduate

What is Capitalism?

Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DATES
Introduction
1 What is Capitalism? What is Anthropology?  
2 Competing Ways of Understanding Expanding Class Inequality in the United States  
3 An Ethnographic Problem: The Financial Crisis of 2008 Discussion with writing tutor: tips on paper-writing
Theories of Capitalism
4 Nineteenth Century Political Economy  
5 Sociological Perspectives: Weber and Bourdieu  
6 Capitalism After World War II  
7 Theories of Capitalism: From Post-Structuralism to Identity Literature  
8 Capitalism and Globalization  
9 Contemporary Debates Over Capitalism: The Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street  
10 Capitalism Redux: History, “Progress,” and the Return of the Nineteenth Century? First Writing Assignment Due
An Ethnographic Look: Capitalism And Everyday Life
11 Social Class: Thinking Outside the Box  
12 Film: People Like Us: Social Class in America. Directed by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker. PBS, 2001  
13 Film (cont.): People Like Us: Social Class in America. Directed by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker. The Center for New American Media, 2001.  
14 Discussion of “People Like Us”  
15 Discussion of Old Money and Blue-Chip Black  
Capitalism and Its Others
16 Capitalism and Its Others: Soviet-Style State Socialism Second Writing Assignment Due
17 Capitalism and Its Others: The Nordic Model  
18 Capitalism And Its Others: The “Third World”  
A Case Study: Inside the 2008 Financial Crisis
19 Inside the 2008 Financial Crisis Final Writing Assignment Topics Due; Discussion with Writing Tutor Regarding Final Writing Assignment
20 Film: Frontline: Money, Power & Wall Street, Episode 1, April 24, 2012.  
21 Film: Frontline: Money, Power & Wall Street, Episode 2, April 24, 2012.  
22 Inside the 2008 Financial Crisis (cont.) Draft of Final Writing Assignment Due
23 Inside the 2008 Financial Crisis (cont.)  
24 Inside the 2008 Financial Crisis (cont.) Draft of Final Writing Assignment Returned for Revisions
25 Final Project Oral Presentations  
26 Final Project Oral Presentations (cont.)  
27 Final Project Oral Presentations (cont.) Revised Final Writing Assignment Due

Course Info

Departments
As Taught In
Fall 2013
Learning Resource Types
Written Assignments with Examples