Economic Sociology: Money, Markets, Morals, and Social Life

Catalog description

Economic Sociology introduces students to a sociological perspective on the economy. It examines the social processes that effect and are embedded in economic behavior, economic institutions, and markets. In this course we will examine issues such as the social significance of money, the effect of social networks on labor market outcomes, the success and failure of firms, tips and gifts, informal markets and the trade of illicit goods, as well as, topics such as immigration and globalization. Our investigations into these diverse topics reveal how economic phenomena, economic systems, and processes, are shaped by social networks, cultural understandings, and relations of power. Throughout the course you will examine how economic relations are facilitated--created, maintained, transformed, and constrained--by social relations, revealing that economic life and behavior is just as social as religion, family, or education. Counts as a Disciplinary Communication course. Prereq: SOCI 101 .