SOCIOLOGY OF MONEY

Catalog description

This course explores how money is not merely a financial instrument and how people use it in all areas of economic life to create, maintain, symbolize, and transform meaningful social relations. We will discuss the ways in which money reflects and reproduces social arrangements, how individuals value money differently in various contexts, and how money is used to create distinctions among people or objects. Topics include: conspicuous consumption, the gender pay gap, social class inequalities, the relationship between money and happiness, informal credit systems, the tipping culture in the US, and ethics of trading human body parts, among others. PREREQ: MINIMUM SOPHOMORE STANDING