Course Title:
Economic Change and Social Stratification
Course Code:
SOC318 (First Semester 2001)
INSTRUCTOR:
I. Introduction:
Dr. Peter BAEHR
Course Description and Mode of Assessment
This course examines the relationship between economic change and social inequality. It investigates
why some people - and some nations - are richer and more powerful than others. In addition, it seeks
to assess the extent to which economic, cultural and political ideas and institutions are becoming
“globalized.” Examples from both Asian and Western societies are provided. The key objectives of
this course are (1) to offer a comparative, empirical analysis of economic change; (2) to provide a
theoretically informed treatment of social stratification; and (3) to consider the importance of culture
- for instance, relationships of trust – as a contributing factor to an economy's success or lack of it.
Below you will find a Lecture Outline divided into 13 weeks. Beneath each weekly
lecture you will see the reading for each week. Essential Reading must be done by everyone.
Those who are presenting the tutorial must ALSO read at least two of the items under
Supplementary Reading.
For up to date sources in English see: South China Morning Post, The Economist, Far
Eastern Economic Review, Asia Week (all can be accessed via the Internet) and the following
web sites http://www.asiasource.org
http://www.nbr.org
http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm
http://sipa.columbia.edu/REGIONAL/EAI/index.html
http://sipa.columbia.edu/REGIONAL/EAI/netlinks.htm
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html
Web site information is particularly helpful for keeping abreast of the latest economic and social
developments. Creative use of the Internet search engines will also help you to locate useful
information (e.g. type in the word AGlobalization@).
The course will be assessed as follows:
Continual Assessment (40%)
Exam: 60%
The continual assessment will take the following form:
Each student will give a tutorial presentation (worth 20%) which will then be extended and
written-up into a term paper (20%) which is due on Friday 9th December. (I encourage you to
deliver the term paper before then; if you do, I will grade and have it back to you within a week.)
The paper should be between 2500 and 3000 words (max.)
II. Lecture Outline
Part I. Theories of Economic Change and Social Stratification
Week 1) What the Course is about. Some basic concepts: Market, Civil Society, State, Capital
(Physical, Human and Social), Stratification, Capitalism, State Socialism
Week 2) Marxist and neo-Marxist analysis
Essential Reading:
a) Grabb, chapter 2: AKarl Marx and the Theory of Class,@ and chapter 6, pp. 138-155,
ACurrent Marxist Views@ (on Eric Olin Wright)
Supplementary Reading:
b) K. Marx and F. Engels, The Communist Manifesto.
c) Philip A. Kuhn AChinese Views of Social Stratification,@ in James L. Watson (editor), Class
and Social Stratification in Post-Revolution China, pp. 16-28.
d) Stuart Schram, “Classes, Old and New, in Mao Zedong’s Thought, 1949-1976”, in Watson,
ibid, pp. 29-55.
e) G. de Ste. Croix, AClass in Marx's Conception of History: Ancient and Modern,@ New Left
Review 146 July/August 1984, pp. 94-111.
Tutorial Question: In ways, according to Marx, is class central to economic exploitation? How
did Mao Zedong adapt Marx=s class analysis?
Week 3) Weberian and neo-Weberian Theory
Essential Reading:
a) Grabb, chapter 3: AMax Weber and the Multiple Bases for Inequality,@ and chapter 6, pp.
155-163, and pp. 178-188.
Supplementary Reading:
b) Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (editors), From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, chapter
7 (on Class, Status Group and Party).
c) Frank Parkin, Max Weber, chapter 4.
d) Anthony Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory, chapter 11.
e) Randall Collins, Theoretical Sociology, chap. 5 (Multidimensional Conflict Theory and Social
Stratification; Lenski=s and Turner=s theories of inequality; sex and gender stratification,
educational credential stratification).
Tutorial Question: Examine the similarities and differences between Weber and Marx’s concept
of “class”. Do you think Weber=s analysis of social stratification is analytically superior to
Marx=s?
Week 4) Some Later Theories of Social Stratification: Functionalism, Dual Economy and New
Class.
Tutorial: Studs Terkel on Race and Racism in America (We will listen to an audio tape and then
discuss its contents.)
Part II. Economic Change, Culture and Prosperity
Week 5) Economic change, Atrust@ and risk
Essential Reading:
a) Francis Fukuyma, “Social Capital” in L.E. Harrison and S.P. Huntington, Culture Matters, pp.
98-111.
b) Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, pp. 1-54, 79-134.
Supplementary Reading:
c) Francis Fukuyama, Trust. The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, especially Part I
(The Idea of Trust: The Improbable Power of Culture in the Making of Economic Society) and
Part II, chaps. 8 and 9 (on China), 14, 15, and 16 (on Japan). (Chapters 27-31, all short, provide
useful overviews of Fukuyama=s argument.)
d) Anthony Giddens, Conversations with Anthony Giddens, interview 4 on AModernity
e) Ulrich Beck, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity.
Tutorial Question: Why is Atrust@ such an important part of society? How do trust relationships
- or the lack of them - affect a society=s economic performance?
Week 6) Economic change and AAsian values@
Essential Reading:
a) Lucian W. Pye, “Asian Values: From Dynamos to Dominoes?,” in Harrison and Huntington,
Culture Matters, pp. 244-255.
b) Chris Patten, East and West: China, Power and the Future of Asia, chapters 4 (ATiger
Talk@), 5 (AAsian Values@) and 6 (AFreedom and the Market@).
Supplementary Reading:
c) Ronald Inglehart and Wayne E. Baker, “Modernization, Cultural Change and the Persistence
of Traditional Values,” American Sociological Review 65:1 (Feb. 2000). (A shorter version of
this essay can be found in Harrison and Huntington, Culture Matters, pp. 81-97.
d) Victor Mallet, “The Rise and Fall of ‘Asian Values’,” The Trouble with Tigers: The Rise and
Fall of South East Asia, pp. 25-55.
e) Jack Goody, “The East in the West,” European Journal of Sociology 38:2 (1997), pp. 171-183.
Tutorial Question: Commentators are divided on whether “Asian values” promote economic
growth or impede it. Give your views, being sure to define what you mean by “Asian values”.
Week 7) Affluence, Poverty and Famine
Essential Reading:
a) David S. Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. Why Some are So Rich and Some So
Poor, especially chapters 2 (AAnswers To Geography: Europe and China@), 21 (ACelestial
Empire: Stasis and Retreat@), 22 (AJapan: And the Last shall be First@), 23 (AThe Meiji
Restoration@), 27 and 28 (AWinners and Losers@).
Supplementary Reading:
b) Jeffrey Sachs, “Notes on a New Sociology of Economic Development,” in Harrison and
Huntington, Culture Matters, pp. 29-55.
c) AThe Tigers that Changed their Stripes@, The Economist (Survey of South-East Asia)
February 12th 2000, pp. 1-16.
d) Max Weber, General Economic History (Part 4 on “The Origin of Modern Capitalism”)
Tutorial Question: What are the chief geographic, social and cultural factors that have
historically proved favourable to capitalist development?
Week 8) Dimensions of Globalization
Reading:
a) David Held, Anthony McGrew (editors), The Global Transformations Reader, Introduction
(AThe Great Globalization Debate: An Introduction,@ by Held and McGrew) and chapter 11
(AHas Globalization Ended the Rise and Rise of the Nation State?,@ by Michael Mann.
Supplementary Reading:
b) David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt and Jonathan Perraton, Global
Transformations: Politics, Economic and Culture, Introduction, chapters 3 (AGlobal Trade,
Global Markets), 4 (AShifting Patterns of Global Finance@), 5 (ACorporate Power and Global
Production Networks@), 6 (APeople on the Move@), 7 (AGlobalization, Culture and the Fate of
Nations@) and Conclusion (AThe Shape of Contemporary Globalization@).
c) Schools Brief on Globalization, The Economist, Oct 18th, 1997, pp. 79-80; October 25th, pp.
87-88; November 1st, pp. 81-82; November 8th, pp. 85-86. (On Reserve in one folder.)
d) Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the
World.
e) Manuel Castells, End of Millenium (especially chapter 4 on ADevelopment and Crisis in the
Asian Pacific: Globalization and the State@).
Tutorial Question: Define what is meant by “globalization”. How useful do you find this concept
for making sense of modern economic and other kinds of change? Critically examine the major
criticisms of globalization put forward by those active in “anti-globalization” social movements.
Week 9) Review and Preparation for the Term Paper
Tutorial: Video on Globalization
Week 10) The People=s Republic of China: Patterns of Political and Economic Stratification
Essential Reading
a) Willem van Kemenade, chapters 1 (AChina: From Maoist Stalinism to >Market
Socialism=,@) 17 (AThe Dawn of the Post-Deng Era@), 18 (AThe Three Neo's:
Neonationalism, Neo-Confucianism, Neoauthoritarianism@), 19 (ADemocracy with Chinese
Characteristics?@).
Supplementary Reading
b) Andrew J. Nathan, “Maoist Institutions and Post-Mao Reform,” in Andrew J. Nathan, China’s
Transition, pp. 49-62.
c) Robert F. Dernberger, AThe People=s Republic of China at 50: The Economy,@ China
Quarterly 159 (September 1999), pp. 606-615.
d) Kenneth Lieberthal, Governing China. From Revolution through Reform, especially chapters
9 (AEconomic Development@), 10 (AThe Environment@), 11 AState and Society: The Maoist
State and Chinese Society/ State-Society relations under Deng=s Reforms@), 12 (Domestic
Developments and International Challenges).
e) “Can China Change?”, The Economist, October 2nd, 1999, pp. 23-25.
f) ANow Comes the Hard Part,@ The Economist (survey of China), April 8th, 2000, pp. 1-16.
Tutorial Question: Is modern China still a socialist country?
Week 11) The Hong Kong SAR and Its Environment: Political Conditions of Economic
Development
Essential Reading:
a) Willem van Kemenade, chapters 2 (AHong Kong: From British Crown Colony to Special
Administrative Region of China@), 4 (AOrigin of the Formula >One Country-Two
Systems=@), 6 (AShenzhen and >Greater Hong Kong,@).
Supplementary Reading:
b) Wong, Man Fong, China=s Resumptions of Sovereignty Over Hong Kong. (This is very short
and should be read in its entirety.)
c) Deng Xiaoping(1994) AOur basic position on the question of Hong Kong,@ in: Selected
Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume III, pp. 23-25.
d) Alvin Y. So, Hong Kong’s Embattled Democracy: A Societal Analysis.
e) Peter Baehr, “The People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong’s New Political Dispensation,”
Citizenship Studies 5 (2):103-125.
Tutorial Question: What kinds of political and economic liberty do the residents of Hong Kong
possess under the “one country, two systems” formula?
Week 12) The Hong Kong SAR: Patterns of Economic Inequality and the Growing WealthPoverty Gap
Tutorial: Video and discussion. Students should read Benjamin K. P. Leung, Perspectives on
Hong Kong Society, especially chapters 1 [AEconomy, Politics, and Society: Developmental
Overviews”], 2 [ASocial Class and Social Mobility@] and 3 [ACulture and Society@]. I will
also circulate some statistics from the latest General Household Survey
Week 13: Review of the Course and Exam Preparation.
**********
Peter Baehr September 2001