ECONOMY AND SOCIETY: THE SOCIOLOGY OF ECONOMIC LIFE. Sociology 215.
Political Science 390. Winter 2016. Nader Sohrabi. Office: Room #222, 1808
Chicago Avenue. Phone: 847-467-3985. Email: nader.sohrabi@northwestern.edu.
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-3 pm, or by appointment.
11:00-12:20, MW
TA Andrew Owen
This course considers the interaction between economy and society. The goal here is to show that
economic transactions are embedded within political and social relationships. That while the economy
has a strong logic of its own, ignoring its dynamic relationship with politics and the social context
renders us incapable of explaining many facets of economic life. Furthermore, the course aims to
socialize the atomized/individualized homo economicus. A topic that is explored in some detail is
economic inequality. This question is approached at the macro-level by exploring the US and the longterm trends in global economy, and at the micro-level by looking at its impact on child rearing. The
questions explored are implications for political democracy, the smooth functioning of society, and the
well-being of the individual. In addition to the rise of inequality, another transforming event with
dramatic effect on society has been the shift from manufacturing to the service economy. This is a topic
that is also approached at the macro and micro-level of analysis. Additional themes are property rights
and their social consequences, social embeddedness of markets, and the informal economy.
Books:
Joseph Stiglitz The Price of Inequality
Annette Lareau Unequal Childhoods
Carruthers and Babb Economy/Society
Robin Leidner Fast Food and Fast Talk
Nicole Woolsey Biggart Charismatic Capitalism
All other readings are posted on Canvas
Grading:
1st mid-term (30%)
2nd mid-term (cumulative, 40%)
Assignment (20%)
Participation (10%)
Week 1-2
Monday Jan 4, Wednesday Jan 6, Monday January 11, Wednesday January 13
Introduction and overview
Economic Inequalities: American Class Structure (Macro Approach)
Joseph Stiglitz The Price of Inequality pp. 1-27. (chapter 1; paperback edition: pp. 1-34)
Joseph Stiglitz The Price of Inequality pp. 28-82. (chapters 2,3; paperback edition 34-103)
Paul Krugman “Robots and Robber Barons,” New York Times, Dec 9, 2012
Economic Inequalities: Global Trends, Global Class Structure (Macro)
Thomas Picketty Capital in the Twenty-First Century pp. 1-35.
Carruthers and Babb Economy/Society Chapter 6
Week 3-4
Monday January 18 (Martin Luther King Day, no class), Wednesday January 20, Monday January 25,
Wednesday January 27
Economic Inequalities: Empirical Discussion of American Class Structure (Micro level study)
Annette Lareau Unequal Childhoods pp. 1-103
Annette Lareau Unequal Childhoods pp. 233-311.
Pierre Bourdieu “The Forms of Capital” pp. 78-92.
Documentary movie (The Things I Cannot Change)
Irrational Homo Economicus. Can rational social actors be irrational economic actors? The social
embeddedness of economic life.
Daniel Bertaux and Isabelle Bertaux-Wiame “Artisanal Bakery in France: How it Lives and Why it
Survives,” in The Petite Bourgeoisie ed. Bechhofer and Elliot (New York: St. Martin’s, 1981)
Week 5
Monday February 1, Wednesday February 3
1st Mid-term (Monday February 1)
Service economy
Macro Empirical Implications (Race or Class?):
Wilson, William J. 1987. "Cycles of Deprivation and the Ghetto Underclass Debate," and "Social Change
and Social Dislocations in the Inner City," Pp.3-62 in The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the
Underclass and Public Policy Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Carruthers and Babb. Economy/Society. Chapter 3.
Movie Detropia
Assignment given out Wednesday February 3, due in one week, Wednesday February 10
Week 6
Monday February 8, Wednesday February 10
Service Economy
Micro settings
Robin Leidner Fast Food and Fast Talk
Week 7
Monday February 15, Wednesday February 17
Property and the meaning of ownership (week 1): What is property? How do new forms of property
emerge?
Raymond T. Nimmer and Patricia Ann Krauthaus. 1992. "Information as a Commodity," Law and
Contemporary Problems, 55(3): 103-130. On canvas.
Robert Hunt. 2001. “You Can Patent That? Are Patents on Computer Programs and Business
Methods Good for the New Economy?” Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Business Review, On
canvas.
Lori Andrews, Jordan Paradise, Timothy Holbrook, Danielle Bochneak. 2006. “When
PatentsThreaten Science,” Science 314: 1395-1396. On canvas.
Robert Cook-Deegan. 2012. “Law and Science Collide Over Human Gene Patents,” Science 338:
745-747. On canvas.
Diana Rhoten and Walter W. Powell. 2007. “The Frontiers of Intellectual Property,” Annual
Review of Law and Social Science 3: 345-373. On canvas.
Eliot Marshall. 2013. “Supreme Court Rules Out Patents on ‘Natural’ Genes,” Science 340: 13871388. On canvas.
Week 8-9
Monday February 22, Wednesday February 24, Monday February 29, Wednesday March 2
Markets
What are they, and how are they organized? What are the social foundations of markets as institutions?
What motivates people in markets?
Julian Barnes. 1993. "The Deficit Millionaires," The New Yorker, September 20 1993. pp.74-93.
On blackboard.
Nicole Woolsey Biggart. 1989. Charismatic Capitalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Carruthers and Babb. Economy/Society. Chapters 1,2.
Week 10
Monday March 7, Wednesday March 9
Informal economic activities and institutions: how do black markets and other informal or illegal
economic institutions operate? What difference does the absence of state sanction make?
Christian Zlolniski. 1994. “The Informal Economy in an Advanced Industrialized Society:
Mexican Immigrant Labor in Silicon Valley,” Yale Law Journal 103(8): 2305-2335. www.jstor.org.
Wayne Baker and Robert Faulkner. 1993. “The Social Organization of Conspiracy: Illegal
Networks in the Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry,” American Sociological Review, 58: 837-860.
www.jstor.org.
Timothy Frye. 2002. “Private Protection in Russia and Poland,” American Journal of Political
Science 46(3): 572-584. www.jstor.org.
2nd mid-term (Wednesday March 9)