2012-13 Catalog

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Offering Description

The Making of Global Capitalism, 1500-1914

Winter 2013 quarter

Faculty
Jeanne Hahn political economy, political science
Fields of Study
anthropology, economics, geography, history, political economy and sociology
Preparatory for studies or careers in
history, political economy, political science, the non-quantitative social sciences, secondary education, graduate school and informed citizenship.
Prerequisites
Previous work in the social sciences and political economy.
Description

Working together in a seminar format, students and faculty will establish an historical, theoretical and analytical understanding of the birth of capitalism in the crisis of 16th century European feudalism, its rise and consolidation in the late 18th and 19th centuries, the development of the global political economy, and its first structural crisis accompanied by a major burst of imperial expansion in the late 19th century. We will find this is a topic steeped in controversy. Capitalism has transformed the world materially, socially and ecologically. We will consider the interrelationships among these three categories as capitalism developed and changed through its formative period. Major analytical categories will be imperialism, colonialism, and globalism, the accompanying ecological transformation, and the rise of social classes in support of and resistance to these developments. We will study the rise of liberalism in its historical context, as well as its counterparts, conservatism and socialism. Understanding the trajectory, deep history and logic of historical capitalism will provide students with the insights and tools necessary to assess the current historical moment. The program will require close and careful reading and discussion as well as considered and well-grounded writing. Our work will be conducted at an upper-division level.

Location
Olympia
Online Learning
No Required Online Learning
Books
Greener Store
Offered During
Day