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This program will examine the nature, development, and concrete workings of modern capitalism, with the US experience as a central focus in the fall and neoliberal globalization as the winter focus. Over the two quarters recurring themes will be the relationship among oppression, exploitation, resistance, and the construction of alternatives to capitalism, both nationally and internationally. We will also investigate the development and conventional understanding of the interrelationship of democracy and capitalism in the past as well as in the contemporary globalized political economy. Throughout the two quarters we will examine how social change has occurred in the past, present trends, and alternatives for the future. We will begin in the fall with the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe and elsewhere, the material and ideological foundations of the US political economy, and the development of globalization, including the political and economic relations between the United States and the rest of the world. We will explore specific issues including the slave trade, the “founding,” the development of markets, and the western push to “American Empire.” In the winter we will examine the role of the corporation, domestically and internationally, the global effect of neoliberalism on migration and labor markets, and comparative capitalism in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. As we examine the linkage between the economic core of capitalism to political systems and social structures, we will study the role of such multilateral institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, as well as other institutions and alliances. This is a serious program for serious people. This means that all participants commit to being in all classes and to having all the reading done. |
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