SOC 475 - Money and Power: Insights From Economic Sociology
Department: Sociology
Description: Explores how economic behavior is embedded in social structure (including political and cultural practices); how economies are embedded in societies.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Not for credit if earned credit in SOC 375
Graduate Level Course: This course is approved for graduate credit
Current Offerings
Fall 2024
- 001 - Lecture (In Person): T Th 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM , Aaron Pitluck 3.00 hour(s)
Dates: 08/19/2024 - 12/07/2024
Location: Schroeder Hall 212 (SCH 212)
Instructor: Aaron Pitluck
Class Notes: Our theme next semester is Finance & Digitalization: Exploring connections between Global Wealth and Domestic Poverty. The globe is growing more interconnected. Two forms of this globalization that are initially challenging to understand are the information technology and finance industries. However, with the aid of some beautifully-written award-winning ethnographies, we will explore the complex global dynamics that simultaneously generate dynastic wealth and domestic poverty, both in Milwaukee as well as in countries like Vietnam. We will also use these books to explore the appeal and horror of how the information technology industries (like Gmail and Instagram and your credit score) are measuring and ranking every aspect of our lives to generate algorithmic predictions that are transforming the society we are living in. Also on the agenda, we’ll investigate the ethical and moral dilemmas of people working in these two industries, and how their choices shape society. Those are my themes. But in the other half of the class, you will follow your own curiosity and pursue your own questions in these books—and we, as a classroom community, will together explore your questions. The course is a reading-, writing-, and discussion-intensive class. There are no lectures. Books: Mathew Desmond (2017) Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (Excerpts) Matthew Desmond (2023), Poverty, by America Brooke Harrington (2016) Capital Without Borders: Wealth Managers and the One Percent Kimberly Kay Hoang (2022) Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy (2024) The Ordinal Society