Course Information

Course Code: 08-29-W-21
Instructor: Dr. Timur Ergen (trgn@uni-bremen.de)
Institution: University of Bremen
Semester: Winter Semester 2025/2026
Schedule: Wednesdays 16:00–18:00, weekly (from 15/10/25)
Location: UNICOM 3.0230 Seminarraum 3
Next Date: Wednesday, 15.10.2025 16:00–18:00, Room: UNICOM 3.0230 Seminarraum 3

This seminar explores central topics of political economy and economic sociology, ranging from the origins of the two disciplines—when they were not yet separated—to theories on the relationship between capitalism and democracy. Seminar readings reflect the major political-economic controversies of modernity: the origin and peculiarities of the capitalist economic system; the role of politics in a liberal economic order; the need for reform and the possibility of revolution; the limits of state regulation and social control of the capitalist economy; and the relationship between the capitalist market economy and modern culture.

Assessment

Discussion of the readings will make up the core of the seminar sessions. Students are expected to read all assigned texts and to participate regularly and actively. To get credit (6 CP), students must (1) do all assigned readings; (2) prepare three reading reports (1,500 words); (3) and submit final papers (10,000 characters).

The reading reports are intended to prepare the ground for discussions by asking participants to set out their responses to the readings in written form. Memos should not just summarize the readings, but rather take up specific arguments, compare the positions of different authors, raise questions of evidence, usefulness, or plausibility or draw attention to particular strengths and weaknesses in the arguments and descriptions. We will share these memos through email. In order for everyone to have time to read over the comments of others, these will be due by 4 pm on the day before the class meets.

Course Materials

Introductory Reading:

  • Berger, Peter L., 1986: The Capitalist Revolution, Chapter 1, “Capitalism as a Phenomenon”, New York: Basic Books, pp. 15–31.
  • Giddens, Anthony, 1975: Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Session 1: Introduction and Work Schedule

October 15, 2025

Liberalism

Session 2: Smith

October 22, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Smith, Adam, 1976 [1776]: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, ed. R. H. Campbell, A. S. Skinner and W. B. Todd, Book I, Chapters I–IV, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 13–46.

Theories of Transition to Modern Capitalism

Session 3: Marx

October 29, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Marx, Karl, 1990 [1867]: Capital, trans. Ben Fowkes, Volume 1, Part VIII, “So-called Primitive Accumulation”, New York: Penguin Classics, pp. 873–895, 914–930.

Session 4: Durkheim

November 5, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Durkheim, Emile, 1984: The Division of Labour in Society, trans. W.D. Halls, with an introduction by Lewis Coser, Book II, Chapter I: “The Progress of the Division of Labor and of Happiness”, Chapter 2, “The Causes”, London: Macmillan, pp. 179–225.

Session 5: Weber

November 12, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Weber, Max, 1958 [1904]: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons, in particular Chapter II, “The ‘Spirit’ of Capitalism” (pp. 47–78), Chapter IV, “The Religious Foundations of Worldly Asceticism” (pp. 95–128), Chapter V, “Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism” (esp. 166–183).

Revolution and Reform

Session 6: Marx and Engels

November 19, 2025

Required Readings:

  • Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels, 2008 [1848]: The Communist Manifesto, Part I, “Bourgeois and Proletarians” (pp. 41–49).
  • Marx, Karl, 1990 [1867]: Capital, trans. Ben Fowkes, Volume 1, Part III, Chapter 10, “The Working Day”, New York: Penguin Classics, pp. 279–293, 315–320.

Session 7: Durkheim

November 26, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Durkheim, Emile, 1984: The Division of Labour in Society, trans. W.D. Halls, with an introduction by Lewis Coser, Preface to the Second Edition; Book III, Chapter 2: “The Forced Division of Labour”, London: Macmillan, pp. xxxi–lix, 310–322.

Political Governability of Modern Capitalism

Session 8: Keynes and Kalecki

December 3, 2025

Required Readings:

  • Keynes, John M., 1973 [1936]: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, in particular Chapter 12, “The State of Long-Term Expectations” (pp. 147–164) and Chapter 24, “Concluding Notes on the Social Philosophy towards which the General Theory Might Lead” (pp. 372–384).
  • Kalecki, Michal, 1943: “Political Aspects of Full Employment”. In: Political Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 322–331.

Session 9: Hayek

December 10, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Hayek, F.A., 1950: “Full Employment, Planning and Inflation”. In: ibid., 1967: Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 270–279.

The “Double Movement”

Session 10: Polanyi

December 17, 2025

Required Reading:

  • Polanyi, Karl, 1957 [1944]: The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, Boston: Beacon Press, especially chapters 5, 6, 11, 12, and 21.

Winter Break: December 22, 2025 – January 2, 2026

Capitalism and Democracy

Session 11: Marshall and Lipset

January 7, 2026

Required Readings:

  • Marshall, T. H., 1965 [1949]: “Citizenship and Social Class”. In: T.H. Marshall, Class, Citizenship, and Social Development. Essays by T.H. Marshall, Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, pp. 71–134 (especially: “The Early Impact of Citizenship”, pp. 91–105).
  • Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1963 [1960]: Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics, Chapter 2, “Economic Development and Democracy”, Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, pp. 27–63.

Session 12: Bell

January 14, 2026

Required Reading:

  • Bell, Daniel, 1978: “The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism”. In: Bell, Daniel, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, New York: Basic Books, pp. 33–84.

Session 13: Streeck

January 21, 2026

Required Reading:

  • Streeck, Wolfgang, 2011: “The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism”. In: New Left Review, Vol. 71, pp. 5–29.

The Moral Dimension of Capitalism

Session 14: Hirschman

January 28, 2026

Required Reading:

  • Hirschman, Albert O., 1982: “Rival Interpretations of Market Society: Civilizing, Destructive, or Feeble?”, in Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 20, pp. 1463–1484.