Learning objectives
Provide the student with the ability to recognize the fundamental processes of transformation that have characterized Western societies since the industrial revolution and be able to analyze them critically, using the different keys of interpretation offered by some classics of the discipline.
Prerequisites
None
Course unit content
General Part
The general part of the course will deal with the fundamental economic processes that characterize the advanced capitalist societies, this through the point of view of the classic social and economic thinkers Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Karl Polanyi. The connections identified by these authors between economy and society will be analyzed in the light of the critical contributions offered by more recent authors, such as David Harvey, Giovanni Arrighi, Mark Granovetter and Serge Latouche. The study of the classics will also be done in such a way, as to suggest to the students critical tools and interpretative keys that will enable them to read and understand in greater depth the main economic and social dynamics that characterize the contemporary world.
Monographic Part
This part of the course will focus on the transition process that has invested, since the end of the sixties, advanced capitalist societies. The transition from the Fordist system to that of "flexible accumulation", and the simultaneus process of globalization of markets -characterized by the centrality of the financial sector and services- will be analyzed in this perspective. Particular attention will be given to the transformations that have characterized the world of work (flexibility, reduction of wages, rise of the so-called "cognitive capitalism", as well as the dynamics of public debt and the crisis of the welfare state. Each of these processes will be analyzed under the hypothesis that advanced capitalist societies have entered, since the seventies, in a phase of "diminishing returns", an hypothesis that would explain the "non-cyclical" aspect of the current crisis.
Full programme
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Bibliography
General Part:
Piero Barucci, Adam Smith e la nascita dell'economia Politica, Mondadori, 1991 (Caps. 1, 2, 3, 4).
Max Weber, L'etica protestante e lo spirito del capitalismo, Rizzoli, 1991.
Karl Polanyi, La grande trasformazione, Einaudi, 1974.
Monographic Part:
Mauro Bonaiuti, La grande transizione, Bollati Boringhieri, 2013.
Teaching methods
Lectures and interactive workshops, also with the help of external experts.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam consists of two tests: one written and one oral.
For non attending students the written test will focus on the recommended texts and will consist of both closed and open questions. They are however encouraged to get the handouts of the course, available at the copy shop located at the corner of Via Università. The oral exam will focus on any lacuna shown throught the written test.
Attending students are invited to utilize the materials made available during the course (handouts) and that partially replace the texts for the general part. They will also have the opportunity to take a partial written exam during the course. During the lessons, particularly those relating to the monographic part, some topics will be in-depth explored, on which the students are invited to prepare a written essay, to be delivered at least two weeks prior to the exam. Also for attending students the oral examination will focus exclusively on any lacuna shown in the written test.
Students who have attended the course in past academic years and with a different program are invited to contact the teacher.
Other information
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