Direction des études et de la scolarité

Collège universitaire, Programme Euro-Américain

Semestre de printemps, 2019-2020

Descriptif de l’enseignement

Nom, Prénom de l’enseignant :

Thiemann, Matthias

Titre de l'enseignement (dans la langue principale de l’enseignement) :

Money and Values

Titre de l'enseignement en anglais :

Langue principale de l’enseignement :

english

Pré-requis :
(Facultatif, 300 caractères maximum, dans la langue principale de l’enseignement)
This class is a Bachelor class that seeks to acquaint students with non-economistic views on the economy.
Students need to be equipped with good English and a willingness to engage with complex texts. Economic
knowledge is not a pre-condition, but the willingness to prepare and engage in class is.

Présentation de l’enseignement et des objectifs pédagogiques :

(Obligatoire, 800 caractères maximum, dans la langue principale de l’enseignement)

Money is clearly one of the most powerful social linkages between individuals, groups and nation states
that exists. Its power of abstraction generates equivalences where none existed, forms the basis of
most calculations and has the metaphysical quality of generating off-spring (interest). Yet, sociological
inquiry into its emergence, institutional underpinnings and importance for the development of societies
is fragmented. This course will draw on sociological sources and complement it with work in economic
anthropology and heterodox economics to inquire how money has changed human societies. It argues
that a proper historical and conceptual understanding of money and its relationship to markets and
states allows us to overcome the state-market dichotomy, to understand the deep transformation the
evolution towards capitalism entailed and how deeply entrenched certain representations related to
capitalist economies are embedded in our societies.

Modalités d’évaluation :
(Obligatoire - 300 caractères maximum, dans la langue principale de l’enseignement)
One exam at the end, one presentation in class and three reaction memos (2 pages each).

Lectures demandées :
Skidelsky and Skidelsky.2010. How much is enough?
Gleeson-White. 2011. The invention of double entry book keeping
Karl Marx. 1867. Capital Volume I, excerpts ; Max Weber. Protestant Ethic (excerpts). Marcel Mauss. The
Gift (excerpts)

Lectures complémentaires / filmographie / discographie :

Plan des séances (12) :

1, place Museux 51100 REIMS – T : 03 26 05 94 60 www.sciences-po.fr

 Direction des études et de la scolarité
Collège universitaire, Programme Euro-Américain
Semestre de printemps, 2019-2020

Session 1. Introduction

*Stark, David. 2000. For a Sociology of Worth, Working Paper Series, Center on
Organizational Innovation, Columbia University, 455-460.
*Ingham, Geoffrey. 2006. Sociology of Money, in International Encyclopedia of Economic
Sociology, edited by Jens Beckert and Milan Zafirovski. London & New York: Routledge, 1-5.
*Polanyi, Karl.1957. The economy as instituted process. Pp. 243-270 in Polanyi, Karl et al.
Trade and the Market in Early Empires. Chicago: Gateway Edition

Session 2. The origins of money: the myth of barter and economic history

*Graeber, David. 2011. Chapter 2: The Myth of Barter, in Debt: The first 5000 years. New
York: Melville House, 21-41.

*Mauss, Marcel. (1925) 2011. The Gift- Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic
Societies. Martino Publishing: Mansfield CT, 1-5, 19-29, 45.

Optional: Malinowski, Bronislaw (1922) 2007. The Argonauts of the Western Pacific. LSE:
London, 81-101, 509-515.

Session 3. The impact of money on values: setting the stage

*Aristotle (ca. 335 B.E.) Politics, Book One, Sections VIII – XI.
http://www.constitution.org/ari/polit_01.htm [last accessed: 19.4.2017]
*Polanyi, Karl. 1957. Aristotle Discovers the Economy, in Trade and Market in the Early
Empires: Economies in History and Theory, edited by Karl Polanyi, Conrad Arensberg, and
Harry Pearson. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 64–94.

Optional
Skidelsky, Robert and Edward Skidelsky. 2010. How much is enough?, pp. 71-77

Session 4. The Great Transformation

* Polanyi, Karl (1944). The Great Transformation. Chapter 6: The Self-regulating Market and
the fictitious commodities. Pp. 68-76.

*Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation. Chapter 3: Habitation vs. improvement. Pp. 33-42
Optional:
Marx, Karl. 1867. So-called primitive accumulation. Capital 1, chapters 26-7, 873-95.

Session 5. The rise of capitalism and the protestant ethic

*Weber, Max. 2001. The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism. 13-38, 102-125.
* Marx, Karl. (1867) 1982. The General Formula for Capital. Capital 1: A Critique of Political
Economy. Ed. Ernest Mandel. Transl. Ben Fowkes. Reprint edition. London; New York:
Penguin Classics. Chapter 4, 247-57.

Optional
Swedberg, Richard. 2003. Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology. Pp.22-45.

1, place Museux 51100 REIMS – T : 03 26 05 94 60 www.sciences-po.fr

 Direction des études et de la scolarité
Collège universitaire, Programme Euro-Américain
Semestre de printemps, 2019-2020

Session 6. The Passions and the Interests

* Hirschman, Albert. (1977) 1997. The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for
Capitalism Before Its Triumph. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 20-42, 48-63.
*Mandeville, Bernard. (1723) 1988. The fable of the bees, 66-75. (Full text available at:
http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/846/Mandeville_0014-01_EBk_v6.0.pdf).

Optional:
*Skidelsky, Robert and Edward Skidelsky. 2010. How much is enough?, pp. 47-53

Session 7. Credit Money and the State

*Keynes, John Maynard. 1930. A Treatise on Money: The Applied Theory of Money, The
Royal Economic Society: London, 1-14.

Ingham, Geoffrey. 2004. The Nature of Money. S. 38-58

Optional:
Kim, Jongchul. 2012. How Politics Shaped Modern Banking in Early Modern England:
Rethinking the Nature of Representative Democracy, Public Debt, and Modern Banking.
MPIfG Discussion Paper 12/11.

Session 8. Double Entry Book Keeping and rational economic action

*Weber, Max (1905) 2001. The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Pp. XXXI-
XXXVI.
*Gleeson-White, Jane.2013. Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern
Finance. 161-175.

*Carruthers, Bruce and Wendy Espeland 1991. Accounting for Rationality: Double Entry
Book Keeping and the Rhetoric of Economic Rationality. American Journal of Sociology Vol.
97; No. 1, 31-69.

Session 9. Money in modernity: from qualities to quantities and back

again

*Zelizer, Viviana. 1989. The Social Meaning of Money: “Special Monies”. American Journal
of Sociology, Vol. 95, No. 2, pp. 342-377.

Optional
Simmel, Georg. (1907) 2004. The Philosophy of Money. London & New York: Routledge,
pp.433-450
(full text available at: http://www.eddiejackson.net/web_documents/Philosophy%20of
%20Money.pdf).

Session 10. Is Finance productive?

Christophers, Brett (2011) Making finance productive, Economy and Society, 40:1, 112-140
1, place Museux 51100 REIMS – T : 03 26 05 94 60 www.sciences-po.fr
 Direction des études et de la scolarité
Collège universitaire, Programme Euro-Américain
Semestre de printemps, 2019-2020

De Goede, Marieke. 2004. Repoliticizing Financial Risk. Economy and Society Volume 33,
Number 2, May 2004: 197-217

What is valuable and what should be protected? National Accounting and the
problem of values

*Gleeson-White, Jane.2013. Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern
Finance. 226-242
*Skidelsky, Robert and Edward Skidelsky. 2010. How much is enough?, pp. 8-14

*Costanza, Robert et al. 2009. Beyond GDP: The Need for New Measures of Progress, pp. 6-
38
Optional.
Matthias Schmelzer. 2017. The Hegemony of Growth: The OECD and the Making of the
Economic Growth Paradigtm (excerpts)

Session 12. EXAM

1, place Museux 51100 REIMS – T : 03 26 05 94 60 www.sciences-po.fr