SOC 243/POL 244: Politics of Class and Markets

Course Description

This course is about capitalism, and the relationship between states, markets, and classes.
Specifically, it examines how social and economic forces shape politics in contemporary capitalist
societies. The first section of the course critiques of behavioral foundations of mainstream
economics, and then moves on to focus on the work of Marx, Weber, Polanyi, and post-colonial
theorists as a starting point for understanding the massive, inter-linked transformation of
economic and political institutions and social relations with the shift towards capitalism. These
sessions are followed by a more detailed analysis of the social transformation induced by
capitalism, by focusing on the central unit of analysis in capitalist societies - class and class
structures. This second part of the course looks at contemporary debates on class and class
structure, drawing on Marxist and Weberian debates on the subject, before exploring how class
shapes democratic competition and legitimacy, state forms, and policy-making. The third section
of the course delves into the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ debate, focusing on the political and
historical processes that have given rise to diverse institutional arrangements governing the
regulation of the economy and the provision of welfare in contemporary capitalist societies. The
course then concludes with sessions on globalization, informalization, and the potential for
realizing and implementing alternatives to capitalism.

Key Themes:

The course’s objectives are as follow:

• To introduce students to the key debates around questions regarding markets, class, and
contemporary capitalism.

• To provide the analytical tools and the empirical knowledge to understand some of the
fundamental socio-political processes that shape the world we live in;

• To give students an opportunity to develop their capacity for rigorous oral and written
argumentation. Session discussions, research essays, and an essay-based exam will foster
a critical approach. Students are encouraged to re-evaluate commonly accepted ideas,
consider alternative explanations for important social and political developments, and
support their own conclusions with carefully deployed evidence.

Class Format

Two lectures each week – the first hour of each class will be an overview of the important topic
of the week, while the remaining 50 minutes will be for discussion and deliberation.

Students will have the chance to participate during class or submit 300-350 word reading
reflections on LMS every week to earn participation credit.
Missed Assessments

Missed quiz petitions will be handled by OSA. It is your responsibility to read up on policies
regarding these petitions.

Academic Misconduct

Academic integrity is essential to maintaining an environment that fosters excellence in teaching,

research, and other educational and scholarly activities. The term “academic misconduct”
includes but is not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with
quizzes, write-ups, and exams. Ignorance of the University’s code of student conduct is never
considered an excuse for academic misconduct; please review the student handbook. All cases
of cheating or plagiarism will be handed over to the DC, and I reserve the right to conduct a
viva with any student following a take-home quiz.

Anti-Harassment Policy

MGSHSS, LUMS and particularly this class, is a harassment free zone. There is absolutely zero
tolerance for any behaviour that is intended, or has the expected result of making anyone
uncomfortable and negatively impacts the class environment, or any individual’s ability to
work to the best of their potential.

If you think that you may be a victim of harassment, or if you have observed
any harassment occurring in the purview of this class, please reach out and speak to me. If you
are a victim, I strongly encourage you to reach out to the Office of Accessibility and Inclusion
at oai@lums.edu.pk or the sexual harassment inquiry committee
at harassment@lums.edu.pk for any queries, clarifications, or advice. You may choose to file
an informal or a formal complaint to put an end of offending behaviour.

Course Pre-req: None

Evaluation:

• CP: 10% (Weekly reflections will have to be between 300-350 words, to be submitted by
Friday 2 pm. Alternatively, students can earn participation credit by contributing in class.
Reflections and participation will be graded for quality at the instructor’s discretion.)

• Attendance: 5% (Two unexcused absences allowed. 0 on attendance after a third or more

absence, starting Week 2)
 • 4 Quizzes (n-1): 30% (Quiz 1 and 3 will be take-home, narrative length quizzes; 2 and 4
will be in-class short answer question quizzes)

• Political Economy Group Project:

o Question and Indicative Bibliography: 5%
o Write-up (2500-3000 words): 15%

• Final Exam: 35% (Short answer + narrative length questions)

Course syllabus

THEORIZING CAPITALISM

• Session One and Two: Introduction and Economics – A Sociological Critique

o Graeber, D. (2011). Debt: The first 5,000 years. Brooklyn, N.Y: Melville House, pp.
21-41

• Session Three and Four: Capitalism and Social Transformation – Karl Marx
o Marx, Karl (2000) “Chapter 32: Capital”, in David McLellan (ed.) Karl Marx:
Selected Writings, Oxford: Oxford University Press,.

• Session Five: Capitalism and Social Transformation – Max Weber

o Weber, Max (2001) [1930] The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
London: Routledge, pp. 3-50.

• Session Six: Capitalism and Social Transformation – Karl Polanyi

o Polanyi, Karl (2001) [1944] The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic
Origins of Our Time, Boston: Beacon Press, pp. 136-170.

• Session Seven: Capitalism and Social Transformation - Colonial Capitalism

o Bhambra, G.K., (2021) Colonial global economy: towards a theoretical
reorientation of political economy, Review of International Political
Economy, 28:2, 307-322

• Session Eight: Quiz 1

CLASS AND CAPITALISM

• Session Nine: What is Class? – I

o Johnson, J and Dolowitz, David P (1999) “Marxism and Social Class”, in Andrew
Gamble, David Marsh and Tony Tant (eds), Marxism and Social Science,
University of Illinois Press.

• Session Ten: What is Class? – II

o Breen, R. (2005). Foundations of a neo-Weberian class analysis. Approaches to
class analysis, 4, 31-51.

• Session Eleven: Class, Politics, State

o Wright, E.O. (1994) “Class and Politics”, in Interrogating Inequality: Essays on
Class Analysis, Socialism and Marxism, London: Verso, pp. 88-106.

• Session Twelve: Capitalism and Democracy

o Usmani, A. (2018). Democracy and the class struggle. American Journal of
Sociology, 124(3), 664-704.

• Session Thirteen: Class and Policymaking

o Carnes, N., (2013) White Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in
Economic Policy Making, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
o Agarwala, R. (2006). From work to welfare: A new class movement in
India. Critical Asian Studies, 38(4), 419-444.

• Session Fourteen: Group Project Overview - Doing Political Economy Analysis

• Session Fifteen: Quiz 2

VARIETIES OF CAPITALISM

• Session Sixteen: Varieties of Capitalism – Welfare States

o Excerpts from Esping-Anderson, Gosta (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare
Capitalism, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

• Session Seventeen: Varieties of Capitalism – Liberal Market Economies

o Milanovic, B. (2019). Capitalism, alone: The future of the system that rules the
world. Harvard University Press. Chapter 2
 ***RESEARCH QUESTION AND BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE***

• Session Eighteen: Varieties of Capitalism – Developmental States

o Amsden, A., (1989). Asia’s Next Giant and Late Industrialization. New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
o Chibber, Vivek., (2003), Locked in Place: State‐Building and Late Industrialization
in India, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 222‐243
o Evans, P, and P Heller, (2015) 'Human Development, State Transformation, and
the Politics of the Developmental State', in Stephan Leibfried and others
(eds), The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State, Oxford: Oxford
University Press

• Session Nineteen: Varieties of Capitalism – China/State Capitalism

o Milanovic, B. (2019). Capitalism, alone: The future of the system that rules the
world. Harvard University Press. Chapter 3

• Session Twenty: Contemporary Capitalism in the Global South

o TBD

CONTEMPORARY FEATURES

• Session Twenty-One: Quiz 3

• Session Twenty-Two: The Financialization of the Global Economy

o Davis, G.F., and Kim, S., (2015) Financialization of the Economy, Annual Review of
Sociology, 41(4), 203-221

• Session Twenty-Three: Globalization and Class

o Therborn, G. (2020) Dreams and Nightmares of the World’s Middle Classes, New
Left Review, NLR 124, July-Aug 2020.

• Session Twenty-Four: Informalization

o Harriss-White, B. (2003). India working: Essays on society and economy (No. 8).
Cambridge University Press
o TBD

• Session Twenty-Five: Automation and the Technology Frontier

 o Benanav, A. (2019). AUTOMATION AND THE FUTURE OF WORK—1. New Left
Review, 119, 5-38.

• Session Twenty-Six: Ecological Disasters and the Future of Capitalism

o Schwartzman, David. 2012. A Critique of Degrowth and its Politics, Capitalism
Nature Socialism, 23(1), 119-125.
o Hickel, J., 2019. Is it possible to achieve a good life for all within planetary
boundaries?. Third World Quarterly, 40(1), pp.18-35.

• Session Twenty-Seven: Quiz 4

• Session Twenty-Eight: Course Review

Key Dates:

Quiz 1
Quiz 2
RQ and Bibliography
Quiz 3
Quiz 4
Project Write-Up
Final Exam