Economy and Society (215-0-20)

Instructors

Bruce Greenhow Carruthers
847/467-1251
1808 Chicago Avenue, room 203.
Bruce Carruthers is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University and a Long-term Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. He works in the areas of economic sociology, comparative-historical sociology, and the sociology of law, with research funding coming from the National Science Foundation, the American Bar Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and the Tobin Project. His most recent book, published in 2022 by Princeton University Press, is entitled The Economy of Promises: Trust, Power, and Credit in America.

Meeting Info

Annenberg Hall G21: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course introduces sociological approaches to economic institutions and behavior. The goal is to provide a set of sociological ideas to understand markets, prices, corporations, supply, demand, production, work, exchange, property, and other economic topics, in a different way.

A previous course in sociology is preferred but not required.

Learning Objectives

This course will introduce a sociological approach to economic institutions and behavior. The goal is to provide a set of sociological ideas to understand markets, prices, corporations, supply, demand, production, work, exchange, property, and other economic topics, in a different way. You will also develop your critical reading skills as you work through the course books and articles, and communication skills as you participate in discussion.

Teaching Method

Lecture with discussion

Evaluation Method

Students will be evaluated on their completion of an in-class writing exercise, class participation, midterm and final exam.

Class Materials (Required)

This course will have required books/other materials.

John Carreyrou, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, New York: Vintage Books 2020 (ISBN: 9780525431992)

Lauren Rivera, Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2015 (ISBN: 9780691169279)

Hatim A. Rahman. 2024. Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers, Berkeley: University of California Press (ISBN: 9780520395541).

Class Attributes

Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
SoC Individual and Social Behavior Distro