SOCIAL LIFE OF ECONOMY

Course Objectives: This course aims to introduce students to anthropological thinking about economic inquiries by analyzing contemporary or historical economic problems by focusing on the daily lives of ordinary people. It is expected that students acquire facility in discussing and analyzing social, cultural and economic practices originated in different contexts and attain a deeper understanding in reading theoretical and economic texts.

Course Content:

Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the course asks questions such as:

• Why are certain things more valuable than others?
• Who or what determines the value of monies?
• Why do we feel a compulsion to give gifts at birthday parties? 4)Does God help countries achieve high growth rates? Or

Is ‘the Wolf of Wall Street’ an accurate description of financial markets? Throughout the semester, we will take up some of the most salient themes of economic anthropology (e.g. value, money, or morality), see how it emerges in popular media, and explore anthropological examples that display alternative ways of imagining economic life to complicate our preconceptions. By honing skills such as critical thinking, reading, and writing, this course will help students analyze complex economic situations with ethnographic lenses as well as build a foundation for advanced courses in critical social sciences.