Thinking about Capitalism: From Adam Smith to Thomas Piketty

Course goals

Learning outcomes: after completing the course, you will have attained the following learning outcomes:

• in-depth knowledge and understanding of historical developments related to the course topic;
• in-depth knowledge of the historiography within the course topic;
• in-depth knowledge of the theoretical discourse about this topic;
• knowledge of a relevant historical case pertaining to the specialised topic.

Learning objectives and skills: after completing the course, you will be able to:  

• critically reflect and actively participate in classroom discussions about the topic;
• apply concepts, historiography and theories connected with the course topic;
• collaborate in reading groups (tutorial groups);
• devise and develop a research question on the basis of an in-depth case study of their choice;
• apply their newly acquired knowledge of the theoretical discourse and historiography to a case study of their choice;
• conduct independent research focusing (mainly) on in-depth secondary literature.

Content

This is the second course of Specialisation 4: Challenges of Modern Society (Track History).

Capitalism has proved a contentious issue; should we take for granted that unbridled capitalism is necessary for economic growth or do recent developments prove that markets must be tamed in order to benefit society as a whole? The capitalist system is undoubtedly the most successful economic system, outcompeting others such as communism. Free markets, the specialization of labour, entrepreneurship and the maximization of profit have brought unprecedented wealth to the developed world. Capitalism itself, however, turns out to be unstable. Growth and recession alternate, producing winners and losers. Critics of capitalism have proposed alternative economic orders, or argued for some moral order to be imposed on capitalist market economies. In this course the views of a number of classical thinkers on capitalism will be discussed: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Friedrich Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman and Thomas Piketty. What was, in their view, the nature of capitalism? Which problems does the system have? And how should these shortcomings be remedied?

This is a classical history course with students reading key texts on the topic of capitalism as an economic system.

Additional information

Early Exit option for international exchange students (5 ECTS)
Exchange students who are required to return to their home university before January, are allowed to choose an Early Exit option for this course. The Early Exit option means that students can finish the course before Christmas break, receiving 5 ECTS for the course. Students must make arrangements with the course coordinator at the start of the course.