Organising Economic Transformation

Course goals

After completing this course, students:

• understand the multiple ways in which the economic activities (the production, consumption and circulation of  goods and services) can be organised in society;
• comprehend the relation between the organisation of the economy, processes of valuation and the organisation of society as a whole;
• understand contemporary non-market forms of organising economic activities;
• are able to critically reflect on the contemporary debate on the challenges and the transformation of the capitalist economy and society and foundational theoretical streams underpinning it;
• are able to apply the acquired knowledge to analyse specific economic organisations and practices;
• are able to apply the acquired knowledge to envision change trajectories towards a post-capitalist economy and society.

Content

This course deals with the multiple ways in which the economy can be organised. Non-capitalist economic and organisational forms such as the commons, community economies and cooperative models are introduced as existing alternatives to firms operating in markets. Theoretically, the course draws on various traditions of economic thought including neoclassical economics, the sociology of valuation, critical political economy, feminist, community and post-growth economics, and prefigurative politics.
This course will address different perspectives on the role of organisations and organising in the transformation toward a non-capitalist economy and society. Particular attention will be paid to the multidisciplinary debates on the role of utopias/dystopias and economic imaginaries about a post-capitalist world concerning pathways to transformation.  
These theoretical discussions will feed into in-class hands-on exercises and help you gain a broader understanding of the complex socio-economic relations that shape organisations, practices and actors. This knowledge base will assist you in your fieldwork to critically analyse how the economy is organised at different levels and support you to envision and organise change trajectories in practical terms.
While the individual essay will give you the opportunity to critically reflect on the relationship between theoretical claims and economic transformation, the group work will assist you identify and comprehend the diversity of non-capitalist economic practices. 

This course will follow a mix of different pedagogies e.g. flipped classroom, problem-based learning), which takes you into the centre as active learner. Each week will be based on discussions of theoretical resources complemented with an in-class group discussion and presentation about a specific issue related to organising the economy through non-capitalistic forms.
You will apply theoretical knowledge by analysing case studies, news articles, fieldwork notes and other popular culture products.