Spring 2010

HIS 362G • CAPITALISM & MAKING MOD WORLD

Course Description

What is the relationship between the nature and dynamics of capitalism and the emergence and development of modern society? Is modern society best understood as the "Europeanization" or “Westernization” of the world? Does modern society represent a fundamental break with the human past or is it simply one more stage in the growth of the market and the extension of the division of labor over several millennia? This upper-level undergraduate seminar explores these questions and examines the role played by capitalism in the historical development of modern society through reading and discussing classic social theories and more recent work in history and the social sciences.

Grading Policy

Attendance and Participation - 20% Reader Response Papers (1 page per week) – 20% Short Paper Assignment – 20% Term Paper – 40%

Texts

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Immanuel Wallerstein, Historical Capitalism with Capitalist Civilization Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism C. A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914 Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991

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