ASOA15099U Society and Economy – an introduction to contemporary Economic Sociology

Volume 2020/2021
Education

Elective course

 

Course package

Knowledge, Organization and Politics

 

The teaching in spring 2021 will be online until the 1. of April due to the Covid19 situation.

As soon as it is permitted and justifiable, it is up to the individual lecturer whether to transition to a blended format or wish to continue with full online teaching for the rest of the semester.

The individual lecturer will inform you of the above choice in the Absalon room for each course.

Courses with oral exams will be held online if the relevant restrictions have not been lifted at least four weeks before the individual exam. This will be notified in Absalon.

Courses with written exams will not experience any changes in relation to the normal exam form.

Content

The course serves to give an introduction to the sub-discipline of Economic Sociology and train students in analysing different types of social phenomena by means of economic sociological concepts and theories.

The course will be structured around the reading of a new book by Mark Granovetter, one of the founders of contemporary economic sociology, which has been a subfield in strong development from ca. 1980 onwards.

In 2019 Granovetter published a book – ‘Society and Economy, Framework and Principles’ – which in an exemplary fashion rehearses many of the key concepts in contemporary economic sociology. We will read the book in its entirety (ca. 200 pages) and supplement the readings with research papers that exemplifies some of the issues dealt with in the book.

In parallel with the reading of course literature, students will be expected to develop an economic sociological analysis of a case of their own choosing, applying and discussing core concepts in economic sociology.

Learning Outcome

On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:

  • account for the core concepts and theories covered in the curriculum and how they relate to each other,
  • identify and discuss strengths and weaknesses in how the approaches introduced in the curriculum facilitate analysis of the interplay between societal conditions and economic activities in contemporary societies, and
  • apply the theoretical perspectives introduced in the course to present and analyse concrete empirical phenomena in contemporary societies

The course will be organised around a reading of Mark Granovetter (2019) ‘Society and Economy – Frameworks and Principles’, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

In addition to this book a compendium of research papers will be prepared. The total currriulum will be around 600 pages. 

Participants are expected to have at least two years of undergraduate training in sociology.
The course will combine lectures, class discussions and student presentations.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 138
  • Exam
  • 40
  • Total
  • 206
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)

The course will entail two rounds of peer-feedback on student projects organised as trio-exchange.

The course will entail a ‘mini-conference’, where the course instructor and fellow students will provide feed-back on student presentations

Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Individual/group.
Free written take-home essays are assignments for which students define and formulate a problem within the parameters of the course and based on an individual exam syllabus. The free written take-home essay must be no longer than 10 pages. For group assignments, an extra 5 pages is added per additional student. Further details for this exam form can be found in the Curriculum and in the General Guide to Examinations at KUnet.
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

Submission dates and time will be available at KUnet, www.kunet.dk.
Exchange students and Danish full degree guest students please see the homepage of Sociology;
www.soc.ku.dk under Education --> Exams

Re-exam

Individual/group.

A written take-home: assignment that addresses one or more new questions. The exam is based on the course syllabus, i.e. the literature set by the teacher. The written take-home essay must be no longer than 10 pages. For group assignments, an extra 5 pages is added per additional student. Further details for this exam form can be found in the Curriculum and in the General Guide to Examinations at KUnet.

Criteria for exam assesment

See learning outcome.