COML 3542

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  • Schedule of Classes - January 31, 2019 7:14PM EST
  • Course Catalog - January 31, 2019 7:15PM EST

COML 3542
Fables of Capitalism

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2018-2019.

This course examines the stories, literary examples, and metaphors at work in elaborating the modern economic subject, the so-called "homo oeconomicus." We will examine material from Locke, Smith, Defoe, and Mill through Marx, Nietzsche, Brecht, and Weber, up to current the neoliberal subject and its critiques (Foucault, Bataille). The course focuses on narrative and figurative moments in theoretical texts as well as crucial literary sources (novels, novellas, and plays) as they collectively develop the modern economic paradigms of industry, exchange, credit-debt, and interest. The course thus addresses both literary and theoretical sources, particularly the stories and examples told to justify the liberal order as well as its guiding metaphors such as the invisible hand; Schuld as both debt and guilt; investment (in oneself, in one's future); and the intersection of religious and secular economies.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (CA-AS)

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: GERST 3610, GOVT 3606

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17131 COML 3542   LEC 001

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  • Taught in English.

  • 17132 COML 3542   DIS 201

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  • 17690 COML 3542   DIS 202

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