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Poslední úprava: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D. (26.02.2015)
Type of course: compact course Course schedule: 23-27 March 2015, 20 lessons (10x2), times and venues to be specified Teacher: Sabine Frerichs, Assistant Professor at the University of Helsinki In the works of the sociological classics, the societal interplay between the law and the economy still played an important role. However, the inter- and intra-disciplinary division of labour, which developed in the twentieth century, left the law to the lawyers and the economy to the economists. This course brings questions of the law and the economy back to the core of the sociological discipline. Its subject matter is the constitution of ‘market society’ in the interaction of law and economics. It is by means of law that the economic fiction of a society governed by markets turns into a social fact. The different themes discussed in this course demonstrate that the close encounter of law and economics, which helps to ‘codify’ the law of the market, requires a critical response: a sociological analysis of law and economics, which elucidates what is at stake for society as a whole. |
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Poslední úprava: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D. (26.02.2015)
Learning ObjectivesStudents will develop a deeper understanding of sociology as a ‘holistic’ discipline which can venture into almost any field of research. They will learn to combine classical and contemporary sociological perspectives, to connect aspects of general, economic and legal sociology, and to integrate different levels of sociological analysis. They will sharpen their sociological skills by exploring unfamiliar subjects and acquire more confidence in dealing with topical questions. They will critically reflect on their own ideas of contemporary society.
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Poslední úprava: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D. (09.09.2010)
Readings As assigned. |
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Poslední úprava: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D. (26.02.2015)
Teaching methods: The compact course consists in lectures and seminar activities as well as additional reading and writing tasks, which the students complete afterwards. Overall, the course amounts to a workload of 5 to 7 credits. All participating students are expected to attend the classes (1 credit) and to study the course literature (2 credits) to be specified by the teacher. To complete the course with 5 or 7 credits, the students can choose between the following options: a) they can write five response papers of 500 words each on the course literature (2 credits); b) they can write a literature review of 2500 words on a book or a selection of articles related to the themes of the course (to be agreed with the teacher); c) they can write a term paper of 5000 words on one of the five themes of the course (to be agreed with the teacher). Closer instructions will be given during the course. Submission of written work is due on 30 April 2015 (5 credits) or 15 May 2015 (7 credits) at the latest.
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Poslední úprava: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D. (26.02.2015)
Assessment: Assessment is based on participation in the course activities and fulfilment of formal requirements (20 %) and the quality of the written work (80 %). In practice, this means that a bonus/malus point system will be applied which may serve to upgrade or downgrade the assessment of the writing tasks. Bonus points can be given, e.g., for active participation and good oral contributions, and malus points, e.g., for absence from class or late submission of written work. |
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Poslední úprava: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D. (26.02.2015)
Title of the course: A Sociology of Law and Economics Type of course: compact course Course schedule: 23-27 March 2015, 20 lessons (10x2), times and venues to be specified Teacher: Sabine Frerichs, Assistant Professor at the University of Helsinki
Course content: The course is divided into five themes, which encompass 4 lessons (2x2) each. Literature for each theme will be specified later. 1. Law of Market Society Taking off from Polanyian ideas, law is conceived as a social institution ‘embedding’ the economy, but also as a ‘fictitious commodity’ which is itself subject to market forces. The law of market society includes all types of law that constitute or regulate the market, be it public or private law, national, international or even transnational law. The tension between its commodifying and decommodifying functions drives ‘law’s great transformation’ from its universalist origins in the Western (=Roman) legal tradition to its national closings in the era of the nation-state, and its transnational openings under conditions of Europeanisation and globalisation. 2. Moral Economy of Debt The global financial crisis and the ensuing Eurozone crisis raised important questions as to who owes what to whom in today’s transnational society of debt. The concept of the ‘moral economy of debt’ allows exploring both the positive side and the normative side of debt relations. While the moral-economy approach has developed in the social sciences, its critical ambitions and normative underpinnings also link it with questions of moral, political and legal philosophy. In its application to the transformation and commodification of debt relations in modern capitalism, it sheds light on the redistribution of risks and responsibilities between creditors and debtors. 3. From Rights to Incentives The turn ‘from government to governance’, which describes recent transformations of the modern state, entails a move from political and social rights to economic incentives. In the last decade, the new governance semantics made its way from economics and politics to the law, where it has taken the shape of a ‘new legal realism’. However, the political-economic changes that it seeks to capture remain under-explored in the legal strand of the debate, which turns empirical arguments into normative arguments. The unacknowledged slippage between economic and political modes of analysis ultimately serves to legitimise the reformatting of modern welfare capitalism. 4. Governance by Nudges Behavioural economics - a version of economics that is enriched with psychological insights into our stupidities - has recently developed into a successful ‘pop science’. However, from a sociological point of view, it is necessary to compare and confront the ‘old’ homo oeconomicus rationalis and the ‘new’ homo oeconomicus behavioralis with a third model - homo oeconomicus culturalis - which demonstrates the limits of the previous models. While governance by nudges might look, at first sight, as a tempting idea, there is good reason to question the normative side of the project and to emphasize its potential effects on our legal culture and our human condition. 5. Neuroutilitarianism Another lead discipline in terms of its popularisation is cognitive neuroscience, representatives of which recently garnered much public attention when they exposed the free will as an illusion. Sociologists could respond that the free will is better understood as a social institution, which as such has to be taken for real, no matter how deterministic our brain processes may look like. But neuroscience has not only generated spin-offs in (neuro)philosophy but also in (neuro)economics and even in (neuro)law. The common denominator of much of these new disciplines seems to be some form of neuroutilitarianism, which calls for a sociological critique. |