Economic Sociology

2011/2012
Academic Year
10/04/2012
Código Disciplina
Economic Sociology
Course
Isabel Guimarães
Lecturer
Isabel Guimarães L1, L2, L3, WS1 iguimaraes@porto.ucp.pt DCO
Sandra Coelho
WS2, WS3, WS4,
WS5, WS6, WS7, scoelho@porto.ucp.pt
WS8
DCO
nome docente turma e-mail gabinete
Course topics
Topics:
Introduction
Work and personal life
Organizations and work organization
Management
Classes and the labour market
Identity and economic behaviour
Competition, growth and development
Conclusion
Goals
Academic:
1. To provide an analytical framework to understand the limits of formal and economic approaches,
especially during intense transformation times;
2. To provide students with methodological tools to critically analyse economic phenomena embedded in
social structures (legal, cultural, social, political, and so forth);
3. To develop complex interpretation skills allowing understanding theoretical phenomena and practical
problems associated to economic development.
Learning:
At the end of the semester students should be able to:
1. Identify the limits of formal approaches to economic behaviour and correlated explanations;
2. Build robust arguments regarding economic phenomena;
3. Apply sociological approaches to the assessment of the impact of the decisions of relevant economic agents.
Topics
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Syllabus
A – Introduction (weeks 1 and 2)
1. Sociology and economic sociology
2. The classics
3. Different views on economic sociology
4. The sociology of economic behaviour
(Chapter 1 of Fevre (2003))
B – Work and personal life (weeks 3 and 4)
1. Classical views
2. The effects of the bureaucratic order
3. The impact of women’s “social revolution
4. Division of work: the gender effect
5. Reconciling work and family life
(Chapter 2 of Fevre (2003))
C – Organisations and work organisation (week 5)
1. The impact of the rational organisation of work
2. Informal groups
3. Emotional labour
4. Work place culture
(Chapter 3 of Fevre (2003))
D – Management (week 6)
1. Managerial efficiency
2. Managerial rationality and legitimacy
3. Contingency theory
4. Critical views
(Chapter 4 of Fevre (2003))
E – Classes and the labour market (week 7)
1. Meritocracy; economic rationality and social justice
2. Mobility and competition in the labour market
3. The sociology of labour markets
4. Classes and income inequality
5. Embeddedness
(Chapter 5 of Fevre (2003) on the idea of embeddedness: Granovetter e Swedberg (2992))
F – Identity and economic behaviour (week 8)
1. Identity and learning
2. Social stratification
3. Work and identity
(Chapter 6 of Fevre (2003))
G – Competition, growth and development (weeks 8 and 9)
1. Capitalism and industrial organisation
2. The crisis of capitalism
3. Globalisation and post-Fordism
4. The impact of norms
5. Wage policies and economic development
(Chapter 7 of Fevre (2003))
H – Conclusion (week 10)
Topics will be worked in the respective workshop. Bibliographic references are mandatory.
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Bibliography and other mandatory references
Fevre, Ralph (2003). The New Sociology of Economic Behaviour. London; Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage
Bibliography
Complementary references
Biggart, Nicole W. (edit.) (2002) Readings in Economic Sociology. Malden, Oxford: Blackwell
Bourdieu, Pierre (2005). The Social structures of the Economy. Malden; Cambridge: Polity Press
Granovetter, Mark e Swedberg, Richard (editors) (1992). The Sociology of Economic Life. Boulder, Oxford:
Westview Press
Gorz, André (1989). Critique of Economic Reason. New York, London: Verso
Additional references will be provided as the semester develops.
Complementary references
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Assessment
The course follows the General Assessment Rules enforced at the Faculty of Economics and Management.
Students are encouraged to opt for continuous assessment, which entails a number of specific requirements.
Students have two attempts to pass the course: (1) following continuous evaluation; and (2) taking an exam
(resit). Resit testes are limited to a maximum of 24 ECTS per academic year.
a. Continuous evaluation
Continuous evaluation includes the following components:
1. Continuous assessment exercises (CAE) – started during the lectures
and concluded in the following workshop;
2. Writing an argumentative essay with at least 5 adequately justified
and a minimum of 3,500 words. Students may decline the essay, in
which case the grade will be absorbed by both the CAE and the tests;
3. Two intermediary tests. The final grade will be the mean of their
marks.
Attendance
and
participation
CAE Essay 2 Tests
% + 50% + 5%(0) + 45% (50%) + % + %
NOTA: Os ponderadores dos elementos de avaliação contínua devem totalizar 100%
To pass the course students must get at least 7,5 marks in the Final Exam
(0-20 scale).
Continuous
Evaluation
(CE)
Final Exam
(FE)
If students attain at least 8,5 marks on the Continuous Evaluation, the
final grade will be that of the Final Exam, provided that this favours the
student.
60% 40%
Max
PG; 0,6 AC 0, 4 PG
b. Resit
Final Exam
(FE
Classificação
Final
100%
Resit exams are limited to a maximum of 24 ECTS per academic year. Continuous evaluation marks are lost if
the student decides to take the resit exam.
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Academic agenda - Economic Sociology
Lecture 1 – Topic 1 Lecture 2 – Topic 1 Lecture 3 - Topic 2 Lecture 4 - Topic 2 Workshop 5 -
FEEDBACK
Assessment Schedule:
Workshop 1 –
Induction
Workshop 2 - CAE1 Workshop 3 - CAE2 Workshop 4 - CAE3 1st Intermediary test
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Intermediary Tests: Weeks 5 and 9
Essay
Week 8
Lecture 5 – Topic 3 Lecture 6 – Topic 4 Lecture 7 – Topic 5 Workshop 9 -
FEEDBACK
Workshop 6 – CAE 4 Workshop 7 – CAE 5 Workshop 8 – CAE 6 2nd Intermediary
Test
Final Exam
January 2013
Final Exam (resit)
January 2013
Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
Lecture 8 – Topic 6-7 Lecture 9 – Topic 7 Lecture 10 – Topic 8
Workshop 10 – CAE 7 Workshop 11 – CAE 8 Workshop 12 - CAE 9
Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14
This table details the course works by identifying topics, exams and written work. During the semester the lecture may require students to perform other assessment exercises as mentioned on the
\faculty's assessment rules.
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Remarks
In this course students’ success depends upon two main factors:
a) The level of commitment and b) the readings.
1. The level of commitment. Students are required to attend and participate both on the lectures and
workshops. The CAE start in the lectures (with readings and related questions) and are to be
concluded during the workshops: Thus, failing to attend a lecture entails losing the credit for the
respective CAE, even if the student has accomplished it;
2. The CAE is group work. Groups are to be chosen by the lecturer and will include no more than 5
members;
3. At the start of the semester each student is awarded 20 points regarding the CAE. The level of
commitment of each student will determine whether the student is to keep the 20 points of not. (Out
of the 9 CAE will be considered in terms of assessment and points awarded;
4. Attendance to all the 10 lectures and 12 workshops leads to a one mark that is to be added to the
final continuous evaluation grade of the student. This bonus applies only to student who will attend
and actively participate on the lecture. No absence can be justified for this purpose. ;
5. Students are expected to have done the required readings.
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