Summer Session A: 2003
Instructor: Dr. Anne Holohan
Office Hours: A58C Haines Hall, Wednesday, 1:00pm - 3:00pm or by appointment.
Phone: 206-5233 (only during office hours).
Email: aholohan@ucla.edu
Your grade will be based on two exams (a midterm and a cumulative final), a research paper, and class participation.
Midterm: 20%
Final: 20%
Class Participation: 15%
Research Paper: 45%
Midterm & Final: The exams will be short essays and/or multiple-choice questions, and will cover both the readings and the lectures.
Missed exams can only be made-up in the event of a documented medical problem or other serious reason. If you are unable to take an exam you need to contact me at least a week beforehand.
Guthrie, Douglas. 1999. Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit: The Emergence of Capitalism in China. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
Saxenian, AnnaLee. 1994. Regional Advantage.
Course Reader, available in Ackerman.
Week I.
Overview.
Why economics has come to dominate thinking on economy and society.
How the economy is embedded in society.
The State and the Economy
What role does politics play in the economy? Myth that there exists a totally ‘free economy’ so what are the mixtures and what effect do they have?
Fred Block: “The Roles of the State in the Economy” handout in class.
Granovetter: “Economic Action and Social
Structure: the Problem of Embeddedness.” JSTOR link. Only accessible
if using bruin online software or using on campus computers. Cut and
paste the stable URL into your browser location bar.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9602%28198511%2991%3A3%3C481%3AEAASST%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R
Portes and Sensenbrenner: “Embeddedness and Immigration: Notes on the Social Determinants of Economic Action.”
JSTOR Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00029602%28199305%2998%3A6%3C1320%3AEAINOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A
Economic Institutions, Part I
Lecture 1
Documentary on China.
Douglas Guthrie: Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit, the Emergence of Capitalism in China. Chapter One: “Firm Practices in China’s Transforming Economy”
Douglas Guthrie: Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit, the Emergence of Capitalism in China. Chapters Seven: “Institutional Pressure, Rational Choice, and Contractual Relations: Chinese-Foreign Negotiations in the Economic Transition”
Chapter Eight: “The Declining Significance of Connections in China’s Economic Transition”
Networks and Culture
Lecture 2
David Brooks. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in Bobos in
Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
Economic Institutions, Part II: A Response to Inefficiency or Historical and Social Creations.
Lecture 1
William Roy: Article in Reader.
Economic Institutions, Part III. Why does it matter where an industry is? Why did the computer industry in Route 128 in Massachusetts fail and in Silicon Valley be wildly successful?
Lecture 1
Saxenian, AnnaLee 1994. Regional Advantage. Introduction and Chapter Two: Silicon Valley: Competition and Community
Lecture 2
Saxenian, AnnaLee 1994. Regional Advantage. Chapters 5: Running with Technology and Chapter Six, Inside Out: Blurring Firm’s Boundaries..
The influence of values and norms on the relationship between the economy and society.
Through religions – what is the influence of religion on our economic institutions? What difference does it make if the economic actor is: Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Moslem?
What difference does it make for the society to be dominated by one of these?
Lecture 1 and 2
Gary G. Hamilton: “Civilization and the
Organization of Economies handed out in class. Weber.
Randall Collins "Weber's Last Theory of Capitalism: A
Systematization" in Reader.
The Protestant Ethic. Introduction by Anthony Giddens,
Chapter 1, Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification,
Chapter 2, The Spirit of Capitalism
Chapter 4, A. The Religious Foundations of Worldly Ascetism: Calvinism. Pp. 53-80 only; Author’s [Weber’s] Introduction
Final.
Research/Analysis
Paper, 12-15 pages long, double-spaced. Use the readings from the
course, and the internet and newspaper & magazine sources if
applicable. Late papers will have 10% of the total paper score (45%)
deducted for each day it is late. After 4pm and after 12 noon will be
considered the next business day and will have 10% deducted.
One of the following:
1. Give an explanation for the type of capitalism
that exists in the US today, including Roy, Brooks, Hamilton, Collins
and Weber in your answer. Is it “pure” capitalism? Explain.
[If you are doing this question, the deadline is noon, Monday 28th
July. Papers to be handed in to the Sociology office, 264 Haines Hall.]
2. Compare the economic and economic sociology perspectives on why the transition to capitalism in China is taking its particular path, using Granovetter, Guthrie, the documentary and other material, pre-approved by Professor Holohan.
3. Explain why Silicon Valley has been so
successful and picking one company that is Silicon Valley based but
global explain how and why it has chosen its particular expansion
policies.
[For questions 2 and 3, the deadline is Friday, 25 July, 4 pm. Papers
to be handed in to the Sociology office, 264 Haines Hall.]