SAN6: Power, economy and social transformation
By engaging with the theories of value, property and domination so central to the Enlightenment and Marxist conceptions of political economy, the teaching for this paper focuses on anthropology's contributions in providing new perspectives on these classic concerns, as well as developing wholly new ways to understand such world-changing phenomena as ecological catastrophes, the collapse of 'traditional' workplace life and the rise of ‘platform economies’. Topics covered will normally include theories of the state; colonialism and decolonisation; race and ethnicity; nationalism and neo-nationalism; populism; the comparative study of Western and non-Western capitalisms; anti-capitalism and New Social Movements; labour migration and the workplace; precarity, consumption and consumerism in capitalist, post-socialist and globalized contexts; new digital platform economies; and state and non-state systems of expansion, domination and resistance.
Further information including a list of lecture courses and background reading can be found in the Paper Guide in the Paper Resources section to the right of this page.