Module ANT2105 for 2022/3
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
ANT2105: Contemporary Capitalism, Critique and Resistance
This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.
Module Aims
The module aims to provide you with an in-depth knowledge of various institutions, organisations, processes, values and resistance movements making up the contemporary Western world. By encouraging you to engage critically with these topics, it also aims to equip you with the means to question taken-for-granted assumptions about the contemporary situation, understand the factors leading to different forms of social and environmental problems, forms of social unrest responding to them, as well as the achievements and shortcomings of contemporary resistance movements.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of a range of perspectives on contemporary capitalism 2. Critically evaluate these perspectives and relate them to empirical studies and findings 3. Critically evaluate the effects of powerful social actors decisions and resistance movements on the social structure, culture, the economy and the environment |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Reflect upon, apply, and criticise sociological theories and empirical findings 5. Demonstrate in writing and orally a capacity question taken-for-granted assumptions |
Personal and Key Skills | 6. Engage in complex arguments in writing, orally and in small groups 7. Identify problems and anticipate possible avenues for solving them |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- What is capitalism?
- Capitalism in historical perspective
- Financialisation
- Flexibilisation
- Personal responsibilisation
- Privatisation
- The ‘restoration of class power’ and ideology
- Neoliberal governmentality
- Contemporary global social movements: GJM and Occupy
- The ‘end of history’?
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
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22 | 128 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x two-hour weekly lecture/seminar (or 1 hour lecture + 1 hour seminar) |
Guided Independent Study | 2 | Guidance for case-study analysis |
Guided Independent Study | 36 | Readings for seminars and tutorials |
Guided independent study | 45 | Researching and writing essay |
Guided independent study | 45 | Researching and writing the case study commentary |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Boltanski, L. and Chiapello, E. (2005) The New Spirit of Capitalism. London: Verso
Bourdieu, P. (1998) Acts of Resistance: Against the New Myths of our Time. Cambridge: Polity
Della Porta, D. (2015) Social Movements in Times of Austerity. Cambridge: Polity
Duménil, G. and Lévy, D. (2004) Capital Resurgent: The Roots of the Neoliberal Revolution, Boston, MA: Harvard University Press
Harvey, D. (2005) A Brief History of Neoliberalism , Oxford: Oxford University Press
Masquelier, C. (2017) Critique and Resistance in a Neoliberal Age: Towards a Narrative of Emancipation, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan