Economy, Law and Politics in Recent Theories of Soci-ety

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Presentation of a selection of authors, in their historical context, indicating their working methods, with particular reference to the circumstances which led them to study the economy, law, and politics. Discussion in class of texts of these authors, previously analysed by the students, taking into ac-count the place of these texts in their whole work, and seeking to reconstruct the conceptual scheme used.

Learning Outcomes

To give the students access to a set of interpretations of the place of economy, law, and politics in contemporary societies, particularly influential in social sciences, thus providing them with tools for an autonomous analysis of our times, and for an active engagement in the public debate about these times.

The works to be discussed are introduced with special emphasis on the dynamics of their production. Students are encouraged to pay attention to the links between historical circumstances and the evolution of social thought, and to the internal evolution of the authors’ conceptual schemes. The aim is to train a method of systematic reading, and to offer the students means for a reflexive approach of their own work, and for the construction of the problematic of their dissertation.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Part I: Introduction
Recent development of theories of so-ciety

Part II: Ten crucial references
A)    Michel Foucault        
B)    Pierre Bourdieu
C)    Luc Boltanski and Eve Chia-pello
D)    Niklas Luhmann    
E)     Jürgen Habermas        
F)    Gunther Teubner
G)    Axel Honneth
H)    Boaventura de Sousa Santos
I)    Jan Pilipp Reemtsma
J)    David Graeber

Part III: Synthesis
The relationship between economy, law and society and its current transformation approached by contempo-rary social theory. Possible empirical application.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Research work: 100.0%

Bibliography

Boltanski, Luc, Ève Chiapello ([1999] 2005), The New Spirit of Capitalism, London, Verso, 2005 (trad. de:  Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1999).

Bourdieu, Pierre ([2000] 2006), As estruturas sociais da economia, Lisboa, Campo das Letras, 2006 (trad. de : Les structures sociales de l’économie, Paris, Seuil, 2000).

Foucault, Michel ([1979 / 2004] 2010), O Nascimento da Biopolítica, Lisboa, Edições 70, 2010 (trad. de Naissance de la biopolitique. Cours au Collège de France, 1978-1979, Paris, Gallimard-Seuil, 2004).

Habermas, Jürgen ([1992] 1996), Between Facts and Norms. Cambridge:
Polity Press, 1996, trad. de Faktizität und Geltung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1992.

Honneth, Axel ([2011] 2014), Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014 (trad. de Das Recht der Freiheit. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2011).

Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2000), Crítica da razão indolente. Porto: Afrontamento.