The coursework consists of a critical essay of not more than 4,000 words (including references).
Please choose ONE of the 10 questions you find below as a question for your essay.
You are encouraged to use a range of sources. Good use of academic literature is required; this must include substantive and well-integrated use of three or more sources from the module reading list. Use of appropriate examples or a case (which would likely include non- academic sources or secondary data) maybe a feature of the paper, although it is also possible to do the paper based on academic sources alone. Both in-text citayions and bibliography list are required.
Find below the 10 questions that you can choose from, every questions have a ‘required reading list’ and a ‘further reading list’ and a ‘material list’ that you can use to answer the question.
Question 1: What is the most persuasive explanation for the emergence of capitalism?
Question 2: How do key innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution – such as low-cost steel, high volume manufacturing processes, electric power, garments and telecommunications – figure in these different explanations for the emergence of the corporation?
Required reading for question 1 and 2
Wallerstein, I. (1976). From Feudalism to Capitalism: Transition or Transitions? Social Forces, 55(2), 273-283.
Brenner, R. (1976). Agrarian class structure and economic development in pre-industrial Europe. Past & present, 70(1), 30-75.
Kumar, A. (2020) ‘Chapter 2: The Global Sweatshop’ Chapter Monopsony Capitalism, Cambridge University Press
Further reading for question 1 and 2
Maurice Dobb Studies in the Development of Capitalism (New York:Taylor & Francis, 1963). Paul Sweezy, ‘A Critique’ in Rodney Hilton (ed) The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism (London:Verso, 1978),33-56.
Brenner, R. P. (2001). The Low Countries in the transition to capitalism. Journal of Agrarian Change, 1(2), 169-241.
Jairus Banaji, Theory as History (Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2010),253.
Freeman, Christopher, and Luc Soete. 1997. The economics of industrial innovation. 3 ed. London: Pinter. (Introduction, pp. 1-25)
Beniger, James R. 1986. The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Chandler, Alfred D Jr. 1977. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Chandler, Alfred D Jr. 1984. The Emergence of Managerial Capitalism. Business History Review 58 (4):473-503.
Chandler, Alfred D. Jr., and Herman Daems. 1980. Managerial Hierarchies: Comparative Perspectives on the Rise of Modern Industrial Enterprise. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Hayek, Friedrich A. von. 1945. The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review 35:519- 530.
Lamoreaux, Naomi R. 1985. The Great Merger Movement in American Business, 1895- 1904. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lamoreaux, Naomi R, and Daniel M G Raff, eds. 1995. Coordination and Information: Historical Perspectives on the Organization of Enterprise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Material for question 1 and 2
Please find attached the following files:
– Brenner (Question 1 and 2)
– Question 1 and 2 / Slides
– Wallerstein (Question 1 and 2)
Question 3: How has the state strengthened and how has it weakened under conditions of globalization?
Required reading for question 3
Kumar, A. (2020) ‘Chapter 1: The Bottleneck’ Monopsony Capitalism, Cambridge University Press
Anner, M. (2015). Labor control regimes and worker resistance in global supply chains. Labor History, 56(3), 292-307.
Biggart, Nicole Woolsey, and Mauro F. Guillen. 1999. Developing Differences: Social Organization and the Rise of the Auto Industries of South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina. American Sociological Review 64 (5):722-747.
Further reading for question 3
Mazzucato, Mariana. 2011. The entrepreneurial state. Soundings 49 (49):131-142.
Dani Rodrik, ‘Democracies Pay Higher Wages’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. CXIV
August 1999 Issue 3, 707-738
Johnson, Chalmers. 1993. Comparative Capitalism: The Japanese Difference. California Management Review 35 (4):51-67.
Yoo, Taeyoung, and Soo Hee Lee. 2009. “In Search of Social Capital in State-Activist Formations: Elite Networks in France and Korea.” Organization Studies 30(5):529-47.
Adam Dean, ‘Power over Profits: The Political Economy of Workers and Wages’, Politics & Society 1– 28, 2015
Facundo Alvaredo, Anthony B. Atkinson, Thomas Piketty, and Emmanuel Saez, ‘The Top 1 Percent in International and Historical Perspective’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 27(3), Summer 2013, pp 3–20
Amartya Sen, Democracy and Social Justice, in Democracy, Markets and Economic Development, Edited by Farrukh Iqbal and Jong-it You, The World Bank, 2011
Archibugi, Daniele. 2008. The Global Commonwealth of Citizens: Toward Cosmopolitan Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, chapter 2.
Material for question 3
Please find attached the following files:
- anner (Question 3)
- Developing difference (Question 3)
- Question 3 / slides
Question 4: How do changes within the firm contribute to shifting power dynamics in global value chains? How do shifting power GVC power dynamics contribute to changes within the firm?
Required reading for question 4
Kumar, Ashok (2020) Chapter 4. India: Warehouse Workers’ Struggle at a ‘Full-Package’ Supplier. Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age. Cambridge University Press.
Gereffi, Gary. 1999. International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain. Journal of International Economics 40 (1):37-70.
Kumar, Ashok (2020) Chapter 3 China: A Strike at. Giant Footwear Producer. Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age. Cambridge University Press.
Sturgeon, Timothy J. 2002. Modular production networks: a new American model of industrial organization. Industrial and Corporate Change 11 (3):451-496
Further reading for question 4
Womack, James P., Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos. 1990. Coordinating the supply chain. In The Machine that Changed the World. New York: Macmillan. pp. 141-171
Gereffi, Gary, John Humphrey, and Timothy Sturgeon. 2005. The Governance of Global Value Chains. Review of International Political Economy 12 (1):78-104.
Berger, Suzanne. 2005. How we compete: what companies around the world are doing to make it in today’s economy. New York: Doubleday.
Helper, Susan, John Paul MacDuffie, and Charles Sabel. 2000. Pragmatic Collaborations: Advancing Knowledge While Controlling Opportunism. Industrial and Corporate Change 9 (3):443-488.
Piore, Michael J. 1994. Corporate Reform in American Manufacturing and the Challenge to Economic Theory. In Information Technology and the Corporation of the 1990s: Research Studies, edited by T. J. Allen and M. S. Scott Morton. New York: Oxford University Press.
Piore, Michael J., and Charles Sabel. 1984. The second industrial divide: possibilities for prosperity. New York: Basic Books.
Sabel, Charles F., and Jonathan Zeitlin. 2004. Neither Modularity nor Relational Contracting: Inter- Firm Collaborations in the New Economy. Enterprise & Society 5 (3):388-403
Material for question 4
Please find attached the following files:
- Question 4 / slides
- sturgeon (Question4)
- gereffi (Question 4)
Question 5: Is there an internal logic to global capitalism? In which was does the concentration and consolidation of firms change the nature of capitalism?
Required Readings for question 5
Kumar, A. (2020) ‘Chapter 6: Cartels of Capital’ Monopsony Capitalism, Cambridge University Press
Malcolm Sawyer, “Theories of Monopoly Capitalism”, Journal of Economic Surveys 2, no. 1 (1988): 47–76.
Bruce Norton, “The Accumulation of Capital as Historical Essence: A Critique of the Theory of Monopoly Capital”, Association for Economic and Social Analysis: Discussion Paper Series, 1983.
Galanis, Giorgos and Ashok Kumar (2018) ‘A Dynamic Spatial Model of Global Governance Structures” Post-Keynesian Economics Society (1804)
Additional Readings for question 5
“Monopoly Capital a Half Century On”, Monthly Review 68, no. 3 (2016). Brenner, Robert “Competition and Class”, Monthly Review 51, no. 7 (1999).
Paul Sweezy, “Some Problems in the Theory of Capital Accumulation”, International Journal of Political Economy 17, no. 2 (1987).
Jane Wheelock, “Competition in the Marxist Tradition”, Capital & Class 7, no. 3 (1983): 18– 47.
Paul Mattick, “Monopoly Capital” in Anti-Bolshevik Communism (Monmouth: Merlin Press, 1978).
Ernest Mandel, “The Labor Theory of Value and ‘Monopoly Capitalism’”, International Socialist Review 28, no. 4 (1967): 29–42.
Joan Greenbaum, “On Twenty-Five Years with Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capital”, Monthly Review 50, no. 8 (1999).
James Clifton, “Competition and the Evolution of the Capitalist Mode of Production” Cambridge Journal of Economics 1, no. 2 (1977): 137–151.
Mario Cogoy, “Neo-Marxist Theory, Marx, and the Accumulation of Capital,” International Journal of Political Economy 17, no. 2 (1987): 11–37.
Material for question 5
Please find attached the following files:
- Question 5 / Slides
- Bruce norton (Question 5)
- Galanis, Giorgos and Ashok Kumar (Question 5)
- sawyer (Question 5)
Question 6: Considering the power differentials between workers and global capital, how can workers have greater bargaining power against their employers under globalized capital?
Required Reading for question 6
Kumar, A. (2020) ‘Chapter 7: Labour’s Power in the Chain’ Monopsony Capitalism, Cambridge University Press
Kumar, A. (2020) ‘Chapter 5: Honduras: A Transnational Campaign at a Cotton Commodity Producer’ Monopsony Capitalism, Cambridge University Press
Wright, C.F., 2016. “Leveraging reputational risk: sustainable sourcing campaigns for improving labor standards in production networks. Journal of Busi ness Ethics. 137(1), pp. 195-210
Barrientos, S.W. (2013). ‘Labour chains: analyzing the role of labor contractors in global production networks’ The Journal of Development Studies, 48(8), pp. 1058-1071
Further Reading for question 6
Locke, R.M. , Rissing, B.A. and Pal, T. (2013). “Complements or substitutes? Private codes, state regulation and the enforcement of labor standards in global supply chains” British Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(3), pp. 519-552.
Donaghey, J., Reinecke, J., Niforou, C. and Lawson, B. (2014). “From employment relations to consumption relations: Balancing labor governance in global supply chains” Human Resources Management, 53(2), pp. 229-252.
Bartley, T. and Egels-Zanden, N. (2015) “Beyond docoupling: unions and the leveraging of corporate social responsibility in Indonesia”, Socio-Economic Review, 14(2), pp. 231- 255.
Material for question 6
Please find attached the following files:
- wright (Question 6)
- barrientos (Question 6)
- Question 6 / slides
Question 7: Companies’ profits and social costs: who gain and who loses from creative destruction?
Required reading for question 7
Schumpeter, J.A. (1928). The Instability of Capitalism, The Economic Journal Vol. 38, No. 151, pp. 361-386.
Keynes, J.M. (1930). Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren (1930), in Keynes, Essays in Persuasion (London, Macmillan, 1932), 358-373.
Lepore, J. (2014), The Disruption Machine. What the gospel of innovation gets wrong., The Newyorker, June 23 Issue, at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/the- disruption-machine
Archibugi, D. (2017). Blade Runner Economics: Will Innovation Lead the Economic Recovery?, Research Policy, 46:3, pp. 535-543.
Further Readings for question 7
Elliott, J.E. (1980), Marx and Schumpeter on Capitalism’s Creative Destruction: A Comparative Restatement, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 95, No. 1 (Aug., 1980), pp. 45-68
Figueiredo, J.M. & Kyle, M.K. (2006). Surviving the Gales of Creative Destruction: The Determinants of Product Turnover, Strategic Management Journal, 27 (3): pp. 241-264.
Paula Kivimaa and Florian Kerna, Creative destruction or mere niche support? Innovation policy mixes for sustainability transitions, Research Policy, Volume 45, Issue 1, February 2016, Pages 205-217
Mazzucato, M. (2013) Financing innovation: creative destruction vs. destructive creation, Industrial and Corporate Change, Volume 22, Issue 4, 1 August 2013, Pages 851–867.
Rosenberg, N. (2011). Was Schumpeter a Marxist? Industrial and Corporate Change, Volume 20, Issue 4, 1 Pages 1215–1222,
Schumpeter, J.A. (1943). Capitalism, Socialism, Democracy, chapters V-X
Question 8: Is race required for capitalism? Or is capitalism required for race? Or are they co- constitutive? Is race global or spatially bounded?
Key Readings for question 8
Kumar, A., Adam Elliott-Cooper; Dalia Gebrial; Shruti Iyer “Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates” Historical Materialism. Special Issue Identity Politics: ACCESS HERE: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/articles/marxist-interventions- into-contemporary-debates
Wolfe, Patrick 2015. introduction to Traces of History. Verso Books
Olaloku-Teriba, A. “Afro-Pessimism and the (un)Logic of Anti-Blackness” Historical Materialism. Identity Politics. 2018. ACCESS HERE: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/articles/afro-pessimism-and-unlogic-anti-blackness
EM Wood (2002) “Class, Race, and Capitalism” Political Power and Social Theory. Volume 15
John Clegg and Adaner Usmani (2019) “The Economic Origins of Mass Incarceration” Catalyst Volume 3, Issue 3. ACCESS HERE: https://catalyst-journal.com/vol3/no3/the- economic-origins-of-mass-incarceration
Additional Readings for question 8
Fields, Barbara Jeanne (1990) “Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America” New Left Review
Mintz, Sidney W. (2000). Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, Introduction.
Bailey, Ronal (1994). “The Other Side of Slavery: Black Labor, Cotton, and Textile Industrialization in Great Britain and the United States,” Agricultural History 68:2: 35-50.
The Half-Life of the Black Urban Regime: Adolph Reed, Jr. on Race, Captialism and Urban Governance. Labor Studies Journal.
Marable, Manning. (1999). How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Preface, Critical Reassessment, Chapter 3
Anstey, RT (1968) “Capitalism and Slavery: A Critique” The Economic History Review
Johnson, W. (2016) “To Remake the World: Slavery, Racial Capitalism, and Justice” Boston Review
Wolfe, P. (2006). Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native. Journal of genocide
research, 8(4), 387-409.
Wacquant, L. (2001). Deadly symbiosis: When ghetto and prison meet and mesh. Punishment & Society, 3(1), 95-133.
Material for question 8
Please find attached the following files:
- Patrick Wolfe (Question 8)
- em wood (Question 8)
- Race and coloniality (Question 8)
Question 9: What’s the connection between capitalist crises of the 1970s and the changing composition of cities?
Required reading for question 9
Beaverstock, J. V., R. G. Smith, and P. J. Taylor. 1999. A roster of world cities. Cities 16 (6):445-458.
Kemeny, Thomas, and Michael Storper. 2015. Is Specialization Good for Regional Economic Development? Regional Studies 49 (6):1003-1018.
Sassen, S. (1999). Whose city is it? Globalization and the formation of new. Sustainable cities in the 21st century, 145.
Kumar, Ashok (2014) “Interwoven Threads: Building a Labour Countermovement in Bangalore’s Export-Oriented Garment Sector” City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, Vol. 18. Issue 6, 854-872.
Further reading for question 9
Sassen, Saskia. 1991. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Sassen, Saskia. 2000. Cities in a World Economy. 2 ed. London: Pine Forge Press. Smith, N. (1982). Gentrification and uneven development. Economic geography, 58(2),
139-155.
Harvey, D. (1987). Flexible accumulation through urbanization: reflections on ‘post- modernism’in the American city. Antipode, 19(3), 260-286.
Material for question 9
Please find attached the following files:
- Sassen-Saskia (Question 9)
- Building (Question 9)
- kemeny (Question 9)
- A_Roster_of_World_Cities (Question 9)
Question 10: Where will increasing automation lead us – to lives of leisure, to more creative/less routine work, to mass unemployment, or something else?
Required reading for question 10
Mokyr, Joel, Chris Vickers, and Nicolas L. Ziebarth. 2015. The History of Technological Anxiety and the Future of Economic Growth: Is This Time Different? Journal of Economic Perspectives 29 (3):31- 50.
The following sections from Westlake, Stian, ed. 2014. Our Work Here is Done: Visions of a Robot Economy. London: NESTA:
Ryan Avent, “The Revolution Will be Uncomfortable”, pp 16-23
Noah Smith, “The End of Labour: How to Protect Workers from the Rise of Robots”, pp 24- 27
Frances Coppola, “Automation and Jobs: Competition or Cooperation?”, pp 28-36
Further Readings for question 10
Oshima, H. (1984). The Growth of U.S. Factor Productivity: The Significance of New Technologies in the Early Decades of the twentieth Century. The Journal of Economic History, 44(1), 161-170
Marx, K. (1858). Fragment on machines. The Grundrisse, 690-712.
Material for question 10
Please find attached the following files:
- our_work_here_is_done_robot_economy (Question 10)
- jep (Questio 10)
- Question 10 / slides
