This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

 

Readings

SES # TOPICS READINGS
Introduction and Overview
1 The Evolution of the Industrial State  
2 Paradigms and History: Kuhn, Foley, Rawls

Buy at Amazon Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1970, chapters 2-3 and 9-10, pp. 72-95 and 154-197. ISBN: 0226458083.

Foley, Ducan K. "Problems vs. Conflicts: Economic Theory and Ideology." In Microeconomic Theory: Conflict and Contract. The American Economic Review 65, no. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-seventh Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May 1975): 231-236.

Rawls, John. "Some Reasons for the Maximin Criterion." In Concepts of Distribution Equity. The American Economic Review 64, no. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-sixth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May 1974): 141-146.

Buy at Amazon Friedman, Milton. "Methodology of Positive Economics." In Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1953, pp. 3-43. ISBN: 0226264033.

Liberalism and Neoclassical Economics
3 Film: The Fountainhead The Fountainhead directed by King Vidor (1949)
4 Discussion of Rand Buy at Amazon Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead. Centennial ed. New York, NY: Signet, 1996. ISBN: 0451191153.
5 Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom Buy at Amazon Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. 40th anniversary ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2002, chapters 1-3, 6, 10, and 12-13, pp. 1-36, 85-107, 161-176, and 190-196. ISBN: 0226264211.
6 Becker Buy at Amazon Becker, Gary. An Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1976, chapters 1 and 13, pp. 3-14 and 282-329. ISBN: 0226041123.
7 Gilder Buy at Amazon Gilder, George. Wealth and Poverty. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1981, part 1, pp. 3-101. ISBN: 0465091059.
Marxism, Economics, and Politics
8 Marxism: The Manifesto Buy at Amazon Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Reprint ed. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1998. ISBN: 0451527100.
9 Elster Buy at Amazon Elster, Jon. An Introduction to Karl Marx. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1986, chapters 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8, pp. 21-41, 60-78, and 103-167. ISBN: 052133831X.
10 Capital, The Division of Labor and Machinery Buy at Amazon Marx, Karl. Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of the Political Economy. Reprint ed. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1992, chapters XIV and XV, sections 1 and 2. ISBN: 0140445684.
11 Bowles and Gintis Bowles, S., and H. Gintis. "The Crisis of Liberal Democratic Capitalism. Politics and Society 11, no. 1 (1982): 51-93.
The Social Embeddedness of the Economy
12 Introduction  
13 Weber Buy at Amazon Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2001, chapters 2 and 5, pp. 47-78 and 155-183. ISBN: 041525406X.
14 Polanyi Buy at Amazon Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1944, chapters 11-21, pp. 130-258. ISBN: 080705643X.
15 Schumpeter Buy at Amazon Schumpeter, Joseph. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1962, chapters 5-14, pp. 61-163 but especially 121-163. ISBN: 0061330086.
16 Review Session  
17 Midterm Exam  
18 Keynes Buy at Amazon Keynes, Maynard. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Prometheus Books ed. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1957, chapters 1-3 and 18-19, pp. 3-34 and 245-279. ISBN: 1573921394.
The Corporate State
19 Introduction  
20 Galbraith and Solow

Buy at Amazon Galbraith, John Kenneth. The New Industrial State. Princeton University Press ed. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1985, chapter VII, pp. 75-90. ISBN: 0691131414.

Solow, Robert M. "The New Industrial State or Son of Affluence." The Public Interest 9 (Fall 1967): 100-119.

21 Piore and Sabel Buy at Amazon Piore, Michael J., and Charles F. Sabel. The Second Industrial Drive: Possibilities for Prosperity. Reprint ed. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1984, chapters 2-4 and 10, pp. 19-72 and 251-280. ISBN: 0465075614.
22 Fligstein Buy at Amazon Filgstein, Neil. The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies. Reprint ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001, chapters 7-10, pp. 147-237. ISBN: 0691102546.
Civic Republicanism
23 Hannah Arendt Buy at Amazon Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1998, chapters 1-2 and 5, pp. 7-79 and 175-247. ISBN: 0226025985.
24 Lester and Piore Buy at Amazon Lester, Richard, and Michael Piore. Innovation: The Missing Dimension. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0674015819.
25 Sacks Buy at Amazon Sacks, Oliver. Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989. ISBN: 0520060830.
26 The Soul of the New Machine Buy at Amazon Kidder, Tracy. The Soul of a New Machine. Reprint ed. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1997. ISBN: 0679602615.
27 The Double Helix Buy at Amazon Watson, James D. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. New York, NY: Touchstone, 2001. ISBN: 074321630X.