Department website: https://snfagora.jhu.edu/project/center-for-economy-and-society/
The Center for Economy and Society is a multidisciplinary research and teaching initiative dedicated to reinvigorating debates about politics, economics, and culture and identifying new possibilities for change. CES aims to provide a pluralistic space in which scholars and practitioners with different approaches to the political economy of liberal democracy can productively work out their disagreements, discover common ground, and build new frameworks for governance.
Our core areas of exploration:
- AI and the Economy: Delving into how artificial intelligence is redefining economic landscapes.
- Economic Security: Examining the foundations of financial stability in modern society.
- The New Abundance Economics Agenda: Charting a new course for prosperity in today’s world.
- Innovations in the Infrastructures of Care: Reimagining support systems for the 21st century.
- U.S.-China and the World: Navigating the complexities of global economic leadership.
- Poverty and Development: Tackling the root causes of poverty with fresh insights.
- The Economics of the Workplace: Understanding the evolving dynamics of our workplaces.
- Political Economies of Exclusion: Addressing the barriers that divide us.
Our educational programs:
- BA in Moral and Political Economy: The BA in Moral and Political Economy is an undergraduate major offered at Johns Hopkins University that teaches students to think about economic problems in their moral, social, and political contexts. It is Johns Hopkins’ only selective major in the humanities and social sciences, and requires all students to complete a senior honors theses. For more information, please contact the Program Coordinator or Director of Undergraduate Studies. Contact information can be found here on the Center for Economy and Society website.
- enCOREage: Currently housed at SNF Agora’s Center for Economy and Society, the enCOREage project is a unique collaboration among CORE Econ, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University, and Honor Education (Honor Ed). The project will create a free and open introductory e-textbook, “Understanding the Economy,” to engage with students’ lived experience and to address the problems they are most interested in, such as inequality, innovation, climate change, and the future of work.
For current course information and registration go to https://sis.jhu.edu/classes/
Courses
AS.197.101. Social Theories of the Economy I. 3 Credits.
The first semester of a two-semester readings course required for all students who have been admitted to the Moral and Political Economy major. The course will provide an intensive introduction to major writings on economic life since the late eighteenth century, with a focus on debates provoked by the rise of capitalism. In the first semester readings will focus on liberal theories of the market economy, from Adam Smith through Milton Friedman; and on dialectical theories of economic development, ranging from Hegel and Marx through Nancy Fraser and Stuart Hall. The class will meet for a group lecture and discussion on Tuesdays, and then in smaller tutorial groups focused on close readings on Thursdays.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Democracy (FA4.1),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.102. Social Theories of the Economy II. 3 Credits.
The second semester of a two-semester readings course required for all students who have been admitted to the Moral and Political Economy major. The course provides an intensive introduction to major writings on economic life since the late eighteenth century, with a focus on debates provoked by the growth and development of capitalism. This semester will explore themes including the effects of the market economy on communal and religious life, the economic and political implications of rational choice theory, and the relationship between capitalism and colonialism. In the concluding weeks we will focus on major economic challenges and opportunities for the twenty-first century. The class will meet for a group lecture and discussion on Tuesdays, and then in smaller tutorial groups focused on close readings on Thursdays.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Democracy (FA4.1),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.207. Science, Knowledge & Technology: A Globalizing Approach. 3 Credits.
Everything is involved with science, knowledge, and technology these days: from education to punishment, from communication to healthcare, from voting to investment, from policymaking to activism, and from developmental initiatives to nation building. Nobody escapes science, knowledge, and technology, but we know so little about how to deal with them, and our relationships with them are nothing but complicated. And what are science, knowledge, and technology after all? How do they—not only the “hard sciences” like physics and biology but also “social technology” or “social knowledge”—permeate every corner of our lives? This course 1) introduces how sociology studies broadly defined science, knowledge, and technology; 2) bridges the sociological literature on science, knowledge, and technology with related social scientific domains such as organization theory, economic sociology, political sociology, and inequality and intersectionality; and 3) attempts to break the “selection bias” in the literature by covering a wider range of societies (especially the institutionally “significant others” such as China and Russia) and their interactions. By doing so, this course teaches students to radically rethink science, knowledge, and technology in various sociological traditions, and provides them with tools for further investigation and engagement. This course satisfies the "reading seminar" requirement for the Moral and Political Economy major.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Science and Data (FA2),
Citizens and Society (FA4)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.208. Civilization on Trial: The Grand Discourse on Modernity. 3 Credits.
This course explores how modern civilization has been placed “on trial” by its most penetrating critics and provocative prophets. Beginning with Marx’s radical indictment of capitalism, students will examine how thinkers such as Max Weber, Friedrich Hayek, Jacques Ellul, and Jürgen Habermas interrogated the ideological foundations, structural dynamics, and ambiguous ethical consequences of modern social systems. The course highlights the dialogue among these figures, inviting students to synthesize their theories into a dialectical portrait of modern humanity’s existential predicament. In reconstructing this grand discourse, we will analyze the powers, promises, and pathologies of capitalism, socialism, and democracy, and relate our findings to historical cases. Ultimately, students will be challenged to reflect critically and imaginatively on how our political-economic systems function—and whether they can, and ought to, be organized differently.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.210. Global Capitalism. 3 Credits.
We examine how capitalism has unfolded as a system over the past century around the world, with the goal of understanding whether there are realistic alternatives to our current social order. We ask what communism was, and why people fear it; why there is more poverty and inequality in the U.S. than other developed countries; how some developing countries have managed to become rich; and the recent rise of “neoliberalism.”
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.211. City, Country, Inequality: The Political Economy of Place in the U.S.. 3 Credits.
In this course, we address the relationship between place, economics, and politics. We use varying theoretical and empirical perspectives to examine how place matters for economic development; relations between different social groups; politics; and the distribution of power in American society. We place the U.S. in comparative perspective and examine how the relationship between place and politics is (and is not) distinct. This course satisfies the reading seminar requirement for Moral and Political Economy majors.
Distribution Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.212. Reading Seminar: Political Economy of Public Health and Gender. 3 Credits.
This course examines how conceptions of gender shape and are shaped by public policy in the U.S. We use varying theoretical and empirical perspectives to ask why gendered inequalities persist in access to health care, labor market opportunities and earnings, and other domains of social and economic life--as well as how they intersect with other axes of social difference, such as race, ethnicity, and sexuality. We place the U.S. in comparative perspective and examine how the relationship between gender and inequality varies across capitalist democracies.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Science and Data (FA2),
Citizens and Society (FA4)
AS.197.213. Social Democracy. 3 Credits.
This course begins with an investigation of the history of social democracy in Europe, from origins to crisis to reconstruction, and then “globalizes” this in three ways: first, by asking how colonial relations affected social democracy in Europe; second, by examining social democratic movements in other countries; and third, by considering what would have to happen to enable a genuinely global social democracy.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.214. The Moral Life of Mining. 3 Credits.
This course takes South Africa as a point of departure for a broader investigation of how mining shapes morality in modern life. Focusing on diamond and gold mining between the late-nineteenth century and the present day, we will read across different and sometimes contradictory frameworks for posing questions of right and wrong, e.g. Christian theology, moral economy, moral reasoning, Black Consciousness philosophy, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Our syllabus will draw from a wide range of fields and genres, including Calvinist and liberation theology, literary fiction, social and economic history, political speeches, and corporate mission statements, and include visual as well as written texts. Students will also have the chance to converse with guest speakers who have historical, scientific, and/or industry expertise in mining on the African continent. The overarching course objective is to understand how the problem of mining in Africa – in all its exploitation and innovation, ground-level grime and c-suite extravagance – has shaped evolving and conflicting moral vocabularies.
AS Foundational Abilities: Culture and Aesthetics (FA3),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5)
EN Foundational Abilities: Creative Expression (FA3),
Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.215. The Uses and Abuses of Economics in Modern America. 3 Credits.
This course takes a historical view on the American economics profession since the early 20th century. Rather than focusing on the theoretical content of economic ideas and models, students will pay attention to their applications and audiences. Students will reflect on what it meant for economists to serve as policymakers, journalists, foreign ambassadors, and business consultants, securing influence in spaces far beyond academia. How did the growing power of economists in these various spheres shape the world we live in today? These are some of the questions we will explore together through readings, lectures, and group discussions. Students need not have an economics or social science background to excel in this course.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.250. Competition, Conflict, and Coordination: Microeconomics and Political Economy. 3 Credits.
Competition, Conflict, and Coordination is a reading seminar. It builds on and extends topics from elements of microeconomics and looks at modern, strategic models of how people, firms, and governments interact, seeing the importance and pervasiveness of external effects in people’s decision-making and how they can result in coordination failures. We model exchange and examine how different rules affect the potential gains from cooperation and how unequally they are distributed. We draw on insights and evidence from behavioral economics to understand risk, cooperation, altruism, and trust. These insights help us to understand people’s attitudes towards government policies like redistribution, taxation, and the funding of education. The course concludes with a basic introduction to mechanism design looking at applications like taxing behaviors governments want to curb (such as smoking and drinking), the provision of public goods, and designing policies when people have incentives to lie. It is strongly recommended that students have at least one semester of calculus.
Prerequisite(s): AS.180.101 AND AS.180.102
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Science and Data (FA2),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.308. Follow the Money: Crime Media, Surveillance, and Policing in the U.S.. 3 Credits.
While stories of allegedly true crimes have long fascinated the American public, the last decade has seen an astonishing proliferation of media depicting real (and fabricated) crime and policing events. In this course, we will examine how crime media—from true-crime documentaries to YouTube interrogation-analysis videos and online “citizen sleuth” forums—shapes and is shaped by complex collaborations and conflicts among state actors, large media conglomerates, and the public. By “following the money,” students will explore the commercial, cultural, and political stakes of crime storytelling in the digital age, drawing insight into how these narratives legitimize or destabilize practices of law enforcement, surveillance, and punishment in the US.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.309. Bureaucracy, From the Deep State to the DMV. 3 Credits.
This course addresses the subject we love to hate. Out of popular critiques of bureaucracies from the DMV and “deep state” have emerged varied – sometimes paradoxical – images about bureaucracy and bureaucrats: as simultaneously conniving and power-hungry, bumbling and incompetent, or rule-bound, dull, and mundane to the point of lunacy. But what actually is bureaucracy? More than the butt of gripes or jokes, bureaucracy is a powerful political concept worthy of scholarly study. Our class will consider what bureaucracy is, how and where it emerged in American life, and what its implications are for democracy, individual freedom, and effective organization. It will emphasize the study of primary sources pertaining to bureaucracy – including company organization charts, film, social theory, novels, legislation, government reports, and contemporary discourses – and ask students to put them in conversation with interdisciplinary theories about its significance and development.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.311. Political Economy of Regulation. 3 Credits.
This course will introduce students to competing theories of the economic purpose, objectives, and results of bureaucratic regulation setting in the United States. It will first introduce three broad camps: public interest theories of regulation, private interest theories of regulation, and finally, theories that question these one size fits all approaches and understand regulation within its historical and institutional context. Finally, it will introduce students to a selection of regulatory regimes, including antitrust regulation; health, safety, & environmental regulation; and international regulation. Class format will consist of a combination of lecture and discussion (one class/week on each). Students will write weekly response papers and end the semester with a final term paper consisting of original research on a regulation of their choosing combined with a presentation on their findings. It is recommended, but not required, that students have taken AP Statistics or an introduction to statistics and ideally have taken an intermediate economic theory class (either micro or macro).This course satisfies the "research lab" requirement for Moral and Political Economy majors.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
AS.197.327. People, Power, and Pay: The Economics of the Workplace. 3 Credits.
We study the relationship between workers and employers in the employment contract, understanding the conflict of interest between the parties to the contract and the opportunities for gains from cooperation. We identify how power is exercised in the employer-worker relationship and we explore the role of technology and innovation, showing how monitoring technologies can make employment outcomes more efficient and more unequal. We examine how trust and reciprocity may substitute for monitoring and how workers may investigate alternative institutional arrangements to exert countervailing power to employers (unions, cooperatives, democratic participation).
Prerequisite(s): AS.180.101 AND AS.180.102
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Science and Data (FA2),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.328. The Ideological Sources of Modern Political Economy (Research Lab). 3 Credits.
We study the role ideas have played in the shaping of the modern political economic order. We identify and analyze the structure of such major ideological systems as classical liberalism, Marxism, Fascism, Nazism, Progressivism, Keynesianism, and neo-liberalism. We address why these ideas were developed, how they became politically influential, and what effects they had on the states in which they were implemented. This is a research lab where students will be trained how to critically analyze the origins and content of ideologies, to produce ideational explanations of political economic institutions, and to evaluate the truth value of ideas and the moral value of their political economic consequences. Students will cultivate the skills necessary for designing, pursuing, and presenting original research in intellectual history, political theory and political economy.
Distribution Area: Quantitative and Mathematical Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
AS.197.330. Social Networks. 3 Credits.
The well-known saying, “It is not what you know, but who you know,” captures the importance of social networks in our everyday lives. However, social networks shape not only individuals but also society at large. From protests to epidemics, market performance of innovations to culture wars, and election results to dating and marriage, this course will explore how social networks shape society through their impacts on individuals, institutions, and structures. We will start by learning key network concepts, measures, processes, and analyses. We will then move on to thematic explorations of how social networks emerge, evolve, and influence various individual and social outcomes. Finally, we will conclude by applying social networks as a theoretical lens for understanding society.This course satisfies the "research lab" requirement for Moral and Political Economy majors.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Science and Data (FA2),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.498. MPE Honors Thesis I. 3 Credits.
The first semester of the Moral and Political Economy's year-long honors thesis course. This course is mandatory for senior Moral and Political Economy majors. Students enrolled in this course will complete their honors senior thesis under the supervision of both the thesis course instructor and a thesis advisor chosen by the student prior to registration for AS.197.498.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.499. MPE Honors Thesis II. 3 Credits.
The second semester of the year-long honors thesis course, required for senior Moral and Political Economy majors. Students will complete their honors thesis under the supervision of both the thesis course instructor and a thesis advisor chosen by the student in the Spring of their junior year. The course will focus on the process of research and writing a thesis and provide support tailored to the specific needs of the group. Topics include honing a viable original research topic, locating a source base, interpreting sources, moving from a topic to an argument, developing a scholarly intervention, and finally outlining, writing, and editing.
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Writing and Communication (FA1),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
EN Foundational Abilities: Engagement with Society (FA4)
Writing Intensive
AS.197.501. Moral and Political Economy Research Assistantship. 1 Credit.
Research Assistantship for Undergraduate Moral and Political Economy Majors. In addition to assisting faculty with research projects, students are expected to attend several Research Assistant Training Sessions and participate in the broader research community of the Agora Institute.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Customized Academic Learning using the Customized Academic Learning form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
AS Foundational Abilities: Science and Data (FA2),
Ethics and Foundations (FA5),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
AS.197.503. Summer Internship. 1 Credit.
This course allows Moral and Political Economy majors to receive summer credit for a research-oriented internship that addresses issues of economic, social, and political concern, under the direct supervision of a member of the Moral and Political Economy faculty. Students should receive written confirmation from a Moral and Political Economy faculty member to oversee their internship before registering for this course, and they should register for the section which is taught by their faculty supervisor.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Customized Academic Learning using the Customized Academic Learning form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
AS.197.508. CES Summer Internship. 1 Credit.
One-credit course for students admitted into the Center for Economy and Society's funded internship program.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Customized Academic Learning using the Customized Academic Learning form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
AS Foundational Abilities: Science and Data (FA2),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
AS.197.509. CES Summer Internship Co-requisite. 2 Credits.
Students completing unpaid internships through the Center for Economy and Society's internship program should register for this course, in addition to the course CES Summer Internship.
Corequisite(s): AS.197.508
Distribution Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS Foundational Abilities: Science and Data (FA2),
Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)
AS.197.510. Independent Thesis Research. 3 Credits.
This is an independent study course for early-graduating seniors in the Moral and Political Economy Major.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Customized Academic Learning using the Customized Academic Learning form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
AS Foundational Abilities: Citizens and Society (FA4),
Projects and Methods (FA6)