The modern world is, among other things, the world of capitalism. When we speak
of progress today we ordinarily mean economic progress or at least that progress—
technological, scientific—that depends on the economy and feeds it in turn; wherever we are going—where is that, exactly?—capitalism is our fuel.
But the world wasn’t always modern, and it wasn’t always capitalist. To understand
our world, we must understand where our economic order came from and what effects it has had. How has it changed us? What has it unlocked? What has it suppressed? What, really, have we gained, and what have we lost? How can we maximize the good and minimize the bad in this rapid, disorienting, sometimes nauseating, spectacular, suffering world?
This is a political science course (you do not need any background in economics),
but our first premise is an economic premise: nothing, not even economics itself, is without cost.
After a few comments on Aristotle and Sallust, we will study John Locke and Adam
Smith, who described and desired the modern world. We will then move to this world’s greatest critic, Rousseau, and three German discontents who followed him. Finally, we will arrive in the twentieth century and examine arguments by those who wish to restrain or channel capitalism (Polanyi, Piketty) and those who wish to unleash it (Hayek, Friedman). We’ll conclude with Raghuram Rajan, who wants something in between.
This is an upper-level course at one of the finest universities in the country; it will
push you, and I will push you, but you will hike the trail yourself—what you accomplish here will be your own. Most readings will be relatively short so that you have time to read them slowly; the papers will be short because concision is the first virtue of a good writer.
