What is the critique of economism and why does it matter?

CULTURAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

LECTURER DR AMIN SAMMAN

Rhind Building, D515

Office hours: Thursday, 14.00–16.00

Amin.Samman.1@city.ac.uk

Please sign up for appointments online http://www.supersaas.com/schedule/Amin_Samman/Office_Hours

OUR APPROACH The objectives of this module are twofold:

1. To introduce the key concepts, approaches, and debates in this field

2. To provide an opportunity for in-depth study of the cultural logics at work in one or more aspect of contemporary capitalism

The first is meant to enable the second:

• Our core objective is to use these concepts and debates to study the concrete issues and problems that define the contemporary cultures of global capitalism

WEEK 1 OUTLINE

1. What is cultural political economy?

2. Economism and beyond

3. Module structure

4. Housekeeping

WHAT IS CULTURAL POLITICAL ECONOMY? Cultural political economy is a new interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the cultural and political logics of economic practices and processes

• Unlike IR (and to a certain extent IPE), there is not yet a clearly defined canon of thinkers, methods, or even questions

• There are however a growing number of trends supporting the development of cultural political economy thinking:

v New ‘cultural political economy’ research agendas in established disciplines and fields of study

v Academic journals like Economy and Society and Journal of Cultural Economy, which cut across established disciplines

CULTURAL POLITICAL ECONOMIES Today the terms are combined in many ways, often reflecting histories and conditions in distinct ‘home disciplines’

Home discipline Approach

IR International political sociology

IPE Constructivism, Post-structuralism, Feminism

Political economy Cultural political economy

Sociology Economic sociology, Cultural economy

Social theory Libidinal political economy

Literary studies New economic criticism, Economic humanities

ECONONISM AND BEYOND One way to understand the thrust of cultural political economy is as a rejection of ‘economism’

• Economism is a specific variety of ‘essentialism’

• Essentialism presumes that the complexity of human affairs can be pared back to reveal an underlying simplicity in the form a single, determining logic

• Economism is economic essentialism v The logic of society is rooted in production, profit and so on,

implying that other ‘non-economic’ factors can be regarded as inessential to social development and reproduction

MODES OF ECONOMISM Economism implies neither a specific understanding of markets, nor a specific normative judgment about their social value

Orthodox Marxism Vision of a determining economic base and a dependent or epiphenomenal superstructure; typically anti-capitalist

Liberal political economy Application of neoclassical assumptions and models to political questions; typically pro-capitalist

In both cases, preferences of agents or classes are deduced from their relations to the factors or means of production

CRITIQUES OF ECONOMISM In (I)PE, the critique of economism has taken three main forms:

• Recently there have been attempts to synthesise 2 and 3 under the heading of ‘cultural political economy’ (Jessop/Sum)

• Beyond (I)PE, economism was never such a problem; non- economistic approaches have taken shape under different banners

Banner Contribution Context

1. Constructivism Role of ideas in shaping individual economic preferences

Directed at liberal political economy

2. Neo-Gramscianism Role of ideology in shaping economic common sense

Conversation with Marxism

3. Post-structuralism Role of discourse in constituting economic reality itself

Conversation with Marxism

MODULE STRUCTURE Part I. Cultural political economies

• Economism and beyond

• Constructivist and cultural political economy • Cultural economy and the economic humanities • Gender and feminist political economy • Libidinal political economy

Part II. Cultures of contemporary capitalism

• Money and desire

• Representing and mediating crisis • Contemporary capitalism in popular culture

• Money and finance in contemporary art • Cultures of cyber-capitalism

TEACHING FORMAT The module is taught through a series of 10 lectures and 10 seminars, each of which will last 50 minutes

• Core ideas and debates will be presented in the lectures

• You will have the opportunity to ask questions and develop your thinking in the discussion-based seminars

• Lectures will be followed by seminars on the same topic

• For example, next week we will hold lectures and seminars on Topic 2 (‘Constructivist and cultural political economy’)

MODULE ASSESSMENT One 3,000-word essay; due on 14 April 2020

• The essay must combine theoretical discussion with empirical analysis of a topic covered in Part II of the module

v e.g., money / crisis / popular culture / art / technology

• Before reflective learning week you will be provided with a list of essay questions to choose from

• It is possible to develop your own question, but it is vital that you have this approved by me before you begin preparing your essay

GROUND RULES This is an advanced module that covers cutting-edge areas of scholarship. I am here to guide you through the field, but in return there are things you must do:

• Attend all lectures and seminars

• Actively listen and take notes during lectures

• Read and prepare summaries for both required readings in advance of each seminar

• Come to each seminar ready to share your thoughts on the readings, and to freely discuss the set questions for each week

IS THERE A TEXTBOOK? The short answer is ‘no’, but here is a list of some useful books

Abdelal, Blyth and Parsons (2010) Constructing the International Economy

Constructivism / IPE

Best and Paterson (2010) Cultural Political Economy Other cultural and sociological approaches / IPE

De Goede (2006) International Political Economy and Poststructural Politics

Post-structuralism and neo-Gramscianism / IPE

Du Gay and Pryke (2002) Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life

Cultural economy / Sociology

Peterson (2003) A Critical Rewriting of Global Political Economy: Integrating Reproductive, Productive, and Virtual Economies

Post-structuralism and feminism / IPE

Sum and Jessop (2013) Towards a Cultural Political Economy: Putting Culture in its Place in Political Economy

Neo-Gramscian cultural political economy / (I)PE

Woodmansee and Osteen (1999) The New Economic Criticism: Studies at the Intersection of Literature and Economics

Economic criticism / Literary studies

USING MOODLE

• Reading List available through Quick Links

• Module outline available as PDF document

• Lecture slides uploaded each week

• Discussion questions listed for each topic d

NEXT WEEK CONSTRUCTIVIST & CULTURAL

POLITICAL ECONOMY