Course Description

This course provides an understanding of the capitalist economic system and pressing contemporary issues by examining the history of ideas and evolution of the process by which society provides for the material well-being of its members. Content will range from capitalism’s origins in medieval society and the creation of new social classes to the near financial collapse of the 2008/09 “Great Recession.” The historical perspective is developed to recognize the social and economic forces underlying issues of concern and to identify implications for the future of our economic society.