This module is not currently running in 2022 to 2023.
Anthropology has an important role to play in the examination of our own organizational lives as embedded in various forms of capitalism. This module will allow students to gain anthropological perspectives on business formations, structures, practices and ideologies. Businesses – be they individuals, families, corporations, nation-states or multi-lateral corporations - have identities that are invariably distinct from one another and which are forged upon and promote particular social relationships. Ethnographic case-studies, with a strong emphasis on the stock market in the last third of the course will provide the basis for discussing how these social relationships that enact power, are embedded in broader cultural processes such as ethnicity, nationalism, migration, and kinship as well as ideologies of gender, aesthetics and religion among others. Acknowledging the multiple dynamic relationships between businesses, people and marketplaces will allow us to evaluate their roles as reactive producers, consumers and disseminators of cultural processes within our surrounding environments, extending from the local to the global.
This module will be taught be means of a 1 hour lecture (shared with SE584) for 12 weeks and a total of 8 additional contact hours with the module convenor. Depending on the number of students enrolled in the module these contact hours will take the form of seminar groups and/or individual tutorials. Students will also be expected to devote a total of 130 hours to research, reading, coursework preparation and use of online resources provided via the Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) for this module.
Total Contact Hours: 34
Independent Study Hours: 116
Total Study Hours: 150
MA Social Anthropology and associated pathways
Assessment is by 100% coursework and set forth as follows:
100% for an essay (2000 words) which will engage theoretical work from the lectures and readings in conjunction with the ethnographic works of their choice. The essay tests the achievement of critical thinking and ability in researching and writing on salient issues about how businesses are embedding in social relations as well as the students knowledge of the key recommended texts; the class presentation tests critical oral, study and communication skills and the knowledge of required information. Both assessments further test data retrieval and the synthesis and presentation of various information sources and their application to the emerging sub-discipline of the anthropology of business.
Reassessment methods: 100% coursework.
Reading list (Indicative list, current at time of publication. Reading lists will be published annually)
Bestor, Ted 2004. Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World. University of California Press
Comaroff , John and Jean Comoroff (in press, 2008) "Ethnicity, Inc.
Frank, Thomas 1997. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. University of Chicago Press
Hart, Keith, and Horacio Ortiz. 2014. "The Anthropology of Money and Finance: Between Ethnography and World History". Annual Review of Anthropology. 43: 465-482.
Ho, Karen Zouwen. 2009. Liquidated: an ethnography of Wall Street. Durham: Duke University Press.
Hoffer, Lee D. 2006. Junkie business: the evolution and operation of a heroin dealing network. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Ortiz, Horacio. 2014. "The Limits of Financial Imagination: Free Investors, Efficient Markets, and Crisis". American Anthropologist. 116 (1): 38-50.
Zaloom, Caitlin 2006. Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London. University of Chicago Press
The intended subject specific learning outcomes. On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Understand the cultural diversity of business formations and communities in the contexts of geography and social changes and rethink our cultural assumptions about such communities
2. Demonstrate a clear comparative perspective of business organisations
3. Recognise the pertinence of an anthropological perspective to understanding major national and international events
4. Appreciate how ethnography contributes to theory
5. Discuss key issues and debates in the anthropology of business literature
The intended generic learning outcomes. On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Think critically in anthropological terms about social phenomena
2. Use (and combine effectively) written, oral and visual modes of communication
3. Read, comprehend and assimilate texts written for a professional audience
4. Present their ideas systematically and cogently both orally and in writing
5. Work effectively within a small group
University of Kent makes every effort to ensure that module information is accurate for the relevant academic session and to provide educational services as described. However, courses, services and other matters may be subject to change. Please read our full disclaimer.
