Course Language:
İngilizce
Course Coordinator:
Courses given by:
Course Objectives:
The aim of this course is to help students relate abstract economic theories and analyses to real life events and problems.
Course Content:
This course focuses on various real life economic problems and the solutions advanced against these problems. The problems are presented in the way they are perceived by directors, actors and actresses in the format of a film and then discussed by using academic books and articles written on the subject.
Course Methodology:
2: Question-Answer, 3: Discussion, 12: Case Study
Course Evaluation Methods:
A: Testing, B: Experiment, C: Homework, D: Term Paper, S: Presentation
Vertical Tabs
Course Learning Outcomes
| Learning Outcomes | Program Learning Outcomes | Teaching Methods | Assessment Methods | ||
| To acquire a good understanding of real life economic problems, which typically are not discussed in economic courses. | 3, 6, 7 | 1, 2, 3, 12 | A, D | ||
| To appreciate the human dimension of economic problems and issues. | 3, 6, 7 | 1, 2, 3, 12 | A, D | ||
| To be able to evaluate these problems critically. | 3, 6, 7 | 1, 2, 3, 12 | A, D | ||
| To develop interdisciplinary approaches to these problems. | 3, 6, 7 | 1, 2, 3, 12 | A, D | ||
| To understand that only interdisciplinary approaches can be of use in such problems. | 3, 6, 7 | 1, 2, 3, 12 | A, D | ||
Course Flow
| COURSE CONTENT | ||
| Week | Topics | Study Materials |
| 1 | Introduction: What is Capitalism? Film: Michael Moore, Kapitalizm: Bir Aşk Hikayesi (2009) | ▪ Heilbroner, Robert L. (2008) “Capitalism”, in Durlauf, Steven N. and Lawrence E. Blume, eds., The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 2nd ed., Palgrave, Macmillan. ▪ Scott, John and Gordon Marshall (2005) “Capitalism” in A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press. ▪ Dobb, Maurice (1946), “Capitalism”, in Studies in the Development of Capitalism, Ch. 1, Routledge and Keagan Paul. |
| 2 | Transition from Feudalism and Colonialism to Capitalism Film: Gillo Pontecorvo, Queimada (1969) | ▪ Dobb, Maurice (1946), “The Decline of Feudalism and the Growth of Towns”, “The Beginnings of the Bourgoisie”, in Studies in the Development of Capitalism, Chs. 2 and 3, Routledge and Keagan Paul. ▪ Hilton, Rodney (1978), “Introduction” to The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, Verso, London. ▪ Robert Brenner (Nov., 1982), “The Agrarian Roots of European Capitalism”, Past & Present, No. 97, pp. 16-113. |
| 3 | Development of Corporations Film: Mark Achbar, The Corporation (2003) | ▪ Richard Robbins (2002), “The Era of the Global Trader”, “The Era of the Industrialist” and The Era of the Corporation, the Multilateral Institution, and the Capital Controller” in Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Boston. ▪ Joel Bakan (2004), The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, Simon and Schuster, New York. |
| 4 | Conflicts Emerge Film: Andrzej Wajda, The Promised Land (1976) | ▪ E. J. Hobsbawm (1987), Chs. 3, 4 and 5 of The Age of Empire, 1875-1914, Vintage Books, New York. |
| 5 | Globalization Film: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, A Screaming Man (2011) | ▪ Joseph Stiglitz (2003), “The Promise of Globalization”, “Broken Promises”, and “Freedom to Choose” Chs. 1, 2 and 3 of Globalization and Its Discontents, W. W. Norton and Co., New York. ▪ Thomas Friedman (2000), “Buy Taiwan, Hold Italy, Sell France” Ch. 11 of Lexus and the Olive Tree, Anchor Books. |
| 6 | The Great Depression of 1929 Film: John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) | ▪ Richard Jensen (Spring, 1989), “The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 553-583. ▪ Nicholas F. R. Crafts (1987), “Long-Term Unemployment in Britain in the 1930s,” Economic History Review, XL, 418-432. |
| 7 | The Great Recession of 2008 Film: J. C. Chandor, Margin Call (2011) | ▪ John Bellamy Foster (April 2008) “The Financialization of Capital and the Crisis”, The Monthly Review, Volume 59, No. 11. ▪ Richard P. F. Holt & Daphne T. Greenwood (June 2012), “Negative Trickle-Down and the Financial Crisis of 2008”, Journal of Economic Issues, Volume 46, Issue 2, pp. 363-370. |
| 8 | The Assembly Line Film: Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times (1936) | ▪ E. P. Thompson (1966), Making of the English Working Class, New York: Vintage Books, pp. 9-14. ▪ E. P. Thompson (1993), “Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism” in E.P.Thompson, Customs in Common, London: Penguin, pp. 352-403. ▪ Harry Braverman (1974), Labor and Monopoly Capital, New York and London: Monthly Review Press, Introduction, Chs. 3 and 4, pp. 3-41; 85-137. |
| 9 | Plant Closures and Unemployment Film: Michael Moore, Roger and Me (1989) | ▪ Gilda Haas (1985), Plant Closures: Myths, Realities and Responses, South End Press. ▪ David Bailey, Gill Bentley, Alex de Ruyter & Stephen Hall, (2014) “Plant closures and taskforce responses: an analysis of the impact of and policy response to MG Rover in Birmingham”, Regional Studies, Regional Science, Volume 1, Issue 1. |
| 10 | Gender and Problems in the Workplace Film: Martin Ritt, Norma Rae (1979) | ▪ Anthony Giddens (2014), Michel Duneier and Richard Appelbaum, Introduction to Sociology, Ch. 10, “Gender Inequality”, Norton, 2014, 9th Edition. ▪ Richard Edwards (1979), Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century, New York. ▪ Kimberly Christensen (September 2015), “He-cession? She-cession? The Gendered Impact of the Great Recession in the United States”, Review of Radical Political Economics, Volume 47 : 368-388. |
| 11 | The Precariat Film: Ken Loach, It’s a Free World (2007) | ▪ Guy Standing (2011), The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, London: Bloomsbury Academic, Chs. 1-4. ▪ R. Milkman (2011), “Immigrant Workers, precarious Work and the US Labor Movement”, Globalizations, Volume 8, No. 3. |
| 12 | Homelessness Film: Ken Loach, Kathy Come Home (1966) | ▪ Barrett A. Lee and David W. Lewis (Winter, 1992), Susan Hinze Jones, “Are the Homeless to Blame? A Test of Two Theories”, The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 535-552. ▪ David Farrugia and Jessica Gerrard (2015), “Academic Knowledge and Contemporary Poverty: The Politics of Homelessness Research”, Sociology. |
| 13 | Environmental Pollution Film: Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovitch (2000) | ▪ Tyler Miller, Scott Spoolman, Environmental Science, Chs. 1 and 2. ▪ World Health Organization (25 March 2014), “7 million premature deaths annually linked to air pollution”. ▪ Alison Pearce Stevens ()Jan. 27, 2014, “Mapping Our Carbon Footprints”, Science News for Students. |
| 14 | Nuclear Energy Film: Mike Nichols, Silkwood (1983) | ▪ Sharon M. Friedman (2011), “Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima: An analysis of traditional and new media coverage of nuclear accidents and radiation.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. ▪ Climate and Energy, “Ten Strikes Against Nuclear Power”, Green America |
Recommended Sources
| Textbook No textbook will be used. Different articles and books will be assigned for each section. | ||
| Additional Resources Cited for each week. |
Material Sharing
| Documents | ||
| Assignments | ||
| Exams | A mid-term and a final exam. | |
Assessment
| ASSESSMENT | |||
| IN-TERM STUDIES | Number | PERCENTAGE | |
| Mid-terms | 1 | 100 | |
| Quizzes (attendance, presentation, etc.) | 0 | 0 | |
| Assignments (Substantial term paper) | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 100 | ||
| Contribution of Final Paper to Overall Grade | 50 | ||
| Contribution of In-Term Studies to Overall Grade | 50 | ||
| Total | 100 | ||
| Course Category | |||
Course’s Contribution to Program
| COURSE'S CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM | ||||||
| No | Program Learning Outcomes | Contribution | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | Students can keep themselves informed and analyze the current economic development in Turkey and in the world from an international political economy perspective paying a particular attention to the interaction of the Turkish economy with the global economy. | X | ||||
| 2 | Being aware of the development and accumulation of economic thought, students can master qualitative and quantitative knowledge and methods to test various economic theories that can be applied to the analysis of the current economic problems. | X | ||||
| 3 | Students can use statistical and econometric analyses by learning how to use information technologies that have validity and widespread use in the field of economics. | X | ||||
| 4 | By learning how to learn in the field of economics, students can research and work individually or as a team using the Turkish and English academic resources. | X | ||||
| 5 | 5. Being aware of the ethical values, students know the individual, social and ecological dimensions of the concept of social responsibility and can prove that they understand the active citizenship duty that falls upon them within this framework. | X | ||||
| 6 | Students can clearly express, present and share their knowledge, the outcomes of their studies, their ideas and comments to people in their field or other disciplines/units using the necessary data, in national and international academic and professional environments, in Turkish or English. | X | ||||
| 7 | Students can show that understanding the universality of social rights and the concepts of social justice, which form the basis of the modern societies, and the importance of scientific perspective, which is necessary to the social development and global competitiveness. | X | ||||
ECTS
| ECTS ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD BY THE COUSE DESCRIPTION | |||
| Activities | Quantity | Duration (Hour) | Total Workload (Hour) |
| Course Duration (Including the Exam Week: 15 x total course hours) | 15 | 3 | 45 |
| Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice) | 15 | 1 | 15 |
| Mid-terms | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Attendance plus Presentations | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| Assignments | 1 | 30 | 30 |
| Final Examination | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Work Load | 120 | ||
| Total Work Load / 25 (s) | 4,8 | ||
| ECTS Credit of the Course | 5 | ||
None