Required: Andy Cumbers, Economic Democracy, chapter 2. (link pending)
Optional: Kali Akuno and Ajamu Nangwaya, Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi. Parts 2-4
Week 4: Participation and Democratic Theory Required: Carole Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory, chapters 3 (The sense of political efficacy and participation in the workplace), and 4 (‘Participation’ and ‘democracy’ in industry) Optional: Nicolas Vrousalis, Workplace Democracy Implies Economic Democracy Optional: Mary Robertson, ‘Left Economics From Below’
Week 5: Economic Flourishing
Required: Amartya Sen, ‘Capability and Well-Being.’
There are two versions of this essay. We recommend the abridged reprint as Chapter 15 of ‘The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology’ (Third Edition, edited by Daniel M. Hausman) and available through the Cambridge University Press Cambridge Core website. The older version of the paper was originally published in ‘The Quality of Life’ (edited by Sen and Nussbaum, OUP, 1993) but it is longer and includes a response section which is a bit harder to follow.
Optional: Jan Kandiyali, ‘The Importance of Others: Marx on Unalienated Production.’ In Ethics.
Week 6: Private Government
Required: Elizabeth Anderson, Private Government, chapter 2
Optional: Elizabeth Anderson, Private Government, chapter 1
UNIT TWO: APPLICATIONS
Week 7: Upside Down Management
Required: John Timpson, Upside Down Management, chapter 2
Sir John Timpson will (virtually) visit the seminar
Optional: read as much of the rest of the book as possible
This is collaborative work in progress. Gordon Rushworth is a Consultant Pharmacist, leading a project developing a new division of labour between pharmacists and general practitioners in the NHS. A draft will be distributed nearer the time.
Gordon Rushworth will (virtually) visit the seminar
Optional background: ‘The Collaborative Care Model: A New Workforce Model for Pharmacy in Scotland’ by Forsyth, Rushworth, Maguire et al.
Week 9: Social Capital
Required: Partha Dasgupta: ‘the Economics of Social Capital’
Optional: Partha Dasgupta: ‘New Frontiers of Cooperation in the Economy’
Week 10: Collective Ownership
This is more collaborative work in progress. Jan Kandiyali, Pascal Brixel, and Barry Maguire are developing a new defence of the old socialist commitment, that we should have collective ownership of the means of production. A draft will be distributed nearer the time, if we have one. Otherwise, I will present our ideas on the Friday, which we can discuss with some of the below background readings in tutorial.
Optional background: Jan Kandiyali, ‘The Importance of Others: Marx on Unalienated Production.’ In Ethics. Pascal Brixel, ‘The Difficulty of Making Good Work Available to All.’ Barry Maguire, ‘Efficient Markets and Alienation.’
Week 11: Wrap-up
Review of the nature and justificatory basis for economic democracy and implications for social organisation more generally.
Discussion of topics for final essays.
Course Organiser: Dr. Barry Maguire Email: [email protected] 13th Floor, 40 George Square Office hour: Mondays 3pm – 4pm
Democracy is the activity of sustaining authoritative rules together in a way that is egalitarian and autonomous. We are familiar with democracy in the case of political rules. Legislation is democratic when it is sustained by egalitarian, autonomous joint deliberative activity. But other things can, and perhaps should, be democratic, such as the organisation of domestic labour in a household, or the division of labour in a factory, or the collective process of meeting the needs of a population. The study of economic democracy is a hot topic in political economy and organisational studies at the moment. In this course, we will spend around half of our time reading some classic texts on this topic, including Carole Pateman's Participation and Democratic Theory and Elizabeth Anderson's Private Government. But we will also study some concrete examples, including the distributed leadership in the NHS and 'upside down management' of Timpson's shops.
Course Mechanics:
We will discuss a range of texts in philosophy, philosophical economics, organisation theory, and practical economic organisation. We will meet for an extended engagement with the week’s readings on Friday morning. The following Monday we will discuss the previous week’s readings in tutorial. Tutorials start on Monday of week 2, on that day we will discuss the readings from week 1, and so on. During the longer first half, we will engage with the scholarly literature bearing on economic democracy. During the shorter second half, we will consider a range of specific applications of economic democracy.
The readings each week include at least one required reading and perhaps optional readings. You are required to read the required reading, and strongly encouraged to read the optional reading. There will be less reading in the second half of class.
You are expected to arrive at the Friday seminar having actively read the assigned texts ahead of time. This means read the assigned texts slowly and carefully, look up words you don’t know, take notes, and discuss with friends.
Assessment:
Mid-term essay (approx. 1500 words) (40%): Due Monday 23 Oct, 12pm Final essay (approx. 2500 words) (60%): Due Thursday 7 December, 12pm Guidance on referencing in philosophy essays, the Philosophy department’s marking guidelines, and explanation of how we ensure reliable marking and feedback can be found on the PPLS Undergraduate Hub (http://edin.ac/PPLSUGHub) by following Philosophy>Philosophy Assessment Guides.
Do not present something as your own work which isn’t your own work. This includes presenting work you previously submitted for a course as newly created for this course, and presenting text generated by AI as your own thoughts. All submitted work is automatically checked for similarity with sources on the internet and in repositories of essays previously submitted at universities around the world. So, don’t copy & paste from someone else’s essay or writing. For more detail about correct academic referencing practice, start here: www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/cahss_plagiarism_summary_2020-21_ver_4.pdf
Learning Outcomes: On completion of this course, students will be able to Display understanding of the concept of economic democracy and a range of issues related to it. Critically analyse and engage with the literature on economic democracy. Present arguments clearly and concisely both within a classroom context and in a written essay. Demonstrate transferrable skills in research, analysis and argumentation, specifically with regard to the concept of economic democracy.
