Alternative Economies and New Forms of Work

Course content

As life conditions become increasingly uncertain across species and regions of the world, Growth no longer seems to be the answer to the betterment of human conditions. In fact, “The Market” itself is no longer a given, and faith in the invisible hand is withering. As a result, governments, corporations, activists, and organizations worldwide are increasingly looking for new ways of imagining, representing, and enacting economic relations and forms of work.

 

What are the specific conditions that have led to these critiques? What do these critiques share and how do they differ? And what are the challenges and potentials inherent in the economic alternatives and new forms of work that are being proposed across the world?

 

This course addresses contemporary critiques and alternatives to the so-called “Economy”: the self-regulating, all-encompassing market force that has ruled – and many would say damaged – the world for the past 200 years. It explores a diversity of markets, forms of work and distribution, production and consumption, trade and currencies that exist, and have long existed, throughout the world, but that are today being championed as better and more sustainable paths for the thriving of life on earth. In other words, it explores visions for how to do economy and work differently.

 

The course begins by addressing the construction of the Economy in the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and the United States. It then moves on to explore contemporary critiques of this specific economic worldview, taking inspiration from corporate and public examples, the global South and North, and majority as well as minority subjects. Most of the course thereby consists in in-depth empirical explorations of the numerous ways in which dominant economic constructions and forms of work are being challenged in practice and theory. The focus will lie on the different challenges and opportunities that these economic visions and visionaries face, including their aspirations and hope for better economic futures.

 

Specific examples include feminist economies, corporate social responsibility, fairtrade movements, wellbeing economies, community economies, green economies, degrowth economies, Black economies, pirate economies, and regenerative business and leadership, as well as models such as doughnuts, icebergs, and circular visions of design, production, and consumption.

 

The course is particularly relevant for students specializing in business and organizational anthropology, but also for any student who is interested in heterodox approaches to economies and how these relate to contemporary discourses and tendencies such as sustainability, resilience, diversity, buen vivir, slow living, quiet quitting, wellbeing, etc.

Education

BOA specialization

 

The course is open to:

  • Exchange and Guest students from abroad
  • Credit students from Danish Universities

 

Full-degree students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Science, UCPH 

  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Anthropology
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Political Science
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Psychology 
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Economics
  • Master Programme in Social Data Science
  • Master Programme in Global Development
  • Master Programme in Social Science
Learning outcome

At the end of the course, the students will be able to:

 

Knowledge:

  • demonstrate an understanding of classical contributions, contemporary critiques, and key debates on the themes of alternative economies and forms of work.
  • reflect on how these contemporary critiques relate to different academic fields of study that focus on economic matters.

 

Skills:

  • apply analytical concepts from economic anthropology and heterodox approaches to economics in the analysis of current economic and work-related issues.
  • compare economic systems, visions, cosmologies, and forms of work and organization across time and space.
  • assess some of the practical challenges and opportunities inherent in visions for alternative economies and new forms of work.

 

Competences:

  • choose, apply, and transfer relevant theoretical concepts and ideas from economic anthropology and heterodox economics in the analysis of economic issues, conflicts, and phenomena in other contexts.
  • base normative claims on descriptive and analytical arguments drawn from the fields of economic anthropology and diverse economies.
  • plan and manage a written portfolio.
  • independently and collectively initiate and manage feedback processes that facilitates self-assessment.

The course activities will consist of a combination of lectures and interactive seminars where students contribute actively through readings, discussions, group work, oral and written presentations, and peer-feedback.

MA students must include supplementary literature in the exam, which the student selects.

It is recommended (but not required) that students taking this course have followed the course in Economic and Business Anthropology.

Oral
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
The assignment can be done in groups of up to 4 people. In group assignments, each student’s contribution must be clearly marked in the assignment. The length of the assignment must be a maximum of 10 pages for BA students and a maximum of 12 pages for MA students. For group submissions, an additional 3 pages per extra BA student and an additional 3 pages per extra MA student are allowed. For groups where BA and MA students write together, the page limit corresponds to that of MA students.

Students must indicate on the first page of the assignment whether they are BA or MA students. In the case of a group assignment, the individual student's contribution must be clearly marked in the assignment.

The number of standard pages is calculated according to the assumption that a standard page is defined as 2,400 keystrokes including spaces. Read further about Formal requirements for written assignments and exams in Curricula’s Common Part for the Faculty of Social Sciences
Examination prerequisites

To be eligible for the exam, the student must have submitted and had approved 2-7 written assignments during the course.

Aid
All aids allowed

Policy on the use of generative AI software and Large Language Models in exams

The Department of Anthropology permits the use of generative AI software and Large Language Models (AI/LLMs), such as ChatGPT, in written exams provided that the use of AI/LLMs is presented and specified (i.e., how it has been used and for what purpose) in an appendix, which does not count towards the length of the exam.

If AI/LLMs are used as a source, the same requirements for the use of quotation marks and source references apply as with all other sources, as failure to do so would be considered plagiarism.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

Free written home assignment with examination prerequisites

1st re-exam: An essay must be submitted. The new assignment must be submitted by the deadline for the re-exam. The examination prerequisites must be fulfilled before the re-examination can be conducted.

 

2nd re-exam: A new essay must be submitted. The new assignment must be submitted by the deadline for the re-exam. The examination prerequisites must be fulfilled before the re-examination can be conducted.

Criteria for exam assessment

See learning outcome in your study programme.

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 100
  • Exam Preparation
  • 64
  • English
  • 206

Kursusinformation

Language
English
Course number
AANA18140U
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Programme level
Bachelor
Bachelor choice
Full Degree Master
Full Degree Master choice
Duration

1 semester

Placement
Spring
Studyboard
Department of Anthropology, Study Council
Contracting department
  • Department of Anthropology
  • Department of Psychology
  • Department of Political Science
  • Social Data Science
  • Department of Economics
Contracting faculty
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
Course Coordinator
  • Kasper Tang Vangkilde   (16-746a7c796e7b377f6a77707472756d6e496a777d717b7837747e376d74)
Saved on the 13-05-2025

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