RELIGIOUS STUDIES 171 Ivan Strenski
Office: Library South 1139, x5986 e-mail: strenski@earthlink.net

RELIGION, ECONOMY AND VALUES

Defoe, Robinson Crusoe,
Dickens, Christmas Carol,
Lem, Solaris
Mauss, An Essay on the Gift,
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Course Reader is required and available at College Bookstore. All readings are from Course Reader unless otherwise noted.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Informed class participation and informal presentations to the class. Bring books and reader to class. (=20%)
2. Essay Assignments: 5 short essays on assigned topics (2pp max, each ) (=40%)
3. Final Project: Final Examinition (= 40%)

SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS
PART I: Economic Ideology Shapes "Our" Society

2 Ap: Introduction: Our World, Their World.
"Economics Has No Time for Heretics"
Lekachman, "Greed Produces Little Public Good"

4 Ap: Before Capitalism: A World We Have Lost--and Good Riddance?
Laslett,"English Society and the Coming of Industry"
Marc Bloch, Feudal Society: Volume I, pp. 59-75, 81-7 (Res).

9 Ap: A Myth about Our Economic World, and Its Discontents
Dickens, The Christmas Carol
Szczrudzje, "The Social Utility of the Homeless"

11 Ap: What Capitalism Is. What Capitalism Is Not.
Weber, Protestant Ethic...., pp. 13-31, 186 note 6.
Burstein, "Big Business vs the Entrepeneur"
Krugman, "Tough Reality of Capitalism"

16 Ap: Spirits at War with Each Other: Capitalism and Traditionalism
Weber, Protestant Ethic...., pp. 32-78, 90-2.
Oscar Lewis, "Manuel"
Salgado, "To the Moon for Menudo!"
Kramer, "Russia Lacks an Ethic for Capitalism"
Goldberg, "Farmers Saying Nyet! to Russia Land Reform"
Goldberg, "State Farm Reform Plan Fails to Take Root,"

18, 23 Ap: The "Weber Thesis": Calvin for Us; Buddha, Confucius for Them
Weber, Protestant Ethic...., pp.90-128, 153-4, 168-72.
Jayasena, "Some Thoughts on Buddhism and Development".15,20

25 Ap: A Great Capitalist Myth and Its Realities: Robinson Crusoe
Defoe, Robinson Crusoe :beginning to "I Sow My Grain" (104), then read"I Find the Print of a Man's Naked Foot" (p 152) to "I Call Him Friday" (p 210) all references to Signet edition

30 Ap: Special session -- to be announced

2 May: Capitalism's Religious Crises
Weber, Protestant Ethic...., pp. 175-83;
Kristol, "Spiritual Roots of Capitalism..." and "Disaffection with Capitalism,"
Burstein, "Big Business...."
Novak, "Boredom, Virtue and Democratic Capitalism,"

7 May: Capitalism Is in the Blood: Social Darwinism
Spencer, Herbert, "Social Statics and Social Dynamics,"
Ardrey, Robert, "Cain's Children".

9 May: How the Market Got Its Freedom: Myth and Reality
Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, Chs 4-5 (R)
Walter Uhler, "The Market God"
N. Podhoretz, "Grand Expectations for Laws...."
Samuelson, "Reagan's Legacy Needs No Slogan"
Kramer, "The Market God in Russia"
Weber, "Market Days in Rural England...."

14 May: Religion, People and The Earth: The Market as Fallen Idol
Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, Ch 6 (R)
John Paul II, "Excerpts from the Pope's Encyclical"
Bright, "Home as Sex Symbol"
Jones, "Patenting of 'Invented' Animals OKd" .
Brownstein, "Clinton Revives Debate over Industrial Policy"
"Banking on the Poor"
The Hubbell Trading Post

16 May: Polanyi Today: Different Cultures, Different Capitalisms
Charles Wallace, "Islamic Banks"
from "The Straight Dope", "YKK zippers"
Schrage, "Why US-Japan Clash of Cultures Is Healthy"
Watanabe, "We Should Listen to Japanese--Trade Expert Says"
Schoenberger, "The Model Here Isn't America--Malaysia"
Johnson, "A Policy Of American Abnegation"

PART II: The "Gift" Shapes "Their" Society
21 May: Pure Gift, Free Gift
Lem. Solaris

23 May: Gifts R Not Us
Leo Tolstoi, "What Men Live By" (Reserve)
Lapham, "Potlatch--Indians' Gift to the Nuclear Age"
Goodman, "A Perfect Match Isn't Always Possible"

28 May: Gift: The "Primitive Economy"... of Love and Fear
Marcel Mauss, An Essay on the Gift, pp.1-45

30 May: Gift Makes Society
Marcel Mauss, An Essay on the Gift, pp. 63-81.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, "The Principle of Reciprocity"

4 Jun: Gift in Modern Society: Dependence or Community?
I: Dependence: Dubbing Then, Tipping Now?
Bloch, Feudal Society: Volume I, pp. 163-75, 219-38 (Resrv)
Roberts, "Why Do We Feel Guilty Tipping Less than 15%?"
Citron, "Waiting for Nodough"
Ms Manners, "The Manners of Tipping"

6, 11 Jun: Gift in Modern Society: Dependence or Community?
II: Community in the Midst of Anonymity: Blood
Rall, "Drawingboard" (Cartoon)
Pristin and Nelson, "AIDS Victim Faces Prosecution..."
Mickey Kaus, "Up from Altruism"

13 Jun: Finale

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 171 Ivan Strenski
"Economics Has No Time for Heretics" LA Times 7 Apr 1991
Lekachman, Robert, "Greed Produces Little Public Good" LA Times 11 Nov 1986
Szczrudzje, "The Social Utility of the Homeless"
Salgado, C. J. "To the Moon for Menudo!" LA Times 3 Jan 1991.
Kramer, Jane "Russia Lacks an Ethic for Capitalism" The New Yorker Mar 1990: 90.
Goldberg, Carey, "Farmers Saying Nyet! to Russia Land Reform LA Times 7 Apr 1992
Goldberg, Carey, "State Farm Reform Plan Fails to Take Root," LA Times 1992.
Jayasena, Hewage, "Some Thoughts on Buddhism and Development" International Development Review 16 (1974): 21-2.
Burstein, Daniel, "Big Business vs the Entrepeneur" LA Times
Krugman, Paul, "The Tough Reality of Capitalism" LA Times 18 Feb 1990.
Laslett, Peter "English Society and the Coming of Industry" The World We Have Lost (New York: Scribners, 1965), 1-21.
Lewis, Oscar "Manuel" The Children of Sanchez (New York: Vintage, 1963), 323-335.
Bloch, Marc, Feudal Society, vol 1 (Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press, 1961), 59-75, 80-7, 145-7, 163-75, 219-38.
Kristol, Irving, "The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Social ism" and "The Disaffection from Capitalism" Capitalism and Socialism: A Theological Inquiry (Washington DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1979): 1-33.
Novak, Michael, "Boredom, Virtue and Democratic Capitalism," Commentary 88 (Sept 1989): 34-7.
Danziger, "At the Graduate School of Business" (Cartoon) Chris tian Science Monitor
Uhler, Walter "The Market God" The New Republic 3480 (23 Sept 1981): 2
Kramer, Jane "The Market God in Russia" The New Yorker 21 Mar 1990: 81.
Spencer, Herbert, "Social Statics and Social Dynamics," Herbert Spencer on Social Evolution, J.D.Y. Peel, ed., (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), 17-25.
Ardrey, Robert, "Cain's Children," African Genesis (New York: Dell, 1961), 321-33.
Weber, Sandra, "Market Days in Rural England...." LA Times 18 Feb 1990.
Podhoretz, Norman, "Grand Expectations for Laws...." LA Times 18 Jan 1989.
Samuelson, Robert, "Reagan's Legacy Needs No Slogan" LA Times 11 Jan 1989.
Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1944) Chapters 4-6 (43-76).
Bright, Rhonda, "Home as Sex Symbol," LA Times 4 Mar 1990: 20-1.
Jones, Robert A., "Patenting of 'Invented' Animals OKd," LA Times 18 Apr 1987: 1, 23.
Pope John Paul II, "Excerpts from the Pope's Encyclical" LA Times 31 May 1991.
from "The Straight Dope", "YKK zippers" LA Reader 1991.
"The Hubbell Trading Post" (National Park Service: US Dept of the Interior)
Schrage, Michael "Why US-Japan Clash on Cultures Is Healthy" LA Times 1991.
Watanabe, Teresa, "We Should Listen to Japanese--Trade Expert Says" LA Times 7 Oct 1991.
Schoenberger, Karl, "The Model Here Isn't America--Malaysia" LA Times 30 Jan 1992.
Wallace, Charles, "Islamic Banks" LA Times 22 Mar 1987.
Johnson, Chalmers, "A Policy Of American Abnegation", LA Times 1991.
Brownstein, Ronald, "Clinton Revives Debate over Industrial Policy" LA Times 20 May 1992: 10-1.
"Banking on the Poor" (FINCA: Foundation for International Commu nity Assistance)
Rall, "Drawingboard" (Cartoon)
Goodman, Ellen, "A Perfect Match Isn't Always Possible" LA Times 21 Dec 1990.
Tolstoi, Leo, "What Men Live By", Living Thoughts of Tolstoy, Stefan Zweig, ed. (New York: Fawcett World Library, 1960):127-60.
Lapham, Lewis, "Potlatch -- Indians' Gift to the Nuclear Age", LA Times 15 Oct 1986: pt II, p 5.
Lévi-Strauss, Claude "The Principle of Reciprocity" The Elementa ry Forms of Kinship (New York: Basic Books, 1969), 55-60.
Roberts, Russell, "Why Do We Feel Guilty Tipping Less than 15%?" The Wall Street Journal 25 Nov 1986.
Ms Manners, "The Manners of Tipping" LA Times 7 June 1990.
Citron, Zachary "Waiting for Nodough" The New Republic 2 Jan 1989: 9-10.
Titmuss, Richard, The Gift Relationship (New York: Vintage, 1971), 11-24, 70-5, 90-1, 118-9, 142-57, 195-246.
Pristin, Terry and Nelson, Harry, "AIDS VIctim Faces Prosecution over Blood Donation" LA Times 1989.
Kaus, Mickey, "Up from Altruism" The New Republic 15 Dec 1986: 17-8.

Other syllabi of the Department of Religious Studies at UC Riverside are avaiable at their web page.

http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwaar/syllabi/religion_economy_and_values-strenski.html

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