Other links:
Other links:
Economy, Politics and Society introduces students to the main currents of economic thought, the ways in which geography, history and institutions have shaped the trajectory of nations, and how basic concepts such as work and labour define both the individual and society. The important facts and events that have shaped economic development around the world, and influential theorists who have had a major impact on our thinking about the Economy, Politics and Society, will be discussed to help students understand the modes of reasoning that have been deployed in this field.
Code: FC-0412-1 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
Is there a straightforward relationship between proliferation of media and democracy? Does freedom for media necessarily mean democratic freedom? What if free media translates into corporatized control over media platforms, algorithms, content- eventually over publics themselves? How do we reconcile the rise of digital technologies that evoke narratives of emancipation, autonomy, and freedom with the simultaneous rise of online troll cultures, virulent racism, sexism, xenophobia, and exclusionary political ideologies around the globe? Answers to questions such as these depend, to begin with, on how we approach understandings of media, democracy, or freedom.
We will think about mediation as social process that extends beyond ‘the media’- not as power emanating from specific objects, technologies, or institutional practices, but as the ideological foundation of social life. We explore the relationships of media with electoral democracy and its political institutions, but also what they mean for ordinary people outside of its formal and elite institutions- their local meanings and practices, contestations and shifting forms of power, and the multiplicity of desires they both produce and represent. Towards these objectives, we examine the actions of governments that relate to repression of media and democratic freedoms- and the struggles to liberate them; but also, how morally loaded concepts such as `freedom’ are given particular meanings in their discourses and social practices.
The challenge in this course will be to apprehend the dominant configurations of `media’ and `democracy’ in present times as well as anticipate imaginations of their possible forms and praxis that might provide for a more diverse and equal world.
Code: FC-0412-2 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
Course description to be updated.
Code: FC-0412-3 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
The course introduces students to some of the most important concepts that frame the study of social sciences and modernity like economy, politics and society and related ideas of state, market, democracy, liberty among others. In doing so, we also delve into broader disciplinary questions like what does it mean to be political? What is the difference between thinking politically and doing politics? What is the meaning of these concepts? How are these concepts related? Have they remained static across time and space? If not, then what explains their variation? What are some of the ways in which these concepts have been studied historically? Importantly, in what ways are these diverse and dense set of ideas relevant for us today?
Code: FC-0412-4 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
This course introduces Capitalism as an economic system, critically examining its key features and inherent contradictions. We begin by investigating the relationship between the Economy and Society with theoretical frameworks and moving toward real-world observations, to understand how the structure and logic of capitalism have evolved over time.Themes such as consumerism, technological progress, surplus accumulation, among others are explored both as features of capitalism and for their impact on business, labour processes, and society at large. Engaging with both classical and contemporary thinkers, the course helps students uncover the economic value chain, question dominant narratives, and connect abstract economic ideas to everyday realities.
By the end of the course, students will be equipped not only to think historically and critically, but also to engage with the world around them with awareness, and pragmatism.
Code: FC-0412-5 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
In this course, we will situate the legacies of some of the key Indian thinkers of the twentieth century within the social, economic and political structures that order our world today. While examining the writings and speeches of a variety of politicians, commentators, historians and anti colonial agitators, such as Tagore, Gandhi, Periyar, Iqbal and Nehru, we will ask: in what ways did they anticipate and critique the social and political logic of campitalism, colonialism, and racism? While offering a broad overview of India’s twentieth century, we will ask: in what ways are our social assumptions undergirded by political and economic frameworks set in place during the long nineteenth century?
Code: FC-0412-6 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
This course introduces students to seminal writings on the intertwined trajectories of economy, politics, and society in the Indian subcontinent during the emergence of modernity. It traces the evolution of modern South Asia from 1818 to 1947, examining key social, political, and economic transformations under colonial rule.
We will explore major figures who engaged with — and shaped — the political and social struggles of the period, alongside critical debates on religious reform, women’s roles, caste hierarchies, communalism, and nation formation. Special attention will be given to the complexity of colonial governance, economic change, and social contestations.
Students will engage with a range of primary texts — including autobiographies, speeches, political treatises, ethnographies, and literary fiction — to analyze how ideas of economy, politics, and society were debated and reimagined in colonial South Asia.
Course Goals:
Code: FC-0412-7 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
Faculty: Abheek Barua
What do tennis racquets and Artificial Intelligence have on common? How can the government reduce traffic jams and vehicular pollution in Delhi? What is money and what does the Reserve Bank of India do? Why does President Trump want to raise tariffs? What is a tariff and what does it do to the prices that you and I pay? What is a budget and why do economists spend so much time worrying about government budgets? What is a “ nudge” and how can you use it in getting people to scale back their electricity consumption? Is the Sensex a correct gauge of how the Indian economy is doing? Why are countries afraid of “Japanification”?
This course addresses a diverse range of issues in economics and public policy in a non-technical way. It emphasizes the intuition behind complex economic ideas and also explores the connections of economics with other disciplines – psychology, philosophy, finance, sociology and political science—for example. Finally, it explores India specific problems such as premature such as the risk of a middle-income trap. The aim is to blend an understanding of current issues with the history of ideas to leave students with a quick but comprehensive idea of the science and art of economics.
The course will use a diverse set of resources – short videos, excerpts from Yale and MIT open learning course, blogs and a simple textbook written by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman.
chitralekha@ashoka.edu.in