COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is the foundations course in the Business and Society (Honours) Programme.  It is designed to enable students to conduct positive (social scientific) and normative (ethical) analysis of the relationships between business and society. The course provides material on historical, social and economic developments related to capitalist economies. It also introduces students to ethics and normative philosophy. This course is not a ‘business’ course; students looking to study classical business subjects (marketing, management, accounting, finance, etc.) are advised to stay away. 

TUTORIALS AND TUTORIAL LEADERS
Names and contact information will be available on the course website

• AP/SOSC 2340 Tutorial Checklist (2011-12)
  
  

LECTURES: Mondays 8:45-10:30am, ACW 109 The first lecture is on Monday, Sept. 12th. THERE WILL BE NO TUTORIALS PRIOR TO THIS DATE.

COURSEKIT: Coursekits (one for the fall, one for the winter term) are available from the Bookstore. All readings for the course are in the course kits

COURSE WITHDRAWAL DATE FEB 10^th, 2012. Students wishing to drop the course after this date must petition to the Arts Petitions Committee (http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/services/petitions/index.htm).

COURSE EVALUATION: There are 9 assignments for this course:

1. Reading questions I (questions on course homepage under ‘Assignment 1’)
2. Reading questions II (questions on course homepage under ‘Assignment 2’)
3. Reading questions III (questions on course homepage under ‘Assignment 3’)
4. Reading questions IV (questions on course homepage under 'Assignment 4')
5. First draft of research paper
6. Final draft of research paper
7. In-class test
8. Tutorial participation (fall)
9. Tutorial participation (winter)
   

• Suggestions for Final Paper Topics (PDF)
  
  
• AP/SOSC 2340 Secondary readings (Fall 2011)

Instructions and guidance for assignments are to be found on the course homepage. See the links to ‘Assignment 1’, ‘Assignment 2’, etc.
Most of the written assignments are to be handed to your TA in class (see below). There is a drop box for this course (Department of Social Science, Ross Building, 7th floor (ask at reception)) but only hand in your work at the drop box if your TA tells you to do so. Weighting of assignments is as follows:

FALL SEMESTER ASSIGMENTS (2011)

WINTER SEMESTER ASSIGMENTS (2012)

GRADING SCALE

See "Grades Definitions" http://www.arts.yorku.ca/advising/handbook98/grading.htm. Final grades (but not grades for each assignment) which end in .7, .8 or .9 (for example, 84.9 or 69.7) will be rounded up to the next integer.

You may petition for a reappraisal of grades for written work if you think these unfair. The course director will reappraise the work and, depending on the outcome, your mark can go down as well as up.

COURSE OUTLINE: FALL SEMESTER (2011)

Lecture 1. Centrally planned economies (September 19th) Bleaney, M. (1988). 'Planning and enterprises', in idem. Do Socialist Economies Work? (Oxford: Blackwell), pp. 42-57.

Lecture 2. Free market economies (September 26th) (a) Heilbroner, R. and Milberg, W. (2002). 'The market', in idem. The Making of Economic Society 11th edition (New York: Prentice Hall), pp. 10-11. (b) Marx, K. (1992/1867). 'Division of labour in manufacture and division of labour in society', in idem. Capital volume I, student edition (London: Penguin), pp. 210-14.

Lecture 3. The agricultural origins of capitalism (October 3rd) Wood, E. (1999). 'The agrarian origin of capitalism', in idem. The Origin of Capitalism (New York: Monthly Review Press), pp. 67-94.

READING WEEK (October 9th-15th): NO LECTURE

Lecture 4. Religion and the rise of capitalism (October 17th) Weber, M. (2002/1904-5). Excerpts from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 13-32, 39-41, 55-61, 64-69.

Lecture 5. The rise of the corporation (October 24th) Nace, T. (2005). Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler), chapter 4: 'Why the colonists feared corporations ...', pp. 38-45; chapter 5: '... and what they did about it', pp. 46-55; chapter 7: 'Superpowers', pp. 70-86.

Lecture 6. (October 31st) Galbraith, J.K. (1958) 'The dependence effect', idem. The Affluent Society (Boston: Riverside), pp. 152-60.

Lecture 7. Globalization and the 'race to the bottom' (November 7th)) Mosley, L. (2007). 'The political economy of globalization', in D. Held and A. McGrew (eds.). Globalization Theory (Cambridge: Polity Press), pp. 106-112)

Lecture 8. International organizations and the regulation of the global economy: WTO, IMF, etc. (November 14th) Stiglitz, J. (2006). Making Globalization Work (New York: Norton), pp. 74-81, pp. 103-117.

Lecture 9. Why do developing countries adopt the 'Washington Consensus'? The case of post-apartheid South Africa (November 21st) Klein, N. (2007). 'Democracy born in chains: South Africa's constricted freedom', in idem. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Toronto: Vintage), pp. 233-61.

Lecture 10. The current financial crisis: How the banking business wrecked society (November 28th) Stiglitz, J. (2010) 'The making of a crisis', idem. Freefall: America, Free Markets and the Sinking of the World Economy (New York: Norton), pp. 1-26.

December 5th: NO LECTURE

COURSE POLICIES

1. WORKING INDEPENDENTLY
a) Tutorials: You will meet in groups of 25-30 with your tutorial leader once a week.
b) Study groups: An excellent learning technique is to meet with other students to discuss the course material. You should form such groups early in the fall term and meet each week before your class.
c) Lectures: Lectures contain material not covered by the course kit readings. Familiarity with lecture material will increase the grades of your assignments. You will get more out of lectures if you have read the corresponding readings from the course kit prior to the lecture. Always act considerately in lectures: 1. turn off cell phones; 2. don't talk after the lecture starts; 3. if you must arrive late or leave early, do so quietl.y
d) Supplementary reading: The course kit contains relatively few readings for a 9 credit course. For those wishing to deepen their understanding of the material, the homepage for the course contains a link to 'supplementary readings'. For those hoping to get a good mark for this course, we advise you to consult these readings and refer to them in your assignments where appropriate.
e) Learning skills information online: York's Counselling and Development Service offers excellent online advice on reading skills, note taking, time management, stress management, etc. See http://www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/ The Counselling and Development Centre also offers workshops and one-to-one sessions.
f) Library research roadmap and quiz: This online tutorial informs you about the research process in preparation for writing essays. Learning how to find information and to think critically about it, are essential skills which you will have to master during your time at university. The tutorial is interactive and takes about 20 minutes to complete http://www.library.yorku.ca/roadmap/

2. TUTORIAL ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION
Tutorial participation represents 20% of the final grade. Your TA will grade your performance after each tutorial. To receive a good participation grade you should participate actively in class discussion. Opening your mouth is not enough; you must demonstrate that you have read and thought about the reading/lecture material in any given week. Come to each tutorial with questions and comments on the texts. As a guide, please note:

- If you are absent from a tutorial without legitimate excuse, your grade for that tutorial will be zero (F).
- If you attend a given tutorial but do not participate in it verbally, your grade will be E.

If you miss more than 3 tutorials in EITHER term without legitimate excuse, your total participation grade for that term will be zero (F). Only if you are excused by your TA will an absence not be counted. The conditions for being excused are:

1) Informing your TA on the same day as the tutorial that you wish to be excused;
2) Providing written documentation (e.g. an attending physician's note) pertaining to your absence within 1 week of the missed tutorial. Job commitments are not a valid reason for absence.

Arriving late or leaving early may also be judged a partial or complete absence.
Do not negotiate about being excused and do not plead for special treatment. All cases of disagreement between students and TAs will be referred to the course director.
 
3. FEEDBACK ON DRAFTS
TAs do not have the time to read drafts of your assignments prior to their submission. However, you can (i) discuss your work in your TA's office hour; (ii) sign up for a tutor in The Writing Department [http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/]. If you plan ahead, you will be able to take your draft to your tutor; (iii) plan ahead and use the e-tutor service. Submit your draft at http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/etutor/ and you should receive comments within one week, see http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/etutor.html under 'Etutoring'; (iv) exchange papers in your study groups. Given the shared knowledge of the material, such feedback will likely be very helpful.

4. HANDING IN ASSIGNMENTS
Hand your assignments directly to your tutorial leader in tutorial unless your TA instructs you otherwise. Assignments will not be accepted by email.  Neither will we acknowledge submission if they are slipped under office doors. Assignments will not be accepted in lectures. It is always your responsibility to ensure that the TA received your assignment.
ALWAYS KEEP A COPY OF YOUR OWN ASSIGNMENTS!

5. PENALTIES FOR LATE ASSIGNMENTS
You will lose 5% per day for assignments submitted late. Hence, if your assignment is worth a grade of 72%, it will be lowered to 67% if handed in a day late, 62% if two days late, etc. No assignment will be accepted more than one week late.
If you require an extension for an assignment, you must arrange for this as early as possible. Extensions will only be granted if the student has a legitimate excuse which s/he can document in writing. If the student is unable to do this, s/he must turn to the Arts Petitions Committee (which will also require written documentation of the student’s circumstances).

6. FEEDBACK ON YOUR ASSIGNMENTS
Although your TA will write comments on your assignments, the most important way you will get feedback is in your tutorial when the assignments are returned. Your TA will discuss general problems with the assignments and what you need to do to improve. Listen carefully to these comments and then re-read your own assignment. In the final version of the final paper, you will be expected to respond to the feedback your TA gave you on the first draft. Failure to improve on the first draft in line with feedback will lead to a lower grade in the final version.

7. REWRITE POLICY
If you submit an assignment, you do not have the option of re-writing it.

8. ACADEMIC HONESTY:
Plagiarism and other sorts of academic dishonesty are not tolerated at York University (see Senate guidelines: http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/policies/document.php?document=69).
It is your responsibility to know what academic dishonesty is.  To help you understand issues of academic honesty, you should complete an on-line tutorial on "Academic Integrity" (http://www.yorku.ca/tutorial/academic_integrity/)
If you are suspected of academic dishonesty, your name will be given to the course director who will set up a Hearing of the Academic Honesty Committee of the Social Science Division which you will be required to attend. If the Hearing does not come to a resolution, the case will be forwarded to the Arts Dean’s Office where it will be handled and a penalty imposed.

The MINIMUM penalty for academic dishonesty on any assignment for this course is ZERO on the relevant assignment. If an academic honesty offence is not a student’s first at York University, a far higher penalty can be expected.

CAMPUS SERVICES:

The Writing Department, S329 Ross (416 736-5134).
Offers workshops, individual eTutoring, etc.
See: http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/

English as a Second Language Open Learning Centre (ESL-LOC) 116 Atkinson College
Only students registered with the ESL-OLC may enrol in an ESL tutorial for this course (SOSC 2349 9.0). Register at ESL_OLC or on the website: http://www.yorku.ca/eslolc/keele/default.asp

Counselling and Development Centre [CDC], N110 Bennett Centre for Student Services
CDS offers a range of services to students including personal counselling, skill development workshops (on time management, stress management and test preparation) and support for those with psychiatric disabilities and learning disabilities (112 BSB x33409). Link available on the course website: click on "Learning Skills" or check out their website at [http://www.yorku.ca/cdc/]. Or check out their advertisements in Excalibur.
IF YOU HAVE A LONG-TERM CONDITION OR DISABILITY FOR WHICH YOU REQUIRE ACCOMMODATIONS IN THIS COURSE, YOU MUST HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE CDS TO ATTAIN ACCOMMODATIONS.

Office for Persons with Disabilities (Ross N108, 416-736-5140 opd@yorku.ca).

PDF version to download.