POLS 270 - Money and Power

Unit(s): 4

This course investigates the relationship between money and power, and particularly how states, influence and money work together. We consider issues such as financialization, increasing global wealth disparities, and income gaps that are associated with racial, ethnic and gender identities. We also look at the range of government interventions into markets and the way they can be used to distribute power and strengthen democracies, or how they are sometimes used in the interests of elites. Finally, we look at alternative economic systems that are designed to mitigate inequality, such as mutual aid societies, worker owned cooperatives, public banks and participatory budgeting.

Prerequisite: POLS 100 or POLS 110
College of Arts and Sciences