Marx's Capital

Dr. Derek Stanovsky

Course Description:
We will read Karl Marx's monumental work Capital, volume I. The course will provide both an introduction to Marx as well as an in-depth study of his major theoretical work, and will explore the transdisciplinary uses of Marxian theory in illuminating a wide variety issues across disciplinary boundaries. Students will be asked to draw connections between Marx's writings and their own fields of study and we will spend time examining the ways Marx's theories apply to current issues ranging from pop-culture and campus politics to recent national and international events. There are no prerequisites.

Texts:
Marx, Karl. Capital, volume I. Trans. Ben Fowkes. New York: Penguin Classics, 1990. 

Course Requirements:
The most important requirements for this course are regular class attendance, preparation, and participation. You should do all the reading and come prepared to ask and answer questions each day. Keeping this in mind, the formal grading requirements are:

Class Participation 20%
Blog Posts & Wikipedia Entries 20%
First Exam 20%
Second Exam 20%
Final Paper 20%

The class participation portion of your grade will be based on regular class attendance and participation as well as on periodic homeworks and in-class individual and small group assignments. Two absences are allowed during the semester. Each additional absence will lower your class participation grade by one letter grade. More than six absences and/or failure to complete any of the written assignments detailed below are grounds for failing the course.

As a class, we will be editing the Wikipedia article on Capital, Vol. I. You will write, re-write, and/or edit an entry on at least one section of Wikipedia article on Capital, Vol. I created last spring by students in this class. Entries will be due on a rolling basis throughout the semester. Late postings will be docked one-third of a letter grade for each day late. More information will be handed out later in the semester. This portion of your grade will also include your active online participation in our class blog. Your posts may be either directly related to our readings and class discussions, about relevant campus, regional, national, or international events, and/or responses to posts by others. Overall, you will be expected to contribute about 1000 words to some combination of the Wikipedia and/or our class blog.

There will be two in-class exams. Make-up exams are not normally given. Exceptions may be made for genuine medical emergencies or other similarly serious personal difficulties, although in such cases the format of the exam may be changed.

You will also write a 5-7 page final paper applying Marx's Capital to a specific topic within your own major or minor field of study. Late papers will be docked one-third of a letter grade for each day late. More information will be handed out later in the semester.

With regard to papers and all other assignments for this course, you are expected to know and follow the current ASU Code of Academic Integrity.

Course Schedule:
T 1/15 Begin exploring the MarX-Files online resource page for this course and visit as many of the links as you can. Post your favorite link and/or the most intriguing bit of Marxian trivia you discovered online to our class blog for everyone to read.
TH 1/17 "Table of Contents" and "Preface to First Edition," pp. 5-10 and 89-93. Also read Steven Kreis' online Reflections on Karl Marx and Karl Marx, 1818-1883.

T 1/22 Part Eight: So-Called Primitive Accumulation. Chapters 26-30, pp. 873-913.
TH 1/24 Chapters 31-33, pp. 914-940.

T 1/29 Part One: Commodities and Money. Chapter 1, section 1 pp. 125-131.
TH 1/31 Chapter 1, sections 2 and 3, pp. 131-163.

T 2/5 Chapter 1, section 4, pp. 163-177.
TH 2/7 Chapter 2, pp. 178-187.

T 2/12 out sick
TH 2/14 out sick

T 2/19 Chapter 3, pp. 188-244. And Part Two: The Transformation of Money into Capital. Chapters 4-5, pp. 247-269.
TH 2/21 Chapter 6, pp. 270-280.

T 2/26 Part Three: The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value. Chapter 7, pp. 283-306.
TH 2/28 Discussion / Review.

T 3/4 First Exam
TH 3/6 Video shown in class: The Yes Men. 

SPRING BREAK

T 3/18 Chapters 8-9, pp. 307-339.
TH 3/20 Chapters 10-11, pp. 340-426.

EASTER BREAK
TH 3/27 Part Four: The Production of Relative Surplus-Value. Chapters 12-14, pp. 429-491.

T 4/1 Chapter 15, sections 1-7, pp. 492-588.
TH 4/3 Part Six: Wages. Chapter 19, pp. 675-682.

T 4/8 Chapters 20-22, pp. 683-706.
TH 4/10 Discussion / Final Paper Topics.

T 4/15 Part Seven: The Process of Accumulation of Capital. Chapters 23-24, pp. 709-761.
TH 4/17 Chapter 25, sections 1-4, pp. 762-802.

T 4/22 Discussion / Review.
TH 4/24 Second Exam.

T 4/29 Conclusions.