Course supplement Socioeconomics in the BA Political Science

General information

How did the global financial crisis come about? What economic theories underlie different political approaches to solving the euro crisis? Do people always behave rationally in labor, goods or capital markets? What are the effects of economic inequality on economic stability and political decisions? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a debt brake? And what economic controversies are actually hidden behind the dispute over private pension provision?

At the Institute for Socioeconomics, founded in 2019 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, answers to such questions are sought at the interface of political science and sociology from a plural perspective and with a special focus on (socio)economic inequality, state activity and public finances, and macroeconomic interrelations.

In the Socioeconomics course supplement offered for the BA Political Science, students can add a socioeconomic perspective to their political science studies. In understanding economic contexts, they benefit from their prior institutional and political economic knowledge and can at the same time supplement their understanding of political contexts with an economic component.

In addition to interdisciplinarity, a central principle here is a pluralism of different theories and models, also with the aim of making the controversy of economic policy positions visible.

At a glance

  • Socioeconomics as a complementary course in the BA Political Science with a total of 33 CP.
  • Teaching by the Institute for Socioeconomics, founded in 2019 at the faculty with five professors and about ten research assistants
  • Three modules, including two basic modules and one in-depth module with seven courses

Structure of the study program

* A passing grade in the seminar "Introduction to Socioeconomics" is a prerequisite for participation in all other courses of the Socioeconomics program in the BA Political Science.

Note: If you do not complete the Socioeconomics elective in its entirety, you may receive partial credit as an E3 credit.

For more information on the organization of the study and how it fits into the BA Political Science, you can contact the IBZ of Political Science. A study plan for the BA Political Science with the elective area Socioeconomics can be found here, more general info on the study plan of the BA Political Science can be found here.

Responsible

Till Van Treeck Neu

Prof. Dr. Till van Treeck, Professor at the Institute of Socioeconomics

Kontakt: till.vantreeck@uni-due.de

Registration

Access to the elective area of socioeconomics is gained through registration and admission to the seminar course "Introduction to Socioeconomics" in the second semester. With the admission to this course you are also entitled to admission to all socio-economic courses of the elective area in the following semesters.

Registration and admission to the course will take place in the usual way via the LSF. Seminar places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a limited number of places available (approx. 50).

For students of higher semesters there is in principle also an access possibility for the elective area. This is only recommended if the political science courses, which are replaced by socio-economic courses, have not yet been completed.

The courses in detail

Introduction to socioeconomics

  • What is socioeconomics and what for?
  • Economic history and history of economic thought
  • Dealing with socioeconomic data, models and paradigms
  • Introduction to current socioeconomic megatopics and controversies, such as: Economic crises, future of growth, causes and consequences of socioeconomic inequality.

 

Socioeconomics: macroeconomic analyses

  • Economic history highlights and history of macroeconomics
  • Main features of national accounting
  • Macroeconomic Models and the Role of Monetary and Fiscal Policy
  • Macroeconomic controversies since Keynes
  • Varieties of Capitalism and National Growth Models

 

Socioeconomics: Individual economic analyses

  • The Neoclassical Rationality Model and its Limits
  • Household theory, firm theory and the logic of exchange, division of labor and markets
  • Economic policy applications of the market model

 

Economic and social policy

Current economic and social policy controversies, such as:

  • The global financial crisis 2007ff.
  • The euro crisis 2010ff. and European economic policy
  • Public debt policy
  • Globalization, nation state and democracy
  • Labor market policy and pension policy
  • Distribution policy
  • Limits to growth

 

Advanced module

Examples of seminar topics in in-depth seminars 1, 2 and 3:

  • Public Finances
  • Socio-economic inequality
  • Growth and ecology
  • Globalization and International Economics
  • Varieties of Capitalism
  • History of economics and economic thought
  • Paradigms of economic policy

Flyer about the study program Socioeconomics

Flyer Sozioökonomie Ba-powi2

 

The info flyer on the socioeconomics course offered in the BA Political Science can be downloaded here.

Download the Flyer