Religion 207 - RELIGION OF THE MARKETPLACE

Same as SOC 207. Many view the marketplace and religion as discrete spheres of activity, not recognizing the important ways that religion functions as a marketplace, with merit and salvation to be earned or lost, and the ways that the marketplace itself functions as a religion, with its own creeds, rituals, sacred texts and unquestioned truths. This course takes this proposition seriously, for it provides enormous insight into the workings of markets, from the logic of gift exchange to the metaphor of the invisible hand, from the interest in apparent disinterestedness to the status of economics as a master discipline. This course draws upon the concepts and methods of sociology and religious studies to examine the logic, practice and mythology of markets, their institutions, and the faithful, with particular emphasis on the United States. Readings include classic works of sociology, economics and religious studies, as well as recent work in economic sociology, economic anthropolog