070163 KU Transition and Transition Debates (2006S)

'Transition' is a key concept in discussions about how 'modernity' or modern-day 'world capitalism' came into being. These discussions are often referred to as the debates on the 'transition from feudalism to capitalism' and have evoked a broad spectrum of theoretical and methodological approaches as well as a multitude of answers to the main question: 'which of the social forces, economic factors or cultural phenomena should be given the highest priority in explaining the genesis of today's society?' One of the main threads of these discussions is represented by interpretations using a Marxist point of view. 'Transition', however, was not only a central category for currents of this theoretical orientation but for other approaches as well. Approaches of different political and theoretical orientation will be discussed in this course.
Some of the authors to be read and discussed will be: Karl Marx, Maurice Dobb, Paul Sweezy, Robert Brenner, Immanuel Wallerstein, Karl Polanyi, Arnold Toynbee and others.

Methods: In this class we will be reading and discussing some of the more important aspects of the debates. In this way we will familiarize ourselves with the main issues, arguments and differences. Additionally there will be some assignments based on the texts.

For students in the Magisterstudium Globalgeschichte" a combination witth the lecture "Transition and Transition Debates in Global History" held by Martina Kaller-Dietrich is obligatory.