Why do we value gold more than water, whereas water is essential to human life but gold practically useless? Scarcity? But not everything that is scarce has value. A scarce disease lacks sufficient value for the pharmaceutical industry to develop medicines for it. How to value unique art objects and rate different qualities of wine? How come the downgrading of countries by financial rating agencies having such dramatic effects? Why is one Israeli soldier in Palestinian prison being worth more than one-thousand Palestinians in Israeli jails? What is the value of a human life, and does this differ between the West and the Rest? What is the relation between financial, emotional, esthetic and moral value, if any? Is our prosperity not based upon unending growth of production and consumption of goods that we don’t really need? And can we value values themselves, like life, justice, equality, sustainability?

This course delves into what economics leaves unanswered: the social, cultural, ethical, esthetical and political context and definition of value. It will address related issues, such as culture, fashion, fiction, imagination, creativity, esthetics, emotion, wealth, status, honor, admiration, greed, risk, fear, conflict, reputation, rumor, gossip, certification (including UCU-diplomas!), authority, experts, concept of property and property rights, speculation, gambling, fraud, counting and accounting, and of course the unit for counting and hoarding : money. Conflicts over values have dominated politics, domestically and internationally.

Though located in the mother-social science discipline, sociology, this course combines insights from sociology with those of economics, philosophy, art studies, marketing, political science. And to enrich our empirical base we borrow cases and approaches from other places (anthropology) and other times (history).

 

Format
Overall, the emphasis is on active student participation. Students will be required to search a variety of sources produced by societies in search for what, how and why of definitions of value. This will be connected to close reading of classical texts – both empirical and theoretical – in search for answers to these questions. Important will be the moving back and forth between abstract principles and theories and concrete manifestations in how societies value specific goods, activities, people. Introductory lectures will provide a framework for analysis and comparison, by posing riddles and questions and discussing a number of answers given by scholars as well as societies. Audio-visual material and possibly guest lectures may also provide input to the course.