| Dozent/in |
Marlena Rycombel, MA |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Hauptseminar |
| Code |
HS261733 |
| Semester |
Herbstsemester 2026 |
| Durchführender Fachbereich |
Soziologie |
| Studienstufe |
Bachelor |
| Termin/e |
Mi, 16.09.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 23.09.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 30.09.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 07.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 14.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, HS 13
Mi, 21.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 28.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 04.11.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, HS 13
Mi, 11.11.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 18.11.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 25.11.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 02.12.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 09.12.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214
Mi, 16.12.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, Inseliquai 10 INE 214 |
| Umfang |
2 Semesterwochenstunden |
| Inhalt |
This course examines money as a social medium of exchange whose meanings, uses, and institutional forms have changed across time and space. It moves between macro- and micro-level perspectives, exploring money both as a political institution and as an everyday social practice embedded in moral judgments, intimate relations, and cultural classifications. It begins with classic debates on the origins and nature of money, including the critique of the barter myth, anthropological discussions of exchange, and disputes over what should count as money in the first place. From there, it traces how different monetary forms and materials – from credit and commodity money and precious metals to paper currency, electronic records, and distributed ledger systems such as blockchain – shape the ways money is imagined, trusted, used, and governed.
A central concern of the course is that money is never a neutral tool. Its material or technical form influences its circulation, divisibility, durability, anonymity, visibility, and susceptibility to monitoring, while its institutional setting affects how it is authorized, regulated, and linked to political power. For this reason, the course pays close attention to the relationship between monetary media and monetary imaginaries: how specific forms of money help organize exchange and contribute to broader understandings of social order, identity, and authority.
The course then turns from large-scale historical and institutional processes to the social life of money in everyday contexts. Here, students examine how money becomes differentiated, earmarked, moralized, and domesticated in practice, and how people assign distinct meanings to seemingly equivalent units of value. Monetary transactions are shaped by kinship, ethnicity, gender, class, religion, status, and household organization.
The course invites students to think critically about how monetary systems are made and remade through media, institutions, and social relations, and how alternative monetary projects – from nineteenth-century reform proposals to local currencies and cryptocurrencies – reopen fundamental questions about what money is, what it does, and what kinds of social worlds it makes possible. |
| Voraussetzungen |
The course and assignments will be in English, so a B2 level of English is required. |
| Sprache |
Englisch |
| Anmeldung |
***Wichtig*** Um Credits zu erwerben ist die Anmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung über das UniPortal zwingend erforderlich. Die Anmeldung ist ab zwei Wochen vor bis zwei Wochen nach Beginn des Semesters möglich. An- und Abmeldungen sind nach diesem Zeitraum nicht mehr möglich. Die genauen Anmeldedaten finden Sie hier: http://www.unilu.ch/ksf/semesterdaten |
| Leistungsnachweis |
Course requirements will include weekly readings, class discussions, and a short essay based on one or two interviews exploring how an individual organizes their budget (2-4 pages). The assignment is designed to encourage critical reflection on household budgeting as an important dimension of everyday and social life, while also inviting students to think about the practice of interviewing and about whether money is an easy or difficult topic to discuss with others. Alternative topics are possible, but should be discussed with the course teacher in advance. |
| Abschlussform / Credits |
Aktive Teilnahme (Referat) / 4 Credits
|
| Kontakt |
marlena.rycombel@unilu.ch |