Subject Area: Sociology and Anthropology

Covers sociological and anthropological approaches to the changing relationship between work, economy and society. Topics may include: ‘social shaping’ and other approaches to technologies and technological innovation – whether early devices, means of communication or biotechnology; the shifting role of ‘the economy’ – such as households and social networks of production and consumption; the shifting boundaries between work and leisure; shifting understandings of ‘society’ that have been put forward to account for these changes – industrial society, post-industrial society, consumer society/culture, information society…; the rise of ‘cultural economy’ and‘cultural industries’ as themes within recent debates. Theorists covered may include Polanyi, Veblen, Bell, Castells.