AMS100H1F: Global Capitalism

Program Coordinator: What is capitalism? What does capitalism mean to you? Are you worried about the cost of living, student debt, and tuition? These are some questions I'm out here today asking students on campus in preparation for course selection. This year in American Studies, we are offering AMS100 Global Capitalism.

Program Coordinator: When you hear the term capitalism, what do you think of?

Student 1: I think of a few things. I mean free market. I think of business. I also think of a complicated system.

Student 2 :1984 Georgia Wells. 

Student 3: I suppose I think of the current economic model that's followed by most Western countries.

Student 4: Working, money. 

Student 5: Probably, America.

Student 6: Money.

Student 7: Yeah, also America. Corporations.

Student 8: Inequality, wealth disparity, wealth disparity, those kind of some of the first words that come to mind.

Professor Rick Halpern: AMS100 is a course I'm very excited about. It's called Global Capitalism. It asks a number of interesting questions about the past and the evolution of capitalism that are highly relevant for today. Students who take AMS100, at the end of the course will have an understanding of the historical evolution of capitalism, the way in which capitalism and liberalism interact with one another over 2 or 300 years. And it'll also leave the course with an understanding of something of the historians craft, how arguments are made, how historians dispute each other, and how they push scholarship forward. And finally, students who take this class will leave with a better understanding of the world around them. They'll have critical analytical skills that they can use to make sense of economy and politics in 2024-2025.

This course will be offered for the Fall 2024 semester, Thursday's 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, to all University of Toronto undergraduate students. To find out more about the American Studies Undergraduate Program, visit: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/american-studies .