2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Humanities and social science courses
Economics C
- Academic unit or major
- Humanities and social science courses
- Instructor(s)
- Kengo Kogure
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Mon (M-101(H116)) / 5-6 Thu (M-101(H116))
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- LAH.S310
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Sep 18, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course begins with the basic relationship between the two main actors in a capitalist economy: capitalists and workers. It looks at how this relationship appears in production, distribution, and exchange in the marketplace. It focuses not only on the mechanisms of transactions and pricing mechanisms, but also the power relations, institutions, and historical background that shape them. In addition to using tools from microeconomics and macroeconomics, the course explores how the capitalist system as a whole works, how it develops, and why it sometimes becomes unstable.
The aim of the course is to help students see capitalism not just as a “natural environment,” but as an economic system created by history and society. By doing so, students will strengthen their ability to analyze economic issues, gain sharper perspectives and deeper insights into today’s social problems, and learn to form their own judgments. The course also aims to prepare students to apply this knowledge both in academic research and in solving real-world problems.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Learn the fundamentals of economics in a systematic way and understand the characteristics of the capitalist economic system (its essence and its phenomena).
2) Critically evaluate both the benefits and the drawbacks that capitalism has brought to the world economy from multiple perspectives.
3) Develop their own views on the challenges faced by contemporary society, based on the knowledge and concepts learned in this course.
Keywords
Capitalism Analysis, Marx, Political Economy, Labor, Critical Thinking
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
The lecture will be conducted using slides and handouts. Students are required to submit a comment paper for each class, and questions or comments will be addressed at the beginning of the following class. Some video materials will also be used. Depending on the number of participants and their level of understanding, active learning methods such as group work may be introduced. In addition, several short report assignments will be given as coursework. Details will be announced in the first class.
The textbook will be used for report assignments. Classes will be based on reference books, and students are encouraged to purchase any that they find of particular interest.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction (Course description, class flow, assessment methods, etc.; “What is Economics?”) |
Understand the tutorial of the course and gain an overview of economics as a whole. |
| Class 2 | The reason and significance of labor |
Explain the necessity and particularity of labor. |
| Class 3 | Class and wage-labor relations (relations of domination and resistance) |
Explain capitalism from the perspective of class relations. |
| Class 4 | Workers’ choices and the objectives/strategies of firms (capitalists) |
Explain the possible actions of workers and firms and their interrelationships. |
| Class 5 | Commodity production, Capital, and Labor |
Explain why commodities take the form of commodities and why this is important. |
| Class 6 | Exploitation and its existence |
Explain the concept of exploitation and the profit mechanism behind it. |
| Class 7 | Technological progress and the rate of profit |
Explain the relationship between technological progress that enhances productivity and the rate of profit. |
| Class 8 | Exchange (circulation) and Money |
Explain the penetration of monetary economy in commodity exchange and the creation of credit. |
| Class 9 | Trade (Globalization) |
Explain trade theory and the contemporary global economy. |
| Class 10 | Finance |
Explain the characteristics of financialization and its impacts. |
| Class 11 | Business cycles and instability |
Explain historical business cycles and related theories in various countries. |
| Class 12 | Gender |
Explain economic topics related to gender. |
| Class 13 | Sustainability of the capitalist economic system (Environment, Inequality, Power, Disparities) |
Explain global trends and the sustainability of capitalism. |
| Class 14 | Final examination and summary (“Learning Political Economy”) |
Take the final examination and re-evaluate contemporary socio-economic issues from new perspectives gained in the course. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to course material.
Textbook(s)
Hirasawa, K., & Nakamura, T. (Eds.). (2021). Work-life integration: Mirai o hiraku hatarakikata [Work-life Integration: New Ways of Working for the Future]. Kyoto: Minerva Shobo. ISBN 9784623092352
＊The textbook will be used for report assignments. Classes will be based on reference books, and students are encouraged to purchase any that they find of particular interest.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Abe, T., Osaka, H., Ohno, T., Sato, T., Sato, Y., Nakatani, T., Ninomiya, K., & Ban, H. (2019). Shihonshugi ga wakaru keizaigaku [Economics for Understanding Capitalism]. Tokyo: Otsuki Shoten. ISBN 9784272111244
CORE Team. (2017). The economy: Economics for a changing world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198810247
Evaluation methods and criteria
Comment papers (10%), short report assignments (20%), final examination (70%).
Related courses
- LAH.S109 ： Economics A
- LAH.S209 ： Economics B
- LAH.S407 ： Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences7:Economics
Prerequisites
High-level Japanese literacy.
Basic understanding of elementary mathematics.
Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).
kkogure[at]ila.isct.ac.jp
Replace [at] with @.
Office hours
Questions and comments are accepted before and after class. Consultation by e-mail is also possible.