This course studies political economy from the vantage point of a broader distinction between the public and private spheres of social life. We consider what that distinction might mean and how it matters, how the two spheres are manifested and interrelate in actual societies, and how the appropriate boundary between the two spheres might be determined. A number of lines of social inquiry out there touch on this distinction, but perhaps none is exactly fitted to our purposes in this course. There is, however, an analytical framework that seems well suited to our inquiry: Game theory is a superficial-sounding name given to this important framework, one that will, in a broad way, serve as the foundation and common denominator for our inquiries. |