Social and Organizational Theories of Transformation

Professor Poul Fritz Kjær
Associate ProfessorThomas Biebricher
Associate Professor Mathias Hein Jessen
Assistant Professor Lara Monticelli ,
Assistant Professor Maj Grasten
Assistant Professor Birke Otto
All from Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy.

There are no formal prerequisites other than that the student must be registered on compatible PhD-programme. In order to receive the course diploma, participants have to be present during the whole course period, have read the literature, engage actively in teaching and discussions, and after the conclusion of the course, the students should submit an essay (max. 10 pages) that deals with the theories and discussions of the course in relation to the student’s own PhD-project.

We live in a world defined by crises and transformation. Environmental degradation, climate crisis, financial crisis, populism, Covid-19, falling legitimacy of political and economic elites and institutions, just to mention a few. As a result, organizations and businesses are increasingly focusing on transformation as a way to encounter the ‘crisis of legitimacy’ confronting our current setup of economy and society, just as politicians and policy-makers on all sides of the political spectrum calls for the economy to be more thoroughly (re-)embedded within society.  

This course enables the students to critically interrogate and analyse the foundations of our economy using the tools of social and organizational theory, as well as insights into alternative ways of imagining it. In order to understand, assess and facilitate transformation, we need to understand the current situation. The course introduces the students to a number of different approaches and understandings of what transformation is and how we can understand it, rooted in social and organizational theory. It also gives the student insights into both the dominant organizational and corporate forms, forms of economic thinking and rationalities, as well as into transformative potentials and alternative organizational forms. The course introduces students to alternative forms of organizing the economy exploring cases on civil society, voluntarism, circular and gift-giving economies, social and sustainable entrepreneurship, social-economic enterprises, eco-villages, cooperatives and democratic enterprises.

The course runs for 3½ days and is equal to 4 ECTS points.

The course consists of 5 modules, Each taking up a different theme, and each module will consist of lectures, group work, discussions and case work. Each module will introduce a theoretical and critical approach to a dominant aspect of our current economic situation, as well as approaches to its transformation. Each module will have a final session where the theories of the module will be discussed and related to a concrete case.

The course offers insight into:

• Various theoretical paradigms and approaches to transformation
• Theoretical understandings of the relation between the economy and society, as well as contemporary challenges
• Historical, contemporary and future transformations of corporate constitutions and organizational forms, e.g. stakeholder models, shareholder models, cooperative models
• Economic, political, legal, sociological, philosophical and historical approaches to corporate and organizational forms and governance in a societal perspective, with a focus on societal legitimation struggles
• Alternative organizational forms and other ways and approaches to transforming economy and society.

The course is structured as follows:

Module 1: Social theories of transformation

This module introduces to the course in general, the approach, the current problems and challenges that we encounter, as well as introducing to a number of social theory paradigms of transformation. It asks the fundamental question: where does transformation come from and who are the agents of transformation?

Module 2: Economic rationalities

This module introduces to different ways of thinking the economy, economic relations and the role of organizations within it. Particularly it focuses on the dominant economic (and political) rationality of our time, namely neoliberalism. It also introduces to alternative ways of thinking and reimagining the economy, for instance Keynesianism and alternative economic logics and rationalities.

Module 3: Transforming the corporation

This module goes into depth with the most dominant organization of our economy: the corporation. The day introduces to the history and evolution of the corporation form, and its congealment in the private, publicly owned multinational corporation. It also introduces to recent critical theories of the corporation and a political theory of the corporation as well as alternatives to the corporations and attempts to transform it through cooperatively- and worker-owned corporations and workplace democracy.

Module 4: Alternatives to capitalism and organizing for change

This module goes into depth with theories of transformation in organization studies and organization theory as well as introducing to a number of debates about economic and organizational transformations and alternatives. It focuses on social and sustainable entrepreneurship, post-growth debates, innovation, digital capitalism, creative commons, pre-figurative politics, cooperatives and eco-villages

Module 5: The transformative law of political economy

This module introduces different ways of thinking about the role of law and legal instruments in transforming political economies. Law constitute, enable and restrain economic processes and play a central role in making these processes compatible with the non-economic parts of society. Traditionally law and legal instruments have been considered aimed at maintaining stability rather than transformation. Newer approaches however emphasize the crucial role of law as tools aimed at instigating change and transformation.

The teaching form of the course is a combination of talks, presentations, group discussions, text discussions and case discussions. At the end of each day there will be a discussion around a case, applying the teachings of the day to a particular case. Students are expected to participate actively in discussions and case-work.

The course is structured as follows:

Day 1: Monday

Module 1: Social theories of transformation

12:30-13:00: Welcome and introduction

13.00-14:30 Session 1: Lecture: Paradigms of transformation (Mathias Hein Jessen)

15:00-16:30: Session 2: Case-discussion: Paradigms of transformation (Mathias Hein Jessen)

16:30-18: welcome reception

Day 2: Tuesday

Module 2: Economic Rationalities

09.00-10.30: Session 3: Lecture: From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism (Thomas Biebricher)

11.00-12.30: Session 4: Lecture: Alternative economic rationalities (Lara Monticelli)

12:30-13:30: Lunch

13:30-15:00: Session 5: Case-discussion: Alternatives to neoliberalism (Thomas Biebricher)

Module 3: Transforming the corporation

 15:30-17:00: Session 6: Lecture: The neoliberal conception of the corporation (Thomas Biebricher)

 Day 3: Wednesday

9-10:30: Session 7: Lecture: The political theory of the corporation (Mathias Hein Jessen)

11:00-12:30: Session 8: Case-discussion: Democratising the corporation (Mathias Hein Jessen)

12:30-13:30: Lunch

Rest of the day off, social activities

 Day 4: Thursday

Module 4: Alternatives to capitalism and organizing for change

09.00-10.30: Session 9: Lecture: Alternatives to capitalism (Lara Monticelli)

11.00-12.30: Session 10: Lecture: Organizing for change (Birke Otto)

12:30-13:30: Lunch

13.30-15.00: Session 11: Case-discussion: Alternatives to capitalism (Lara Monticelli)

 Module 5: The transformative law of political economy

15.30-17:00: Session 12: Lecture: Transformation through Competition (Law) (Poul Fritz Kjær)

 Day 5: Friday

 09.00-10.30: Session 13: Lecture: Transformation through Legal Affordances in the Global Political Economy (Maj Grasten)

11.00-12.30: Session 14: Case-discussion: Legal transformations of political economy (Maj Grasten)

12:30-13:30: Lunch, evaluation and goodbye

 14-16: Optional: seminar organized by the strategic initiative ‘Transformational Economies and Societies’

• Account for social and organizational theories of transformation, their differences, and their respective strengths and weaknesses
• Critically analyze and assess aspects of contemporary economic rationalities, practices and organizational forms
• Apply theoretical tools to concrete case studies
• Discuss and critically assess suggestions for transformation and their viability

Readings (indicative)

Module 1: Social theories of transformation

Hayek, F.v. (1944). The Road to Serfdom, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 39-70.

Marx, K. (1990)[1867). Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. I, (ed. Ernest Mandel), London & New York: Penguin Classics. Chapters 1.1, 1.2, 1.4. 2, 4, 6, 26, 32, pp. 125-37, 163-87, 247-57, 270-80, 873-76, 927-30.

Polanyi, K., (2001)[1944]. The Great Transformation. The Political and Economic Origins of our Time Boston: Beacon press.

Weber, M. (1968)[1904/05]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London: Unwin University Books. ‘Introduction’ and chapter 4, ‘Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism’, pp. 13-31, 155-84.

Module 2: Economic rationalities

Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism's stealth revolution. Cambridge, MA: Zone Books. Chapter I, ‘Undoing Democracy: Neoliberalism’s Remaking of State and Subject, pp. 17-46.

Dardot, P. & Laval, C. (2017), The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society. London: Verso. Chapter 9, ‘Manufacturing the Neo-liberal Subject’, pp. 255-300.

Foucault, M. (2008), The Birth of Biopolitics. Lectures at the Collège de France 1978-79. New York: Palgrave. Lecture nine and Course Summary, pp. 215-238, 317-26.

Fraser, N. & Jaeggi, R. (2018). Capitalism. A Conversation in Critical Theory, Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapter 3. Criticizing Capitalism, pp. 115-132

Gibson-Graham, J.K, Cameron, J. & Healy, S. (2013). Take Back the Economy. An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Chapter 1. Reframing the Economy, Reframing Ourselves, pp. 1-16.

Mazzucato, M. (2021). Mission Economy. A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books. Chapter 6, ‘Good Theory, Good Practice: Seven Principles for a New Political Economy’, pp. 163-203. 

Module 3: Transforming the corporation

Anderson, E. (2019). Private government: How employers rule our lives (and why we don't talk about it). Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapter 2, ‘Private government’, pp. 37-71.

Stern, P.J. (2017). ‘The Corporation in History’, in Baars, G., & Spicer, A. (eds.), The Corporation: A Critical, Multi-Disciplinary Handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 21-46.

Barkan, J. (2013). Corporate sovereignty: Law and government under capitalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ‘Introduction’ and chapter 1, ‘The Sovereign Gift’, pp. 1-39.

Ciepley, D. (2013). Beyond public and private: Toward a political theory of the corporation. American Political Science Review, 107(1): 139-158.

Ferreras, I. (2017). Firms as political entities: Saving democracy through economic bicameralism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ‘Introduction: What about the Workers?’, pp. 1-20.

Module 4: Alternatives to capitalism and organizing for change

Banerjee, S. B., Jermier, J. M., Peredo, A. M., Perey, R., & Reichel, A. (2021). Theoretical Perspectives on Organizations and Organizing in a Post-Growth Era. Organization, 28(3), 337–357

Casey, K., Lichrou, M. & O’Malley L. (2020). Prefiguring Sustainable Living: An Ecovillage Story (2020). Journal of Marketing Management, vol.36, pp. 1658-1679. 

Firth, R. (2018). The Utopian Model of Social Change. In: Lugo, H. A Return to the Island. Ivory Press, pp. 38-41. 

Jackson, T. (2019). The Post-Growth Challenge: Secular Stagnation, Inequality and the Limits to Growth, Ecological Economics, 156, 236-246.

Parker, M., Cheney, G., Fournier, V. & Land, C. (2014).  The Routledge Companion to Alternative Organization. London: Routledge. Chapter 1-3.

Wright, E. O. (2019) How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st  Century. London: Verso. Chapter 3. Varieties of Anticapitalism, pp. 37-64. 

Module 5: The transformative law of political economy

Commons, John (1924). Legal Foundations of Capitalism. New York: MacMillan. Chapter I, ‘Mechanism, Scarcity, Working Rules’, and chapter II, ‘Property, Liberty and Value’.

Deakin, S., Gindis, D., Hodgson, G.M., Huang, K. & Pistor, K. (2017). Legal institutionalism: Capitalism and the constitutive role of law, Journal of Comparative Economics, 45: 188-200.

Kjaer, P.F. (2014). Towards a Sociology of Intermediary Institutions: The Role of Law in Corporatism, Neo-Corporatism and Governance’. In: Rask Madsen, M. & Thornhill, C. (eds.), Law and the Formation of Modern Europe: Perspectives from the Historical Sociology of Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 117-141.

Kjaer P.F. (2015). ‘Context Construction through Competition: The Prerogative of Public Power, Intermediary Institutions and the Expansion of Statehood through Competition’, Distinktion, 16(2), pp 146-66.

Neumann, F. L. (1996, [1937]). The Change in the Function of Law in Modern Society. In: Scheuerman, W.E. (ed.), The rule of law under siege. Selected Essays of Franz L. Neumann & Otto Kirchheimer University of California Press. Pp. 101-141.

Pistor, K. (2019). The Code of Capital. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapter 6: ‘A Code for the Globe’, pp. 132-157.