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Economy and Society Summer School

Blackwater Castle, Cork, Ireland.

13-17th of May 2019

Open for Applications! Deadline 31st March, 2019: Inquiries to info.easss @ gmail.com

Contemporary social sciences are increasingly returning to engage with economic questions.

This week-long doctoral symposium bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines to discuss fresh perspectives on ‘the economy’; the market, the state, production, consumption, redistribution, value, money, work, commodities, poverty, welfare, inequality.

How can we re-think these concepts amid contemporary transformations?

11/05/2015. FREE TO USE IMAGE. President Michael D. Higgins opens the Economy & Society Summer school in Blackwater Castle Co. Cork. Pictured with President Michael D. Higgins is the WIT President Willie Donnelly and students with the lecturers. Picture: Patrick Browne President Michael D. Higgins opens the Economy & Society Summer school Monday, 11 May 2015: Over 30 PhD business and humanities scholars from around the world gathered in Blackwater Castle in Cork today where the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins delivered an address to open officially the 2015 Economy and Society Summer school organised by Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in conjuntion with University College Cork (UCC). Throughout the week long summer school, the Irish and International scholars from economics, sociology and beyond will explore contemporary issues and ethical values that are necessary to create a flourishing economy and just society. At the opening, Prof Willie Donnelly, President of WIT said that “Education is a liberating force in society. It’s important that we learn the lessons of the tiger economy years. As the economy recovers we need to focus on balancing the social, economic and cultural evolution of society. Broadening investment in education from Science Technology Engineering Maths (STEM) to incorporate Humanities and Business is crucial to creating that balance. European Framework programme H2020 places humanities and social science at the heart of European Innovation. “Two of the largest schools in WIT are Humanities and Business. The institute has a strong PhD education programme in these disciplines and it’s very encouraging to see the Institute taking the lead and to see such quality researchers from across Ireland, the US, Canada, Europe and the middle east travelling to Ireland to be part of it.” The summer school, which is organised by the Centre for the Study of the Moral Foundations of Economy and Society run jointly by WIT and UCC, w

President Michael D. Higgins opening the 2015 Summer School with staff and students.

Conceiving the economy as separate from society is problematic; theoretically, politically and morally. An economy is not simply an assemblage of law-like forces of production, consumption and market valuation which provides society with a material foundation. Rather, the ‘economy’ is a set of human institutions which are created socially, transformed through history and open to revision. Furthermore, far from being ethically-neutral laws of nature, economic processes have profoundly moral consequences for our society; with the potential to promote human flourishing or inequality, meaningful life or instrumentalisation, sustainability or ecocide.

The Economy + Society summer school was launched in 2015 under the auspices of the President of Ireland’s Ethics Initiative, an attempt to address recent and on-going crises, to understand and criticise the thinking which put these processes in train. Run by the Centre for the Study of the Moral Foundations of Economy + Society at UCC and WIT, this school is dedicated to investigating how morals, values and ethics inform economic practices, social organisation and politics. Clearly, there are many problematic ‘moral orders’ within society, for instance, those which promote individualism in business, punitive attitudes to marginal groups or divisive and exclusionary politics. Nonetheless, moral orders which promote care, tolerance, sustainability, integrity, equality and a meaningful life still circulate within society, and can be restored and revived.

Therefore, this summer school addresses the multiple and complex intersections of economy and society. Moving beyond the dichotomy of ‘economics versus social science’, this forum explores a multitude of alternative paradigms, methods and concepts, drawing from anthropology, cultural studies, governmentality, history, critical management studies, marketing and organisation studies. It is tailor-made for doctoral students, whether in exploratory stages, interpreting data or writing-up. Drawing together around two dozen academic staff from Ireland and internationally, the summer school is a convivial, supportive and inspiring forum.

Apply now to: info.easss[@]gmail.com

Organised by the UCC/WIT:( http://www.moraleconomy.eu )

Moral Foundations of Economy & Society research centre:

School Directors: Tom Boland & Ray Griffin.

ethics