Denmark

This course focuses on economic policy and the welfare state in Denmark through international comparison and examples from other developed countries. It covers classic welfare state topics as well as more recent themes and challenges to modern welfare states, focusing especially on the expenditure side of government. The course has an emphasis on recent empirical research on policy issues, and a focus on how to take theory to the data, critically evaluate the validity of empirical designs, and account for policy implications of research results. Each topic looks at economic facts and status quo policies in Denmark and elsewhere, works with the theoretical framework and economic reasoning behind these policies, discusses empirical evidence and evaluations of “what works” in terms of policy in that area, and covers views from the public debate. The course provides an academic foundation for thinking about different policy questions; an understanding of policy in an applied context and as part of the political system and the public debate; an overview of contemporary economic issues related to the welfare state and public sector in Denmark and other developed countries; and an opportunity for students to think as economists about these issues and account for potential challenges, trade-offs, and solutions in an academic way.

The first part of the course focuses on history and culture, starting with a brief historical view of Danish society since 1800. It then analyzes culture from two perspectives: the history of ideas in Danish society and Danish cultural value systems. This entails a brief introduction to key Danish thinkers and cultural movements and their political impact, and an introduction to Danish cultural values and the development and changes of such values over the last 30 to 40 years. The second part of the course takes an institutional approach to the Danish political system, including its labor market structures and education system, by descriptions of specific societal sectors, drawing on theory about institutional orders and business regimes. Continuing with the institutional approach, the third part of the course focuses more specifically on the business sector leading to a discussion of key industries and types of firms in the Danish economy.

This course focuses on the task of sociology to provide interpretations of the current situation and diagnoses of the times. The first part of the course defines the general meaning of diagnosis of the times and the role this kind of analysis plays in sociology. The second part identifies and distinguishes between various conceptions of social transformation and how modern societies have changed over time, with a study of the most recent structural transformations. The last part of the course focuses on the normative use of social diagnosis to conceive that not only persons but also societies can be understood as sick. The course accounts for how this kind of analysis can be used to evaluate and criticize social change and provides an opportunity to plan and perform research and carry out critical investigations of structural transformations of modern societies and institutions.

This course explores the complex and influential connections between food, culture, self, place, and taste. Across the world, food is increasingly on the agenda, in relation to many themes: health, economy, politics, climate, famine, and obesity. There is an increased need for humanistic approaches to the understanding of how tradition, history, and cross-cultural practices influence people's eating and food choices. The course provides students with humanities-based insights into a wide array of aspects of food culture, including lifestyle; food politics; identity and the body; food and media; urban gardening; food taboos; food security; commensality; the globalization of taste; and the history of the chef.

This course introduces the general method and use of cost-benefit analysis with a particular emphasis on applications to resource and environmental economics. The course therefore deals with many crucial aspects of environmental cost-benefit analysis to provide the necessary background to assess the validity of practical environmental cost-benefit analyses, as well as to formulate how current guidelines can be improved based on the latest economic research. The course consists of a lecture block that provides an overview and introduces students to key concepts. Assessment is based on a presentation and written assignment on a topic of the student’s choosing. 

This course focuses on presenting theories and empirical data regarding global social inequality. Accounting for a wide range of sociological theories of inequality, it analyzes various theories about what creates differences in wealth between individuals and between different regions in the world. The course investigates inequality in relation to gender, ethnicity, elites, power, health, social mobility, and economy. 

This course approaches historical and contemporary exoticism in European culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. It examines imaginations of the foreign in literature, from antiquity to the present; the visual arts; as well as various media such as film, opera, and architecture. The course also considers historical foci, such as the connection between exoticism and colonialism or exoticism and racism. In addition to approaches from art history, aesthetics, literary studies, film studies, media studies, and cultural studies, the course discusses methods from postcolonial studies, critical race studies, and intercultural studies in order to gain a theoretically trained view of imaginations of the non-European “Other” in art and culture. Course readings include excerpts and full texts from different periods by Western European and Northern American authors: Euripides, THE BACCHAE; Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, PAUL AND VIRGINIA; Thomas De Quincey, CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM EATER; Edgar Allen Poe, LIGEIA; Thomas Mann, DEATH IN VENICE; Karen Blixen, THE SUPPER AT ELSINORE; David Henry Hwang, M. BUTTERFLY. It also analyses paintings by Henri Rousseau, Paul Gauguin, and James Tissot, and studies operas by Mozart and Puccini.