Political Economy Courses

Fall 2026

This fall 2026 term, our Visiting Professor is Dillon Wamsley who will be teaching PECO 5501 and PECO 5503.

Course	Description
PECO 5000 Theories of Political Economy Instructor: Rebecca Schein	Students analyze and synthesize the core concepts and ideas proposed by both the founders and modern practitioners of political economy. The course focuses on theories of power relations and inequalities and assesses the consequences of these theories. This seminar examines both foundational and contemporary theoretical perspectives of capitalism, settler colonialism, the modern state, and relations of power. Contending views of the dynamics governing economic, political, and cultural changes in the modern era, and of modernity itself, will be explored. What light do these theories shed on processes of socio-economic change and the complex relationship between the economic, the cultural, and the political? How ought we to identify the collective actors engaged in making these changes, the sites of their interaction, and the processes through which collective identities are constituted? What are classes, and are they important? What of sex and gender, race, and other bases of both identity formation and oppression? Is ‘capitalism’ still a discrete entity (and was it ever so)? How does it intersect with racism and settler colonialism in Canada today? What is ‘neoliberalism’, and is ‘globalisation’ a new phenomenon? How do we make sense of economic and social crisis?
PECO 5002F (SOCI 5806) Political Economy of Work and Labour Instructor: TBA	Students analyze and synthesize key concepts and debates in the political economy of work and labour with particular attention to divisions of labour, power structures, and histories of struggle. Students in this seminar will analyze the social, political and economic conditions within which capital and labour interact in Canada. Key events in the history of Canadian work and labour as well as current concerns and emerging challenges will be examined. Actions by trade unions will be central in this analysis. Through the readings and discussions, we will consider and assess organizing, bargaining and political action strategies focussing on core concepts of mobilization and solidarity. The theme of equity in work and in the labour movement will be woven into readings and discussions. We will develop intersectional analytical skills to note and address inequalities of class, gender, race, abilities and sexual orientation in work and labour. Particular attention will be paid to the public sector, to the role of unions in challenging the growth of inequality and precarious employment and to the future of work post-pandemic. Questions for seminar discussions include: What are the elements of effective organizing and bargaining strategies? How can the union movement mobilize and build solidarity between workers and with other members of society? What are decolonizing and inclusive strategies for the labour movement? Why is intersectional analysis important and what difference will it make? Why is it important to recognize experience and build in reflective practices?
PECO 5501A (PSCI 5501F/SOCI 5504F/HIST 5315A) Theorizing Crisis in Political Economy: Historical and Contemporary Crises in Capitalism Instructor: Dillon Wamsley	Topics varies from year to year.
PECO 5501B (GEOG 5600F) Empire and Colonialism Instructor: Emilie Cameron	Theoretical approaches to empire and colonialism: postcolonial, feminist, Indigenous, anti-racist, queer, decolonizing, and political-economic approaches. Consideration of a range of sites of imperial and colonial formation, including land, territory, nature, the body, sexuality, gender, and race, as well as forms of resistance, resurgence, and decolonization.
PECO 5502F (PADM 5702A/HLTH 5701B) Policy Seminars Instructor: Marc-André Gagnon	Topics vary from year to year.
PECO 5503F (SOCI 5503F/PSCI 5504F) Labour, Labourism, and the History of Social Democracy Instructor: Dillon Wamsley	Topic varies from year to year.
PECO 5900 Tutorial in Political Economy Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Director. Form: Tutorial Approval Form	Directed readings on selected aspects of political economy, involving preparation of papers as the basis for discussion with the tutor. Offered when no regular course offering meets a candidate’s specific needs.

Winter 2027

This winter 2027 term, the Institute of Political Economy will not be hosting a visiting professor.

Course	Description
PECO 5001W Methodologies of Political Economy Instructor: David Hugill	Students conceptualize and design an interdisciplinary research project in political economy, using an appropriate methodological approach. Methodological alternatives are compared. This seminar prepares students to undertake a significant independent research project at the graduate level. Designed largely as a workshop, the course provides hands-on training in how to design, conduct, and produce scholarly research. Course materials provoke students to think critically about methodology and their own methodological choices as researchers. Topics include the relationship of methodology to matters of theory and evidence, as well as to epistemology and the ethics and politics of knowledge production. These concerns will also be linked to more nuts-and-bolts issues, including how to turn a broad project topic into one or more researchable questions. It sets out to expand students’ awareness of the range of methodologies they might enlist in their work and provide them with tools for evaluating the research methods best suited to their own questions, training, and objects of inquiry.
PECO 5502Y (PSCI 5502W/SOCI 5505W) Special Topics in Political Economy II Instructor: Course will not be offered in winter 2027.	Topic varies from year to year.
PECO 5504W (SOCI 5502/PSCI 5505) Special Topics in Work and Labour II Instructor: *Course will not be offered in winter 2027.*	Topic varies from year to year.
PECO 5505W (SOCI 5804) Modern Marxist Theory Instructor: Justin Paulson	An examination of topics of theory and research in modern Marxist literature; the central focus is on problems of class analysis, the state, and politics in advanced capitalist societies.
PECO 5900 Tutorial in Political Economy Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Director. Form: Tutorial Approval Form	Directed readings on selected aspects of political economy, involving preparation of papers as the basis for discussion with the tutor. Offered when no regular course offering meets a candidate’s specific needs.
PECO 6000W Political Economy: Core Concepts Instructor: *Course will not be offered in winter 2027.*	Students analyze and synthesize the historical evolution of, and contemporary debates in, political economy through interdisciplinary dialogue. Students develop knowledge of political economy theories compatible with their own research interests.