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Property Law: Capitalism, Schizoculture, Control

Overview

Module description

This module builds upon Property Law 1: Land Law, to explore in more detail ideas and practices introduced in that QLD module. In particular, the module focuses on the political and economic context of contemporary land use and concepts of property. Taking a critical approach, the module will explore the impact of investment and financialisation on property generally, with a particular emphasis upon the use and inhabitation of land, along with the resulting implications for how we think of the public/private divide. The module combines analytical and theoretical material with specific legal concepts and practices, in order to highlight not only the mutable and fluid nature of property, but also how this is exploited and distributed under current political and economic arrangements. This will involve building upon ideas introduced in Property 1, specifically: registration, possession, trusts, investment, and owner-occupation. It will do so by taking these ideas beyond private law to contextualise them through questions of finance, community and value.

Alongside the normal seminar provision, students should also be available for one weekend afternoon, towards the end of term, to undertake a tutor-led tour of the King’s Cross/Somers Town redevelopment.

Indicative module syllabus

  • The Idea of ‘Property’
  • Value
  • The 'Commons'
  • 'Potentialities'
  • 'Biopolitics'
  • Structurations and Structural Unities
  • Capital
  • The 'Present'

Learning objectives

By the end of this module you will be able to:

  • relate standard legal property concepts to their context in political economy
  • understand how property is connected to processes of finance and investment
  • understand how value and debt are mutually constitutive
  • appreciate how property and land impact upon the possibilities of life
  • appreciate how the law is manifest in the design of physical space
  • evaluate property concepts in relation to ideas of the commons
  • grasp why the time is now.