The goal of the class is to understand capitalism through its dynamic confrontations with the world as it exists right now. We live in the most connected and cooperative time period in history, and in one of the most dangerous and fractious. Capitalism has impelled us towork together on a greater scale than ever before through globalization, and in larger and more efficient clusters than everbefore called cities. It is also bringing about fundamental social changes in the ways we work and live with each other—we refer to these broadly as deindustrialization, neoliberalism, and the urban crisis. Capitalism is doing this with no overall plan, and with no awareness of the associated human costs. This course combines a deep dive into the fundamental dynamics of capitalism with a broad survey of its implications for people and their communities. If it is successful, students will come away with an enriched understanding of capitalism as an economic and sociopolitical formation. If it is very successful, they will gain a sense of the revolutionary transformations inherent their own time.