Welcome to the UCSC Keywords in Political Economy database!

This is a growing collection of keyword essays by graduate and undergraduate students from across the social sciences and humanities departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Inspired by Raymond Williams’ Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1985), our project seeks to provide critical explanations of fundamental terms in political economy. Our keyword essays include common definitions, genealogies and intellectual histories, and critical contemporary debates surrounding political economy terms, and we purposely take a broad and inclusive approach to political economy. In this collection of essays you will find keywords one might come across in the classic works of political economy by thinkers like Smith, Marx, and Keynes (e.g. Accumulation, Liberalism and Money); in the political science sub-discipline of international political economy (e.g. Bretton Woods, Regime, and Varieties of Capitalism); and in critical political theory approaches to political economy (e.g. Nature, Power, and Wife).

We hope that this project continues to grow in the years ahead; if you are interested in contributing, please do not hesitate to reach out.