Eurizon.eu

Organization: Utrecht University

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands

Field: Economics, Behaviour and Society, Language and Culture

Requirements:

a (research) master's degree in economic and social history, or in economics or another social science with shown interest in (economic and social) history
a theoretical background and a strong interest for relevant theory;
an outstanding record of undergraduate and master's degree work;
the ability to work with large datasets

Abstract:

The PhD will work within the NWO-funded project Agency, Gender, and Economic Development in the World Economy 1850-2000

Description:

The PhD will work within the NWO-funded project Agency, Gender, and Economic Development in the World Economy 1850-2000.
Agency, Gender, and Economic Development in the World Economy 1850-2000 is a project that endeavors  to explore how ‘agency’, conceptualized as the potential for individual decision-making at the levels of households, economic activity and political participation, contributed to global economic development and vice versa. This question, which is at the core of current theorizing in economic history, requires innovative use of existing datasets and creation of new datasets, elaboration of concepts and theories in collaboration with leading experts, and extensive and careful cooperation between researchers working at both micro and macro levels. The project consists of three PhD projects and one post doc project: more details.
 The current vacancy relates to the PhD project 'Agency, the Family and the Polity'
This sub-project will develop and test new ideas about the links between gender relationships, patterns of household formation and changes in the quality of institutions – such as the rise and development of democracy in the past 150 years. The key hypothesis that we will explore is that there are links between the character of institutions at the micro level – in particular the family and the household – and the capacity of societies to develop democratic institutions. Already the French anthropologist Todd put forward the hypothesis that deep-rooted family norms determined a society’s conception of equality (determined by inheritance rules) and authority (determined by co-residence patterns), and thus the foundation for democratic institutions. There is a rapidly growing literature arguing for similar links between gender relations and ‘good governance’. By including family-system indicators into the equation, the project hopes to get more grip on the complex interactions between democracy and economic development. 
 
Conditions of employment
We offer a PhD position (1,0 fte) with a one year contract beginning June 2011.
After a positive evaluation this contract can be extended to a maximum of three more years (a total of four years maximum). This provides graduates with an opportunity to finish their doctoral dissertation in four years, funded by NWO.
Salary will be rising from € 2.042,- a month (before taxes) during the first year to € 2.612,- a month during the fourth year on a fulltime basis. We also offer solid benefits.
The PhD students, also referred to as doctoral candidates, are expected to take courses at the N.W. Posthumus Institute, the research school for social and economic history.
The PhD will be based at Utrecht University, and be part of the research group of social and economic history led by prof. Jan Luiten van Zanden and prof. Maarten Prak.
 
Additional information
Please contact the project leader prof. dr. J.L. van Zanden (email: j.l.vanzanden@uu.nl)  for further details.
Applicants can also consult the OGC website and the website of the project

Deadline: 01-04-2011

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