While most of us know that financial systems are important, that is often all that many people know about them. How are financial systems connected to the “real” economy and “regular” people? One important connection is through housing markets. In this course, we will consider how houses and the people who live in them used to be connected to financial systems, how they are connected today, and how those connections led to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. More broadly, we will explore sociological perspectives on financial systems in order to better understand their promise of economic advancement as well as the potential for exploitation and inequality.