Work, Labor Movements, and Social Change
SOC-STD 98WL
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
This course introduces students to key historical episodes and theories of class formation within the history of capitalism primarily in, but not limited to, the United States. It will explore the social, economic, and political dynamics of class formations and capitalist transitions through historical readings, archival sources, and competing theoretical frameworks that familiarize students with methodological disputes within labor history and the broader political stakes of those disputes. It considers not only the history of labor unions, but also how slavery and unwaged labor, racial and gender ideology, finance and banking, and informal markets and the law have shaped the history of work and labor movements. Throughout the course, students will explore the connection between material and ideological change over time from the abolition of slavery and industrialization to deindustrialization and the demise of labor union power. Students will thus be guided through the social history of how class is formed, decomposed, and recomposed with particular attention to the shifting conceptual vocabularies through which social relations are understood, contested, and changed. This is a junior tutorial.
Course Notes
This course will be lotteried and is open to non-concentrators if space permits. This course must be taken for a Letter Grade and cannot be taken Pass/Fail.
Not Available for Cross Registration
