Time Schedule:
Margaret Levi
POL S 249
Seattle Campus
Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of labor and work. Role of labor in national and international politics. Formation of labor movements. Historical and contemporary role of labor in the modern world. Offered: jointly with HIST 249/SOC 266
Class description
This interdisciplinary course focuses on workers: employed and unemployed, legal and illegal. It considers their strategies for improving their employment and political conditions, particularly their unions. The class offers various perspectives on the formation, internal organization, and influence of labor organizations in different industries, national settings, and historical periods. It considers changes in: the labor process; the international political economy; the racial, gender, and skill composition of the labor force; the power of workers; and the opposition to unions and workers� rights. It addresses alternatives to unions in promoting worker rights and interests. Experiences of west coast workers and their unions will supplement the readings to clarify the relationship between theory and the actual experience of work and unions.
Student learning goals
introduce students to a broad, interdisciplinary subject
improve writing ability
develop research ability
familiarity with the local labor community
service learning opportunity
General method of instruction
Lecture and discussion. There will be films, speakers, service learning, and independent research projects in addition to the normal reading requirements and classroom lectures.
Recommended preparation
Attendence is required as is completion of the readings.
All required readings are available from the UW Bookstore. There will also be a course packet
Class assignments and grading
All required readings are available from the UW Bookstore. There will also be a course packet and a web site with some readings posted.
Required readings will include:
Ira Katznelson, When Affirmative Action Was White (selections) Beverly Silver, Forces of Labor Richard Freeman, America Works Nelson Lichtenstein, Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism Beyond the Boycott
Assignments: There will be a mid-term, a final, and a paper. Those in service learning will have somewhat different paper requirements than those engaged in a research paper.
