Economic inequality in the United States has soared to its highest level since the “Gilded Age” of the 1880s. This course explores the social movement that, for two centuries, has aimed to close the gap between rich and poor: the labor movement. The class has two intellectual goals. First, it examines how historical phenomena like industrialization, urbanization and racialization have shaped the work process. Second, it traces the theories and practices that working people have used to build a movement for economic justice. The class is interdisciplinary, drawing on scholarly works in History, Political Theory, Anthropology and Economics, as well as literature, film and popular culture.