WGSS 351: Workplace Justice: Readings in U.S. Labor History

Economic inequality in the United States has soared to its highest level since the "Gilded Age" of the 1880's. 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. Although labor unions, strikes, and collective bargaining will be explored in detail, this class approaches the concept of labor broadly. It asks how intellectual life, the arts, sexuality, and global migration have shaped the way people think about work. The class is thus interdisciplinary, drawing on scholarly works in History, Political Theory, Anthropology, and Economics, as well as literature, film, and popular culture. Prerequisite: Earlham Seminar or consent of the instructor.