HSTAA 353 A Sp 24: Class, Labor, And American Capitalism
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Professor James Gregory ------------ TA: Brendan McElmeel |
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This is an in-person class. If you anticipate problems, it would be best to find an alternative course. HSTAA 353 earns W-credit and satisfies the Diversity and I&S requirements. It is a core course for the Labor Studies minor For week by week access to assignments and lecture powerpoints go to the the PAGES link |
The course explores themes of work, class, and labor movements along with the history of American capitalism. The stages of American capitalism and class formation, changes in racial, ethnic, and gender relations and in the values of work, leisure, and consumerism are among the issues to be considered. The course is also about the politics of labor and class. Attempts to organize working people into labor unions or political parties date back to the 1820s. We will explore the many faces of organized labor and American radicalism while seeking to understand what is said to be America's unique hostility to class-based ideologies and organizations. The course concludes with a consideration of contemporary patterns of social inequality and the current state of organized labor.
- Chrystia Freeland, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else
- James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America
- Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart
- Jonathan Rosenblum, Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement
ASSIGNMENTS:
Midterm (20%), final exam (25%), 8-10 page research paper (30%), 3-page labor event report (10%), class participation/reading responses (15%). The class participation grade will depend largely on the weekly discussions of assigned readings and on several short response-to-readings assignments. We will set aside time each Wednesday to discuss the readings.
All assignments will checked by SimCheck by TurnItIn for indications of copying or plagiarism. No one may pass the course without completing the two exams and two papers.
DUE DATES:
- Project description (one-page): April 18 (Thursday)
- Midterm: April 24 (Wednesday)
- Observation paper due: as soon as possible. No later than May 7 (Tuesday)
- Research paper due: May 19 (Sunday)
- Final exam: June 3 (Monday) 2:30 in Thompson 101
LABOR EVENT OBSERVATION REPORT
The object of this assignment is to learn something about how contemporary labor movements operate. You should make plans to observe a labor event, either a cultural event, meeting, picket line, or protest. Then submit a 3-page observation paper describing what you have seen and offering observations and analysis of what it reveals about contemporary labor culture. What attitudes and practices do you observe? Do they reflect aspects of labor history and labor culture that we have been discussing in class? By labor culture I mean ideas, values, rituals, symbols, tactics, etc. Grades will be based on the quality of observations and the quality of writing. This assignment should be completed early and turned in as soon as possible. Deadline: May 7. See canvas page for list of events. As I learn about events, I will post them. Feel free to suggest others.
An 8-10 page paper (at least 2,500 words) counts for 35% of the course grade. A one-page description of your project is due April 18.
Research papers must address an approved topic and utilize both secondary and primary sources. In view of current events, some of the possible topics will concern previous economic, political, and health crises, notably the Great Depression, the Great Recession, the 1918 flu pandemic, American Fascist and xenophobic movements. Other approved topics include the following: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), unemployed movements 1930s, Black or Filipino labor activism in the 1930s, Knights of Labor and anti-Chinese movement 1880s, Emma Goldman and Mother Earth magazine, Seattle General strike and the 1919 strike wave.
A list and description of topics is available here: 3. RESEARCH PROJECTS & sample papers
SCHEDULE OF LECTURES & READINGS (click links for weekly assignments)
Week 1: ( read Freeland, Plutocrats, pp, 1-87)
Thinking about class
Thinking about capitalism and labor
Week 2: (finish Freeland, Plutocrats, all chapters except chapter 3)
Industrial revolutions
Work and opportunity in 19th century America
Week 3: (read Green, Death in the Haymarket pp. 1-159 )
Chicago: Gateway to an industrializing America
“1877: The Grand Army of Starvation”
Week 4: (read Green, Death in the Haymarket , 160-320)
Varieties of radicalism: Socialism, Anarchism, Cooperation
Knights of Labor vs. American Federation of Labor
Week 5 : (readings for research projects)
Political economy of race and immigration
Midterm
Week 6 : (readings for research projects; begin Bulosan, America is in the Heart)
Born Red: Washington State’s radical labor heritage
Managerial Revolutions and the Era of Corporate Capitalism 1890-1930
Week 7: (read Bulosan, America is in the Heart, intgroduction through chapter XIX)
Gender at work: sexual divisions of labor
Financial crises: The Great Depression and Great Recession
Week 8: (read Bulosan, America is in the Heart, chapters XX-end)
Towards Balanced Capitalism
The Wagner Act and the rise of the CIO
Week 9: (read Rosenblum, Beyond $15, 1-109 though ch6)
Taming Labor: From social movement to business unionism
The Great Dismantling: From balanced capitalism to globalized financialized capitalism
Week 10: (read Rosenblum, Beyond $15, 110-195 chapter 7-end)
Deindustrialization and the new labor movement
Political economy, class, and race in the 21st century
Course Summary:
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