Labor in America (338-0-20)
Instructors
Daniel J Galvin
847 491 2641
601 University Place, 103 Scott Hall
Office Hours: http://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/daniel-galvin.html
Meeting Info
Scott Hall 212: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
This course examines the complex ways in which capitalism, law, politics, public policy, and issues of race, ethnicity, and gender have interacted to shape workers' rights and capacities to mobilize in collective action since the U.S. founding. Special attention is given to the dynamics of power in the workplace, slavery and its legacies, labor's orientation toward immigrants and immigration, the rise and fall of labor unions, the declining quality of low-wage work, and the emergence of new forms of labor organizing. In addition to political science, readings are drawn from history, philosophy, economics, industrial and labor relations, sociology, and legal studies.
Registration Requirements
Recommended for juniors and seniors; first and second-years should contact the professor
Learning Objectives
1) Describe historical trends in work and in labor organizing in the United States;
2) Analyze key political, economic, social, and legal factors that have shaped and constrained labor power in the U.S.;
3) Interpret and critique prominent theories and ideologies pertaining to labor politics;
4) Assess arguments about the impact of institutions (like slavery), policies (like immigration), and practices (like discrimination) on workers and workers' rights;
5) evaluate arguments about the dynamics of power in the American workplace.
Teaching Method
seminar-style discussion, lecture, group work
Evaluation Method
Discussion participation, short written assignments for each class, midterm, and final exam.
Class Materials (Required)
Nelson Lichtenstein, State of the Union: A Century of American Labor - Revised and Expanded Edition (Princeton University Press, 2013) ISBN-13: 978-0691160276. (Earlier edition is fine too.)
Class Materials (Suggested)
Optional:
Chapters from the following texts will be made available in PDF on Canvas. If you prefer reading hard copy, you might consider purchasing them:
Jake Rosenfeld, What Unions No Longer Do (Harvard, 2014). 978-0674725119
Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol, Rust Belt Blues (Columbia, 2024). 9780231218795
Steven Greenhouse, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (Knopf, 2019). ISBN-13: 978-1101874431.
Class Attributes
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Poli Sci or Internat'l Studies majors or minors who are also Juniors and Seniors.