Work, Labor, and Power

Counts as a faculty elective for All 7 majors/minors.

This course presents an overview of changing attitudes toward work and labor. It covers patterns of agrarian, industrial, and post-industrial production, gendered and racialized segmentation of labor, and the record of worker organization. The historical scope runs from colonial agriculture to the digital labor landscape of today, and the overarching framework is one in which work is utilized as a medium of power (and counter-power) in society. Primary readings are the central learning material, but students are encouraged to make connections to real life events and experiences in today’s world of work.