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Academic Year 2002/2003

American Labor History
HIST 243 FA
Crosslistings:
AMST 223

In this course we will explore the history of labor in the United States, including the changing nature of work and the composition of the work force, the experiences of working people on and off their jobs, conceptions of labor in American politics and culture, employer and government policies regarding labor, and the evolution of the labor movement.

The organizing theme for the course will be to explore an idea advanced by the political scientist Aristide Zolberg in 1986 that "the most distinctive feature" of American labor history in the 19th century and even later, compared to that of other industrializing nations, was "the orientation of workers QUA CITIZENS overwhelmingly toward the political mainstream."

MAJOR READINGS

Thomas Paine, COMMON SENSE (1776)
Thomas Bell, OUT OF THIS FURNACE (1941)
Thomas Dublin, WOMEN AT WORK: THE TRANSFORMATION OF WORK AND COMMUNITY IN LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, 1826-1860 (1979)
Eugene Genovese, ROLL, JORDAN, ROLL: THE WORLD THE SLAVES MADE (1976)
Robert E. Weir, BEYOND LABOR'S VEIL: THE CULTURE OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR (1996)
Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marks, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN HERE: WHY SOCIALISM FAILED IN THE UNITED STATES (2000)
Bruce Nelson, DIVIDED WE STAND: AMERICAN WORKERS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK EQUALITY (2001)
Jefferson Cowie, CAPITAL MOVES: RCA'S 70-YEAR QUEST FOR CHEAP LABOR (1999)
Peter Kwong, THE NEW CHINATOWN, rev. ed. (1996)
Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren Van Tine, eds, LABOR LEADERS IN AMERICA (1987

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two research essays and several brief essays.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Schatz,Ronald W.   
Times: .M.W... 02:40PM-04:00PM;     Location: SCIE141
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 40)
SR. major: 5   Jr. major: 5
SR. non-major: 4   Jr. non-major: 4   SO: 11   FR: 11

Special Attributes:
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-18-2003

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