From Strike to Revolution: The Politics of Work and Work Refusal

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What role does work play in society? Is work necessary for human survival? Does it promote human flourishing? Or is work merely a “mechanism by which individuals are incorporated into the capitalist mode of cooperation” (Kathi Weeks)? Do the demands of the productive process constrain what is politically possible, or can political action radically transform working conditions ? How can refusal of work give shape to revolutionary politics? Beginning with a survey of theoretical perspectives on the function of work in society, the course then considers sociological, historical, and literary studies of workers and resistance to work including Black domestic workers in the post–Civil War U.S., Italian factory workers in the mid-20thcentury, and workers in the contemporary U.S. healthcare sector. Topics examined include racialized and gendered divisions of labor, the effects of automation on work, and the general strike.