Sociology of Work: Human Resources ((3 Credits))

Catalog description

The course will provide the student with an overview of some of the main topics associated with the social organization of work.  We will begin by exploring the historical foundations of the contemporary workplace and draw on the theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber, Frederick Taylor and Harry Braverman, who will provide a conceptual understanding of workplace relations. In the second part of the study, we will look at the question of social class and how this structures one's opportunities in the workplace and outside it. We will also explore the question of the global economy, types of work and the routinization of work. In the third part of the course, we will then turn our attention to exploring contemporary research on the workplace as it affects family life, and think about the ways in which inequality is perpetuated through contemporary arrangements of paid and unpaid labor, as well as more generally, the question of balancing work and family life. A guiding question throughout the course will be to ask what is the impact of work on human relationships, and in particular, how forms of social inequality are produced and perpetuated in the workplace and how human relations are structured in these workplace settings. This course was previously LAB-630507.