Sociology of Work

Catalog description

This course provides an introduction to the sociology of work and labor. It will carefully consider the meaning of types of work and how those meanings change and develop over time. This course examines the social and economic forces that transform work and how such transformation affects social development. Many issues related to work and employment will be considered including, but not limited to: global fair labor standards, tensions between labor and environmental justice, automation's impact on skill, professionalization, unemployment, unions and unionization, high-paid and low-paid employment, the minimum wage, the impacts of employment types on family life, human trafficking and modern slavery, migrant worker movements, labor social movements, sweatshops and offshoring, and globalization and outsourcing.