The Art of Work

Catalog description

This course is designed to expose students to a scholarly understanding of the modern world of work, examining the many ways that work shapes our identities, communities, and society. Drawing on insights from psychology, sociology, and anthropology, we will explore the cultural and personal dimensions of work, as well as the contemporary challenges and opportunities of the future of work. Topics will include the culture of work, psychological identity and career development, organizational science, work-life wellness, and the future of work. Concurrently, students will be asked to apply their understanding of these concepts to their personal conceptions of career across their lifespan. Our class will also provide ample opportunity, space, and guidance for students to effectively synthesize an iteration of their professional identity based on a variety of factors internal and external to their existence. More specifically, students will work to probe the meaning of their professional narrative, and then, translate how those choices will guide their future endeavors. We will begin by studying the qualitative method of autoethnography. Using this foundation, we will then examine a sociological lens of work, specifically discovering how individual and cultural values, norms, and assumptions intersect with our collective and cultural understandings of careers. Following this, we will turn to psychology to foster the connection between our interests and goals, and probe how these traits and states guide career pursuits. Additionally, we will discuss the broader concept of identity in its many forms and fashions. Then, we will discuss how career choices contribute to identity development by reading scholars such as Savickas. We also will look to the organizational science literature to learn more about well-being as it relates to work. Concluding this component of the…