Capstone: Pol of Labor & Work

Catalog description

Our capstone in political science extends our understanding of democracy by looking within one of the most common political institutions we will experience in our lifetimes: the workplace. Many of you are currently holding jobs, some part-time and others full-, some well-paid and others less well paid, some free (interning), some with inconsistent or too few hours, some with a terrible manager, some within the home (nannying/care work). You may be working in different organizations, or in different geographies. After graduation, the process only continues. This semester we will focus on the politics of work. What avenues do workers have to improve their autonomy, workplace conditions, and compensation? What barriers (employer, legal, political) challenge this process? What roles does organized labor serve? Though our focus is primarily the United States, we will acknowledge that worker conditions are shaped by different legal, geographic, and industrial contexts: country, state, law, industry, and time period. The policies regulating the workplace are political decisions. State repression of labor organizations has not been unusual historically, though what that might look like has shifted over time.