Syllabus-Labor in US Society

American Studies 114C: Labor in US Society University of California, Santa Cruz Fall, 2012 Monday & Wednesday 5-6:45 PM, Cowell Acad 113 Instructor Adam Hefty – [email protected] Office hours: Humanities 1 Rm. 236, Wednesday 2:30-4:30 PM or by appointment Course Description This course covers labor history, from the Civil War through the 1980s, and current problems having to do with the structure, culture, and organization of working life in the US. We will be paying special attention to ways that work is structured by race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class strata, and region, and the implications this has for workers’ self-organization. The course will also be attentive to the relationship between the ways capitalism organizes workers and work and the way workers organize themselves. The primary organizational vehicle for workers’ self-organization is the union, and a lot of this course will deal with the history, struggles, and organizing of US unions. We’ll also look at non-traditional workers’ organizations such as workers’ centers, consider relationships between students and workers, and discuss areas of work which are particularly important to contemporary capitalism, several of which pose a challenge for traditional models of worker organization. We’ll think about unfree and domestic labor, which are often accorded a marginal status compared to that of formal, paid labor. The course will examine critiques of unions which have been particularly sharp in the past few years, especially with respect to public sector workers and teachers unions, and how those workers have responded. We will consider the impact of globalization on work and labor movements. Course Materials This course is very interdisciplinary and draws on a wide variety of genres, including history, sociology, political economy, original source documents and theoretical interventions, geography, journalism, memoir, novels, short stories, poems, movies, documentaries, songs, and talks by guest speakers. Successful papers for this course will make use of sources from multiple genres and reflect upon how different materials may shed light on different aspects of a problem. Some of the readings will be dense, and some of them will seem deceptively easy. You are responsible for reading the assigned texts before every class, reading them carefully, and bringing questions to the instructor about what you do not understand. You will not do well in this class if you do not read thoroughly, carefully, and consistently. Assignments and Evaluation Paper 1: 2-3 page reflection on interview with a union activist. 15% of grade, due October 15. Midterm Exam: 20% of grade, November 7. Final Paper: 6-8 pages. 25% of grade, due Wednesday, December 12, 7:30–10:30 p.m. (in lieu of scheduled final exam) Proposal due in class November 19, 5% of grade For all papers: 5 points deducted per day late; e.g. a 92 (A-) paper will earn an 87 (B) if one day late and an 82 (B-) if two days late. 2 quizzes, 20% of grade No makeup quizzes; no exceptions Participation, attendance, and being on time – 15% Missing 3-4 lectures will significantly lower your participation grade, and missing more than 4 lectures will be grounds for a failing participation grade. There are no “excused” absenses except for major illnesses or life events causing you to miss multiple classes. Please contact me in advance if you know something is coming up! Consistent tardiness will significantly lower your participation grade. Due to the distraction it creates for yourself, other students, and the teacher, use of cellphones (for talking or texting) and laptop computers is not permitted in lecture or section. If you have a disability and must use a computer to take notes, please see me. Required Texts Three required texts are available at the Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust St. in downtown Santa Cruz: AMST 114C Course Reader James R. Green, The World of the Worker Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go Additional articles for the course will be posted on eCommons. Academic Integrity Every year there are cases of plagiarism that surface in American Studies courses. Please remember that if you use articles from any source (including the Web), they MUST be cited. Failure to cite an article that you use in a research paper constitutes plagiarism, and even the smallest act of plagiarism will result in a report of academic misconduct to your college. To get a full understanding of plagiarism, please refer to the following websites: http://undergraduate.ucsc.edu/acd_integrity/index.html http://undergraduate.ucsc.edu/acd_integrity/student.html Disabilities If you qualify for classroom accommodations because of a disability, please submit your Accommodation Authorization from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to before or after lecture or during my office hours in a timely manner, within the first two weeks of the quarter. Contact DRC at 459-2089 (voice), 459-4806 (TTY). Outline Oct. 1: Intro Week 1-5: Selected Topics in US Labor History, Civil War-1980s Civil War and Reconstruction Era: Free and Unfree Labor; Race, Gender, and the Construction of a US Labor Movement Oct. 3: W.E.B. Du Bois, selections from Black Reconstruction, “The Black Worker,” “The White Worker,” and “The General Strike” (60 pp.) Richard Wright, “I’ve Seen Black Hands” (1 p.) Oct. 8: Tera Hunter, To Joy My Freedom, Ch. 3 “Working-Class Neighborhoods and Everyday Life” and Ch. 4 “ ‘Washing Amazons’ and Organized Protests” (53 pp.) 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act (2 pp.) Alexander Saxton, The Indispensable Enemy: Labor and the Anti-Chinese Movement in California, Ch. 1 “The Labor Force in California” and Ch. 12 “A Forward Glance” (41 pp.) Recommended: Angela Davis, Women, Race, and Class, esp. Ch. 1, “The Legacy of Slavery: Standards for a New Womanhood.” (40 pp.) (on reserve). Early 20th Century Industrialization and Organizing Oct. 10: James R. Green, The World of the Worker Ch 1-3 (99 pp.) Robert Pinsky, “Shirt” (2 pp.) In-class film: American Experience: Triangle Fire (excerpts) Oct. 15: Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital, Ch. 4 “Scientific Management.” (25 pp.) Karl Marx, “Estranged Labor” from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 in The MarxEngels Reader (10 pp.) Robin Kelley, Prologue from Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (10 pp). Film: Modern Times (excerpts) Paper 1 due Oct. 17: Film: Matewan (142 min.) Recommended: Theresa Malkiel, Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker (on reserve). Elena Dykewomon, Beyond the Pale (on reserve). Recommended: Marx, “Private Property and Communism” from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 in The Marx-Engels Reader (in course reader) Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital, Ch. 3 “The Division of Labor” (10 pp.) (in course reader) The 1930s, Industrial Work, Industrial Unionism Oct. 22: The World of the Worker Ch. 4-5 (74 pp.) Oct. 24: Robin Kelley, Hammer and Hoe Ch 2 “In Egyptland: The Share Croppers’ Union” (22 pp.) and Ch. 7 “The CIO’s in Dixie!” (13 pp.) Philip Levine, “What Work Is” (1 p.) Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go (get a good start, if possible, read the first 10 chapters, around 100 pp.) Film: Union Maids Recommended: Tillie Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing” (ERES) Tillie Olsen, Yonnondio: From the Thirties (reserve) WWII, the Post-WWII Compromise, and the Red Scare Oct. 29: If He Hollers Let Him Go (finish the book) Oct. 31: The World of the Worker Ch. 6 (35 pp.) Ruth Milkman, “Redefining ‘Women's Work’: The Sexual Division of Labor in the Auto Industry during World War II” (35 pp.) Recommended: Vicki Ruiz, Cannery Women, Cannery Lives (on reserve) The Long 1970s and 80s: Rank-and-File Upsurge, New Areas of Organizing, Losing Ground Nov. 5: Frank Bardacke, “The United Farm Workers from the Ground Up,” in Rebel Rank and File (20 pp.) Kieran Taylor, “American Petrograd: Detroit and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers” in Rebel Rank and File (20 pp.) Film: Finally Got the News Nov. 7: Annemarie Troger, “Coalition of Labor Union Women: Strategic Hope, Tactical Despair,” Radical America Vol. 9 No. 6 (25 pp) Ann Withorn, “The Death of CLUW,” Radical America Vol. 10 No. 2 (6 pp) Mike Davis, Prisoners of the American Dream, Ch. 3 “The Fall of the House of Labor” (50 pp) Midterm Exam Recommended: The World of the Worker Ch. 7 Frank Bardacke, Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers (reserve) Dan LaBotz, “The Tumultuous Teamsters of the 1970s” in Rebel Rank and File (eCommons) Diane Balser, Sisterhood and Solidarity (especially the chapter on CLUW). (reserve) Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin, Detroit: I Do Mind Dying (reserve). Week 7-10: Problems in Contemporary Labor Studies Precarity, Lean Production, Flexibilization, and Anti-Unionism Nov. 12 – Veterans’ Day Holiday Nov. 14: Kim Moody, Workers in a Lean World, “The Rise and Limits of Lean Production” (28 pp.) Guy Standing, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, “The Precariat” (25 pp.) Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose: a Personal Statement, Ch. 8 “Who Protects the Worker” (20 pp.) Sam’s Club Supervisors’ Handbook (14 pp.) Vanessa Tait, Poor Workers’ Unions, Ch. 4 “Community Organizing Goes to Work: ACORN’s United Labor Unions” (22 pp.) Film: Who Wants Unions? Subjective Labor (the rising centrality of information and service/care work within contemporary, advanced capitalism) Nov. 19: Ursula Huws, The Making of a Cybertariat: Virtual Work in a Real World, Ch. 9 “Weightless World: The Myth of the Weightless Economy” (25 pp.) Arlie Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Ch. 2 “Feeling as Clue” and Ch. 3 “Managing Feeling” (31 pp.) Evelyn Nakano Glenn, “From Servitude to Service Work: Historical Continuities in the Racial Division of Paid Reproductive Labor,” Signs, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 1-43 Proposal for Final Paper Due Recommended: Vanessa Tait, Poor Workers’ Unions, Ch. 5 “ ‘Organizing Where We Live and Work’: The Independent Workers’ Center Movement” (30 pp.) (reader) Nov. 21 – No required class meeting (late afternoon before Thanksgiving). Optional film showing depending on student interest / availability. Globalization and Its Discontents Nov. 26: David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, “Uneven Geographical Developments” (32 pp.) Eli Friedman, “China in Revolt,” Jacobin: A Magazine of Culture and Polemic. (eCommons) Kalindi Vora, “The Commodification of Affect in Indian Call Centers.” In Intimate Labors: Cultures, Technologies, and the Politics of Care. Eileen Boris and Rhacel Parreñas, eds., Stanford University Press. 2010. (14 pp.) (eCommons) Nov. 28: Miriam Ching Yoon Louie, Sweatshop Warriors, Ch. 1 “Holding Up Half the Sky: Chinese Immigrant Women Workers” (42 pp.) Grace Paley, “The Burdened Man” and “The Immigrant Story” from Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (18 pp) Film: Made in LA A New Student-Labor-Community Alliance? Dec. 3: TBD – Readings on the 2011 Wisconsin public sector battle, Occupy, and the Chicago Teachers’ Union 2012 contract (eCommons) Gerald Hunt and Monica Bielski Boris, “The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Challenge to American Labor,” in The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor (18 pp.) Tim Schermerhorn, “Counter-Democracy, Liberation, and Labor.” (eCommons) Dec. 5: Michael A McCarthy, “Occupying Higher Education: The Revival of the Student Movement,” New Labor Forum 21(2): 50-55. Spring 2012 (6 pp.) Mark Bousquet, “Students are Already Workers” (31 pp.) Patricia Clark Smith, “Grandma Went to Smith, All Right, but She Went from Nine to Five” (13 pp.) Dec. 12, 7:30–10:30 p.m.: Final exam period; final paper due