This course comprises a critical examination of the major theories of social change with respect to the emergence of the world political and economic systems. Topics include the industrial revolution and colonialism, as well as modernization, socioeconomic changes in the United States, and the ecology movement in both the West and the Third World. The course is writing intensive. This course explores the nature of work, the workplace, and occupations in contemporary American society and in the global economy. Our investigation will focus on the social rather than the economic or technical dimensions of work, concentrating on the larger subcultural and cultural connections that join together work and workers.
Work absorbs most of the days and most of the years of most adults in the world.
Over history, across cultures, across occupations, the nature and meanings of work and workers vary widely. Our study will include attention to historical, cross-cultural, and contemporary transformations in work. In the Western world view, work has come to be regarded as both curse and salvation. We will attempt to understand the symbolic and literal realities of this idea. Recent attention to occupational safety, on-site quality to life, women and their changing roles in the work force, and the global expansion of multinational corporations will be topics of special attention.