Urban and Environmental Policy Program 

            Students who want to improve their grade, and/or who want the experience of writing a research paper, can get additional credit by writing a 10-12 page paper on a topic involving work. If you get an A or A- on the paper, I will increase your final grade by one entire grade (i.e. from B to A). If you get an B or B+ on the paper, I will increase your final grade by one half grade (i.e. from B to B+, or from A- to A).  If you want to choose this option, you must meet with me at least once before Tuesday, February 17 to discuss your topic and your research strategy. You should have at least a rough idea of what you want to write about when you come to see me. The paper can be based on interviews, on observations, on library research, and other approaches. It can be about a particular industry, a particular occupation, a comparison of jobs, an event in labor history, a current issue in labor-management relations, an analysis of the treatment of labor and work in the media and films, or any other topic, so long as I approve it. A draft of this paper is due on Tuesday, April 20. The final paper is due the last day of class. 

Web Readings

             Many of the readings for this source will be found on the website for Politics 260. You can get there by clicking on the following: http://departments.oxy.edu/library/services/reserves/. The course  readings to be found on the website are marked with an asterisk (*). It is each student’s responsibility to get these readings from the website. Please download them so you can mark them up as well as bring them to class. There are articles from magazines, newspapers, journals and other sources. 

 Required Books

             These eight paperback books are all available at the Occidental bookstore:

 1. Amy Wharton, editor., Working in America, second edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002

2. Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York: Lawrence Hill Books. (Originally published in 1907).

3. John Bowe,  Marisa Bowe, and Sabin Streeter, editors,  Gig, New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000.

4. Michael Zweig, The Working Class Majority, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000.

5. Barbara Ehrenreich,  Nickel and Dimed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001.

6. Juliet B. Schor, The Overworked American, New York: Basic Books, 1993

7. John Hoerr, We Can’t Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard, Philadelphia:

Temple University Press, 1997.

8. Nelson Lichtenstein,  State of the Union: A Century of American Labor, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

 Recommended Books

1. Harley Jebens, 100 Jobs in Social Change, New York: MacMillan, 1996

2. Melissa Everett, Making A Living While Making a Difference: The Expanded Guide to Creating Careers with a Conscience, Canada: New Society Publishers, 1999.

Campus Speakers

            During the semester, a number of speakers will be coming to campus to discuss issues of work, careers, jobs for social justice, and other topics. I will let you know about these and encourage you to attend.

TOPICS AND READINGS

Week One:  Introduction

Thurs., Jan. 22

Bertolt Brecht, “Questions From a Worker Who Reads” (Poem, 1935)

Film: “Fast Food Women”

Week Two: The Meaning of Work: What Is a Good Job?

Tuesday, Jan 27

            *Wells, “Advice For the Soon-to-Be or Newly Graduated Student on Choosing a Career with a Conscience” (Waging Peace, February 2002)

*Witt, "We Rarely See Those Who Labor" (Baltimore Sun, Aug 22, 1999)

*Bertrand Russell, "In Praise of Idleness” (Harpers Magazine, 1932)

*Freeman and Rogers, “Ask the People Who Live There” (from What Workers Want, Cornell University Press, 1999, pages 1-14)

Film: "Rosie the Riveter"

Thursday, Jan 29

                        *Richtel, “Young Doctors and Wish Lists: No Weekend Calls, No Beepers” (NYT, Jan. 7, 2004)

“Steelworker” (in Gig. pages 37-43)

"Advertising Executive" (in Gig, pages 147-152)

"Bus Driver" (in Gig, pages 183-187)

“Corporate Securities Lawyer” (in Gig, pages 505-510)

“Political Fundraiser” (in Gig, pages 607-612)

“Plastic Surgeon” (in Gig, pages 630-637)

Cowan, “The Invention of Housework” (in Wharton)

Hochschild, "`Catching Up with the Soaps': Male Pioneers in the Culture of Time" (in Wharton)

Smith, “Employee Involvement, Involved Employees” (in Wharton)

Question for class discussion: What are the key characteristics of a “good” job and a “bad” job?

Week Three: The Battle for Control over Work

Tuesday, Feb. 3

Jack London, The Iron Heel, originally published 1907 (pages 1-136 only)

Question for class discussion: In The Iron Heel, what is Jack London’s view about the class system and the work people do? How do the different characters represent London’s views?

Thursday, Feb. 5

*Garson, “Luddites in Lordstown” (Harpers, June 1972)

*Cogan, “Seeing Power in a College Cafeteria” (in Ann Kingsolver, ed., More Than Class:  SUNY Press, 1998, pages 173-185)

*Tucker, “Everyday Forms of Employee Resistance” (Sociological Forum, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1993)

*Tilly and Tilly, “Worlds of Work” (Work Under Capitalism, Westview Press, 1998, pages 21-35)

*C. Wright Mills, "Work," (from White Collar. Oxford University Press, 1951, pages 215-238)

            *Reich, “The End of Employment As We Knew It” (from The Future of Success,            Random House, 2000, pages 88-107)

Question for class discussion: How has the nature of work changed in the last 100, 50, and 10 years? How do ordinary people experience these changes? How did the Lordstown workers, and the workers in the college cafeteria,  feel about their work? How did they express their feelings?

What are the major differences and similarities in these two workplaces?

Week Four: Scientific Management: A Solution to the Control Problem?

Tuesday, Feb. 10

“Ford Auto Worker” (in Gig, pages 43-48)

“Systems Administrator” (in Gig, pages 63-71)

“Kinko’s Co-Worker” (in Gig, pages 71-79)

"Automobile Parts Specialist" (in Gig, pages 79-84).

“Pharmaceutical Company Sales Representative” (in Gig, pages 637-643)

Jacoby, “The Way it Was: Factory Labor Before 1915" (in Wharton)

Taylor, “Fundamentals of Scientific Management” (in Wharton)

Braverman, “The Division of Labor” (in Wharton)

Edwards, “Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century”

            (in Wharton)

Hochschild, “The Managed Heart” (in Wharton)

Film: “Clockwork” and except from “Modern Times” with Charlie Chaplin (tentative)

Questions for class discussion: What problem was Frederick Taylor trying to solve with his ideas about scientific management?  When someone says that a workplace is “efficient,” what does that mean? Is efficiency a good thing, a bad thing, or a neutral thing? Why? How do efforts to “manage” employees differ in different kinds of industries and jobs?

Thursday, Feb. 12

*Liebhold and Rubenstein, "History of Sweatshops" in Between a Rock and a Hard Place:

            A History of American Sweatshops

*"History of Sweatshops in Photographs" in Between a Rock and a Hard Place

*"History of Sweatshops through Graphics" in Between a Rock and a Hard Place

*Rose Cohen, "My First Job" (1918), from Stein, ed., Out of the Sweatshop

*Florence Kelly, "In Chicago's Sweatshops" (1899), from Stein, ed. Out of the Sweatshop

*Schneiderman, "A Cap Maker's Story' (1905), from McClymer, The Triangle Strike and Fire

*Mailly, "The Largest Strike of Women" (1910), from Stein, ed., Out of the Sweatshop

*Sklar, "Hull House in the 1890s: A Community of Women Reformers," Signs, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1985

*Kerr, "The New York Factory Investigating Commission and the Minimum Wage Movement,"

            Labor History, 1971

*Baker, "A 1911 Inferno with a Lesson for Today" (NY Times, Feb. 27, 1999)

Film: “Triangle Fire” (excerpt from PBS documentary series on New York City)

Questions for class discussion: Around the turn of the 20^th century, what did the term “sweatshop” mean? What  kinds of people were involved in the movement to improve working conditions then? What were their goals?  How successful were they?

 Week Five: The Rise of the Labor Movement: Do Workers Have Rights? Should They?

Tuesday, Feb. 17

Lichtenstein, The State of the Union (Introduction and Chapters 1-4; pages 1-177)

*Stansbury, “How Kilowatt Socialism Saved L.A. From the Energy Crisis” (LAT, April 29, 2001)

Questions for class discussion: What was the goal of the labor movement during the first half of the 20^th century? How successful was it?  What contributed to its successes and its failures? Why has the U.S. labor movement been so weak compared to its counterparts in other advanced industrial countries?

Thursday, Feb. 19

Film: “Sit Down and Fight”

Week Six: The Class System and Inequality: What Is Work Worth?

Tuesday, Feb. 24

Zweig, The Working Class Majority (pages 1-75)

*Krugman, “For Richer” (NY Times Magazine, October 20 2002)

*Bernstein, “Waking Up From the American Dream” (Business Week, Dec. 1, 2003)

*Krugman, “Our So-Called Boom” (New York Times, Dec. 30, 2003)

Questions for class discussion: Do you agree with Zweig’s definition of the phrase “working class”? Why or why not? What, if any, core American beliefs do these readings challenge?

Thursday, Feb. 26

Zweig, The Working Class Majority (pages 77-173)

*The Puzzle of the LA Economy (Weingart Center report, 2003)

*Oleck, “Under the Radar” (Ford Foundation Report, Summer 2003)

Perucci and Wysong, "The Global Economy and the Privileged Class" (in Wharton)

Levy, "Occupational Change: Can the Economy Still Produce Good Jobs and, If So, Who Gets

            Them?" (in Wharton)

Wilson, "Jobless Poverty" (in Wharton)

Questions for class discussion: What are the major changes that have transformed the American economy in the past few decades? How does this influence the kinds of jobs people get and how much these jobs pay?

Week Seven: Factory Work in the Global Economy

Tuesday, March 2

“Poultry Factory Worker” (in Gig, pages 227-232)

“Slaughterhouse Human Resources Director” (in Gig, pages 48-54)

Buroway, “Thirty Years of Making Out” (in Wharton)

Jurovich, “Women on the Line” (in Wharton)

*Su, “El Monte Thai Garment Workers” (from Andrew Ross, ed., No Sweat: Verso, 1997)

*Schlosser, "Cogs in the Great Machine" and "The Most Dangerous Job" (from Fast Food

            Nation, Houghton-Mifflin, 2001)

*Greenhouse, “A Push to Improve Labor’s Lot Overseas” (NY Times, Sept. 27, 2002)

*Greenhouse, “A Hip-Hop Star’s Fashion Line Is Tagged with a Sweatshop Label” (NY Times, October. 28, 2003)

*Rothstein, "The Global Hiring Hall," American Prospect, Spring 1994

*Baker, “The Goal: Sweatshop Free. The Problem: Defining It” (NY Times, Dec. 14, 2003)

*Appelbaum and Dreier, "The Campus Anti-Sweatshop Movement" (The American Prospect, August/September 1999)

Questions for class discussion: What are the pros and cons of the factory system? What’s the difference between a “sweatshop” and a typical factory job? What are the differences and similarities between sweatshops today and sweatshops a century ago?

 Thursday, March 4

*Goldman and Cleeland, “An Empire Built on Bargains Remakes the Working World” (LA Times, Nov. 23, 2003)

*Cleeland, Iritani, and Marshall, “Scouring the Globe to Give Shoppers an $8.63 Polo Shirt” (LA

            Times, Nov. 24, 2003)

*Bianco and  Zellner, “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?” (Business Week, October 6, 2003)

*Sowell, “Wal-Mart Growth is An Example of Free-Market Economics” (Pasadena Star-    News,

            Dec. 15, 2003)

*Fishman, “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know” (Fast Company, December 2003)

*Olsson, "Up Against Wal-Mart" (Mother Jones, March/April 2003)

*Candaele and Dreier, “A Watershed Strike” (The Nation, October 23, 2003)

*Fulmer, “Grocery Workers’ Health Fund May Run Out of Money” (LA Times, Dec. 18, 2003)

*White, “A Tough Time for Grocery Workers and Their Families” (LA Times, Nov. 27, 2003)

*Cleeland and Fulmer, “Veteran Strikebreaker Helps Keep Ralphs Supplied” (LA Times,

            Dec. 19, 2003)

Wal-Mart Watch website:

Questions for class discussion: The major supermarket chains in the LA area say they can’t afford the wages and benefits they currently pay to their unionized employees because of competition from Wal-Marts and other discount stories.  Do you agree? If you worked as a upper-level executive for one of the major  chains, what would you advise them to do regarding the issues involved in the current strike? What are the pros and cons of Wal-Mart’s approach to producing and selling its products?

Week Eight: Service Work in the Global Economy

Tuesday, March 9

Ehrenreich, Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (pages 1-119)

What is meant by a “service” job and a “service” economy? What’s  the difference between working in the service sector and in a factory or an office?

Thursday, March 11

Ehrenreich, Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (pages 121-221)

Questions for class discussion: Ehrenreich is upset that her coworkers are so docile in challenging the conditions of their jobs. Do you agree with her? Why or why not? If you worked at one of these jobs, what would you do to change the situation?

Week Nine: Management in the Global Economy

Tuesday, March 23

Jackall, “The Social Structure of Managerial Work” (in Wharton)

“Telemarketing Group Supervisor” (in Gig, pages 15-20)

“Chief Executive Officer” (in Gig, pages 54-58)

“Town Manager” (in Gig, pages 588-592)

*Dowie, “Pinto Madness” (Mother Jones, September/October 1977)

*Rosenblatt, “How Tobacco Executives Live With Themselves” NYT Magazine,   March 20 1994)

*Cullen, “Preventable Losses” (in Cullen, A Job to Die For: Why So Many Americans Are Killed, Injured, or Made Ill At Work and What To do About It,  Common Courage Press, 2000, pages 1-11)

*Phillips-Fein, "A More Perfect Union-Buster" (Mother Jones, September/October 1998)

Questions for class discussion: What do “managers” manage? What’s the difference between a good manager and a bad one?

Thursday, March 25

Milkman, "Labor and Management in Uncertain Times" (in Wharton)

*Greenhouse, “The Most Innovative Figure in Silicon Valley? Maybe This Labor Organizer”

            NY Times, Nov. 14, 1999)

*Levering and Moskowitz, “The 100 Best Companies to Work For” and Boorstin, “#1: J.M. Smucker” (Fortune, Dec. 23, 2003).

*“The Best and Worst Managers of the Year” (Business Week, Jan. 12, 2003)

*Candaele and Dreier, "Canadian Beacon" (Nation, Dec. 16, 1996)

*Kenney, "The Truth Behind the Tag" (Cooperative Business Journal, July 2002)

*Solman and Friedman, “The Anti-Business Business” (in Life and Death on the Corporate Battlefield, Simon and Schuster, 1982, pages 184-205).

*Zwerdling, "Introduction" (in Workplace Democracy,  Harper  & Row, 1980, pages 1-8)

            *Zwerdling, "Mondragon" (in Workplace Democracy, Harper & Row, 1980, pages 154-158)    

*Teal, "Not a Fool, Not a Saint" (Fortune, Nov. 11, 1996)

*Marshall and Tucker, "Building a Smarter Work Force: Lessons from Japan, Germany,

            Sweden, and Denmark" (Technology Review, October 1992)

Questions for class discussion: What are different ways to organize workplaces in terms of who makes decisions and who has control? How do these reflect different values about what’s important in workplaces and in society?

Week Ten: Professional Work: Knowledge Work, Technical Work, Helping Work

Tuesday, March 30

“Software Engineer” (in Gig, pages 20-24)

“Computer Chip Layout Designer” (in Gig, pages 103-107)

“Toys R Us Marketing Executive” (in Gig, pages 475-480)

O'Riaion, "Net-working for a Living" (in Wharton)

*Imberman, "Why Engineers Strike -- The Boeing Story" (Business Horizons, Nov/Dec 2001)

            *Fraser, “The Best of All Possible Worlds of Work?” (from White Collar Sweatshop, New York: W.W. Norton, 2001, pages 3-16)

*Mahler, “Commute to Nowhere” (NY Times Magazine, April 13, 2003)

*Danaher and Mark, “White Collar Anger” (from Alternet, Dec. 18, 2003)

Questions for class  discussion: What are some of the major rewards of being a professional person? What’s the difference between intrinsic rewards and material rewards? (You might want to refer back to C. Wright Mills’ essay on “Work”).  How has professional work changed?

Thursday, April 1

“High School Basketball Coach” (in Gig, pages 389-398)

“Second-Grade Teacher” (in Gig, pages 480-484)

“ U.S. Congressman” (in Gig, pages 598-607)

“Orthopedic Surgeon” (in Gig, pages 623-630)

*Schiltz, “On Being a Happy, Healthy, and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy,

            and Unethical Profession” (Vanderbilt Law Review, Vol. 52, 1999)

*Lopez, “Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano’s Vision of Progressive Law Practice”

            (Westview Press, 1992, pages 11-14, 17-18, 20-21, 23, 30-38)

*Dao, “Mine Safety Official Critical of Policies Faces Firing” (NY Times, Nov. 9, 2003)

*Kusnet, "Finding Their Voices" (Albert Shanker Institute, May 2000)

*Budrys, "Physician Unionism" (October 2000)

What should professionals do when confronted with ethical dilemmas at work? How has professional work changed? Should professionals join unions? Why or why not?

Week Eleven: Differences at Work: Gender and Race

Tuesday, April 6

Giuffre and Williams, "Boundary Lines: Labeling Sexual Harrassment in Restaurants" (in Wharton)

Woods with Lucas, "The Corporate Closet" (in Wharton)

Hochschild, "The Third Shift” (in Wharton)

Daniels, "Invisible Work" (in Wharton)

*Tannen, "Marked: Women in the Workplace" (from Talking 9 to 5, William Morrow & Co, 1994)

*Williams, "Designing Mom-Size Jobs" (Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 17, 2000)

Questions for class discussion: Do women and men experience work the same way? What is meant by the “glass ceiling”?

Thursday, April 8

*LeDuff,  "At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die: Who Kills, Who Cuts, Who Bosses Can Depend on Race" (NY Times, June 16, 2000)

            *Kirschenman and Neckerman, ""`We'd Love to Hire Them, But...': The Meaning of Race for Employers" (in Jencks and Peterson,            The Urban Underclass, 1991)

*Grossman, "Race in the Workplace" (HR Magazine, March 2000)

            *Echaveste, "Worked Over: How Bush's Immigration Proposal would Turn Workers Into Quasi-Indentured Servants" (American Prospect on-line, Jan. 8, 2004)

“Border Patrol Agent” (in Gig, pages 523-531)

Hossfeld, "Their Logic Against Them" (in Wharton)

Questions for class discussion: Do white people and people of color experience work the same way? What should be done to reduce racism in workplaces?

Week Twelve: Work, Leisure, and Consumption

Tuesday, April 13

Schor, The Overworked American (pages 1- 82)

Thursday, April 15

Schor, The Overworked American (pages 83-165).

Questions for class discussion: What does Schor mean by “overwork”? Given the incredible improvements in labor-saving technology and productivity over the past 100 years – most recently with the use of  computers – why are Americans working so much? Why do Americans work longer hours than their counterparts in many other societies with similar technologies?

Week Thirteen: Gaining a Voice at Work

Tuesday, April 20

Hoerr, We Can't Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard (pages 1-135)

Thursday, April 22

Hoerr, We Can’t Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard (pages 136-269)

Questions for class discussion: What were the major issues facing the office workers at Harvard? Why did earlier efforts to  unionize these workers fail? What did the HUCTW do differently?

Week Fourteen: The Changing Labor Movement

Tuesday, April 27

Lichtenstein  State of the Union (Chapters 5-7; pages 179-276)

*Bacon, “Class Warfare” (The Nation, Jan. 12, 2004)

*Cleeland, “Unions Gain Ground in Golden State”(LA Times, August 31, 2003)

* Levi, "Organizing Power: The Prospects for an American Labor Movement" (Perspectives on       

            Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2003)

*Cornfield, Shifts  in Public Approval of Labor Unions in the U.S., 1936-1999 (Gallup

            Organization,            September 1999)

*Ehrenreich and Geoghegan, “Lighting Labor’s Fire” (The Nation, Dec. 23, 2002)

* United We Win: A Discussion of  the Crisis Facing Workers and the Labor Movement (SEIU, Feb. 2003)

Questions for class discussion: A decade ago, many experts predicted that the labor movement was no longer relevant and would soon fade away. What evidence did they have?  Is this  happening? Why or why not? What are major challenges facing today’s union movement? What can the labor movement do to deal with them? What is the likelihood of success?

 Thursday, April 29

*Meyerson, “A Clean Sweep” (American Prospect June 19, 2000)

*Waldinger, et. al, “Justice for Janitors” (Dissent, Winter 1997)

Film: "Bread and Roses"

Questions for class discussion: What does “justice for janitors” mean? Should janitors make a middle class income? What are the arguments for and against it? What obstacles do janitors face in trying to unionize? How have they tried to overcome these obstacles?