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Labor Studies Minor



Current Labor Studies Courses

Updated: 5/1/2012

Select a department to view the courses offered in Summer 2012 and the 2012-2013 academic year. All courses listed count towards the 20 credits required to complete a Minor in Labor Studies.


UW SEATTLE


UW BOTHELL


UW TACOMA


PAST COURSES



About

The field of Labor Studies encompasses scholarship and teaching about work, workers and their organizations across many disciplines. From unions and organized labor, to the often unpaid caring labor taking place at home, Labor Studies is broadly conceived to include working men and women everywhere.

The Labor Studies minor brings together a series of courses on labor in core social-science departments. It provides students an interdisciplinary program of study focusing on the importance of labor to the economic, social, political, and cultural evolution of modern societies.

Requirements

To complete a Minor in Labor Studies, students must satisfy the following minimum requirements:


  1. HIST 249/POL S 249/SOC 266: Introduction to Labor Studies (5 credits):
    Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of labor and work. Role of labor in national and international politics. Formation of labor movements. Historical and contemporary role of labor in the modern world.

  2. 20 additional credits from courses related to Labor Studies, with no more than 10 credits from one department. To view a list of courses that qualify, see below.

  3. A minimum 2.0 grade is required for each course applied towards the Labor Studies minor.

To apply for a minor, students must have completed at least 90 college credits. Students may declare a minor through a departmental advisor, by meeting with a Political Science Undergraduate Advisor, or at the time that they file a graduation application.

NOTE: Some courses, such as Special Topics, will not appear on students' DARS reports. To ensure the course is counted, or to request that a course not listed on this website be counted towards the Labor Studies Minor, contact the Bridges Center at hbcls@u.washington.edu.

For further information, contact a departmental advisor or contact the Bridges Center at 206-543-7946, or hbcls@u.washington.edu.

Recommended

In addition to HIST 249/POL S 249/SOC 266: Introduction to Labor Studies, the following courses are recommended but not required to complete the Labor Studies Minor:

  • HSTAA 353: Class and Labor in American History (5 credits):
    The history of workers and class formation from early industrialization to the present. Emphasizes the interaction of class with race, ethnicity, gender, and political culture within the context of American economic development. Explores the role of unions, labor politics, and radical movements.






Labor Studies Minor - 2011-2012 Courses

UW Seattle


American
Ethnic Studies
(AES)

  • Asian-American Studies (AAS)
  • Chicano Studies (CHSTU)

AAS 101/HSTAA 205 - Asian American History/Introduction to Asian American Cultures

Credits: 5

Department: Asian-American Studies / History of the Americas

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012, Autumn 2012

Instructor: Connie So, Moon-Ho Jung

Description: Introductory history of Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese and Koreans in the United States from the 1840s to the 1960s. Major themes include imperialism, labor migration, racism, community formation, and resistance. Explores the particular experiences of Asian Americans within regional, national, and global contexts. Central questions addressed throughout the course are: What forces have driven Asians to migrate to the United States? How have Asians figured in U.S. race relations? What factors have unified and stratified Asian American communities? How have Asian Americans struggled for democracy and justice? The course will conclude by examining the growing diversity of Asian Americans since the 1960s.


AAS 206 - Contemporary Problems of Asian Americans

Credits: 5

Department: Asian-American Studies

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Connie So

Description: Recent Asian and Pacific Islander American issues, from the 1960s to the present. Topics include post-1960s immigration, ethnic enclaves, civil rights, racial and ethnic stereotypes, identity politics, social organizations, community building and political movements.


AES 322/GWSS 300 – Gender, Race, and Class in Social Stratification

Credits: 5

Department: American Ethnic Studies / Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012, Autumn 2012

Description: The intersection of race and gender in the lives of women of color in the United States from historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics include racism, sexism, activism, sexuality, and inter-racial dynamics between women of color groups.


CHSTU 200 - Latinos in the United States

Credits: 5

Department: Chicano Studies

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Erasmo Gamboa

Description: Historical, social, and economic experience of Latinos in the United States. Major themes include education, labor, class, and gender identity. Analyzes rapid growth of old and newly established Latino communities, based on emigration from Latin America.


CHSTU 254 - Northwest Latinos: History, Community, Culture

Credits: 5

Department: Chicano Studies

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Erasmo Gamboa

Description: Traces the history, extent, and development of the Chicano/Latino presence from the early Spanish period to the present. Examines the major contemporary political, social, and economic issues affecting Northwest Chicano/Latinos in a broader national and international context.


CHSTU 498 - Special Topics in Chicano Studies:
Latinas, Chicanas and Labor

Credits: 5

Department: Chicano Studies

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky

Description: This course will examine the relationship between race, gender and work identity in the workplace. We will explore different work environments to examine the following questions: How does the construction of gender affect Latinas' and Chicanas' working lives, i.e. the way work is structured and how women and men are organized differently across different domains of work? How does the context of work and workplace shape understandings of gender identity for Latinas and Chicanas? How does work impact experiences of inequality, i.e. gender, race, class hierarchies? We will also read some comparative and transnational studies to consider the implications of changing patterns of work on gender and work identity in the global economy. As we all participate in different social worlds of work, you are encouraged to share your own observations and insights with the members of the class.


Comparative History of Ideas (CHID)

CHID 480 - Special Topics: Social Movements at the Margins

Credits: 5

Department: Comparative History of Ideas

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Lawrence Cushnie

Description: This course explores social movements at the margins which, through the activism and the protest that contests the meaning of law, help to shape the fabric of the United States. Law, as a construction of society, faces constant opposition and periods of elevated resistance in specific subject areas. These areas include: abolitionism, workers rights, women suffrage and liberation, civil rights, the student and anti-war movement, the American Indian movement, environmentalism, and animal rights. Each of these important political, sociological, ideological, and legal movements animates the subject of our discussions. We focus upon the legal and political theorists and activists who challenged mainstream political and legal culture.


Economics (ECON)

ECON 443 - Labor Market Analysis

Credits: 5

Department: Economics

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Elaina Rose

Description: Determinants of employment and incomes in the United States: analysis of individual and firm decisions and of equilibrium in the labor market. Topics include decisions to work and retire, education and occupation choices, compensation, discrimination, poverty, unemployment and unions. Examination of policy issues affecting the labor market. Prerequisite: 2.0 in ECON 300.


Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (ENV H)

ENV H 453 – Industrial Hygiene

Credits: 3

Department: Environmental Health

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Michael Morgan

Description: Introduction to the principles and scientific foundation of industrial hygiene. Examines the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of work place hazards to health and safety. Focuses on the first three functions, but includes some consideration of control methods.


ENV H 564/IND E 564 – Recognition of Health and Safety Problems in Industry

Credits: 2

Department: Environmental Health / Industrial Engineering

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Janice Camp

Description: Develops skills in occupational health and safety hazard recognition in a variety of important northwest industries. Focuses on process understanding and hazard recognition skills during walk-through inspections of several local facilities, stressing a multidisciplinary approach.


Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (GWSS)

GWSS 300/AES 322 – Gender, Race, and Class in Social Stratification

Credits: 5

Department: Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies / American Ethnic Studies

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012, Autumn 2012

Description: The intersection of race and gender in the lives of women of color in the United States from historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics include racism, sexism, activism, sexuality, and inter-racial dynamics between women of color groups.


GWSS/GEOG 476 - Women and the City

Credits: 5

Department: Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies / Geography

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Prof. Kim England

Description: Explores the reciprocal relations between gender relations, the layout of cities, and the activities of urban residents. Topics include: feminist theory and geography (women, gender, and the organization of space); women and urban poverty, housing and homelessness; gender roles and labor patterns; geographies of childcare; and women and urban politics.


Geography (GEOG)

GEOG 123/JSIS 123 - Introduction to Globalization

Credits: 5

Department: Geography / International Studies

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Matthew Sparke

Description: Provides an introduction to the debates over globalization. Focuses on the growth and intensification of global ties. Addresses the resulting inequalities and tensions, as well as the new opportunities for cultural and political exchange. Topics include the impacts on government, finance, labor, culture, the environment, health, and activism.


GEOG 230 - Urbanization and Development: Geographies of Global Inequality

Credits: 5

Department: Geography

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Victoria A. Lawson

Description: Examines the processes driving urban growth in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The course examines urbanization in its international context. These issues and their human impacts are discussed in the context of historical and contemporary changes in the international political-economy. The course begins by reexamining some of the defining debates in development studies; population, migration/immigration dynamics, 'overurbanization', protectionism and free trade. The course culminates with a discussion of the human dimensions of broad political-economic processes examining questions of urban employment, shelter and political action. Major themes include: the cultural context of urban growth, the rapid pace of urbanization, indigenous urban forms, and colonial legacies.


GEOG 476/GWSS 476 - Women and the City

Credits: 5

Department: Geography / Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Prof. Kim England

Description: Explores the reciprocal relations between gender relations, the layout of cities, and the activities of urban residents. Topics include: feminist theory and geography (women, gender, and the organization of space); women and urban poverty, housing and homelessness; gender roles and labor patterns; geographies of childcare; and women and urban politics.


History (HIST)

  • History of the Americas
    (HSTAA)
  • Modern European History (HSTEU)

HIST 249/POL S 249/SOC 266 – Introduction to Labor Studies

Credits: 5

Department: History / Political Science / Sociology

Quarter Offered: Winter 2013

Instructor: Margaret Levi

Description: Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of labor and work. Role of labor in national and international politics. Formation of labor movements. Historical and contemporary role of labor in the modern world.NOTE: This course is a requirement of the Labor Studies Minor, and does not count towards the 20 additional credits required from courses related to Labor Studies.


HIST 498 - Gender, Sex and Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean

Credits: 5

Department: History

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Ileana Rodriguez-Silva

Description: Not available.


HIST 498 - Civil Rights and Labor in the Pacific Northwest

Credits: 5

Department: History

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: James Gregory

Description: Students in this class will participate in an historical research project that is documenting the history of struggles for racial and economic justice in the Seattle area. The civil rights movement in Seattle started well before the celebrated struggles in the South in the 1950s and the Seattle movement relied not just on African American activists, but also Filipino Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. It also depended upon the support of some elements of the region's labor movement. From the 1910s through the 1970s, labor and civil rights were linked in complicated ways, with some unions and radical organizations providing critical support to struggles for racial justice, while others blocked access to jobs and obstructed struggles for equal rights.


HSTAA 105 - The Peoples of the United States

Credits: 5

Department: History of the Americas

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Michael Reagan

Description: Surveys American diversity since 1500. Repeopling of America through conquest and immigration by Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans. Contributions of various peoples and the conflicts between them, with special attention to changing constructions of race and ethnicity and evolving understandings of what it means to be American.


HSTAA 185 - Introduction to Latin American History: From Columbus to Castro

Credits: 5

Department: History of the Americas

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Prof. Ileana M. Rodriguez Silva

Description: The multiple regions and peoples comprised under the rubric of "Latin America" or the "Caribbean" are too vast and complex to cover in any survey course. Facing this insurmountable task, we can only aspire to gain an overview of significant historical processes that have marked the individuals and communities inhabiting and passing through these varied landscapes. The first and longest unit focuses on the workings and reproduuction of colonial society. We will uncover how Portuguese and Spanish imperial agents sought to economically exploit and morally/culturally shape the lives of native communities, African slaves, colonizers of various backgrounds, and their racially mixed offspring. By the same token, we will pay special attention to the myriad of ways in which peoples challenged, subverted, or simply negotiated in their everyday life the regimes of rule imposed upon them. In the remaining units, we will focus on the tribulations of building modern nation-states out of colonized territories. Like colonial subjugation, the "nation" was another fiction to organize power and has led to continuous struggles - often, violent ones - about the terms of inclusion and exclusion. The serach for the "modern," later the need for "development," and recently the call for free trade in a global market have legitimized the continued subjugation of large sectors of the Indigneous, black, and female populations and have unleashed severe social upheavals. These conflicts remain at the heart of present-day social movements in these regions.


HSTAA 205/AAS 101 - Asian American History/Introduction to Asian American Cultures

Credits: 5

Department: History of the Americas / Asian-American Studies

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012, Autumn 2012

Instructor: Connie So, Prof. Moon-Ho Jung

Description: Introductory history of Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese and Koreans in the United States from the 1840s to the 1960s. Major themes include imperialism, labor migration, racism, community formation, and resistance. Explores the particular experiences of Asian Americans within regional, national, and global contexts. Central questions addressed throughout the course are: What forces have driven Asians to migrate to the United States? How have Asians figured in U.S. race relations? What factors have unified and stratified Asian American communities? How have Asian Americans struggled for democracy and justice? The course will conclude by examining the growing diversity of Asian Americans since the 1960s.


International Studies (JSIS)

  • Area Studies
    (JSIS A)

JSIS 123/GEOG 123 - Introduction to Globalization

Credits: 5

Department: International Studies / Geography

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Matthew Sparke

Description: Provides an introduction to the debates over globalization. Focuses on the growth and intensification of global ties. Addresses the resulting inequalities and tensions, as well as the new opportunities for cultural and political exchange. Topics include the impacts on government, finance, labor, culture, the environment, health, and activism.


JSIS A 408 / POL S 442 - Government and Politics of China

Credits: 5

Department: International Studies / Political Science

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Susan Whiting

Description: Post-1949 government and politics, with emphasis on problems of political change in modern China.


Law, Societies, and Justice (LSJ)

LSJ 491 - Special Topics in Rights: Working Immigrants: Legality and Rights

Credits: 5

Department: Law, Societies, and Justice

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky

Description: How do we define work? How do we define a worker? And what rights can a worker claim? This class will look at the relationship between work, legality and rights. Specifically, our readings and discussions will examine the work experiences of immigrants in the US.

In brief, we will consider specific case studies to examine the following: What is the relationship between migrant status and the kind of work one does? What does the context of the work/labor look like? Type of workers, codes of conduct, workplace practices, laws (labor, criminal and immigration). What is the relationship between location and the work that is done? How do all of the above shape or impact workers' access to their rights?


Political Science (POL S)

POL S 249/SOC 266/HIST 249 – Introduction to Labor Studies

Credits: 5

Department:Political Science / Sociology / History

Quarter Offered: Winter 2013

Instructor: Margaret Levi

Description: Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of labor and work. Role of labor in national and international politics. Formation of labor movements. Historical and contemporary role of labor in the modern world. NOTE: This course is a requirement of the Labor Studies Minor, and does not count towards the 20 additional credits required from courses related to Labor Studies.


POL S 442 / JSIS A 408 - Government and Politics of China

Credits: 5

Department:Political Science / International Studies

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Susan Whiting

Description: Post-1949 government and politics, with emphasis on problems of political change in modern China.


Sociology (SOC)

SOC 266/HIST 249/POL S 249 – Introduction to Labor Studies

Credits: 5

Department: Sociology / History / Political Science

Quarter Offered: Winter 2013

Instructor: Margaret Levi

Description: Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of labor and work. Role of labor in national and international politics. Formation of labor movements. Historical and contemporary role of labor in the modern world. NOTE: This course is a requirement of the Labor Studies Minor, and does not count towards the 20 additional credits required from courses related to Labor Studies.


SOC 360 – Introduction to Social Stratification

Credits: 5

Department: Sociology

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012

Instructor: Brian Serafini

Description: Social class and social inequality in American society. Status, power, authority, and unequal opportunity are examined in depth, using material from other societies to provide a comparative and historical perspective. Sociological origins of recurrent conflicts involving race, sex, poverty, and political ideology.


UW Bothell


Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

  • Interdisciplinary Studies
    (BIS)
  • American Studies
    (BIS AMS)

BIS 327 - History of U.S. Labor Institutions

Credits: 5

Department: Interdisciplinary Studies, UW Bothell

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Daniel Jacoby

Description: The realities of work in the US change substantially as labor institutions change. Major labor institutions include slavery, household labor, indentured servitude, the apprenticeship system, free labor, unions, schooling, and professions. We want to understand how these systems work and why they change over time. Finally, we'll want to consider how these institutions are relevant to us today, particularly how they relate to emerging global labor markets.


BIS AMS 363 - Conflict and Connection in the Americas

Credits: 5

Department: Interdisciplinary Studies, UW Bothell

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Loren Redwood

Description:This course will examine politics, and economy in the Americas through an in depth critical analysis of immigrant labor recruitment and exploitation of workers from Mexico, Central, and South America. We will examine several sites of conflict and connection, including: Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding in the Deep South, Arizona Immigration Law SB 1070, textile industry labor from New England to Central America to Columbia, and movement of US coal mining corporations from New England to Columbia. The course will engage an application of interdisciplinary theoretical approaches, theories of immigration and migration, transnational labor, labor markets, racialization and citizenship, as well as an examination of global financial institutions and multinational corporations. The exploration of multiple sites of labor exploitation and conflict provides an opportunity to investigate and explore an established historical pattern of US state-sponsored exploitation of immigrant populations from Mexico to South America and calla attention to legal, civil, and human rights abuses of disenfranchised immigrant populations.


UW Tacoma


Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

  • Arts (T ARTS)
  • History (T HIST)
  • Political Science (TPOL S)
  • Sociology (T SOC)

T HIST 322 – American Labor Since the Civil War

Credits: 5

Department: History (Tacoma)

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Michael Honey

Description: Provides a history of workers and labor institutions from the era of industrialization to the post-industrial era, focusing on labor-management conflict, the rise and fall of unions, and on the role of government, the media, and other forces in determining events. Concludes with an assessment of labor today.


T HIST 440 – Black Labor in America

Credits: 5

Department: History (Tacoma)

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Michael Honey

Description: Provides an overview and a detailed consideration of the contributions of the black working class to the making of America. Examines historic racial-economic barriers which have held back development of African-American communities, and the continuing causes and possible solutions to the economic crisis affecting black working people today.


TPOL S 456 – Community and Labor Organizing: A Multicultural Perspective

Credits: 5

Department: Political Science (Tacoma)

Quarter Offered: Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Charles Williams

Description: Explores current community and labor organizing issues through intersections of gender, race, class, and immigration. Discussions of labor movements, community and environmental coalitions, living wage, social justice, and anti-sweatshop campaigns, in context of globalization. Case studies and issues vary.


T SOC 434 - Women, Race, and Class: Identity and Intergroup Relations

Credits: 5

Department: Sociology (Tacoma)

Quarter Offered: Summer 2012, Autumn 2012

Instructor: Prof. Emily Ignacio

Description: Explores interlocking effects of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality on the life experiences of women in the U.S. Includes: impact of race, ethnicity, and racism on social institutions; women's experiences of racism; struggles of anti-racist women; relationship between racial, class, and sexual identities and feminism, development of dialogue and coalitions between women.


A list of Labor Studies minor courses offered since Fall 2009 at the University of Washington, Seattle campus.

To learn whether a class will be offerred in the future, please contact the relevant department.

Past Courses - UW Seattle

American Ethnic Studies

Anthropology

Communication

Comparative History of Ideas

Economics

Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences

Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

Geography

History

International Studies

Law, Societies, and Justice

Social Work

Sociology

A list of Labor Studies minor courses offered since Fall 2009 at the University of Washington, Tacoma campus.

To learn whether a class will be offerred in the future, please contact the relevant department.

Past Courses - UW Bothell

Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

A list of Labor Studies minor courses offered since Fall 2009 at the University of Washington, Tacoma campus.

To learn whether a class will be offerred in the future, please contact the relevant department.

Past Courses - UW Tacoma