LABR 155 A-Z - Special Topics in Labor StudiesSemester Hours: 3
Periodically
Exploration of important labor issues and their impacts on working people. Areas of investigation may include historical origins of and contemporary developments in labor-management relations, pay and benefit structures, occupational health and safety, employee participation, employment diversity and inequality, immigration, the youth work force, union organizing and leadership strategy, public sector collective bargaining, workplace rights and ethical issues, worker education and training, labor theory and research methods, unions’ role in politics, government labor regulations, labor-community relations, working class literature and film, media coverage of labor, human rights in the global labor market, comparative labor movements, and global unionism.
Current Special Topics
LABR 155G - (CC, IS) Reading Karl Marx Today
This course is an intensive study of the first volume of Karl Marx’s Capital from the perspective of the present. We will apply Marxian categories to present-day capitalism, determining their contemporary relevance and usefulness. We will also review how capitalism itself has evolved since the time of Marx and consider whether economic changes necessitate an extension or an abandonment of the Marxian analytical framework. Students who complete this course will have developed their own well-founded conclusions regarding the strengths and limitations of the analysis presented in Capital, particularly regarding the applicability of this analysis to contemporary capitalism. This background will provide an excellent basis for further advanced work in any of the social sciences and/or humanities where many concepts that Marx originally proposed or developed are still used, often without attribution.
Crosslisted as RHET 189Z , LACS 016D
LABR 155H - Eugenics and the American Working Class
In the early 20th century, eugenics was at the forefront of scientific discourse in the quest to understand human genetics. Despite possessing all the trappings of science, eugenics was a dangerous social philosophy used to condemn the working class of America, along with the poor, diseased, and disabled. This course will explore the history of the American eugenics movement and the wide-ranging impact it had on working-class people in America and throughout the world. Students will be introduced to a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics including the history of a variety of social movements, human rights and the law, immigration rights, mass media and propaganda, legislative policy, and reproductive rights. Contemporary issues, both locally and nationally, are also assessed in comparison to this era.
LABR 155I - Karl Marx & Crisis Today
This course welcomes those approaching Marx for the first time as well as those with previous courses in Marxian economics. The course is an exploration of contemporary macroeconomic and environmental issues using the analytical apparatus developed by Karl Marx in Volumes One, Two, and Three of Capital. While the course will explore issues and applications on the frontier of Marxian economics, it will also provide beginners with a sufficient preparation to tackle intermediate topics dealing with Vols. Two and Three of Capital, such as the theory of rent (and contemporary financialization), the theory of a falling rate of profit (and contemporary stagnation and policy ineffectiveness), the question of unequal exchange between the Global North and the Global South, and finally the causal relation between capitalism and climate change. Students who complete the course will have gained a thoroughly grounded analysis of and explanation for the contemporary “polycrisis” and will therefore have the basis upon which to craft and evaluate proposed responses to the current exhaustion of capitalism.
Cross-listed as: LACS 016I and RHET 189H
Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
Topics may change each semester. Students may repeat the course for credit when topics vary. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.
View Course Offering(s):
Fall 2025
January 2026
Spring 2026
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