The Politics of Labor Bill Grover
PO 410A (Senior Seminar) Office: SE 344
Spring 2004 Phone: 654-2463 (w)
WE/FR 1:00-2:15 879-1474 (h)
SE 334 Email: wgrover@smcvt.edu
Hours: T/TH 9:00-10:00
WE/FR 9:30-11:00 FR 2:30-3:00
and by appointment
______________________________________________________________________________
The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family
relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all
nations, and tongues, and kindreds.
-- Abraham Lincoln
And if the solution—or rather the gradual solution—of the
social question, which keeps coming up and becomes ever
more complex, must be sought in the direction of "making
life more human," then the key, namely human work,
acquires fundamental and decisive importance.
-- Pope John Paul II
Purpose:
This is a seminar about labor, the labor process, work. The impetus for this seminar is my growing belief in the need for faculty to engage students with questions that have moved us over our own lives. The issues we will explore together this semester are powerfully connected to my own thinking about politics, economics and social-cultural life. Engaging these ideas about labor and work over the course of my life has led me—almost forced me, really—to think deeply about how the world works, how the world should work, and what to do about it if the gap between the way things are, and the way they should be, grows too large. As students poised on the brink of leaving here, you may already feel the pressure to ignore that gap, to get a job and be thankful for it. Thus, if liberal arts education is to be anything more than a nice-sounding phrase, it behooves you (us) to ponder that gap at least one more time.
When you leave Saint Michael's College (you will be paroled in May) you will spend the bulk of your waking hours at work, with most of you employed by someone other than yourself. As some analysts have noted, the enormous amount of time taken up by work constitutes "the time of your life." Presumably you have come to college to receive an education that will in some way prepare you to fill "the time of your life" as usefully and creatively as possible. Understandably, as the job market grows more competitive and "good" jobs become more scarce, students often tend to focus almost exclusively on the pursuit of that precious job at the end of the four-year academic marathon. This seminar asks you at a relatively late date--as seniors--to step back from the inertia of the race to critically evaluate the nature of the life of labor toward which you are striving. We will attempt to gain a clearer knowledge of how the prevailing political and economic system—in our case, global corporate capitalism—shapes the labor process and, in turn, how that process powerfully influences the development of peoples' self-concept, world view, and their view of what it means to live in a "democracy." In other words, one of the assumptions of this seminar is that human consciousness and behavior are significantly shaped by their relationship to the prevailing political and economic system.
There is much to ponder in Edward Hyman’s observation that "capitalism turns men and women into economic cannibals, and having done so, mistakes economic cannibalism for human nature." It follows that we will be interested in political consciousness and why it remains at such a low level in the U.S. Given the prevalent cynicism in our culture about positive social change today, this awareness might further an appreciation of what is possible. The inspiring history of men and women struggling for economic justice, the moral implications of capitalism, the quality of democracy, debates over human nature, the quest for a fulfilling life of work in the face of alienation, the possibilities of political, social and economic change--it’s all here. What more could you ask as seniors?
Materials:
Books:
Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century (25th Anniversary Edition)
Peter Kellman, Building Unions: Past, Present and Future
Michael D. Yates, Why Unions Matter
Dan Clawson, The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Articles:
Noam Chomsky and Donald Macedo, "Introduction" and "Beyond a Domesticating
Education: A Dialogue," from Chomsky on MisEducation, handout
Gary Olson, "The Execution Class," handout
D. Michael Rivage-Seul, "Taking a Risk in Plato’s Cave," handout
Jeremy Brecher, selections from his book Strike! (Revised and Updated Edition), reserve
Jill Andresky Fraser, selections from her book White Collar Sweatshop, reserve
Elaine Bernard, "Why Unions Matter," reserve
Films:
"Eugene Debs and the American Movement"
"Union Maids"
"1877: The Grand Army of Starvation"
"Bread and Roses"
"Roger and Me"
Guest Speakers:
Subject to availability, I am trying to get three or four guest speakers to come and discuss the state of the labor movement today. Hopefully we will be visited by Ellen David Friedman, organizer for the National Education Association, who will speak about union organizing in Vermont; Devon Ayers (former SMC PO major), organizer for the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, who will speak about union organizing in the public sector, particularly at Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington; Dawn Stanger, a labor activist with the Teamsters and a truck loader at UPS in Williston, VT; and Don Jamison of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center in Burlington, who will discuss employee ownership of businesses in Vermont.
How We Will Proceed:
Our mode of inquiry this semester will fall somewhere on the continuum stretching roughly from the Greek polis to the Jerry Springer Show. I do not intend to "teach" this course so much as guide our inquiry and provide relevant background lectures. The seminar thus will be largely student run, with some direction from me. Starting early in the semester students will make presentations based on the readings for that day and will also be responsible for leading discussions and raising questions about what we've all read. I also will choose student discussants each session to ask questions of the presenters. All students are expected to complete the readings for each session, not just those whose day it is to present or to serve as formal discussants. Students are encouraged to meet together well before their presentations are due to discuss/debate the material. It is crucial to be able to figure out the major point(s) the author is trying to make and to draw out the political, social and economic implications of that point(s). Reading assignments will be announced well in advance of when they are due.
Grading:
Grades are a disliked necessity for me at Saint Michael's. But in lieu of an acceptable alternative, we are stuck with them. Your performance thus will be based on the following factors, with specific assignments made well in advance of when they are due.
* Four Analytic Essays (6-7 pg.@20% each) ..................... 80%
* Class Participation ............................................................. 20%
Academic Integrity:
The Saint Michael's College Academic Integrity Policy can be found in the Student Handbook and at the College web site. All students are expected to familiarize themselves with, and abide by, this policy. Since you are all seniors, violations of this policy will meet with an specially unsympathetic response from me; you all know the rules and cannot fall back on the excuse that you are not aware of how these issues operate within the academic community.
Participation/Attendance:
Those of you who have taken courses with me know that I assume class participation.
This is especially true for a seminar such as this. I expect each of you to be prepared to discuss the readings of the day when you walk through the door every class day. You will be called upon to offer your opinions on readings, lectures, films, and the comments of other seminar participants. I expect you to attend every class meeting, with no exceptions. The quality of your participation will, in large part, determine the quality of the seminar experience for all of us. In addition, as indicated above, it counts as 20% of your final grade.
Topics and Readings:
This is a tentative outline of the seminar. Specific detail on various topics will be
forthcoming. Students are encouraged to suggest additional items for our shared agenda if they reasonably can be said to illuminate our readings and discussions.
I. Introduction: "Education" and the Perilous Connection Between Thought and Behavior
* Chomsky and Macedo, "Introduction" and "Beyond a Domesticating Education:
A Dialogue"
* Olson, "The Execution Class" (handout)
* Rivage-Seul, "Taking A Risk In Plato’s Cave" (handout)
II The Capitalist Mode of Production: Labor, Management and the Division of Labor
Within "The Hidden Abode"
* Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital (Original Intro, Ch. 1)
* Braverman, (Chs. 2-16 and 20) The Labor Movement: Past and Present
* Brecher, Strike! (selections on reserve)
* Kellman, "Building Unions," all
* Yates, Why Unions Matter, all
* Bernard, "Why Unions Matter" (handout)
* Films: Labor history (several) and "Mondragon"
* Outside Speaker: Ellen David Friedman, Vermont NEA
* Outside Speaker: Don Jamison, Vermont Employee Ownership Center
IV. The Workplace of the 21st Century and New Social Movements
Clawson, The Next Upsurge
* Andresky Fraser, White-Collar Sweatshop (selections on reserve)
* Outside Speaker: Devon Ayers, VT Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals
Film: "Roger and Me"
V. The View From the Trenches: Toward a Way Out?
* Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, all
* Outside Speaker: Dawn Stanger, Teamsters and UPS
* Film: "Bread and Roses"