Politics 277 - Dislocation: Class and Politics in the U.S.

Dislocation from work and home has been a common experience of the working class in the United States since World War II. Whether caused by factors such as the gentrification of urban neighborhoods and rural towns, deindustrialization, urban renewal, automation, or the precarity of low-wage employment, the working class experience of dislocation continues today. This course will examine the decision making behind the policies and practices that have dislocated many working class Americans, as well as how these people have adjusted, accommodated, resisted, and sometimes fought dislocation from their jobs and homes. In this course, class is viewed as a social position shaped by power relations. While race and gender will be taken into account, our main focus will be understanding and explaining the common experience of the working class majority in the U.S.

Prereq: POLIT-104 or POLIT-252, or 8 credits in Politics.