New Cultures of Work
“New Cultures of Work” invites students to rethink the modern compulsion to produce. This course begins with a survey of socialist, feminist, and antiracist critiques of work. We then consider flashpoints of historical struggle within distinct paradigms of capitalism: from the industrial revolution to deindustrialization and neoliberalism, and finally, our own uncertain present. Course materials include empirical studies and testimonials; theoretical analysis and interpretation; and depictions in popular, experimental, and documentary film. Performance is evaluated through ten reading responses, one reading report, and a final essay.
Introduction
W 1
- [screening] Harun Farocki, Workers Leaving the Factory (1995)
The Capitalist Division of Labor
W 2
- Adam Smith, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
- Karl Marx, from Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume 1 (1867)
- [screening] Robert Greene, Bisbee ’17 (2018), part 1
Machines, Discipline, and the Wage
W 3
- Gavin Mueller, from Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right about Why You Hate Your Job (2021)
- [screening] Robert Greene, Bisbee ’17 (2018), part 2
W 4
- Harry Braverman, from Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century (1974)
- [screening] Graham Chedd, People’s Century: On the Line (1995)
W 5
- John D’Emilio, “Capitalism and Gay Identity” (1963)
- Karen Brodine, “Woman Sitting at the Machine, Thinking” (1990)
- Leslie Feinberg, from Transgender Warriors (1996)
Unwaged Work and Structural Unemployment
W 6
- Ruth Schwartz Cowan, “The ‘Industrial Revolution’ in the Home: Household Technology and Social Change in the Twentieth Century” (1983)
- Adrian Forty, from Objects of Desire: Design and Society since 1750 (1986)
- [screening] William Asher, I Love Lucy season 2 episode 1 (1952)
W 7
- James Boggs, from The American Revolution: Pages from a Negro Worker’s Notebook (1963)
- Eldridge Cleaver, “On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party” (1969)
- [screening] Lichtman, Gessner, and Bird with the LRBW, Finally Got the News (1970)
Anti- and Post-Work Politics
W 8
- Kathi Weeks, The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries (2011)
- [screening] Bill Clinton and Lillie Harden, “Announcement on Welfare Reform” (1996)
Working Lives
W 9
- Paul Willis, from Learning to Labour: How Working-Class Kids Get Working-Class Jobs (1977)
- [screening] Paul Arnold, Seven Up! (1964); Michael Apted, from 21 Up! (1977)
W 10
- Jennifer Silva, from Coming Up Short: Working-Class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty (2013)
- Angela McRobbie, “‘Everyone is Creative’: Artists as New Economy Pioneers?” (2013)
- [screening] Jean-Luc Godard, Tout Va Bien (1972), part 1
W 11
- Endnotes, “Sleep-Worker’s Enquiry” (2010)
- Molly Osberg, “Inside The Barista Class” (2014)
- Elastico Gomez, “We Are, All of Us, Machines: How to Work at Amazon” (2019)
- [screening] Jean-Luc Godard, Tout Va Bien (1972), part 2
Technology, Precarity, and the Future of Work
W 12
- Jason Smith, from Smart Machines and Service Work: Automation in an Age of Stagnation (2020)
W 13
- Aaron Bastani, from Fully Automated Luxury Communism (2019)
- Aaron Benanav, from Automation and the Future of Work (2020)
- [screening] Andrew Norman Wilson, Workers Leaving the Googleplex (2011)
W 14
- Precarious Workers’ Brigade, from Training for Exploitation? Politicising Employability and Reclaiming Education (2017)
- Silvio Lorusso, from Entreprecariat: Everyone Is an Entrepreneur. Nobody Is Safe. (2019)
Read an essay on this course in the Writing section.