From Riches to Rags - deindustrialization and social tensions in USA

elective courses

The purpose of this class is to make students sensitive to the potential for downward mobility existing in a modern American society of the 21st century. It will be a portrait of the post-industrial society and its political representations.

Blended learning
Classroom

The purpose of the course is to study the patterns of social mobility in American society with particular attention paid to the DOWNWARD mobility as a product of globalization and ensuing deindustrialization. We are going to visit working-class and middle class Americans in their homes and observe family life, aspirations and patterns of consumption. We are also going to visit American blue collar worplaces, examin the role of unions. We will also look at today's middle class and the anxieties which permeate world view of both classes in USA. Our focus is American small towna as well as big cities where globalization has its impact.

The purpose of the course is to study the patterns of social mobility in American society with particular attention paid to the DOWNWARD mobility as a product of globalization and ensuing deindustrialization. Donald Trump's electoral victory and then loss made us all aware of the existence of social anxieties which find roots in socio-economic situation of Americans. The bigger picture of American production industries and communities around blue and white collar workplaces will be our focus. We are also going to examine the nature of social stratification in America, focusing primarily on the changes in the representations of working and middle-class status. Thomas Frank's narrative about Kansas will usher the political discussion of the socio-economic changes. The crowning point of the modern American socio-economic anxieties was the election of Donald Trump. It also made us aware of the return of "whiteness' as a color in America. We shall study these phenomena from a theoretical and practical standpoints. Examine statistics and read personal narratives. We are going to visit working-class and middle- class Americans in their homes and observe family life, aspirations and patterns of consumption. We are also going to visit American blue and white collar workplaces, examine the role of unions and workplace culture. Our focus is American small towns as well as big cities where globalization has its impact. The rise of Artificial Intelligence introduces yet another strain to industrial relations in America.

We are going to watch documentaries, listen to interviews.

Schedule:

1. American society 2023. A big picture

2. Why did Donald Trump win/lose - examination of American voters and their concerns

3-4. American industrialization. from rags to riches. Stories of economic growth and social development. The story of Detroit, Baltimore and Youngstown OH. (video)

5. When was America Great? 1960's or 1960s? (video).

6. American blue and white-collar communities in popular culture

7. Globalization and American economy

8. Social inequality in America 21st century, where does it come from?

9. Corporate America and small town business - The Wal Mart effect (video) Is greed good for America?

10. Middle class in crisis

11-13. Deindustrialization in 21st Century America - social and economic costs. The Working poor. AI and labor relations.

14. Political consequences of social anxiety: mistrust, polarization, radicalism

15. Quo Vadis America - socio-economic issues in 2024 elections?

Robert Frank, Frank Cook, The Winner-Take-All Society, penguin 1996

Thomas Frank, What's the Matter With Kansas? Holt, 2005

Robert Puttnam, Bowling Alone, Simon and Shuster, 2000

Frances fox Piven, Richard Cloward, The Breaking of the American Social Compact, New Press, 1997

Sherry lee Linkon, John Russo, Steeltown USA. Work and Memory in Youngstown, University Press of Kansas, 2002

David Halle, America's Working Man, University of Chicago Press, 1984

Dale Maharidge, Someplace like America. Tales from the New Great Depression, University of California Press, 2011

David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification in Sociological Prespective, Westview, 1994

Donald Bartlett, James Steele, America Who Stole the Dream, Andrews and McFeel, 1996

America What Went Wrong? 1992

America Who Really Pays the Taxes? Touchstone Books, 1994

J.D. Vance, A Hillbilly Elegy. A Memoir, Harper Collins, 2016

Knowledge: students will know the patterns of social mobility in a modern capitalist society. they will learn about the factors contributing to the dynamics of social mobility. They will study the patterns of develeopment of American society in the 20th century. They will learn about industrialization in USA. they will learn about the basic rules of globalism, outsourcing and other dimensions of post-industrial development of USA.

Skills: Students will analyze statistical data, they will draw conclusions from charts and graphs, they will construct their own graphic representations of social stats. They willl esearch databases. they will become sensitive to social contexts of economicand political phenomena. they will know how politics and economy interconnect. they will compare coutries across several dimensions of economic and social development

Social Competence: Students will practice public speaking skills, group work patterns and data analysis. they will learn the meaning of responsibility of political decisionmakers for social and economic development

Your course grade will come from these components:

1. class presentation (group work) on some aspect of social mobility and socio-economic conflict in USA (30%)

2. an individual term paper (for instance analysis of socio-economic statistics of deindustrialization), 5-7 pages (30%) - deadline - the first day of the examination period.

3. mid-term quizz(es) (30%)

4. class participation (10%)

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