· Students explore issues from many perspectives, including economics, sociology, history, political science, global studies and cultural analysis.
· The curriculum combines theory with practice and includes fieldwork opportunities.
· Graduates are prepared to work with unions as field representatives, organizers, researchers, educators, and communications specialists, among other staff and leadership positions. Others pursue careers in law, labor relations, human resources, and government.
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· Earn a professional degree to enhance career opportunities in labor
and related fields
· Develop a deeper understanding of work, workers and workers’
organizations in a global society
· Become a more effective advocate for labor rights and social justice
Acquire new knowledge and sharpen analytical skills
· Study with world-class faculty and outstanding practitioners in the field
· To earn the Labor Studies MA, students must complete 30 credits, distributed among seven required courses and three electives.
· Labor in the Era of Globalization examines the impact of globalization on work, workers and international labor movements.
· Research Methods examines quantitative and qualitative methods of research employed to produce accurate data to support labor-related activities.
· Labor Law examines the body of law and legal remedies governing the unionization of employees, the collective bargaining process, and the relationships among workers and employers and unions.
· Theories and Perspectives on the Labor Movement familiarizes students with theories that explain the rise of unions and the historical development of labor movements.
· Labor and the Economy gives students essential knowledge of micro- and macro-economic theories that explain conditions of work affecting workers and labor institutions.
· Labor-Management Relations covers the development of labor relations in the United States, from the period preceding collective bargaining through the emergence of theories of management and corresponding stages of labor relations practice in the 20th and 21st centuries.
· The Capstone Course, taken in a student’s final semester, is an opportunity for students to synthesize and integrate the body of knowledge acquired in courses leading to the degree. Students will do a project or paper that demonstrates command of the subject matter and literature in the field.
· U.S. Labor History from 1929 to Present examines U.S. labor history from the Great Depression of 1929 to the present, seeking to understand how the experience of workers and the nature of working-class institutions have evolved in the context of larger historical developments.
· Issues in Organizing examines theories, strategies, and tactics of organizing and analyzes debates about the future of organized labor in the U.S.
· Labor and Politics will examine strategies for, and approaches to, political action in unions as well as the historical relationships between unions and political parties in the U.S. and abroad.
· Comparative Labor Movements will examine and compare labor movements in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
· Policy Analysis introduces students to theories and techniques of policy analysis with special emphasis on policies affecting workers and unions.
· Labor Studies Field Work Internship offers students an internship at a union or labor-related organization. The internship is combined with readings and classroom discussions about issues and problems confronting the U.S. labor movement in a contemporary national and global context.*
*Students who have not taken an undergraduate or graduate Labor History course are required to include Labor History as one of their electives.
Brief Faculty Biographies for the M.A. in Labor Studies
· Dr. Ruth Milkman, a renowned Professor of Sociology, comes to JSMI from the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UCLA. She is an expert on women and immigrant workers, and contemporary unionism, and is the author of many books including L.A. Story: Immigrant Workers and the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement.
· Dr. Joshua Freeman is an award-winning teacher and author of the acclaimed book Working Class New York. He serves as consulting editor for New Labor Forum, and is the Executive Officer and a Professor in the doctoral program in History at the CUNY Graduate Center.
· Dr. Stephanie Luce has gained widespread recognition for her work on Living Wage campaigns as well as the effects of globalization on jobs and workers. She comes to JSMI from UMass, Amherst, where she is an Associate professor and the Director of Research at the UMass Labor Center.
· Dr. Penny Lewis is a sociologist who has taught at Barnard and Brown, as well as several colleges within the CUNY system. Her areas of scholarship include labor history, social movements, and the study of race, class, and gender.
· James Steele, Distinguished Lecturer, is a highly regarded political analyst with expertise in labor and politics. He has served as Special Assistant to Congressman Gregory Meeks and was the Program Director for the Council of Black Elected Democrats.
· Dr. Stanley Aronowitz is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate School, and Director of CUNY’s Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work. He is the author of 23 books, including Working Class Hero and From the Ashes of the Old: American Labor and America’s Future.
· Dr. Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, is a prominent scholar and activist whose work focuses on social policy and the social welfare system. She is the author of many groundbreaking books and articles, including Poor People’s Movements and Regulating the Poor.
· Dr. Stephen Brier is a Professor of Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center and an expert in the use of new media and technology. He co-founded and was the Executive Director of The American Social History Project, and co-authored their widely used text, Who Built America?