Political Economy and Social Change:
Globalization and Resistance
Fall quarter, 2002
Grace Chang, changg@evergreen.edu, X5485
Peter Dorman, dormanp@evergreen.edu, X6899
What is the “new world order” under global
capitalism, and is it really new?
Critics have characterized the spread of global capitalism as the
globalization of poverty and the modern continuation of imperialism. In this program, we will examine the
consequences of globalization in creating or perpetuating poverty and
inequality in both the
We will explore the questions: What constitutes resistance within the
context of the global economy? What
different strategies and methods have grassroots groups around the world
employed to survive, to resist and to mobilize for social change in the face of
global capitalism? How have differences
of nation, race, class, gender, sexuality and physical ability served either to
divide or to strengthen organizing within and across social justice movements
in the
Two additional threads will run through this
program. (a) We will study mainstream
economics, the dominant framework in which “problems” and “solutions” are
presented to us. This will be a critical
study: we will learn economics in order to see beyond it. (b) We will study the methods and strategies
used by activists for successful social change.
These range from the nuts-and-bolts (popular writing, simplifying
statistical data) to questions of consciousness and strategy.
Our approach will
be multidisciplinary, drawing on economic, political, historical and
sociological analysis, and perspectives from the fields of economics,
globalization studies, ethnic studies, women’s studies, LGBT
and disability studies. We will employ
both theoretical and case studies, allowing each to inform our in-depth studies
and critical analyses of a broad spectrum of issues and struggles surrounding
globalization.
We will do a case study in past and current US-based
welfare rights organizing, and its many connections
with struggles for civil rights, labor rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights
and LGBT rights. Our examination will
give special attention to labor control and social control provisions of
welfare policy, such as those designed to enforce low-wage and no-wage work and
to promote marriage. In addition, we
will use recent first-hand testimony to analyze how welfare policy and
administration has perpetuated racism, classism,
patriarchy and homophobia. We will
explore the relationship between domestic welfare "reform" in the
Together, these objectives require a demanding
workload, and some of the material is likely to be challenging. We ask and expect a high level of engagement
and commitment, and we offer on our side to do everything we can to make this
effort pay off for you. As a policy, we
ask that you attend all, or nearly all, program events and complete all the
required program work. If you foresee
any circumstance that would interfere with this, it is your responsibility to
let us know in advance, so that you can plan to make up the missed work.
There will be substantial writing in this
program. First, we will have a lot of
in-class writing, most of which will not be turned in. Second, we will ask you to write short
seminar papers each week, mostly for exchange between students. Third, there will be two longer essays, one
at the midpoint of the quarter, the other at the end, which give you a chance
to synthesize your understanding of the program to that point. Finally, we will assign a major, two-quarter
writing project, which can either take the form of research on an issue of
particular interest to you, or the creation of popular education materials that
could be used by activists working on a particular issue. At the end of this quarter you will finish a
paper that summarizes the context of the research topic or education piece; the
project will be completed in the winter.
Detailed instructions for written work will be provided over the course
of the program.
Each Monday you will be given a set of economics
problems to complete by Thursday. They
will focus on the mathematical aspects of the material (geometric models,
numerical calculations). There will be two
econ exams, at the end of weeks 4 and 9.
Their purpose is to document your understanding of the main concepts and
methods; you will have the opportunity to repeat an exam if you need to in
order to demonstrate mastery. We have a
student assistant to help you work on economics; please feel free to bring your
questions to him.
Our weekly schedule looks like this:
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Thursday |
|
Longhouse 1007c L3500, L4004 Longhouse 1007c |
Longhouse 1007c L1316 |
Longhouse 1007c LH1 L2220, L2221 |
There will be no classes Wednesday or Friday, unless
we schedule additional times for special purposes, such as review sessions.
The following books are available for purchase at the
college bookstore:
Microeconomics, David Colander
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
Economic Apartheid, Chuck Collins and Felice Veskel
Mollie’s Job, William Adler
Disposable Domestics, Grace Chang
For Crying Out Loud, Diane Dujon and Ann Withorn
Lost Ground:
Welfare Reform, Poverty and Beyond, Randy Albelda and Ann Withorn,
eds.
Other reading materials listed in the syllabus will
be available on 3-hour reserve at the library.
All readings are required unless otherwise specified.
Fall Schedule
|
Week
1 |
Sept. 30 – Oct. 4: Introduction to Political
Economy |
|
Monday |
Organizing our program |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Math Charades Film: Shangri-la Café |
|
Thursday |
Economics: Dorman, Ch. 2-4; |
|
Week
2 |
Oct. 7 – Oct. 11: Poverty and Low-Wage Work in the |
|
Monday |
State of Working “Falling Wages and Troubled Lives” (article) Economics: “Contracts for Software” (article) |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Budget Dilemmas (from the WEdGE workbook) Film: “Money for Nothing” |
|
Thursday |
|
|
Week
3 |
Oct. 14 – Oct. 18: History and Theory of Welfare
Policy |
|
Monday |
Disposable Domestics (Grace Chang), Introduction, Economics: |
|
Tuesday |
Anti-Oppression Workshop (both class periods) |
|
Thursday |
“Markets in Brazil Plunge on Worries Over Election”
(article) “Venezuela Economy Falters, Despite Abundant Oil”
(article) |
|
Week
4 |
Oct. 21 – Oct. 25: How |
|
Monday |
“Women Keep Garment Jobs by Sending Babies Back to Economics: |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: The Market as a Collective Brain Lecture by Grace |
|
Thursday |
“Swedish-Style Welfare State or Basic Income?”
(Barbara Bergmann) “ Film: “American Dream” Midterm econ exam |
|
Week 5 |
Oct. 28 – Nov. 1: The End of Liberal Welfare Reform |
|
Monday |
Economics: “Tiptoeing Toward Variable Pricing” (article) |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Images of Race and Class Film: “Ethnic Notions” |
|
Thursday |
Losing Ground (Charles Murray), excerpt |
|
Week
6 |
Nov. 4 – Nov. 8: Welfare Policy as Social Control |
|
Monday |
Economics: |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Using Excel Film: Taken for a Ride (55 min.) |
|
Thursday |
TBA (faculty retreat) |
|
Week 7 |
Nov. 11 – Nov 15: Welfare Deform and Welfare Rights
Organizing Models |
|
Monday |
Economics: “Theory of the Firm” (Dorman) “Is Real Reform Possible Here?” (article) |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Constructing Welfare Justice Indexes
with: Failing our Families: A State-by-State Report Card of Family
Supports Under Welfare Reform (Daniel HoSang,
CTWO) Speakers from LELO (Labor Employment Law Office) |
|
Thursday |
“Lured by Dollars, Many Immigrants Find Death in
Dangerous Jobs” (article) “OSHA Rarely Investigates On-The-Job Deaths of
Immigrants” (article) “Tragedy Lies Behind a Village’s Prosperity”
(article) |
|
Week
8 |
Nov. 18 – Nov. 22: Disability Rights and Culture |
|
Monday |
Seeing the Disabled: Visual Rhetorics
of Disability in Popular Photography
(Rosemarie Economics: “Water and Gas: An American Pricing Paradox”
(article) |
|
Tuesday |
Film: “Vital Signs: Crip
Culture Talks Back” |
|
Thursday |
Reading: “The Kill-Floor Rebellion” (article) “Hands and Wrists are Thrust into the Hiring
Process” (article) |
|
Thanksgiving
Break, Nov. 25 – Nov. 29 |
|
|
Week
9 |
Dec. 2 – Dec. 6: Radical Theoretical Perspectives:
Marxism, Anarchism, Feminism and Theories of Intersectionality |
|
Monday |
Reading: The Political Economy of Marx
(Michael Howard and John King), Ch. 1, 2, 4, 6 (excerpt), pp. 3-25, 39-59,
107-112 Understanding Capitalism (Sam Bowles and Richard Edwards), pp. 49-83 Economics: “$103,000 Speeding Ticket in “Bathroom Rights a Blue Collar Urgency” (article) “Business Catering to Comfort Market” (article) |
|
Tuesday |
Speaker: Joelle Brouner (CARA — Communities Against Rape and Abuse,
Disabled People’s Project) |
|
Thursday |
Selections from: Uprooting Racism, Paul Kivel Women, Race and Class, Angela Davis Asian American Dreams, Helen Zia Q & A:Queer
and Asian, Eng and Hom, eds. “Racial Ethnic Women’s Labor,” Review of Radical
Political Economy, Evelyn Nakano Glenn La Guerra,” Loving in the War Years, Cherrie
Moraga Final Econ Exam |
|
Week
10 |
Dec. 9 – Dec. 13: More Radical Theory and Wrap-Up |
|
Monday |
TBA |
|
Tuesday |
TBA |
|
Thursday |
TBA |
Political Economy and Social Change:
Syllabus for Winter
|
Week 1 |
Jan. 6 – Jan. 10: Prison-Industrial Complex |
|
Monday |
Reintroductions and reorganizations Economics: Economic accounting (Stiglitz,
Ch. 4, pp. 90-92 only; Ch. 5, pp. 101-115) |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: preparation for presentations Film: lecture on prisons and their connection to
other issues |
|
Thursday |
Selections from Moving Stronger: Needs of
the Criminal Justice Reform Movement Lecture: guest presentation by Carol Minugh and students in Gateway program, videos: “We Just Telling Stories” and/or “We Are
Not Who You Think We Are” |
|
Week 2 |
Jan. 13 – Jan. 17: Resistance: Daily Acts and
Transnational Movements |
|
Monday |
Robin Kelley, Race Rebels: Culture, Politics,
and the Black Working Class, ch. 3 Jacqueline Jones, Labor of Love, Labor of
Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family, ch. 1 Robert Westbrook, John Dewey and American
Democracy, pp. 429-39, “Socialist Democracy” Economics: “The Collective Action Problem: A Social
Movement Perspective” |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: consensus decision-making Film: role-play based on “Out on the Front Lines”
and “The Heat is on Miss Saigon”; also video “As Long as the Rivers Run” |
|
Thursday* |
Presentations on social movements, general
discussion; submit proposal for final project |
|
Week 3 |
Jan. 20 – Jan 24: Global Debt and the Rise of
Transnational Corporations |
|
Monday |
No class: Martin Luther King Day |
|
Tuesday |
John Weeks, Debt disaster? (chapter 3) Mike Gallager: Chiquita
Secrets Revealed Workshop: Tracking the US Business Cycle (computer) Film: “Our Friends at the Bank”, “Uprooted:
Refugees of the Global Economy” Economics: The Keynesian Model, Fiscal Policy (Ch.
6 [skim], Ch. 10, Ch. 11 [crucial]) |
|
Thursday |
Lecture, economics, seminar |
|
Week 4 |
Jan. 27 – Jan. 31: Development, Means and Ends |
|
Monday |
Spiro and Hart (Chapters 3, 5, 7, 9) Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive (introduction and
Chapter on Green Revolution) Economics: International Trade and Exchange Rates
(Ch. 2, pp. 38-43; Ch. 17) |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Rice and Beans Film: “Who’s Counting?”, “When Children Do the Work” |
|
Thursday* |
Lecture, economics, seminar; create essay paper
topic; econ mini-exam |
|
Week 5 |
Feb. 3 – Feb. 7: Globalization and Structural
Adjustment |
|
Monday |
Marc Weisbrot et al., “Scorecard
on Globalization, 1980-2000" Miriam Ching Louie, Sweatshop
Warriors (spread over weeks 3 & 4 or 4 & 5) Re-read Global Exchange chapter in Chang, Disposable
Domestics World Development Report, 1995: Role of the State Economics: Money and Banking ( |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Mr. World Bank and SAPs
Dating Game Film: “The Golf War: A Story of Land, Golf and
Revolution in the “Thangata: Social Bondage
and Big Tobacco in |
|
Thursday* |
Lecture, economics, seminar; short paper
identifying issues to resolve for the final project |
|
Week 6 |
Feb. 10 – Feb. 14: In the Wake of the Crisis |
|
Monday |
Cynthia Enloe, Bananas,
Beaches and Bases ( Alison Murray, “Debt-Bondage and Trafficking: Don’t
Believe the Hype” Economics: The Return to Orthodoxy in
Macroeconomics (Ch. 12-14, |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Global Inequality and Health (computer) Film: “Sisters and Daughter Betrayed”, “La Promesse” |
|
Thursday* |
Lecture, economics, seminar; hand in essay |
|
Week 7 |
Feb. 17 – Feb. 21: Research week (no classes) |
|
Week 8 |
Feb. 24 – Feb. 28: Political Economy of War |
|
Monday* |
Selections from Arturo Rosales, Chicano! on
Chicano Moratorium Martin Luther King, “Beyond Additional readings to be selected, depending on
events Economics: Financial Crisis Stiglitz: “What I Learned at the World Financial Crisis” Additional readings to be selected, depending on
events Hand in first draft of final project |
|
Tuesday |
Workshop: Case Study in Financial Crisis Film: “The Crash”, “The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm” |
|
Thursday |
Lecture, economics, seminar |
|
Week 9* |
March 3 – March 7: Student Presentations Monday: Hand in take home econ exam |
|
Week 10* |
March 10 – March 14: Student Presentations Monday: Submit final project |
|
Evals |
March 17 – March 21 |