1 SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS Fall 2011 Discipline:Sociology SOC 3595: Global Workplace Upper Division Faculty Name: Judy Aulette Pre-requisites: Introductory Sociology COURSE DESCRIPTION Work is a site of economic activity as well as a site of personal social relations. Nearly all of us must work to live and all of us live in societies where work has to be organized to produce and distribute the goods and services necessary to the survival of individuals and the society as a whole. In addition, work takes up much of our time on earth and is a (perhaps the) key place where we strive to be human, to express ourselves, our talents and our values. This course will explore the world of work by looking at the division of work among occupations such as agriculture, manufacturing, service, information, and care work. For each of these categories we will examine the experience of work, asking questions such as where do we work, what do we do, how do our work lives intersect with the other pieces of our lives such as family, and how do gender, race, class, and nation shape the answer to these questions? We will also look at the problems of workers and the workplace such as health and safety issues and wages. These questions will be explored in the context of globalization and drawing on the literature on the sociology of work as well as our first hand observations of the countries we visit. How does social context at the national level as well as recent developments at the national and international level affect work issues? We will ask questions such as what are the major players in the creation of the global workplace such as the World Bank and IMF. How have trade agreements made by various nations shaped our work experience? How has the transfer of jobs from the Global North to the South affected workers around the world and, on the other hand, how has immigration to the global North by women care workers as nannies, maids and sex workers been altered by globalization? In addition, we will look at the attempts being made to address these issues through political actions such as union organizing and policy reform to protect workers and create more fair trade and fair wages. Throughout the course, we will be looking at both descriptions of the social relationships and institutions and the theoretical frameworks that have been proposed to explain the ways they are organized. COURSE OBJECTIVES To acquire qualitative research skills in visual data collection and analysis as a window on seeing and thinking about gender around the world and to learn to report findings from visual research. To gain insight into the broad range of experience and organization of work across national boundaries. To become familiar with the inequities in professional and management occupations by race, gender and nation